FROM OUR ANCESTORS TO OUR DESCENDANTS

Parashat Bamidbar
5 Sivan 5776 / 10-11 June 2016
Torah: Numbers 1:1 – 4:20
Haftarah: Hosea 2:1-22

Shavuot 1

6 Sivan 5776 / 11-12 June 2016

Torah: Exodus 19:1 – 20:22; Numbers 28:26-31

Haftarah: Ezekiel 1:1-28; 3:12

Shavuot 2

7 Sivan 5776 / 12-13 June 2016

Book of Ruth

Torah: Deuteronomy 15:19 – 16:17; Numbers 28:26-31

Haftarah: Habakkuk 3:1-19

Calendar of Events follows below. For more information about our community, visit: www.bethmeier.org

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FROM OUR ANCESTORS TO OUR DESCENDANTS

The holiday of Shavuot is often called Chag Matan Torah, the Festival of the Giving of the Torah. I have some difficulty with that. If one receives a gift, one is under no obligation to use it, or even to keep it. How often have you stashed that gift sweater in a closet, taking it out only when you are likely to see the giver? How often have you taken a gift back to the store where it was purchased, in order to get what you really wanted? We all accept this practice - that's why the stores put gift vouchers in the box. Many of us do that with the Torah, too! We trot it out, in a sense, for the High Holy Days and our children's b'nai mitzvah, which are often the only times some of us go to synagogue services. The rest of the time, we leave it in the closet, with the mothballs. The Torah should not be treated in that way.

Our Rabbis understood that little bit of human nature. That is why a better name for Shavuot would be Chag Kabbalat Torah - the Festival of the Acceptance of the Torah. The midrash teaches that, not only did the Israelites accept the Torah, they affirmatively sought it ought! And God did not want to give it to them! According to Song of Songs Rabbah, God said to them, "Before I give you My Torah, you must provide sureties - a guarantee that you will keep the Torah." The Israelites proposed in their turn their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but each was rejected by God as insufficient. They proposed all of their prophets, but God said they were not acceptable either. Then the Israelites said, "Let our children be our sureties." And God replied, "Verily, those are good sureties; for their sake will I give you My Torah."

Our ancestors wanted the Torah so much that they promised that they, and we, and our descendants, would keep it. And Torah observance has kept us intact as a people for a hundred generations. If the Torah is constantly being given to us, as implied in the Blessing Before the Torah Reading ("notein hatorah" - the One Who gives the Torah), then we are constantly accepting it. And God is giving it to us only because our children are our sureties. For the sake of our children, and our descendants, "na'aseh v'nishma" - we should do it, and we should listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom! Chag Shavuot Sameach!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Congregation Beth Meier - Studio City, CA

Website: www.bethmeier.org

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

Twitter: @DrahcirMolf

"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

---------------------------------------------------------

Candlelighting:

Friday: 7:46 pm

Saturday: 8:49 pm

Sunday: 8:49 pm

Friday: Family Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am – Kiddush lunch follows. Tikkun Leil Shavuot at Adat Ari El. Ma’ariv and havdalah - 8:45; learning begins at 9:15 pm;

Sunday, 12 June: Shavuot Morning Service – 10:00 am.

Monday, 13 June: Shavuot Morning Service and Yizkor – 10:00 am.

Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.

Friday, 17 June: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday, 18 June: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.

Tuesday, 21 June: NO Lunch and Learn – Rabbi Flom attending conference.

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 beloved father, Martin Flom, whose yahrzeit falls on Monday, 7 Sivan. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah.

This d’var torah is offered in memory of my beloved grandfather, Jacob Slome, whose yahrzeit falls on Tuesday, 8 Sivan. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah.

This d’var torah is offered in memory of Ido Ben Ari, Ilana Neve, Michael Feige, Mila Mishayev, murdered by terrorists in Tel Aviv simply because they were Jews living in Israel. May their memories be a blessing.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for  Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Berel ben Feigel, Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah bat Devorah, Jackie Aaronson, Susan Arbetman, Scott Beatty, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky, Jerry Daniels, Beverly Erenbaum (Blimah bat Sarah), Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Myra Goodman, Stephanie Kane, Philip Kovac, Harvey Kronzek, Carolynne Lavoie-Schwartz, Toni Linder, Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), and Beatrice Weide (Bayla bat Malkah).

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.

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.