I hope the first week back-to-(online) school has been a smooth transition for you and your kids.
With the most recent lockdown, we might feel trapped indoors. Thankfully, we are offering a few opportunities to join us for some outdoor fun!
This Shabbat was supposed to be a FAMILY PRAY & PLAY. Unfortunately, due to the new Covid restrictions and a focus on our collective health and safety, we are cancelling it at this time. We were going to "play" at Chapley Rink, beginning at 12:15pm, and participating in the City of Toronto leisure skating. Skating will still be available to anyone interested.
This Sunday is the first SUNDAY FUNDAY. Join us for weekly skating with the Beth Emeth and Adath Israel communities, Sunday mornings at 11am at Chapley Rink. Bring your family and bring your friends!
NEXT Sunday night is Tu B'Shvat: the new year of the trees. We are selling Tu B'Shvat Seder plates to raise money for MAZON Canada, to feed the hungry in the Toronto Jewish community. The seder plates will also be used at the BEBY Tu B'Shvat Seder. SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PROGRAMMING AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION!
Parsha Bo - Leaving Mitzrayim
This is the parshah when the Nation of Israel finally leaves Egypt. We've been enslaved for hundreds of years and we've almost completely forgotten what makes us a unique nation. At the time of Pesach - Passover, the Israelites ate their first Matza, and prepared to leave Egyptian slavery and move into Israelite freedom.
The Hebrew name for Egypt is Mitzrayim (מצרים). Mitzrayim looks identitcal to the Hebrew word Maytzarim (מצרים), which means "tight spaces". Maytzarim gives us a feeling of being trapped - like a slave.
In each of our lives we sometimes feel trapped. Maybe we feel trapped at home because of a Covid lockdown. Maybe we feel trapped by a certain bad habit or behaviour. We can each feel trapped by many different things.
When we remember how unique and special we are, both as individuals and as a nation, that is when HaShem frees us from our Maytzarim, we leave everything that has been trapping us behind, and we become free to be who we want to be and who we are meant to be.
Discussion Questions:
1. What situations in life make you feel trapped?
2. How do you make sure to remember that you are free?
3. If you were free to do anything you wanted, what would you do and why?
4. Is there something holding you back from doing what you want? Is it there to keep you trapped or to help you become more free? Why does it make a difference?
Questions and Answers from Last Week: 1. How does HaShem "appear" to you? (What do you think God "looks" like? HaShem is too big for me to really picture, but I like to think about how galaxies, solar systems, atoms and neutrons all can have a similar shape becuase it reminds me that HaShem is found everywhere, from the biggest galaxies to the smallest sub-atomic particles.
2. Why did I use quotation marks ("") around the words "appear" and "looks" in question 1? HaShem is too big to picture and whatever I think HaShem "looks" like, I know I'm not even scratching the surface. Since HaShem doesn't "appear" or "look" the way that we appear and look to each other, I put the words in quotes.
3. What is a way that you can strengthen your own connection with HaShem? The best way to feel connected to anyone is to talk to them. I like talking to HaShem about whatever is happening in my life. Even though HaShem doesn't really talk back with words, as I continue the conversation, I always figure out a new and helpful strategy and start to see things from a different perspective. To me, those "new and helpful thoughts" are they way that HaShem speaks to me. The more I talk to HaShem, the better I connect to HaShem, and the better I connect to my own life, too.
Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue 100 Elder Street Toronto, ON M3H 5G7
