Parashat
Pinchas
Tammuz
19, 5780 - July 10-11, 2020
Torah:
Numbers 25:10 - 30:1
Haftarah:
Jeremiah 1:1 - 2:3 (First Haftarah of Rebuke)
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF TEMPLE B'NAI HAYIM IN ASSOCIATION WITH CONGREGATION BETH MEIER. THE ANNUAL CONGREGATION MEETING IS THIS SUNDAY, JULY 12, AT 10:00 AM PDT. CHECK YOUR EMAIL FOR THE ZOOM LINK AND TELEPHONE INSTRUCTIONS.
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF TEMPLE B'NAI HAYIM IN ASSOCIATION WITH CONGREGATION BETH MEIER. THE ANNUAL CONGREGATION MEETING IS THIS SUNDAY, JULY 12, AT 10:00 AM PDT. CHECK YOUR EMAIL FOR THE ZOOM LINK AND TELEPHONE INSTRUCTIONS.
Candle lighting: 7:48 pm
Links
to all of our on-line activities can be found below.
Please
feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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SPEAKING
TRUTH TO POWER - WITH THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE
"The
daughters of Tzeloph'chad speak right; you shall surely give them
a hereditary portion among their father's kin; you shall transfer their
father's share to them." Numbers 27:7
Tzeloph'chad
died leaving no sons - only daughters. The law at the time was that
females had no hereditary rights. The daughters challenge this, and God
delivers a new law to Moses and the people, acknowledging the justice of their
claim. A later stipulation is that while women may inherit land from their
fathers, they must marry within their own clan, to keep the land within
the clan's control.
Later,
the Rabbis ruled that widows and unmarried daughters are entitled
to financial support by the deceased's estate, even when they do not
inherit because there is a surviving son. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles) ruled
in the Shulchan Arukh that fathers may leave an inheritance for their
daughters, even when there is a surviving son. And the chief rabbinate of the
land of Israel ruled in 1943 under a takkanah (a reparative enactment) that in
Israel , daughters inherit equally with sons.
It
all sounds primitive. Today we accept the notion of women's equality in
inheritance, and in most, if not all aspects of our lives, as a given. But
this was a sea change brought about by Tzeloph’chad’s daughters, and tells
us much about Judaism and women, law and justice. Jewish women
spoke up and demanded that a wrong be righted - and they got it! More
broadly, Jewish law has a methodology for adjusting to changed circumstances
and addressing injustice.
The
Midrash says that Tzeloph'chad's daughters were learned in Torah, and that is
how they were able to bolster their arguments for change in the law. If
that is so, then it suggests that knowledge is an important weapon
to wield in demanding justice from the power structure of society.
The
Torah is your birthright. Learn it, and feel the power within!
Shabbat
Shalom.
Rabbi
Richard A. Flom
.הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם ?אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם
Who
is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben
Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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Join
our Kabbalat Shabbat Service, with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and Rabbi
Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT at:
Downloadable
and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat
Morning, and more, available at:
http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/form-download-e-siddur-0
This week's Torah readings, chanted by Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and with commentary by Rabbi Flom, can be viewed here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/v8V8Ir2o_zo3TIaStQSDBvJwW9XoLa-s1SVNq_QOyxzjBXMDN1SnYrVEM-puBZOTE359mV42AOXX2g2t?startTime=1594329537000&_x_zm_rtaid=mF5EkXhsRSOFeyuroaLU9Q.1594336759310.12c567fccfb331db96aaed147b213826&_x_zm_rhtaid=517
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/v8V8Ir2o_zo3TIaStQSDBvJwW9XoLa-s1SVNq_QOyxzjBXMDN1SnYrVEM-puBZOTE359mV42AOXX2g2t?startTime=1594329537000&_x_zm_rtaid=mF5EkXhsRSOFeyuroaLU9Q.1594336759310.12c567fccfb331db96aaed147b213826&_x_zm_rhtaid=517
This week's Haftarah, chanted by Barry Glass, can be viewed here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QNlNx1bT0K3K3QncTHQrBoFRRKu7EUdx/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QNlNx1bT0K3K3QncTHQrBoFRRKu7EUdx/view
NO CLASS THIS WEEK - CONGREGATION MEETING. TUNE IN AGAIN ON SUNDAY, JULY 19. Join us every Sunday at 11:00 am PDT for "History of the Jews of
Israel and the Middle East" with David Silon at:
Join
us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm PDT for Lunch and Learn, a 60 minute
study session. We're learning the weekly haftarah. Join us at:
Study materials for Lunch and Learn for Tuesday, July 7 are available at:
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Study materials for Lunch and Learn for Tuesday, July 14 are available at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1W9DZHg6swXv4AeT45FPOoPpadbWH74PN?usp=sharing
Study materials for Lunch and Learn for Tuesday, July 14 are available at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1W9DZHg6swXv4AeT45FPOoPpadbWH74PN?usp=sharing
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