23 Adar 5775 / 13-14 March
2015
Parashat Vayak’hel-Pekudei
(Shabbat Parah)
Torah: Exodus 35:1 – 40:38
Maftir: Numbers 19:1-22
Haftarah: Ezekiel 36:16-38
Haftarah: Ezekiel 36:16-38
Calendar and dedications
follow below. For a full calendar of events and other info about Congregation
Beth Meier, check out our website: http://www.bethmeier.org/
Please feel free to pass this on this to a friend, and please cite the source.
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FOR WHOM DO YOU WORK?
"According to everything that God commanded Moses, so the Children of Israel did all the work." Exodus 39:42
Rabbis Lawrence Kushner and Kerry Olitzky, authors of Sparks Beneath the Surface, offer the following thought: We seldom consider that the term "mitzvot" (commandments) implies the existence of a "mitzaveh" (commander). They then tell this story:
A rabbi met the gatekeeper of a city. He asked, "For whom do you work?" Replied the gatekeeper, "I work for the master of this city. For whom do you work?" Instead of answering directly, the rabbi said, "I wish to hire you to work for me." "And what will be my duties?" asked the gatekeeper. The rabbi replied, "You will ask me every day, 'For whom do you work?'"
I would venture to say that the vast majority of Jews, when asked, "What does the word 'mitzvah' mean?" would answer, "A good deed." In his book Mitzvah Means Commandment (directed towards teenagers, but also very appropriate for adults), my teacher Rabbi Elliot Dorff explains in easy to understand terms how and why Jews observe the mitzvot and derive meaning from them. Ultimately, the question Rabbi Dorff is really answering, the question that each of us must ask of ourselves is, "For whom do you work?"
Have a wonderful Shabbat!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Congregation Beth Meier -Studio City ,
CA
www.bethmeier.org
Congregation Beth Meier -
www.bethmeier.org
Visit me on Facebook
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Candle lighting:
6:40 pm
Friday: Family Shabbat Evening Service,
led by our Religious
School
Saturday: Shabbat Morning Service –
10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday: Religious School Israel
Wine Tasting (and Tapas) – 2:00 pm. Carmit
Becker , Israel
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 Noon.
Friday, 20
March: Shabbat
Evening Service – 8:00 pm Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 21
March: Rosh
Chodesh Women’s Group Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Led
100% by the women of Congregation Beth Meier! Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday, 22 March: A Passover Workshop. And now,
for something completely different, we’ll take a field trip to Cambridge Farms
market to see their Pesach products, discuss what manufacturers do to make
products kosher for Passover, learn how the market kashers for Pesach, and get
in some Passover shopping (while the KLP Coca-Cola is still available!) – 10:00
am at Beth Meier. Deadline to RSVP for Community Second Seder at
Congregation Beth Meier.
The Rabbinical
Assembly’s Pesach Guide 5775 can be read and downloaded at the following
site: http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/jewish-law/holidays/pesah/rabbinical-assembly-pesah-guide-5775_1.pdf
This d’var torah
is offered in honor of my mother, Annabelle Flom, who celebrated her birthday yesterday.
Yom huledet sameach! Ad me’ah v’esrim!
This d’var torah
is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Naomi
bat Yorma, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah Mindel bat Toby, Stewart Benkle,
Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky, John Todd Brosky, Jacob William Cohen, Howard
Ehrlich, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben
Gittel), Gig Flom (Gittel Tobi bat Blanca), Jerry Forman, Pamela Huddleston,
and Annie Rivera.
My weekly divrei torah are
also available by free subscription to the Cyber Torah list.
Cyber Torah list
management (no salesman will
call!):
To subscribe to Cyber Torah,
send an e-mail with the subject heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah” to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
Send requests for
dedications of Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in
memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
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