6 Iyar 5778 / 20-21 April 2018
Parashat Tazria-Metzora
Torah: Leviticus 12:1 - 15:33
Torah: Leviticus 12:1 - 15:33
Haftarah: 2 Kings 7:3-20
From our Chairman of the Board, Dr. Lenny Adelson:
Dear Friends,
I have entered a team for Temple B'nai
Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier for the 2018 LA Walk to End Genocide by Jewish
World Watch. I am hoping we can support this great cause, including some
walkers!
The walk is scheduled: Sunday April 22,
2018, 9 am - noon
Pan Pacific Park
7600 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
7600 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(If someone can actually lead the team, that
would be great as I will have other volunteer activities to help with the
event.)
To find the team, for to jww.org, click 'take
action' near the top of the page, click "Walk to End Genocide' from the
list, click Los Angeles, April 22, click 'Find a Walker or Team' and
scroll. Follow the instructions to register.
To donate quickly, a direct link to my
fundraising effort:
Thanks, and hope to see you out there!
Lenny
Calendar and dedications follow below. For a full
calendar of events and other info about Temple B’nai Hayim/Congregation Beth
Meier, check out:
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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CHARITY DELIVERS FROM DEATH
“And the person with
tzara’at, in whom there is affliction, his clothes shall be torn, his hair
shall go uncut, and he shall cover over his lips; and ‘Contaminated!
Contaminated!’ he will call out. All the days the affliction is in him, he
will be contaminated, he is contaminated; he will dwell in isolation, his
dwelling will be outside the camp.” Leviticus 13:45-46
This week’s double parashah, Tazria-Metzora,
describes a disease called “tzara’at”, which is usually but incorrectly translated
as “leprosy”. These readings, along with rabbinic tradition, indicate that
disease was often regarded as coming from God. This would imply that
trying to cure people would be interfering with God’s will. This is the
attitude taken by, for example, many Christian Scientists, who rely on prayer
rather than doctors.
But the Jewish response is different. These
parshiyot teach that the “metzora” (the person who is guilty of being a “motzi
shem ra” – the one who brings forth a bad name, i.e., slander spiritual) can
indeed be cured – if the sick person follows the instructions of the Torah and the
presiding priest, including identifying himself as guilty of the sins of
slander and/or gossip. The Torah says elsewhere, “… you shall surely heal him.”
(Exodus 21:19) This, our rabbis say, gives permission for doctors to
practice medicine. The verse further teaches that we have a positive
obligation to care for our health – and the health of others – particularly
when it is a matter of life or death. This idea is called “pikuach nefesh”
– literally, saving a soul. Here, the metzora is saving his/her own soul.
There’s an interesting passage indirectly about
pikuach nefesh in the Talmud at BT Shabbat 156b. In a discussion about astrology,
both Rabbi Akiva and Samuel (another rabbi of a preceding generation) share
stories and teach that “charity delivers from death” (quoting Proverbs 10:2 and
11:4). The initial teaching seems to be that the subjects of the stories were
saved from astrologically predicted deaths because they gave charity to
others. But a deeper reading shows that their charity resulted in saving
the lives of the beneficiaries.
I was reminded of this once when I was donating
platelets at the blood bank. For about a year, every time I had donated, I had
seen the same man, also a donor. He appeared to be homeless, or at least
quite poor. In our conversation, he said that he donates every two weeks,
the maximum allowed. He does not do it for money – that is prohibited by
law. He does it, he said, because a woman in Baltimore, who needs platelet
transfusions to live, is a perfect match for his platelets. “How could I
not do this?” he told me.
Clearly, his charity is delivering another human
being from death. And if it does nothing to raise him out of poverty, it
is delivering his soul to the highest possible elevation. By giving, we
save the lives of others and our own souls.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Visit me on Facebook
"שתיקה כהודאה
דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is
consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
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Candle lighting: 7:11pm
Friday: Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Breakfast/Torah Study – 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning
Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon follows. Israeli food and songs in honor of
Yom Ha’atzma’ut – Happy Birthday, Israel!
Sunday: Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00
am.
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.
Friday, 27 April: Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat
follows.
Saturday, 28 April: Breakfast/Torah Study – 8:45 am. ShMA (Shabbat Morning Adventure)
Service – 9:30 am. Guitar-accompanied children and family friendly service led
by Steve Pearlman. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday, April 29: Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00
am.
Next time you come to TBH/CBM after
Pesach, 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 cousin Irvin Jacobson, whose yahrzeit falls this Shabbat. Y’hi zikhro
liv’rakhah – his memory is a blessing.
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Ze’ev ben Adeline, Eilite bat Miriam, Sarah bat Devorah, Hiroe Andriola, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Bernard Garvin, Myra Goodman, Leah Granat, Simon Hartmann, Brandon Joseph, Gabor Klein, Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), David Marks, Debra Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), Alan Stolzenberg, Jonathan Woolf, Howard Yudell, 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.
Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!):
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