THE END OF POVERTY IS IN YOUR HANDS

Av 27, 5784 / August 30-31, 2024

Parashat Re'eh
Torah: Deuteronomy 11:26 - 16:17
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:11 - 55:5

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Reb Jason will be off this Shabbat evening, recharging his batteries a bit to prepare for the High Holy Day onslaught, so yours truly will be conducting our Temple B'nai Hayim Shabbat Evening services, on Zoom and FB streaming, at 7:00 PM, Friday, August 30. The service will be a cappella. PM me for the Zoom link, or visit our Temple B'nai Hayim FB page.

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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 will meet again on September 9. See next week's Cyber Torah for details.

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

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

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THE END OF POVERTY IS IN YOUR HANDS

"However, there shall be no needy among you ..... If there should be a needy person among you … you shall not harden your heart or close your hand against your needy brother ... For the needy shall never cease to exist in the land; therefore I command you saying, 'You shall open your hand to your brother, to your poor and to your needy in your land.'" Deut. 15: 4, 7, 11

What is Moses trying to teach us here? In two brief paragraphs, he tells us there will be no needy people; then he tells us what to do should there somehow be needy people; and then, he says there always will be needy people. The answer is found, in part, in the verses I did not quote. If only you hearken to the voice of the Lord, observe this commandment, etc. - then there will be no needy. So why does he conclude by saying that the needy will always exist - and that it's our responsibility to remedy that situation?

Moses is a cynic. He suspects that not everyone will obey the commandment to give tzedakah (צדקה - "charity", from the Hebrew root צדק meaning "justice" or "righteousness"), or lend to the poor under a social regime in which all debts are forgiven every seven years. He's correct, of course, which is unfortunate. It means that those who do give, who do obey this commandment (and the related commandments concerning corners of the field, tithing, etc.), bear an unfair share of society's burden. Perhaps this is why, at the opening of next week's parashah, Shoftim, Moses reinforces this by saying, "צדק צדק תרדף למען תחיה" - "be just, pursue justice, that you may live."

In Psalms 41:2 we are told: “Fortunate is one who is thoughtful to the poor." According to Rabbi Yehudah Nachshoni, one who observes these laws "cannot live by exploitation or by using money for evil purposes." To him, it is self-evident. This is not feel-good pop psychology. Money is morally neutral. It's what we do with it that counts. If we use our money for evil, or simply refuse to part with it out of greed or selfishness, it does no one any good; if we use it for good, we can not possibly use it for evil.

This is easy enough to prove to yourself. Every time you are about to spend money on something morally or legally questionable, drop the money in a tzedakah box instead. You'll be surprised to see how much good can come from avoiding evil.  Create a good habit.  Or make it a habit even if you don't spend money in questionable ways! Anybody reading this can afford to put something in a tzedakah box on a regular basis - like every Friday afternoon before Shabbat. Prove Moses wrong! We can end poverty not with closed fists, but only with open hands.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom - Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim

.אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם? הַלוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם

Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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BEARING AND SHARING THE BURDEN

Parashat Devarim

Torah: Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22

Haftarah: Isaiah 1:1-27 (Shabbat Chazon – Shabbat of Vision)

Av 6, 5784 / August 9-10, 2024

Tisha B’Av reading: Megillat Eikhah – The Book of Lamentations

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This Shabbat is Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbat of Vision, so-called because we read on Shabbat morning the rebuking vision of Isaiah, leading into the observance of Tisha B’Av on Tuesday night and Wednesday, August 12-13, and the reading of the horrifying vision of the Book of Lamentations (Megillat Eikhah). Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, and numerous other calamities which have befallen the Jewish people on the same date. 

This d'var torah is offered in memory of Sarah Labovitz Flom (my grandmother) and Martha Gottschalk Stern (Lynn's grandmother), whose yahrzeits fall Wednesday, August 14 (10 Av), and Friday, August 16 (12 Av), respectively. Both were US immigrants and asylum seekers, escaping antisemitic persecution from Romania (1902) and from Nazi Germany (1937 via France 1934). Their memories are blessings.

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 will not meet until September 9. Rabbi Flom on vacation.

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

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BEARING AND SHARING THE BURDEN

"How (eikhah in Hebrew) can I alone bear your vexation and your burden and your strife?" Deuteronomy 1:12

Rashi: "Even if I were to say that I will do so in order to receive a reward, I may not do so."

Rashi offers the traditional Jewish take on the limits of personal responsibility. One is actually forbidden to voluntarily take on a burden that might be greater than one can bear, even (especially?) if one does so in order to receive a reward from God and/or the community. One may not voluntarily injure oneself (except to save a life); also, too much responsibility assumed by one person can actually do damage to the community.

Moses Speaks to the Israelites (Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux)

But what happens when one refuses to accept any share of the burden for communal needs? R. Yosef Yozel Horowitz (1847-1919 - aka The Alter of Novardok) takes Rashi's comment and stands it on its head. He says, "Traditionally, this verse is read to the melody of Lamentations (Megillat Eikhah, from the first word of Lamentations), to teach us that if a person refuses to assume the responsibility for community needs, and thinks that by doing so he makes things easier for himself, he will in the end find out that matters will be worse for him, and he will remain alone and isolated. How (eikhah) does one dwell alone?" (From Itturei Torah)  As John Donne said: “No man is an island entire of itself.”

We are forbidden to take on so much responsibility that we become a burden on the community. On the other hand, we are forbidden to neglect our obligations to the community. These two teachings together offer a great insight, summed up by Rabbi Tarfon: "You are not obligated to finish the task, neither are you free to neglect it." Avot 2:21 If we share the burden, it's easier to bear. That's community spirit!

Shabbat Shalom! And have a meaningful fast.

Rabbi Richard A. Flom - Rabbi Emeritus

Temple B'nai Hayim

הרחמן הוא יברך אותנו כולנו יחד בברכת אחוה, ובברכת אהבה,  ובברכת שלום

May the Merciful One bless us, all of us as one, with the blessing of brotherhood, the blessing of love, and the blessing of peace.

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