This past Shabbat I
walked into shul and went to pick up the Shabbat Bulletin and Israel News. I instinctively
reached for the Family Parsha Sheet that I make each week, so that we could
read it together as a family at the Shabbat table. And then I remembered: for
the 1st time in three years I had not made a weekly Parsha Sheet.
For the last four years I
have had the honor of serving as Youth Rabbi at Kemp Mill Synagogue in Silver
Spring, MD. At the end of the 1st year my wife Elisheva and I decided to create
a weekly Family Parsha Sheet that would include Parsha Questions, a parsha
themed Cartoon, a What Would You Do dilemma, and other fun features that
families could enjoy together at the Shabbat table. Over the years we added new
features like This Week in Jewish History, Words of Wisdom, Elisheva's Parsha
Challah, and more.
It would take 2-3 hours a
week to find interesting material to share and to format it into an attractive
looking sheet. But it was always gratifying to see kids, and even adults,
reading through the sheet in shul or taking it home. This basically was a very
big part of my life for 3 years, and I couldn't relax until I knew the sheet
for that week was complete.
I have studied Parshat
Hashavua for many years, but preparing this Family Parsha Sheet each week made
me look at the parsha in ways I never had before. It was a joy (mostly) looking
for new ideas, and it became an anchor for our Shabbat table conversations.
So I guess it isn't so
strange that I reached for the parsha sheet this past Shabbat, even though I
knew my last one was for Parshat Pinchas. It was second nature. A Chazaka is
established when you do something three times in a row. At that point it is
assumed it will continue. Well, after three years, and 156 consecutive weeks, I
don't know if I need to do Hatarat Nedarim, but I am stepping away from this
weekly project. I have started a new position as Executive Director of Jewish
Educational Services in Baltimore and no longer have the time to work on this.
Elisheva and I have
shared our sheet on social media and with shuls around the country that have
asked for it. We would love to develop this, together with other projects we
have worked on, such as a Parsha Cookbook and ParshArt activities, into a
website or book for families to enjoy. In the meantime, the archives are on the KMS website. You
can see the way the sheet improved over the years.
Even though I am stepping
back from this project for now, it has inspired me to find fun ways of bringing
parsha to the whole family and making Shabbat meals Torah centered. There is so
much amazing Torah on the internet right now and there really is something
interesting for everyone.
I hope this inspires you to learn parsha each week and to find meaningful projects in your life as well.
