Tishrei 12, 5782 / September 17-18, 2021
Parashat Ha'azinu
Torah: Deuteronomy 32:1-52
Haftarah: 2 Samuel 22: 1-51
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah
for Chanah Elisheva bat Minnie Leah, Feigel bat Kreina, and D'vorah
bat Feigel.
Parashat Ha'azinu
Torah: Deuteronomy 32:1-52
Haftarah: 2 Samuel 22: 1-51
Don't forget to build your sukkah! May it be a sukkat shalom - a shelter of peace! Chag Sukkot Sameach!
Lunch and Learn resumes on Tuesday, October 5.
We'll be completing our study of Rambam's Hilkot Teshuvah - The Laws of
Repentance. Then we'll be learning something NEW! Proposed text study ideas
welcome!
Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, at:
https://bnaihayim.org/
Our Rabbi Jason Van Leeuwen has a blog of Divrei Torah, including his High Holy Day Sermons which you should read at:
https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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NO FEAR OF FLYING
"As an eagle that stirs up her nest, hovers over her
young; she spreads her wings, takes them, bears them on her
pinions." Deuteronomy 32:11
Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, at:
https://bnaihayim.org/
Our Rabbi Jason Van Leeuwen has a blog of Divrei Torah, including his High Holy Day Sermons which you should read at:
https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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NO FEAR OF FLYING
"You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and I brought you to Myself." Exodus 19:4
Rashi, commenting on these verses, says that the eagle bears its young on its back, to protect them, because it has no fear of other birds above, only men with arrows below. So did God figuratively carry the Israelites on His back, to protect them from the Egyptians.
Martin Buber sees the verses as bookends, metaphors for both the Exodus and the preparations for entering the Land of Israel. Building on that imagery, he says of the verse from Deuteronomy: "The eagle spreads his wings and sets one of the young upon his pinion, carries it away, and, by throwing it into the air and catching it, teaches it to fly freely. Why the one? Why else but that it may fly ahead, leading the way for the others."
In another of his writings, he says, "Here we have election, deliverance and education; all in one." (Both Buber quotes found in N. Leibowitz, New Studies in Exodus)
After having been chosen from among all the peoples to receive the Torah, to share it with others and to serve God, delivered from slavery for those purposes, and trained for 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites are now prepared for life in the land. Their existence is assured, even without God's continuing miraculous interventions, because they have learned to fly for themselves.
So it is for each of us. If we practice and teach the precepts of the Torah, we will not only survive, we will lead our children and others by example.
Time to spread those wings!
TBH/CBM
Sherman Oaks, CA
".איזה הוא חכם? הלומד מכל אדם"
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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