Shabbat Yitro

Candles 4.54pm

Havdalah 5.50pm

The chapters we read this week include the Ten Commandments, the basic principles of Jewish life. But there is another important theme that runs through these chapters, that of family. First of all Jethro, the father- in-law of Moses came to visit Moses and brought his wife and sons with. Moses the leader, isolated and under constant pressure, needed to have his family around him for emotional support. Of course he had his brother and sister there, but the special bond of immediate family, wife and children, primary and irreplaceable. Moses was so concerned about his wife and children that even though when he set out from Midian he took them with, when he met Aaron he realized how difficult the conditions were there and sent them back to Midian for their own safety.

And then of course in the Ten Commandments, the law to respect and honor ones parents is so important, it is included in the first five, those laws that relate to God rather than to other human beings. From all this we learn how important family is for ones protection as one grows up. One needs to recognize that debt and try to repay it. But most important are the moral lessons of Torah because they help as we go on to build our own lives and create families of our own. In the end the most important task in our lives is to live the good and a spiritual life. So the text starts with family but goes on to assert the importance of a set of values and good behavior, because in the end each one of has to stand on his or her own two feet and accept responsibility for ones actions.

PURIM:
Put it in your diaries-->We will read the Megilla and have a party at 7:00 pm, Saturday night, February 23rd.

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