Thursday, September 8, 2016

THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

Parashat Shoftim
7 Elul 5776 / 9-10 September 2016
Torah: Deuteronomy 16:18 - 21:9
Haftarah: Isaiah 51:12 - 52:12 (Fourth Haftarah of Consolation)

Rosh HaShanah is three weeks from Sunday! Please submit your Membership/High Holy Day forms ASAP! And check your mail for our High Holy Day bulletin.

Congregation Beth Meier is looking for volunteers for the High Holy Days: to help set up/tear down for services, chant Torah and Haftarah, daven, lead English readings, and, have aliyot and other Torah/bimah honors. Contact Rabbi Flom at the synagogue office or by e-mail for details and to sign up!

Dedications and Calendar of Events follow. 

For our High Holy Day schedule, and lots of other info about our community, please check out our web site at: http://www.bethmeier.org/ 

For this year’s Cheshbon HaNefesh worksheet, see: 


Congregation Beth Meier has developed a GoFundMe page: 


Please visit the page and consider a donation. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

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

I originally published this some years ago, but it seems especially relevant in this US presidential election year.
--------------------------------------------
THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

"Thus (the king) will not act haughtily to his fellows or deviate to the right or to the left from the commandment ..." Deuteronomy 17:20

In the verses preceding the above, the king is instructed to always have a personally written copy of the Torah at his side and to study it all his life. It is to serve as a constant guide to him, to keep him from straying off the path that is commanded in the opening verses of this parashah ("Justice, justice you shall pursue" - 16:20 - found at the entrance to the US Supreme Court)

The past few years have seen an increasing coarseness and shrillness in our “civil” discourse. Whether discussing candidates, political or economic issues, matters of war and peace, local or international concerns, we seem to have lost our way in the manner in which we treat each other. “Respect” has become a word without meaning, or at best, something demanded but not offered. Those in power, those who seek power, and those who support them, at any level of society, more and more often treat those with whom they disagree as the evil enemy of all that is right and good. Extreme rhetoric begets extreme positions beget extreme conduct – it is a dangerous path.

It is worth remembering that the Torah has a different approach to how rulers ought to exercise their authority. Staying between the lines of right and left, traveling down the middle of the lane - that is the way to go. What happens when a driver goes too far to the right or to the left? A wreck!

The staking out of extreme positions to placate a "base" is the exact opposite of what the Torah instructs. Look at the road - the lanes are wide - the boundary lines at the edges are narrow. This is why Rambam teaches in Hilkhot De'ot (Laws of Character Traits) 1:3 - "The two extremes of each trait, which are distant from each other, do not make a proper path. It is improper for a man to follow them or to teach them to himself." This applies not only to our rulers, but to each and every one of us!

Extreme moderation - that is the rule of the road.

Shabbat Shalom!

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

http://www.bethmeier.org
Blogging at: rav-rich.blogspot.com/
Visit me on Facebook
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
--------------------------------------------
Candle lighting: 6:49 pm

Friday – Family Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services.
Sunday - first day of Religious School – 9:30 am! If you have or know of any Jewish children ages 7-13 in need of a warm and welcoming Jewish education in a small setting, bring them on down! Or call Rabbi Flom or Elaine Kleiger at the synagogue office. Adult Hebrew with Barry Glass and Lynda Foster – 10:00 am.
Tuesday – Lunch and Learn – noon - a 90 minute discussion on a Jewish topic of interest. Everyone is welcome to participate. Lunch is provided - donation requested.
Friday, 9/16 – Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 9/17 – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services.
Sunday, 9/18 – Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew – 10:00 am.
Saturday, 9/24 – Selichot Service with Rabbi Flom and Cantor Katz – 9:00 pm.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, HaRav Yisrael Shimon ben Liebah Breina, Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, Sarah bat Devorah, Jackie Aaronson, Susan Arbetman, 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, Myra Goodman, Fouad Kay (Yehoshua ben Salima), Stephanie Kane, Philip Kovac, Toni Linder, Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), and Naomi Zimmermann (Naomi bat Yorma).

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.

HOLY AFIKOMAN!

Parashat Tzav (Shabbat Parah) Adar II 20, 5784 / March 29-30, 2024 Torah: Leviticus 6:1 - 8:36 Maftir (Parah): Numbers 19:1-22 Haftarah (Par...