Another Purim has come and gone at Shir Shalom. Kudos to Cantor Frank and Mark Knightenger, and the entire cast and crew of “The Megillah According to Barbie”! To Julia and Eileen for the fantastic sets, and for everyone who put their heart and souls into this amazing project. I know, I for one, was crying the entire time as they brought the story of Esther to life in new and surprising ways (For those of you who did not see it live, I very much encourage you to check it out on our Youtube channel). After putting so much energy into this labor of love, there is always a little let down after it’s all over.
I thought of this as I read the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Tzav, which describes the Olah sacrifice, a.k.a the burnt offering. It gets its name from the way it looks after burning on the altar all day and night until nothing remains of it except ashes. While most sacrifices are divided between the priests and the people who provided it, all the olah is reserved for God. It is this ephemeral – beautiful and sweet smelling, but quickly extinguished.
Our modern-day sacrifices, like the Purim spiel at Shir Shalom are similarly short lived. But, like the olah, they are nonetheless beautiful. Their fire burns like the Ner Tamid, eternal light, also described in this week’s portion. We cannot freeze time, but the memory of our sacrifices will last forever. For now, we’ll focus on our next burnt offering, Passover, now less than a month away. Please join us at our second night Passover Seder right at Shir Shalom, and catered by Bloom and Rose on Tuesday, April 23!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex