KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE

 

Parashat Sh’lach L’kha

Sivan 23, 5784 / June 28-29, 2024

Torah: Numbers 13:1 - 15:41
Haftarah: Joshua 2:1-24

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This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Sarah Raizel bat Elisheva, Elie Ya'akov ben Pesha Leah, and Yaffa bat Blimah.

This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah and a speedy and safe return of all the hostages being held by Hamas.

This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for all who have been wounded in the terrorist attacks and in fighting against the terrorists, as well as innocent non-combatants caught in the crossfire

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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. NO Lunch and Learn on June 24. On July 1, we'll be at BT Shabbat 152b, page 212 of Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) Volume 1: 

'... הנוהו קפולאי'  

"There were gravediggers ..."

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Please pass this on to a friend - and please cite the source.

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KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE

"And it will be for you as a fringe, that you look at it, and remember all of the Lord's commandments, and do them; and that you do not rove after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you might go astray." Numbers 15:39

"The heart and the eyes, they are the spies of the body, acting as procurers for its sins. The eye sees, the heart covets, and the body sins." Rashi (citing Tanchuma)

This verse, also part of the third, concluding paragraph of the Sh'ma, refers to the commandment to wear tzitzit, fringes, on the four corners of a tallit or other garment. The late, great Torah teacher, Nechama Leibowitz, finds Rashi's statement "rather strange". Why shouldn't we look about at the world, and take it all in? After all, didn't God create it?

Tzitzit with the Tekhelet strings attached.

The answer may be found in the type of looking that we do. When we look at God's creation, we can appreciate it as something much greater than ourselves, of which we are a very small part; or, we can look at it as something which we covet, believing that we are greater than creation – and its Creator.

Our purpose in the world is not to take whatever we want, whenever we want it. Rather, we are to serve as God's partners, albeit very limited partners, in maintaining, repairing and improving the world - and ourselves! (See Genesis 2:15; Leviticus 25:23). We do this through the performance of mitzvot. Focusing on the tzitzit keeps us on task when our minds start to wander. Put on a tallit, look at the tzitzit, and remember why you are here!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Rabbi Emeritus, TBH

"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"

"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”

BT Yevamot 88a

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