REDIGGING THE WELLS OF TORAH

Parashat Tol’dot

28 Cheshvan 5778 / 17-18 November 2017
Torah Reading - Genesis 25:19 - 28:9
Haftarah: Shabbat Machar Chodesh - 1 Samuel 20:18-20:42

Calendar and dedications follow below. For more information about our community, check out our web site at:

www.bnaihayim.com

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REDIGGING THE WELLS OF TORAH

"And the Philistines stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt … Isaac dug anew the wells which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death; and he gave them the same names that his father had given them." Genesis 26:15; 18.

We often use the term "Philistine" to refer to someone lacking or opposed to cultural or intellectual values. However, the Philistines here are something else - they are opposed to ethical monotheism and the Jewish conception of God. A Midrash teaches that the wells symbolize the seven Noachide commandments which prohibit murder, idolatry, immoral sexual behavior, blasphemy, theft, and meat cut from a living animal, and which require the establishment of courts of justice.

A later Jewish commentator (Yaakov Zvi Mecklenburg [1785-1865], in “Haketav V'hakabbalah - “The Written Torah and the Received Tradition”) sees the Philistines' action as symbolic of idol worshippers trying to bury faith in God and the righteous behavior that comes from that faith. The very names of the wells (such as "Be’er-lachai-ro’i” – “the well of the living God that sees me") were used to tell people about God; and Abraham, he says, would tell the (physically and spiritually) thirsty people around him, "Let us go and draw water from the well of the eternal God."

The Philistines thought that Abraham's death meant the death of his ideas. Isaac proved them wrong, by redigging the wells and using the same names for them. So it is with us. The passing of our grandparents' or parents' generation does not mean the death of "the faith of our fathers", so long as we keep the faith. If we refuse to learn Jewish traditions and values, or to teach them to our children, we have surrendered to the Philistines. It is up to us to redig the wells.

Have a Wonderful Shabbat!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

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

Visit me on Facebook

Twitter: @DrahcirMolf

"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"

"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”

BT Yevamot 88a

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CALENDAR

Candle lighting: 4:30 pm

Friday – Shabbat Evening Service at 6:30 pm, followed by Annual Turkey Dinner at 7:15 pm. RSVP deadline for dinner has passed.

Saturday – Breakfast and Torah study - 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.

Sunday – Religious School – 9:30 am. Sign up the kids and bring ‘em on down! Adult Hebrew with Barry Glass at 10:00 am! 

Tuesday – Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.

Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday, November 24 – Shabbat Evening Service at 7:30 pm, followed by Oneg Shabbat.

Saturday, November 25 – Breakfast and Torah study - 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.

Sunday, November 26 – NO Religious School or Adult Hebrew.

TBH Religious School and TBH Pre-school have open enrollment. Enroll your children now! Contact the TBH office for information.

And be sure to tell your neighbors, friends, and relatives about our warm and welcoming community and our programs!

We are looking for volunteers for services: chant Torah or Haftarah, daven, lead English readings, and have aliyot and other Torah/bimah honors. Contact Rabbi Flom by e-mail for details and to sign up!

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Ze’ev ben Adeline, HaRav Chana Rivka bat Doronit, Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, Eilite bat Miryam, HaRav Tzvi Hersh ben Frimet, Sarah bat Devorah, Hiroe Andriola, Susan Arbetman, Stuart Barth, Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Bernard Garvin, Myra Goodman, Leah Granat, Simon Hartmann, Brandon Joseph, Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), Lyndia Lowy (Leah bat Sarah), Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), Jonathan Woolf, and Meagan Yudell.

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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