Words From Rabbi White

Dear mitpallelim,

Oh no, say it ain’t so! Look how pervasive “wokism” has become. I saw this week that the authorities at Merriam-Webster have “paskened” that a preposition is something that you can end a sentence with! (sic) [I know that we all have been careless in our everyday speech with the old rule of not ending with a preposition, but still it is important to know that there is a standard for the written word. Try ending a French sentence with “avec,” or a Hebrew sentence with “`im.”]

On the same way of reasoning, there was a news item recently that students in a Seattle English class received a handout that it’s “white supremacy” to love reading and writing.

Listening to the Canadian news the other day, I heard that Luka Magnolla, the man who brutally killed his roommate (in an apartment a few blocks from the Spanish!) and then sadistically disposed of the body parts, has been transferred to a minimal security prison, after claiming that he is transgender and wants to be considered a woman!

And the icing on the perverted cake was the video that I saw the other day of the blockade of the Federation building in Montreal. I must have been in that building over a thousand times: so much good comes from there: the JPL, the holocaust museum, the social services, etc.  But we live in an Orwellian (or “Wok,”) world where good is bad, bad is good.

Our parasha is called Vayaqhel Moshe. The verb comes from the root “qhl” and it means to assemble. The verse says that Moshe assembled everyone: “kol `adat Yisrael.” Why now does there have to be an assembly for everyone?

The Ohr HaHayim HaQadosh has an interesting observation. At the end of last week’s parasha, we read that when Moshe came down from the mountain, his face was shining so much that he had to wear a mask. People were afraid to come near him. So he called everyone together to show that there is nothing of which to be afraid

I would say that likewise, we have been privileged to live at a time of “qaran ‘or,” the shining of the light of the State of Israel. We must be proud of the fact that Israel, despite its flaws, is good, and Hamas is evil. We agree: “stop the genocide.” But the foolish protesters should realize that it is Hamas, not Israel, that should stop their genocidal aspirations.

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This week is parashat Sheqalim. Traditionally, it is a time when money is set aside for tsedaka.

It is especially important this year to contribute for the welfare of Israel.

Rosh Hodesh of Adar Sheni is Sunday and Monday.

Shabbat shalom, shalom `al yisrael,