Community Torah Corner, March 14, 2025

In this week’s parsha, Ki Tisa, to effectuate a census, the wandering Israelites are commanded rich and poor alike to contribute half a shekel for the construction and maintenance of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle.  Many commentators interpret the requirement of donating half a coin as alluding to the concept that no Jew is complete until having joined with others. In isolation, each of us is only “half” of our full potential.  The equal participation of all the people symbolizes that all Jews must share in achieving our communal goals.

My husband Etan and I feel privileged to be part of the Golda Och Academy community, which has a longstanding culture of giving tzedakah.  Recognizing that donations to GOA are direct investments in the Jewish future, Lower and Upper School families, grandparents, alumni, faculty and staff, and community members generously give tzedakah to Golda Och Academy. Together, we make possible the stellar education our children receive at GOA in a place that exudes joyful Judaism. Our kitchen counter, like yours, is covered in delicious treats and inspirational community-made gifts from this year’s GOA mishloach manot, helping our home burst with the Jewish joy that is a hallmark of our school. If you missed Rabbi Nevins’s beautiful words about this Purim’s mishloach manot and spreading Jewish joy, click here.

Last night and again today, we read Megillat Esther. In chapter 4, Mordechai effectively tells Esther that she was born so that she would be alive at this time to save the Jewish people. Rabbi James Proops of Livingston’s Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center recently challenged us to consider, in these 500 plus days we’ve all been living through, why is it that our lives should overlap with this particular moment in Jewish history?  In other words, ask yourself, what can I do as an individual to meet this moment – just as Esther met hers?

For Etan and me, the answer is clear: Jewish education. Jewish education ensures Jewish survival. When we join with you to educate the next generation of our Jewish people, and we drop off our children in the carpool line every morning, that is our figurative and literal victory lap. We choose to partner with Golda Och Academy in instilling a strong Jewish identity in our children because this school’s graduates are unapologetically Jewish. They know what it means to be Jewish, they are proud of being Jewish, and they love being Jewish – just read the Neshama blog.

With gratitude for the Jewish joy Golda Och Academy brings into our lives and with best wishes to you and your families for a joyous, Freilichin Purim and a Shabbat Shalom,

Dina Wiesen