"These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan."
-Deuteronomy 1:1
This week’s Torah portion, Devarim, starts out with these words. They are accompanied by the physical white space in the Torah scroll dividing the end of the Book of Numbers from the beginning of the Deuteronomy. Just as the words of the Torah are open to interpretations, we can reflect on how this space between the two books can take on more than one meaning as well.
These white spaces are the places of transition in the Torah, but they can also be an opportunity of self-reflection or even moments of personal and communal change as we move on to the next chapter in our lives. It is like that highway sign that announces “Welcome to Illinois” when you cross the border after you’ve been driving for six hours to get home. You can’t wait to get out and stretch but you know you’ve got a bit more to go on the journey. Here the white space says: “Welcome to Deuteronomy.” It reminds us that we are coming to the end of the Torah’s yearly journey and that the High Holy Days are not that far off in the distance.
This past week, Beth Emet sent out this year's High Holy Day information to all members. We also sent out membership renewals and Beit Sefer registration reminders a few weeks ago. As we enter this first Shabbat of August, I hope that all of us felt just a bit of that excitement as we saw this information in our email inboxes as we begin preparing for the end of one yearly journey and enter another.
If you have any questions about the forms for the High Holy Days, membership or Beit Sefer, please contact
myself or the
front office and we can help guide you through the forms.
Shabbat Shalom,
Geoff Prass
Director of Operations
