THE MOSAIC

Parashat Bamidbar
Sivan 5, 5782 / June 3-4, 2022

Torah: Numbers 1:1 – 4:20

Haftarah: Hosea 2:1-22

Shavuot 1

Sivan 6, 5782 / June 4-5, 2022

Torah: Exodus 19:1 – 20:22; Numbers 28:26-31

Haftarah: Ezekiel 1:1-28; 3:12

Shavuot 2

Sivan 7, 5782 / June 5-6, 2022

Book of Ruth

Torah: Deuteronomy 15:19 – 16:17; Numbers 28:26-31

Haftarah: Habakkuk 3:1-19 (Ashkenazim) or Habakkuk 2:20 - 3:19 (Sephardim)

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This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Bella bat Kreina, Feigel bat Kreina, and D'vorah bat Feigel.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of my father, Martin Flom,  z”l, whose yahrzeit falls on Monday, Sivan 7. His memory is a blessing.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of my grandfather, Jacob Slome,  z”l, whose yahrzeit falls on Tuesday, Sivan 8. His memory is a blessing.

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Lunch and Learn  meets Tuesdays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. We're continuing to read and discuss the Midrashic collection Ein Ya’akov. On June 7, we'll be at page 1 (my pagination) of Chapter 7 of BT Berakhot (45a) - "When three eat together..." -  "...שלשה שאכלו באחד” The reading may be found at: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RcHx6HDRnN1ZxsRK7l4xA21wuL6Z87EU/view?usp=sharing 

Previous chapters of Ein Ya'akov are available as follows:

Chapter 1: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jt-NLamlIiAGpBhU7WNrCVZGBYhHHWCN/view?usp=sharing  

Chapter 2: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vJHoKQJwoObg2ygnnXc7qIV5Adgcvswc/view?usp=sharing 

Chapters 3 and 4: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TpQwHh2XyWT9XYQ5OAjwxDbuVpXbzIDY/view?usp=sharing 

Chapter 5: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18naYXIfd37WqagfJ5UfJoH84amqt2-tA/view?usp=sharing 

Chapter 6: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QOGujnXBhbJalQbfp3vPpK7TeeZejXZo/view?usp=sharing 

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My Tikkun Leil Shavuot study materials are available at:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DciPH28b0BO9z9P11taj3tjnJFVjaWIN?usp=sharing  

Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at: 

https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 

Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", which you can read here: 
https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com   

Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, at: https://bnaihayim.org/  

 

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source. 
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THE MOSAIC

“Every man with his own standard, with ensigns according to their fathers’ houses, so shall the Children of Israel pitch the camp; at a distance from the tent of meeting shall they encamp.” Numbers 2:2

One should not for a moment believe that this verse is a license for each of us to go our individual ways. We are indeed to maintain our individual identities, but only within the context of the larger community.

The commentary Bet Aharon (Rabbi Aaron of Karlin, 1736-1792, disciple of Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch) makes this point in an interesting way. “Every Jew must know and think that he is unique in the world, and there has never been another person exactly like him. If there had been someone just like him, there would have been no need for him. In truth, every person is someone new in the world, who needs to improve his character and his Torah for the sake of his soul, until the entire world has been repaired through the effort of the Jewish people.”

Let me expand upon Bet Aharon. In my view, this applies to every member of the human race. We live in a broken world - each of us can make a unique contribution toward improving it through our moral and ethical development and then by putting our learned principles into action.

Revelation at Mt. Sinai (Providence Lithograph Company, 1907)

It’s a pretty tall order. Look at it this way. Each of us is a "work-in-progress", an accumulation of mosaic tiles (nature, nurture, experience, education, relationships, etc.) that needs to be assembled into a complete, functional, and autonomous moral being; each of us is then a tile in a much vaster communal/societal mosaic for which we have individual and joint responsibility to assemble. When we put together the pieces of our own lives and our own souls, and place the tiles of our individual selves into the mosaic of the community, we are contributing to the improvement of the world as well.

It all starts with you.

Have a wonderful Shabbat! Chag Shavuot Sameach! See you at Mount Sinai!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom - Rabbi Emeritus

Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/
Visit me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RabbiRichardFlom 
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
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