GOD PROVIDES, PROVIDED YOU PROVIDE

Shevat 13, 5786 / January 30-31, 2026

Parashat Beshallach

Torah: Exodus 13:17-17:16 (Shabbat Shirah)

Haftarah: Judges 4:4-5:31 (Ashkenazim); Judges 5:1-5:31 (Sephardim)

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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. On February 2, which is also Tu B'shevat, we'll be at BT Pesachim 101a, as we continue preparing for Passover (yes, I know it's not for many weeks yet!)

"... אֲמַר לְהוּ רַב עָנָן בַּר תַּחְלִיפָא" - "Rav Anan bar Taḥalifa said to them ..."

On-line at: https://www.sefaria.org/Pesachim.101a.4?lang=bi 

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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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GOD PROVIDES, PROVIDED YOU PROVIDE  

"The Lord will fight (y'lachem) for you, and you will hold your peace (tacharishun)." Exodus 14:14 

The commentary P'ninei Hatorah uses word play to understand this text. "God will arrange your food, your bread (lechem, punning on y'lachem), provided that 'you will hold your peace' – that you not quarrel among yourselves, because 'a single argument drives away one hundred livelihoods". 

Rebbe Meir of Premishlan goes one better. "It is true that God will provide bread - provided it is your obligation to work and to plow (l'charosh, punning on tacharishun)." (Both comments appear in Itturei Torah) 

Tu B'Shevat - the Seven Species of Eretz Yisrael - Wheat, Barley, Grapes, Figs, Pomegranates, Olives, and Dates

Our teachers have simple but important messages. First, God provides us with sustenance, a livelihood, a way to earn our bread - provided we don't destroy each other’s livelihoods through petty disputes. To me, this means even more - that which God creates, we have the power to destroy. Second, God helps those who help themselves (God also helps those who are unable to help themselves - and so must we). God creates grain, but we must sow, work, harvest, grind and bake before it becomes bread. We are certainly able, if not obligated, to beautify and improve upon God's handiwork in order to make use of it - even as we are commanded not to destroy any of God's world.

This coming Monday, February 2, we will observe Tu Bish'vat to remind us - we are the ones who have the power to improve the world - or to destroy it. 

Shabbat Shalom! Tu B'shevat Sameach!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom, DD (HC)

Rabbi Emeritus, Temple B'nai Hayim

"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"

"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”

BT Yevamot 88a

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CHOLESTEROL OF THE SOUL

Parashat Va’era

Tevet 28, 5786 / January 16-17, 2026

Torah Reading : Exodus 6:2 - 9:35

Haftarah: Ezekiel 28:25 - 29:21

Mevarkhim Hachodesh

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This d'var torah is offered in memory of my beloved mother, Annabelle Flom, whose yahrzeit falls this Thursday, Shevat 4 (January 22). We still hear the music. Y'hi zekherah liv'rakhah - Her memory is a blessing.

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Monday, January 19 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Now more than ever we must remember his lessons and put them into action. Raise your flag, read or listen to Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech: 

https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety 

and then, take the sort of action that would make him proud. God knows we need it.

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Lunch and Learn meets Tuesdays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. NOTE: NO LUNCH AND LEARN ON JANUARY 19. 

 
On January 26, we'll continue our learning about Passover at BT Pesachim 99b,  - "... עֶרֶב פְּסָחִים סָמוּךְ לַמִּנְחָה" - "On the eve of Passover, adjacent to mincha time ...

The link to our reading is at: 

https://www.sefaria.org/Pesachim.99b?lang=bi 

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

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CHOLESTEROL OF THE SOUL

 

“And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, ...” Exodus 7:3

 

The notion that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart raises great difficulty. What does this say about free will? Rabbi Yochanan asks, “Doesn’t this provide heretics with ground for arguing that he had no means of repenting?” If God caused Pharaoh to refuse to let the Israelites go, if he foreclosed Pharaoh from repentance, if everything is preordained, then how can anyone be held accountable for their actions? To paraphrase Abraham, how can God, the judge of all the world, then claim to be acting justly?

"Moses Speaks to Pharaoh" - James Tissot, ca 1896-1902

For the first five plagues, “Pharaoh’s heart hardened” - he chose to act as he did. But for the last five plagues, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”. In the Midrash, Resh Lakish (Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish) says, “Let the mouths of the heretics be stopped up. ‘If to scorners, He will scorn.’ (Proverbs 3:34) When God warns a man once, twice, even three times, and still he does not repent, then God closes his heart against repentance so that He should exact vengeance from him for his sins.” Still, why does God harden Pharaoh’s heart at all? Or does God really do that?

 

Interestingly, in the Talmud, Resh Lakish gives a different and more satisfying answer. He says, “What is the meaning of ‘If to scorners, he will scorn; and to the meek he gives favor’? If he tries to defile himself, he is given an opening; if he tries to purify himself, he is helped.” Note the lower case here. Not God, but man. If we turn to scorners, we will scorn. If we turn to the meek, we give ourselves favor. 

We always have the choice to open our hearts and souls or harden them to the cries of others. If we choose evil, God passively leaves openings, which we can choose to enter - or not. If we choose time and again to harden our souls, it becomes more and more difficult for us to change our ways. But the difficult is not impossible. Because, says Resh Lakish, if we choose goodness, God affirmatively helps us. 

 

Unclog the arteries of your soul, and heed the cries of those in need.

 

Shabbat Shalom v'Chodesh Tov.

Rabbi Richard A. Flom, DD (HC)

Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 87b
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GOD HAPPENS!

Parashat Sh’mot

Torah: Exodus 1:1 - 6:1

Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6 - 28:13; 29:22-23 (Ashkenazim); Jeremiah 1:1 - 2:3 (Sephardim)

Tevet 21, 5786 / January 9-10, 2026

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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. On January 12, we'll be at BT Pesachim 2a, as we begin preparing for Passover (yes, I know it's not for 12 weeks yet!)

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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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GOD HAPPENS!

"... You shall go with the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, happened upon us. And now, please let us go on a three-day journey in the desert and we shall sacrifice to the Lord, our God.'" Exodus 3:18

A traditional take (Rashi and Sforno) on this verse is that the Israelites are telling Pharaoh that this was not something that they had asked for or intended - after all, Pharaoh hates them enough as it is! Sforno adds that the Israelites are saying, "It's His will, He commanded us, what can we do?" And yet, one has to wonder - perhaps the Israelites did cause God to "happen" upon them.

At the end of chapter 2 of Exodus, the Israelites groaned because of their slavery and cried out. Their cries reached God, Who "remembered" the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They turned to God and their outcry caused God to respond. One might say, then, that one can bring God into the world, cause God to "happen", by praying, or by crying out, or by searching for God.

Moses at the Burning Bush (Domenico Fetti, ca. 16-1615-1617)

On the other hand, perhaps Moses made God happen through his own actions. Moses acted righteously on several occasions before God chose him to save the Israelites - he struck down the Egyptian who was beating an Israelite, he saved Tzipporah and her sisters from the shepherds at the well, and he stopped to consider the burning bush. He was not seeking God, but he caused God to happen by acting justly, by defending the downtrodden, and by acknowledging a miracle.

We can cry out to God, we can pray to God, we can search for God, we can act in a Godly way - God comes into our lives, God happens, if we make God happen.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom, DD (HC)

Rabbi Emeritus, Temple B'nai Hayim

"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"

"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”

BT Yevamot 88a

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My weekly divrei torah are available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail list. No salesman will call!

Cyber Torah list management:

To subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah”.

To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah”.

To dedicate a Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah, send an e-mail to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Dedicate Cyber Torah” and provide details in the message body.