Thursday, January 28, 2016

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE JEWISH ….

Parashat Yitro
20 Shevat 5776 / 29-30 January 2016
Torah: Exodus 18:1 – 20:23
Haftarah: Isaiah 6:1 – 7:6; 9:5-6

For a full calendar of events and other info about our community, check out www.bethmeier.org

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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Candlelighting: 5:01 pm

Friday: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch sponsored by Avremi Manzur in honor of his birthday follows. Mazal tov!
Sunday:  Religious   School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00. 
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon
Friday, 5 February: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 6 February: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Bar Mitzvah of Simon Foster. Mazal tov! Kiddush lunch sponsored by Tony and Lynda Foster follows.
Sunday, 7 FebruaryReligious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00.

SHABBAT ACROSS AMERICA is coming – Friday, March 4 – Learners’ Service and Shabbat Dinner – mark your calendar and check your mail for details. Cost - $5.00/person – RSVP MANDATORY! You can now view the flyer at:


For Shabbat Across America, off-street parking will be available at First Christian Church.

Next time you come to Beth Meier, please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of my aunt, Shirley Schack, whose first yahrzeit is Thursday, 25 Sh’vat. Y’hi zekherah liv’rakhah – May her memory be a blessing.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah bat Devorah, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Pamela Huddleston (new kidney – hooray!), Stephanie Kane, Elaine Kleiger, and Philip Kovac.
           
Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to this list or if there is anyone who may be removed from this list.
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YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE JEWISH ….

And Jethro said, “Blessed is the Lord, who delivered you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh, who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.” Exodus 18:10

BT Sanhedrin 94a teaches: “And Jethro said, ‘Blessed is the Lord who delivered you’; at which a Tanna (anonymous teacher of 1st-3rd century CE Judea) taught in the name of R. Pappias: It was a reproach to Moses and the six hundred thousand [Israelites] that they did not bless [the Lord] until Jethro came and did so.”

Rabbi Shlomo of Radomsk (mid-19th century Poland) teaches: “This statement seems strange, because we know the song that Moses and the Israelites sang after the crossing of the sea was no less a praise of God than Jethro’s words. Rather, Jethro was an innovator of a new form of expressing thanks to God. The Israelites praised God for what He did for them, but Jethro praised God for His loving-kindness to and deliverance of others. In this he was first.”

Unstated but understood here is that Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, is NOT an Israelite. In fact, he is a priest of the Midianite religion. The Talmud seems to be saying, “You Israelites! You, not the foreigner, should have thought of this.” Shlomo of Radomsk doesn’t understand the rebuke – the Israelites did praise God, after all. Instead, he sees something much deeper – two things really. Jethro the foreigner taught the Israelites a new way to thank God (by saying “blessed”), and also a new reason to praise God – not just for themselves, but for other people too. It’s not much of a leap to see that Judaism has long adopted from other cultures, that Judaism teaches that everyone, Jew or not, has a path to and can have a relationship with God, and, that we should bless God for that possibility.

Shabbat Shalom!

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

"From the place where we are absolutely right, flowers will never grow in the spring."
"מן המקום שבו אנו צודקים לא יצמחו לעולם פרחים באביב"
Yehuda Amichai
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My weekly divrei torah are available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail list. No salesman will call!
Cyber Torah list management:
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to:ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah”.
To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to:ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah”.
To dedicate a Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah, send an e-mail to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Dedicate Cyber Torah” and provide details in the message body.

SHABBAT ACROSS AMERICA AT BETH MEIER


Thursday, January 21, 2016

SING A NEW SONG

Parashat B’shallach (Shabbat Shirah)
13 Shevat 5776 / 22-23 January 2016
Torah: Exodus 13:17 – 17:16
Haftarah: Judges 4:4 – 5:31

For a full calendar of events and other info about our community, check out www.bethmeier.org

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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Candlelighting: 4:55 pm

Friday: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
SundayReligious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00. Tu Bish’vat Seder – 10:30 am. Everyone is invited!
Monday: Tu BiSh’vat
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon
Friday, 29 January: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 30 January: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday, 31 JanuaryReligious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00.

