Our Rabbinic Sage with the funniest name, Ben Bag Bag, used to say, “Turn it, and turn it, for everything is therein.”* Meaning, “Study the Torah, then study it again, because we always have something to learn from the text.”
Friends, it is that exciting time of year! We have warmed up our muscles and taken the twenty minutes to roll our Torah scroll all the way from the end of Deuteronomy back to the beginning of Genesis. We have literally turned the scroll, turned the scroll, and turned it again so that we can start anew.
Whether you’re a Torah study regular, you pop in and out, or you’ve never been before, the beginning is the PERFECT time to hop on in! We’re a judgment free group open to all levels of learners interested in expanding their Jewish knowledge.
There’s a prayer we have the chance to say every morning, Eilu D’varim, which goes like this:
These are the things that are limitless,
Of which a person enjoys the fruit of the world, while the principal remains in the world to come.
They are:
Honoring one’s parents,
Engaging in deeds of compassion,
Arriving early for study, morning and evening,
Dealing graciously with guests,
Visiting the sick,
Providing for the wedding couple,
Accompanying the dead for burial,
Being devoted in prayer,
And making peace among people.
But the study of Torah encompasses them all.
Join us every Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m., but especially this Saturday morning, as we begin our Torah cycle once more. There are many ways in which we all work to better this world, but there is something special about how the study of Torah inspires us to complete these tasks each day, week, month, and year.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rachael
*Pirkei Avot 5:22
