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Shabbat Programming for 5785

Shabbat Program January 11: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program January 25: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program February 1: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program February 15: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program March 1: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program March 15: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program April 5: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program April 26: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program May 3: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program May 31: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program June 14: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program June 21: 10:30am-12pm

Torah Inspiration with Rabbi Birkeland

Dear Friends,
This week we conclude the book of Genesis. After strife and upheaval, this week’s parsha almost constitutes a happily-ever-after for Yaakov and his family. Sure, there is some tension that remains, expressed in Yaakov’s blessing of his sons. There is also concern among the brothers that with Yaakov gone, Yosef will take revenge against them (a concern which Yosef lays to rest). But still Yaakov gets to live out his final 17 years in the calm of Goshen’s pastoral life, surrounded by family; so too Yosef and the rest of the brothers.
But though this eventful first book of the Torah is settling into a calmer resolution, there is a big shadow that hangs over the nascent Children of Israel. Next week we will start the book of Exodus in which we read about a new Pharaoh who reigns over Egypt, enslaving the descendants of Yaakov and his twelve sons. This enslavement and subsequent exodus is a central aspect of Jewish identity, culture, and theology. As post-Egypt Jews, we read this week's parshah and cannot help but think of next week’s parshah. 
But this descent down to Egypt has always been a part of the plan. If we think back to parshas Lech L’chah, when God and Avraham made a covenant, the Torah tells us: “As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Avram, and a great dark dread descended upon him. And God said to Avram, ‘Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years;’” (Gen. 15:12-13). Yosef has been telling his brothers to not feel guilty for having sold him into slavery because really it was God who sent him to Egypt to prepare for the famine. But it is also clear that God is setting the stage for this next, darker, chapter of Jewish history.
Why the Jewish people needed to be formed in the crucible of Egyptian oppression is a challenging and important question but it is beyond the scope of this column. All I really want to focus on at the moment is that the book of Genesis has largely been the beginning and slow unfolding of everything which God promised to Avraham. We saw Avraham’s promised offspring, and the offspring of his offspring. We are now on the precipice of the Egyptian exile- also a part of the plan. Just as God has fulfilled these preliminary aspects of the covenant with Avrahm, we can rest assured that God will fulfill the rest of this covenantal agreement.
When God warns Avraham about Egypt, God says “but I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth” (Gen. 15:14). God makes a similar promise to Yaakov upon his descent to Egypt. These promises of deliverance were known to the Children of Israel in Egypt and it was the fulfillment of past promises coupled with a promise for the future that helped to sustain them through the trials of Egypt until God sent Moshe to bring them out. So too may we find strength in promises fulfilled and promises yet to be fulfilled even when the interim is dark and difficult.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Birkeland