The Stanton Street Weekly Newsletter: Parshat Yitro
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Parshat Yitro Week of February 6, 2026 19 Shvat 5786 Wishing you and your family Shabbat Shalom!
The month of Shvat represented in the Mazalot in our Sanctuary.
Friday, February 6, 2026 • 19 Shvat 5786
Candle lighting at 5:02pm
Shabbat, February 7, 2026 • 20 Shvat 5786
9:30am - Shacharit services in the Beit Midrash
12:00pm - Kiddush - all are welcome! Kiddush is sponsored by the house. (If you would like to sponsor kiddush, please email info@stantonstshul.com.)
Havdalah at 6:03pm
As we are holding services downstairs to stay warm, StantonKIDS is cancelled this week. We look forward to the next StantonKIDS program on February 28.
We have security for all services from 9:30am to 1:00pm.
Dear friends,
This week we read Parshas Yisro in which the newly freed Israelites gather at Mount Sinai and receive the direct revelation of the Torah. The parsha is split into roughly two acts. It starts with Yisro’s coming to the Israelite encampment, along with Tzipporah and Gershom and Eliezer. Yisro advises Moshe on how to best adjudicate the disputes of the people and says that rather than hearing every person’s case directly, Moshe should set up a system of lower and higher courts. Less complicated cases could be resolved in the lower courts and the more complicated cases could make their way up through the higher courts, with only the most severe cases reaching Moshe. The second act then describes the Israelites’ reaching of mount Sinai and their encounter with the Divine.
In the lead up to this encounter, God tells Moshe to tell the people that if they are to agree to follow God’s ways and to be true to the covenant, they will be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation”. Holiness is lofty and important but its meaning is also often illusive. The Hebrew word for holiness is kodesh and it derives from a root that can mean to designate and/or to separate. We see it used in this way in this week’s parshah when we are told “But Moses said to HaShem, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it’” (Ex. 19:23). The word “sanctify it” is v’kidashto and it is the result of having “set bounds around the mountain”.
In keeping with this understanding of holiness, Rabbi Sacks offers the definition that “holiness is the space we make for God” and that it is a “bounded emptiness filled by the Divine Presence”. He identifies two central dimensions where we designate holiness, namely the holiness of empty time, embodied by Shabbos and holidays, as well as the holiness of empty space, embodied by the Mishkan and the Mikdash. Rabbi Sacks then says that “holy nation” then designates a third central emptiness, namely, that of the throne. Unlike the Egypt we just left, where ultimate authority was placed in the hands of an “all powerful” Pharaoh, our new found freedom has at its center an empty throne, devoid of any human power, where only the Divine Presence may sit. It is a freedom from any human master where even the most powerful among us must answer to the One Above and where even lowliest among us are free to connect with the Master of the Universe.
Join us 10:30am-12:00pm for free play, davening, parsha, songs, movement, a hands on activity, and delicious kiddush! Here is our schedule for the rest of the 5786 school year:
February 28 March 14, March 28 April 18, April 25 May 9, May 16 June 6, June 13
Women's Tefillah Group Programming Schedule
Come Daven With Us in 5786!
Megillat Esther Reading - March 2 Parshat Emor - May 2 Parshat Nasso - May 30 Parshat Korach - June 20
If you would like to layn, lead services, or give a d'var Torah with us, or if you have questions, please be in touch!
Arella Hana bat Haya Liba Ashlynn Elizabeth Helen Coffman Barry Feldman Cecile Cohen זיאסל מלכה בת אסתר Chaim Tzvi ben Leah Chaim Yonah ben Dubrah Chana Mera bat Fruma Henna Chaya Malka bat Esther Leia David Menashe HaLevi ben Rochel Efraim Ben Sore Eliyahu Natan ben Shayndel Ella bat Leah Gitche bat Honcha Hiam Zelig Ben Sarah Rifka Israel Yakov ben Esther Jim Lee Leah Zahava Bat Elka Liba Miriam bat Channah Devorah ליבה מרים בת חנה דבורה Manny Kaplan מאיר ראובן בן לאה Moshe Asher Ben Esther Sarah Nolan Rhodes נתן צבי בן פרידה Rachel Devorah bat Elke Reuven ben Rochel Risha bat Sarah Rivka bat Miriam Sara Rochel Ben Chaya Gitza Shayna bat Chana Kayla Shimon Sumer HaLevi Ben Malka Shoshana bat Esther שושנה בת אסתר Yaacov Ben Chaya Gitza Yisroel ben Edlah Yitzhak Calev ben Leetza Tzvia
We pray that all who are sick may have a full recovery. We are especially sending prayers to those who are wounded and in need of healing.
To add a name to our communal misheberach prayer list,email us. If you have a Yahrtzeit, birthday, anniversary or other milestone coming up, please reach out! We'd like to update our Yahrtzeit database. Pleasesend us your yahrzeit details. If you don't know the exact Hebrew date, just let us know the date of passing, and we will figure it out and add it to the Shul Cloud calendar.
For those of you who have not yet renewed your membership with us, kindly pay your dues online or mail a check to: The Stanton Street Shul P.O. Box 1008 NY, NY 10002
YOUR FEEDBACK WANTED!!
We encourage your particiation and love to hear from you! Do you have ideas or feedback to share? You can reach us at:
If you missed services this past Shabbos, or arrived too late to hear the drasha, you can go to our archives and read a copy! Click here for an archive of shiurim Clickherefor an archive of drashot Clickhere to go to our YouTube Channel for an archive of all of our ZOOM classes
