Parashat Va'etchanan - Shabbat Nachamu
16 Av 5778 / 27-28 July 2018
Torah: Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11
Haftarah: Isaiah 40:1-26 (First Haftarah of Consolation)
Haftarah: Isaiah 40:1-26 (First Haftarah of Consolation)
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
STANDING AT SINAI AGAIN – AND AGAIN
This week's parashah is packed with some of the most familiar passages in the Torah. Among them are: the Ten Commandments (5:6-18 - a slight variant from Exodus 20); a verse which has been incorporated into the prayer Aleinu (4:39); the congregational statement when the first aliyah to the Torah is called up (4:4); and the first paragraph of the most important Jewish theological statement, the Shema (6:4-9).
Why has so much of this parashah been taught to us (more than from any other parashah), incorporated into our prayer services, recited morning and evening every day? It seems as if it has been permanently hardwired into the Jewish brain and soul. The answer, I believe, is found in other, less well-known verses from this parashah and from Parashat Nitzavim.
"The Lord our God sealed a covenant with us in Horeb (Sinai). Not with our ancestors did the Lord seal this covenant, but with us, us, who are here today, all of us living." Deuteronomy 5:2-3
Since the events of Sinai had occurred 38 years previously, Moses could not have meant that the younger, desert generation received the Torah at Sinai, could he? Well, yes, he did. Moreover, we learn that he means all of us, all of our ancestors and all our generations yet to come.
"Not with you alone do I seal this covenant and this oath; but with the one who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as the one not here with us today." Deuteronomy 29:13-14; see also Babylonian Talmud Sh'vuot (Oaths) 39a
Every time we study the Torah or hear it read, we are standing before God at Sinai, receiving the Torah anew, and reaffirming the covenant with God. God continually reveals Torah to us, even as we continually uncover new layers of meaning – that is why the blessing for each aliyah can be read as: Blessed are You, Lord, the One Who is giving the Torah. Each of us was there then, each of us is there now, and each of us will always be there. See you there!
Shabbat Shalom!
This week's parashah is packed with some of the most familiar passages in the Torah. Among them are: the Ten Commandments (5:6-18 - a slight variant from Exodus 20); a verse which has been incorporated into the prayer Aleinu (4:39); the congregational statement when the first aliyah to the Torah is called up (4:4); and the first paragraph of the most important Jewish theological statement, the Shema (6:4-9).
Why has so much of this parashah been taught to us (more than from any other parashah), incorporated into our prayer services, recited morning and evening every day? It seems as if it has been permanently hardwired into the Jewish brain and soul. The answer, I believe, is found in other, less well-known verses from this parashah and from Parashat Nitzavim.
"The Lord our God sealed a covenant with us in Horeb (Sinai). Not with our ancestors did the Lord seal this covenant, but with us, us, who are here today, all of us living." Deuteronomy 5:2-3
Since the events of Sinai had occurred 38 years previously, Moses could not have meant that the younger, desert generation received the Torah at Sinai, could he? Well, yes, he did. Moreover, we learn that he means all of us, all of our ancestors and all our generations yet to come.
"Not with you alone do I seal this covenant and this oath; but with the one who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as the one not here with us today." Deuteronomy 29:13-14; see also Babylonian Talmud Sh'vuot (Oaths) 39a
Every time we study the Torah or hear it read, we are standing before God at Sinai, receiving the Torah anew, and reaffirming the covenant with God. God continually reveals Torah to us, even as we continually uncover new layers of meaning – that is why the blessing for each aliyah can be read as: Blessed are You, Lord, the One Who is giving the Torah. Each of us was there then, each of us is there now, and each of us will always be there. See you there!
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth
Meier
"שתיקה
כהודאה דמיא"
Silence in the face of wrongdoing is
consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
-----------------------------------------------
Candle lighting: 7:39 pm
Friday: Shabbat Evening Service with Steve Pearlman –
7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Torah study/breakfast with Steve Pearlman –
8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service with Steve Pearlman – 9:30
am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Tuesday: NO Lunch and Learn while
Rabbi Flom is away. Resumes August 7.
Next time you come to TBH/CBM,
please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items
(no glass) for SOVA.
This d'var torah is offered in honor
of Steve Pearlman, in thanks for his commitment and service to our community –
yasher koach!
This d'var torah is offered for a
refuah shleimah for Elisheva bat Malkah, Ze’ev ben Adeline, Eilite bat Miriam,
Sarah bat Devorah, Hiroe Andreola, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels,
Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel),
Annabelle Flom (Channah Bella bat Kreina), Bernard Garvin, Leah Granat, 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), Irwin Silon, and Jonathan Woolf.
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!):
To subscribe to Cyber
Torah, send an e-mail with the subject heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah”
to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
Send requests for dedications of
Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah
shleimah to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
To unsubscribe from
Cyber Torah, send an e-mail with the subject heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah”
to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
