We learned from Rabbi Sara, beginning at Exodus (Sh’mot) 40:17. She asked us what the first month is. The text says the mishkan was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year. The first month is said both to be Nissan and Tishrei. Exodus 12 says Nissan is the first month because it is when we celeberate Passover. Duke suggested Nissan is the first month in the Jewish festival calendar and Tishrei is the first civil month. In our text, Nissan, then, is the first month. R. Sara pointed out that we left Egypt in Nissan.

Due to the Rabbis’ High Holiday sermon series on vision, we spent some time talking about seeing and noticing. In a sermon, R. Sara discussed “normal blindness.” We adapt to things around us and stop seeing them. Often, an evil we are uncomfortable with at first later is something we don’t even notice. In the sermon, R. Sara exhorted us to become maladapted. Duke reminded us of his favorite quotation from Einstein, “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.”

Sara noted that the whole tabernacle has a tent over it. Laura pointed out that Plaut says that the whole tabernacle is tented. We noted that the first offering, of the two different offerings, is incense. We also noted that the term translated as laver could also be translated as bowl.