A Word from Rabbi Schulman - 2/14/2020

We Jews refer to ourselves as the People of the Book. The Torah is our foundational text in which God reveals to the Jewish people a path by which we sanctify life.

Our tradition proclaims that there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah. Among them are the 10 Commandments which we read this Shabbat.

But are all mitzvot of equal importance? How do we determine which are central to our lives and which are not?

More significantly, as Reform Jews, do we hold to the belief that every word of Torah was given by God to Moses in the Sinai desert? Or do we view Torah from a more historical perspective?

If you want to know my responses to these questions, you will have to come to church. On Sunday morning, February 23, I will be speaking on “How Jews Read our Sacred Texts” at 10am at Niles Discovery Church.

More importantly, I hope you will come hear Reverend Jeff Spencer speak about “How Christians Read Their Scriptures” here at Temple Beth Torah. He is the senior pastor at Niles Discovery Church. Pastor Jeff will be our guest speaker at our Shabbat Service Friday night, February 21 at 7:30pm.

He is an excellent preacher and I know he will present an informative and compelling sermon. It will be fascinating to learn of the similar as well as dissimilar ways our faith traditions approach scripture. There will be an opportunity for Q & A after the service.