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Walking through the Social Hall the other day, Jonah remarked matter-of-factly: “One person’s trash is… another person’s treasure.”  Aside from my familiar astonishment as to where he picked up a saying I was unaware he knew, I understood what he meant!

We are preparing for our first TBD Rummage Sale tomorrow between 10:00am- 3:00pm.  Our dedicated team of volunteers led by Rachel Jokl has been receiving donations, sorting, arranging and pricing in anticipation.  You should know that all proceeds will go to benefit our synagogue’s youth programs.  And truth to tell, not one of the books, toys, coats, kitchen items and much more can be considered trash!

Most of us know that feeling, don’t we?  Out for a walk or a drive, we see a sign for a garage or tag sale, and something motivates us to stop.  What is that thing?  A sense of mystery perhaps?  Who knows what gems are waiting to be discovered?  Or is it the memory of past triumphs – finding just the right thing for a song.  I know that some of my most treasured possessions were acquired this way, and over the years they have somehow become dearer to me for that.

Conversely, what motivates us to give things away?  Sometimes it helps us to downsize.  Other times we want belongings we love but no longer have use for to go to someone who can use them.  Sometimes we find ourselves in a place where we simply need the money.  Whatever the reasons, there is a lightness that accompanies this part of the process.  Where there was clutter, now there is space.  Sometimes less really is more.

Could that be a small part of what the Israelites felt when participating in the sacrificial rites described in Vayikra, the Torah portion this Shabbat?  Admittedly, the instructions for different types of animal and grain sacrifices it describes belong to a category all their own. But the process of making offerings in order to draw closer to a larger purpose is similar.  And watching those sacrifices, often connected to guilt or wrongdoing, go up in smoke had to have felt incredibly freeing.  While today wrongdoing is best addressed with introspection and apology (as opposed to sacrificing bulls and goats), here too we let go of something we may have been holding onto for too long: our hubris and our pride.  As we divest of things we need not keep anymore, we ready ourselves for new stages and fresh growth. 

So, come by tomorrow and see what you find.  And celebrate Shabbat with services led by our 6^th/7^th graders at 6:30pm tonight.  They and the rest of our young members are our truest treasures… and perhaps the next generation of chotchke devotees!

Shabbat Shalom,