Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

The latter sections of this week's Parsha are well known to any synagogue attending Jew. Chapters 28-29 itemize all of the sacrifices which were brought to the wilderness Tabernacle and later in history to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. These passages form the primary Torah reading on Rosh Chodesh and the Maftir readings on the High Holy Days and Festivals.

It is ironic that the Parsha which lists all the sacrifices is read on the first Shabbat during the Three Weeks of Sadness. Yesterday, the seventeenth of Tammuz, began the saddest period of the calendar year, culminating in three weeks on Tisha B'Av. We are spiritually transported to two periods in Jewish antiquity reflecting on the events leading up to and including the destruction of our Holy Temple during the Babylonian period in 586BCE and during the Roman period in 70CE. These two tragic eras left our people without the familiarity of praying to God with the accompaniment of the Torah's requisite offerings, as described in Parshat Pinchas.

While the void following the destruction of the First Temple lasted for a number of decades before the Second Temple was established, we are nearing 2000 years since the Second Temple was destroyed.

Our Sages who lived following the Second Temple period provided a pathway of Jewish continuity despite the significant changes taking place in Jewish history. One perspective teaches that by reciting the sacrificial passages, as we do in the Parsha this Shabbat, as well as in the Maftir readings on the various holy days, it is as if we are still bringing the sacrifices to this very day.

Another perspective tells the story of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai walking among the ruins of the Second Temple, comforting his student Rabbi Joshua by explaining that the gift of God's atonement which was granted in former times via the sacrificial altar is now granted to us when we perform deeds of lovingkindness.

How ironic it is that we read the Parsha of the sacrifices as we begin to lament the destruction of the holiest site in Judaism. Nevertheless, our Sages and Scholars have taught us that Judaism transcends even the single greatest structure by reciting our history, observing Mitzvot, and performing acts of kindness.

I wish you and your families Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Howard Morrison