Vayikra - 2022

Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיִּקְרָא (Vayikra). This week’s parsha starts the new book by the same name. We left off with the initialization of the Mishkan (aka a Region). Now we have a book mostly about how to use that region. This is the instruction book, the documentation, for what to do and who to do what. The Mishkan is considered to be a portable Temple. So in AWS parlance you might be thinking Outpost, but I think it’s more like a snowball, that they can be setup and taken down as needed. But it’s also like an Outpost where you have all (or nearly all) of the functionality of the full region. This week is also the special parsha Zachor. We are commanded to remember what Amalek did to us when we left Egypt. This is a Torah level commandment (instead of rabbinic) and we read it the week before Purim when we have another example of Amalek (Haman) trying to kill the Jews. There is an internal group at AWS working to put together a virtual Megillah Reading, I suggested using Amazon Polly and took the 1st chapter of The Book of Esther and had Polly read it. She did a good job, but had some hilarious trouble with some of the names. You are welcome to have a listen. http://www.dubrowin.org/rss-objects/esther-ch1.07021ac6-ae0b-468b-98e2-7316fb8a8f8b.mp3
Shabbat Shalom.