Shabbat Across America is coming – Friday, March 4 – Learners’ Service and Shabbat Dinner – mark your calendar and check your mail for details. Cost - $5.00/person – RSVP MANDATORY

Next time you come to Beth Meier, please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of Shirley Kronzek, whose first yahrzeit is this Wednesday, 17 Sh’vat. Y’hi zekherah liv’rakhah – May her memory be a blessing.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah bat Devorah, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Pamela Huddleston, Stephanie Kane, Elaine Kleiger, Philip Kovac, and Marsha Meyers.

Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to this list or if there is anyone who may be removed from this list.
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SING A NEW SONG

"Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song ..." Exodus 15:1

"And Miriam chanted to them ..." Exodus 15:21

"And the women dancing with their timbrels, Followed Miriam as she sang her song" Miriam's Song by Debbie Friedman

The well-known Song at the Sea, Exodus 15:1-18, has become part of the daily liturgy. This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of the Song, in honor of the song. But Miriam also sang a song, only one verse, according to the Torah, to which the women danced and played musical instruments.



Ellen Frankel, in her Torah commentary The Five Books of Miriam, notes that modern biblical scholars "believe that Miriam's song was censored or lost, due to a later generation's uneasiness with female leadership." Curiously, this week's haftarah includes the Song of Deborah and Barak (Judges 5:1-31). This is after Barak had told Deborah (at 4:8), "If you will go with me, I will go (to fight the Canaanites); if not, I will not go." Over the centuries, the idea of leadership by such charismatic women as Miriam and Deborah became lost. Whatever ritual rights and obligations may have existed became lost as well.

In the past generation, Jewish women have fought to regain their proper place on the bimah, as b'not mitzvah, and as rabbis, cantors, and synagogue leaders. Now, egalitarianism is a given in most non-Orthodox congregations. Sadly, it is also taken for granted.

If Jewish women wish to retain the rights they fought so hard to achieve, they must recapture their song, and like the men, sing it every day! Whether it be tallit, tefilin, or public reading of the Torah, those rights are meaningless if never exercised. And that goes for the men, too! If BEING Jewish is to have any meaning, you should be DOING Jewish! "Sing to the Lord a new song!" Psalms 96:1; 98:1

Shabbat Shalom U'vrakhah - A Shabbat of Peace and Blessing
Tu BiSh’vat Sameach!

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

"From the place where we are absolutely right, flowers will never grow in the spring."
"מן המקום שבו אנו צודקים לא יצמחו לעולם פרחים באביב"
Yehuda Amichai
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My weekly divrei torah are available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail list. No salesman will call!
Cyber Torah list management:
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah”.
To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah”.
To dedicate a Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah, send an e-mail to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Dedicate Cyber Torah” and provide details in the message body.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

LET ALL THE PEOPLE GO!

Parashat Bo
6 Shevat 5776 / 15-16 January 2016
Torah: Exodus 10:1 – 13:16
Haftarah: Jeremiah 46:13-28

For a full calendar of events and other info about our community, check out www.bethmeier.org

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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Candlelighting: 4:48 pm

Friday: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday: NO Religious School and NO Adult Hebrew Class – MLK, Jr. weekend
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon
Friday, 22 January: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 23 January: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday, 24 January: Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00. Tu Bish’vat Seder – 10:30 am. Everyone is invited!

Shabbat Across America is coming – Friday, March 4 – Learners’ Service and Shabbat Dinner – mark your calendar and check your mail for details

Next time you come to Beth Meier, please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah bat Devorah, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Pamela Huddleston, Stephanie Kane, Elaine Kleiger, Philip Kovac, and Marsha Meyers.

Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to this list or if there is anyone who may be removed from this list.
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LET ALL THE PEOPLE GO!

"... (Pharaoh) said to (Moses and Aaron), 'Go, worship the Lord your God! Who exactly is going?' And Moses said, 'With our young and old we will go; with our sons and daughters, with our flocks and herds we will go, for it is a festival to the Lord.'" Exodus 10:8-9.

In Chumash Etz Hayim, Rabbi Harold Kushner asks why Moses emphasizes "young and old." He cites several commentators as answering: "because no celebration is complete without children"; "a child without parents is an orphan, but a nation without children is an orphan people"; and, "We will go with our old people who feel rejuvenated at the prospect of living in freedom."

