In this week’s Torah portion, Sh’mini we come to the absolute middle of the Torah in terms of the number of letters. The middle occurs in the middle of the Hebrew word for belly. That is, the  middle of the Torah corresponds to the  middle of the body. When we speak of the important moments of life we recount the highs and the lows. But is it not the middle or the middling times that are most important? It is just the living every day, doing what we must, that defines our life. The driving of our children to Religious School every week, taking our aged parents for an outing, remembering our friend’s important birthday. Not earth shattering events but important none the less. In Judaism we are always to remember that we can make all the moments in our lives holy even the most mundane or middle.

Purim was celebrated at TSS with much joy and fun. We read the megillah in Hebrew and English. I chanted  megillat Esther with its special  ancient trope. Meidan read the megillah having the congregation blot out the name of evil Haman every time he is mentioned. We had a festive pizza meal and sang Purim songs. Our Purim Spiel was a retelling of the story in an amusing fashion. Don Belmont was an hilarious Esther, looking quite fetching, sounding like Miss Piggy. I was Haman and Mordecai and Meidan was King Ahasveuros. Karyn Goldner kept us all together as our narrator. Everyone had a wonderful time. Thank you to Lisa Szydlow for organizing the whole evening.

There are four mitzvot associated with  Purim. They are:

•    give gifts to loved ones, friends and neighbors,
•    make donations to the poor,
•    hear the story of Purim and
•    have a Festive Meal.

We at Temple Shirat Shalom are dedicated to always honoring our tradition. In that end the confirmation class is making Shalach Manot baskets for our senior members and those who have been ill this year. We will be delivering the baskets to them  this week. We are also having a Purim celebration on the night of Purim Wednesday March 7.  We will be eating festive pizza and reading the megillah in a number of ways some “serious” and some amusing. To fulfill the mitzvah of giving donations to the poor I urge everyone to make a donation to the Kosher Food Pantry, of Jewish Family Service of the Lehigh Valley.  We will also accept donations at the event.  Meidan Keidar, JFLV, sh’licha will be helping us make this Purim special. The festivities will begin at the Wescosville Recreation Center at 6:15 PM. Please check our Website for details .

Chag Sameach Purim, have a wonderful Purim holiday!