Shabbat Times in the West Midlands
Friday  February 4th      Shabbat Candle Lighting 4.41pm
Saturday February 5th                      Shabbat ends 5.51pm

Shabbat Shalom

Words For The Week  
This week’s sidra, Terumah, is about the Sanctuary the Israelites built in the desert. Our Synagogues are modelled on that Sanctuary and we have an ark and a ner tamid in memory of the Sanctuary, and then its successor the Temple.  We gather in our Synagogues to pray, to study and meet.
Over the past two years, we have not always been able to gather in our Synagogues. We have had to find new ways of coming together, whether it be through technology or by meeting in smaller numbers, masked and distanced. We have had to adapt and change and yet remember what really matters: to be a community which is open to the presence of God amongst us.
Change is never easy.  When the Israelites left Egypt, they had to adapt to a new life.  They had many struggles and disputes and were often disheartened.  Then, when they reached the promised land, they faced further difficulties.  They faced enemies on their borders and internal rivalries amongst the tribes.  Fortunately, we have not had difficulties of such magnitude, nor have we had such conflicts amongst ourselves. Nevertheless, the changes we have faced have been stressful.  
Yet sometimes the very effort brings us together.  When we share our difficulties with each other and work together to overcome them it can bring us closer.  We will need to continue to be creative in the months ahead. One of the hardest things about the pandemic is the uncertainty and the continually changing circumstances.  But we have learnt over the last two years that we have the ability to work together. The Sanctuary in the desert was built by everyone contributing what they were able.  So, too, over the last two years, we have learnt to value the different skills that people can contribute.  May we continue to work together and value each other and the different gifts we all bring and in doing so may we feel God’s presence amongst us.
Rabbi Dr Margaret Jacobi, Birmingham Progressive Synagogue