Wednesday March 4 645 pm: reading of megillah at the jrc
Thursday March 5 800 am davening followed by megillah reading at jrc
Thursday March 5 1230 pm megillah reading at Valley west apt 1800 36th st west des moines
Thursday March 5 5 pm megillah reading followed by purim celebration at racoon river lodge west des moines
Wednesday March 4 645 pm: reading of megillah at the jrc
Thursday March 5 800 am davening followed by megillah reading at jrc
Thursday March 5 5 pm at racoon river lodge purim celebration
We have just entered into the most happy month of the year Adar. There are many lessons from the Megillah, the book of Esther which we read during Purim. In the story of Purim both Mordechai and Esther were involved in saving the Jews from Haman's evil plan, so why then is only Esther part of the book title? From here we see the important role women play in Jewish life, they are the foundation of the home, which sets the foundation of the entire Jewish people. The women were given a very special task and responsibility. They accomplish this through the Mitzvos which G-d gave them.
The Torah portion this weeks begins with "And these are the laws that you shall place in front of them" in Hebrew the letter Vov written at the beginning of a word indicates that it's a continuation to what was previously said. The portion begins with a Vov to indicate that even these civil laws mentioned in this weeks Parsha have the same strength and value as the commandments which were given at mount Sinai. The lesson: We act moraly and follow civil laws not only because thats the right thing to do, but because G-d commanded us to do so.
This week we read the Ten Commandments. It says that there was no echo when G-d uttered these commandments. The reason: the purpose of these commandments were to make the merge of heaven and earth, of G-dliness and physicality. Before the Torah was given it was not possible to make something physical holy. This is why there was no echo, because G-d's voice was penetrating the entire earth, similar to a person singing in a room with proper acoustics, his voice penetrates the walls and floor and doesn't bounce back at him. Today we have the amazing power of infusing this world with gdliness, so let's take advantage of it!
