Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

The concluding Torah portions of shmot detail the last touches of the mishkan, the portable sanctuary which accompanied the Israelites in the days of Moses.

The usual haftarot for Vayakhel-Pkudei focus on the last touches of the first Temple in Jerusalem. These are not being publicly recited because of a replacement haftarah on Shabbat Ha'Chodesh.

These Biblical texts have made me wonder - What was it like for our people between the Mishkan and the first Temple? Between the first and second Temple? After the destruction of the second Temple to today?

In my Monday night class, a number of us recently studied sections of Tractate Gittin which provide a reconstruction of the period surrounding the fall of the second Temple. While some unrealistically hoped for an unchanged past to return, the Sage Rabban Yochanan and others paved the way for a new beginning in Yavneh outside of Jerusalem. While criticized by others, his way of hope, optimism and a new outlook enabled Judaism to survive and grow.

For the time being, we are in an in between time. We can choose to lament or unrealistically expect an unchanged past to suddenly return. Or, we can choose to emulate Rabban Yochanan. Take the best of what we still have and positively adapt it to our new situation.

Each day, many of us pray for the rebuilding of our holy Temple and a return to the nostalgic good old days, even as we have adjusted in the last 2000 years to a non-Temple based Judaism.

So too, we can and will hope and pray for a return of what life was like even just over a week ago, even as we celebrate the best of a new world order.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Howard Morrison