With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day coming on Monday, we should pause to reflect on what this passage, and the entire Exodus story, must have meant to African-Americans during their 350-year struggle for freedom. It was less than 150 years ago when an entire people was enslaved in America. Individual slaves might from time to time be set free - without their spouses, children, parents or siblings. This is exactly what Pharaoh would ultimately propose to Moses and Aaron - that only the adult men should go and worship God. What did "freedom" mean to those lucky few, in America or in Egypt, who were set free? What did it mean to those who remained in slavery? Dr. King knew, just as Moses did, just as we all know, that freedom means little, if anything, under those circumstances, because a person can not be free as long as others around him/her are slaves.

We may be fortunate, indeed, to live in a time and place when we have more freedom, religious and otherwise, than our ancestors could possibly have imagined. But from a spiritual standpoint, with that freedom comes an obligation - to bring our young and old, our sons and daughters, along with us. Everybody is invited to God's party - but the celebration simply can not be complete unless we bring everyone along with us.

Shabbat Shalom!

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

"From the place where we are absolutely right, flowers will never grow in the spring."
"מן המקום שבו אנו צודקים לא יצמחו לעולם פרחים באביב"
Yehuda Amichai
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My weekly divrei torah are available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail list. No salesman will call!
Cyber Torah list management:
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah”.
To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah”.
To dedicate a Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah, send an e-mail to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Dedicate Cyber Torah” and provide details in the message body.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

AN INHERITANCE IS MORE THAN AN HEIRLOOM

Parashat Va’era
28 Tevet 5776 / 8-9 January 2016
Torah: Exodus 6:2 – 9:35
Haftarah: Ezekiel 28:25-29:21

For a full calendar of events and other info about our community, check out www.bethmeier.org

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Candlelighting: 4:42 pm

Friday: Family and Children’s Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday: Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am.
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon
Friday, 15 January: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 16 January: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday, 17 JanuaryNO Religious School and NO Adult Hebrew Class – MLK, Jr. weekend
Sunday, 24 January: Tu Bish’vat Seder – 10:30 am. Everyone is invited!

Shabbat Across America is coming – Friday, March 4 – Learners’ Service and Shabbat Dinner – mark your calendar and check your mail for details

Next time you come to Beth Meier, please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah bat Devorah, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Pamela Huddleston, Stephanie Kane, Elaine Kleiger, Philip Kovac, Marsha Meyers, and Gil Robbins.

Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to this list or if there is anyone who may be removed from this list.
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AN INHERITANCE IS MORE THAN AN HEIRLOOM

"And I will bring you to the land which I swore by My hand to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and I will give it to you as an inheritance; I the Lord." Exodus 6:8

"The Torah commanded to us by Moses is an inheritance of the Congregation of Jacob." Deuteronomy 33:4



These are the only verses in the Torah in which the word "morashah" - "inheritance" appears. It should come as no surprise that the Land of Israel and the Torah of Moses should be considered inheritances. They are not simply important; they are the greatest gifts we Jews have received from God, apart from the Exodus itself, which put us in a position to receive those gifts. It was in the Israel that the central place of Jewish worship was built, in Jerusalem, called by the Rabbis “the navel of the world”. From there, Jews spread out with the Torah, delivering God’s word to all, acting as “a light unto the nations”.

Inheritances are wonderful. We use them to fulfill our dreams and desires, accomplishing things we might otherwise have thought to be beyond our reach. We build houses, get educations, and even establish foundations. However, the difficulty we face is that we frequently characterize unique inheritances as “heirlooms”. Heirlooms, we put on shelves, behind glass, to be admired. We say of them, “I am saving them for my children.” And what do our children do? The very same thing! But we and they never use heirlooms.

Our land and our Torah are not things to be adored from a distance. Each is an inheritance whose value actually increases with use. The more we visit and live in Israel, the more we use the land for its intended purpose as a homeland for the Jewish people, the better off the land and the Jewish people will be. The more Torah we learn, teach and follow, the more we live Torah, as an example to others, the better off the world will be.

Don't keep your inheritances locked up in a vault. Use them, enjoy them, share them - you'll be glad you did.

Shabbat Shalom!

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

"From the place where we are absolutely right, flowers will never grow in the spring."
"מן המקום שבו אנו צודקים לא יצמחו לעולם פרחים באביב"
Yehuda Amichai
-------------------------------------------------------------
My weekly divrei torah are available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail list. No salesman will call!
Cyber Torah list management:
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to:ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah”.
To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to:ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah”.
To dedicate a Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Dedicate Cyber Torah” and include the details in the body of the e-mail.

HOLY AFIKOMAN!

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