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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