Midway Jewish Center
57 Years Going Strong: 1953-2010 !
THE CYBERSHUL

330 South Oyster Bay Road
Syosset, NY 11791
www.mjc.org
cyber shul archives

This CyberShul has been dedicated by:

Shabbat	Terumah
Parashah	Terumah
Secular Date	February 20, 2010
Jewish Date	6 Adar 5770
Shabbat Begins	5:16pm
Shabbat Ends	6:15pm
MJCyber Shul Minyan	14018
Last Week’s Minyan	1417
Don't Forget the Fast	On Thursday, February 25, we observe Ta’anit Esther or the Fast of Esther. Ta’anit Esther commemorates the three-day fast that Esther asked Mordekhai and the people of Shushan to observe prior to her approaching Ahasuerus with the request to save her people. This is a minor fast and therefore is observed only from sunrise to sunset. Typically, the reading of the megillah follows immediately upon the conclusion of this fast, but this year is special. This year, Purim begins motza’ei Shabbat, or Saturday night, February 27. Since it is forbidden to fast on Shabbat (the only exception is when Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat), the fast is pushed back to Thursday.

TORAH READING

Terumah

This parashah introduces the spiritual focal point of the Israelite camp: the mishKAN or tabernacle. The mishKAN is a portable sanctuary in which God reaches out to the Israelites and the Israelites reach out to God. It is a rectangle divided into two equal squares. The western square is known as haKOdesh or the Holy Place, except for one small section of it known as KOdesh hakodaSHIM or the Holy of Holies. Within the Holy of Holies is the Ark bearing the Ten Commandments. In the Holy Place are other ritual items—the menorah, a table, and an altar for burning incense. The eastern square is known as the Court and contains a laver for cleansing and an altar for animal sacrifice. The parashah details seven categories of building materials to be gathered for the mishKAN’s construction: metals, dyed yarns, fabrics, wood, oil, spices, and gems. The ark is to be made of acacia wood and coated with gold. Two cherubim stand above the ark with their wings spread out over the ark. The table shall be made of acacia wood and coated with gold. Upon the table shall rest the LEhem paNIM or the Bread of Display, 12 loaves in all, one for each of the 12 Israelite tribes. The seven-branched menorah is made of pure gold. The color scheme for the mishKAN itself included blue, crimson, and purple, that is, royal colors. The sacrificial altar is made of acacia wood covered with copper and has horns on its four corners.

A SHABBAT THOUGHT

People who drink to drown
their sorrow should be told that
sorrow knows how to swim

~~ Ann Landers   ~~

WEBS OF THE WEEK

Anti-Zionists treat Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the United States, to their version of freedom of speech, at the University of California, Irvine

AURAL TORAH

Building a Mishkan in Massapequa 

Just click on the picture on the left hear this week’s Aural Torah!

The Most Creative Minds in America Read the MJCyberShul

HELLO DOLLY—
YOU AIN’T GONNA BELIEVE THIS ONE:

EVER WANT TO TALK BABuilding a Mishkan in Massapequa.wavCK TO THE CYBERSHUL?

NOW YOU CAN!
EACH WEEK, THE AURAL TORAH WILL APPEAR IN A NEW BLOG CALLED 

WRITINGSOFTHERARA
(thanks to the Kolodny’s for their clever crafting)

just paste this url into your browser and leave your comments—
http://writingsoftherara.blogspot.com/

The CyberRav will answer you!
Let’s ignite the internet with some give and take in Torah study!

Honor or Memorialize Loved Ones for a New Lower Price

THIS IS THE CYBERSHUL ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN!!

For a Few Dollars You can Touch Someone in a Beautiful Way
A CyberShul Dedication—Only:

$100

Send your name, location, and a $100 check made payable to:

Midway Jewish Center
330 South Oyster Bay Road
Syosset, NY 11791

Send CyberShul to All Your Friends!

GOTTA QUESTION?
THE CYBER RAV HAS AN ANSWER AND GOOD NEWS--
THE CYBER RAV IS ALWAYS IN
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO rafirank@mjc.org
YOUR IDENTITY WILL NOT BE REVEALED
CONFIDENTIALITY IS ASSURED

THE POPE GOES TO SHUL

SOME INCESTUOUS THOUGHTS

Dear Cyber Rav,

Please… Your opinion about the Italian Jews speaking out publicly to the Pope about Pius XII? In my opinion it is a mistake. We need all the friends we can get and to antagonize the Catholic community is foolish. I can speak with you about Pius XII in detail. I have done MUCH reading about him. Interesting man who really wasn't up to the task of a world at war, but than how many could be? He had many faults, but disrespect to Benedict won't change that. Diplomacy is a much better method than confrontation. But I would welcome your views on the subject.

I need the Dope on the Pope

CYBER RAV ANSWERS

Dear “I Need the Dope,”

First of all, I try not to get upset when Jews disagree on an issue. It's sort of like crying because the sun rises each morning. My crying or protesting or griping has never, doesn't, and will never keep Jews from disagreeing on issues of vital importance, and that is a fact of life that we might as well accept. Having said that, it is no surprise that the Jews disagreed on how welcoming we ought to be to Pope Benedict who has, in fact, made some rather disturbing decisions during his brief tenure. There were Jews and rabbis who boycotted the visit out of protest. Be that as it may, one of my colleagues in Israel who had an opportunity to watch the entire visit on Israeli TV described it as “most moving” and even found the coverage solemn and enriching and was especially touched when Pope Benedict XVI referred to the Jewish people as the "populo de la Alianza", the people of the covenant.

Beautiful--yes? I wish I had been there. So the first thing I want to say to you is regardless of how divided the Jews were, and they were, and regardless of how loud they protested, and they did, in the end, there is another piece of information that we have to throw into the calculus when deliberating over the Jewish response to the pope's visit to the Rome synagogue: the visit pulled off beautifully. Was that adequately reported in the papers? Probably not. You know, papers don’t sell over things going well. Only in controversy are there dollars to be made. Only in publishing accounts of strife, dissension, protest, and anguish, will media outlets, ever mindful of their narrowing profit margins, still sell their news papers and reports. The good stuff is invariably given short shrift because it doesn't sell as well. In the end, I believe that the protests over the pope's visit were greatly exaggerated. The Italian community threw open the doors of its synagogue and it was a memorable and beautiful meeting. Now, on to the substance of the protest: the potential beatification of Pius XII. I would say that we shouldn't be rattling the Catholics over this issue. Catholics and Jews do see religious issues from significantly different perspectives. And in any event, you and I don't believe in sainthood to begin with so why should we be agitated over a system we find meaningless in the first place! What sense is there in saying, “Don't turn Pius into something we don’t believe in! We challenge the Catholics for no good reason, and this after they are trying as hard as possible to make amends for centuries worth of poisonous Jewish/Christian relations.

But, going back to the beginning, I think the protests were overplayed. We welcomed Benedict into the synagogue. What should have happened, did, so focusing on the protests is really a distortion of what actually happened, because in the end, those protests didn't factor into the pope's visit to the synagogue.

I hope this helps.

Rabbi Rafi Rank
CyberRav

Shabbat Shalom Everyone!!

 To get added to the subscription list, or to be removed, or to change your email address,
click here - cybershul_subscriptions