13 Av 5774/8-9 August 2014
Parashat Va'etchanan (Shabbat Nachamu)
Torah: Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11
Haftarah: Isaiah 40:1-26
Program Notes:
NO Lunch and Learn on August 12 – Rabbi
Flom attending Board of Rabbis Conference all day.
Beth Meier RELIGIOUS SCHOOL will
commence Sunday, September 7, at 9:30 am. There has been NO increase in fees
for this year. Please contact the Beth Meier office at (818) 769-0515 or office@bethmeier.org for
information and registration.
Beth Meier is sponsoring “Team Selma ” in
the race to defeat ovarian cancer on Sunday, September 14. We hope as many
members, including our Religious School students and their families, will join
in. Info at: www.ovariancancerrun.com and registration at:
Please get your membership and High Holy Day
ticket forms and fees in to Beth Meier at your earliest convenience. Yontiff
waits for no one!
Calendar and Dedications:
Candle lighting, Friday
August 8: 7:29 pm
Friday: Family
Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Join us for a joyful service, followed by
Oneg Shabbat.
Saturday: Shabbat
Morning Service – 10:00 am. Light Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday: Celebration
of the Life and Work of Selma Schimmel, z’l, at Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel – 1:00
pm. Sponsored by Vital Options International. RSVP to Terry Wilcox at: twilcox@vitaloptions.org
Tuesday: NO Lunch
and Learn. We resume Tuesday, 8/19.
This d'var torah is offered for a
refuah shleimah for Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah Mindel bat Toby,
Elsbet Brosky, Howard Ehrlich, Dr. Samuel Fersht, Jerry Forman, Pamela
Huddleston, Rose Jordan, Gail Neiman, Annie Rivera, and Helen Schugar.
Please let me know if there is anyone
you would like to add to the refuah shleimah list or if there is anyone who may
be removed from the list.
This d'var torah is offered in honor
of Debby Bitticks, Jack Howland and Lesley Kraut for their Oneg Shabbat and
Kiddush donations.
This d'var torah is offered in hope
and prayer that on this Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort and
Consolation, the cease-fire in Gaza will continue to hold.
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend,
and please cite the source.
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LOVE MAKES FOR A HEALTHY HEART
"And you shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might." Deuteronomy
6:4
"And it shall come to pass, if you surely
heed My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and
to serve God with all your heart and with all your soul." Deuteronomy
11:13 (Parashat Ekev)
These two verses are both found in the Sh’ma
(first and second paragraphs, respectively). I can understand how I can
love with all my heart – our culture has considered the heart to be the
metaphoric seat of love for thousands of years. Moreover, we say the heart
is the source of all emotion - we often refer to deep emotional pain as
“heartsick”.
How about serving with all one’s
heart? According to the Rabbis, the answer is that prayer is a service
which is of the heart (“avodat halev”). Indeed, the verse implies that prayer
which is heartfelt can be seen as an act of love as well as of service to God.
But what happens when we cannot or will not use
the heart for love, but instead, use it for hostility? A research study a
few years ago found that people who were rated high on an “antagonism” scale
were more likely to have calcium buildup in their heart arteries – literally,
hardening of the heart!
Love and serve God with your heart, and you
fulfill a commandment. The same is true for loving your neighbor (Leviticus
19:18) Don’t love, and you risk a heart attack. What an easy
choice! I guess this is what they mean by “a no-brainer”.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Richard A. Flom - ZSRS '00
Congregation Beth Meier
Studio City, CA
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