MAKING ROOM FOR SHABBAT

16 Adar 5775 / 6-7 March 2015

Parashat Ki Tisa

Torah: Exodus 30:11 - 34:35
Haftarah: Ashkenazim - 1 Kings 18:1-39; Sephardim - 1 Kings 18:20-39

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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MAKING ROOM FOR SHABBAT

"And the Children of Israel shall keep the Shabbat; to do the Shabbat for all their generations; it is an eternal covenant between Me and the Children of Israel; a sign forever ..." Exodus 31:16-17

This passage should be familiar. We chant it Friday evening during the Shabbat Maariv service, and again Shabbat morning prior to kiddush.

Rebbe S. A. Taub of Modzhitz asks, “Why is Shabbat stated twice?” He suggests that the answer is found in the B. Talmud Shabbat 118b: “If Israel would only keep two consecutive Shabbatot according to their laws, they would be instantly redeemed.” That is an awesome reason to keep Shabbat! But he thinks there is another answer as well.

Kiddush for Shabbat Evening

He says that there are two unique dimensions to Shabbat. One is sitting and doing nothing - resting, refraining from any prohibited activities, and the like. That is “keeping”, or “observing” Shabbat. The second is actually doing something - studying Torah, eating a festive meal, singing z’mirot, and so forth. That is “doing”, or “making” Shabbat. 

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

All of this observing and doing, though, has to be done not only in accordance with the positive and negative commandments concerning activity, but also within a specific framework of time. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, in his book “The Sabbath”, tells us that our daily lives are all about the physical world - “building castles in space”, he calls it. But Shabbat is metaphysical - by refraining from work for twenty-five hours, we are actually building “castles in time”. By observing Shabbat and doing Shabbat, we transcend the physical world, putting us somewhere else on the space-time continuum – or taking us beyond it altogether. The Rabbis say that, by “keeping” and “doing” this particular covenant with God, we get a taste of eternity now. Try it - you’ll like it.

Have a wonderful Shabbat!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Congregation Beth Meier - Studio City, CA
www.bethmeier.org

Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/

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Candle lighting: 5:35 pm

Friday: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows. Daylight Savings Time begins tonight (2:00 am Sunday) – turn clocks ahead one hour.

Sunday: Religious School – 9:30 am; Adult Hebrew – 10:00 am.

Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 Noon.

Looking Ahead

Sunday, March 15: Beth Meier’s Third Israel Wine Tasting (and Tapas) – 2:00 pm. Carmit Becker, Israel wine broker, will have wines for tasting and for sale – all Kosher for Passover. $20 in advance/$25 at the door. Contact the office for details.

Saturday, March 21: Rosh Chodesh Women’s Group Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. CBM’s Shabbat Morning Service will be conducted in its entirety by the women’s group. All women and girls of CBM are encouraged to participate. Contact Lynn Kronzek at lckronzek@sbcglobal.net for details.

Sunday, March 22: 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 early Passover shopping (while the KLP Coca-Cola is still available!). Time TBD.

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 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, 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
To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail with the subject heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah” to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net