ONE WHO SAVES A LIFE …

Parashat Sh’mot

Torah: Exodus 1:1 - 6:1

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

Tevet 18, 5785 / January 17-18, 2025

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This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for all who have lost their homes and/or their businesses and/or their livelihoods as a result of the ongoing fires in Los Angeles.

This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for the firefighters and other first responders who risk their health and their lives in fighting those fires.

This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for the hostages.

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.

This d’var torah is offered in honor of the memory of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this Monday, January 20.

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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. On January 20, we'll be at Ein Ya'akov Vol. 3, Chagigah, p. 27 (BT Chagigah 15b): 

"ורבי מאיר היכי גמר תורה מפומיה דאחר"

"But how did R. Mair (sic) study the Law from the mouth of Acher?"

Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) is available for on-line reading or as a downloadable PDF at: 
https://hebrewbooks.org/9630 

A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria: 

https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov?tab=contents 

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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/ 

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

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ONE WHO SAVES A LIFE …

"But the midwives feared God, and they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, for they kept the male children alive." Exodus 1:17

Rashi - They would supply them with food and water.

"Pharaoh and the Midwives" - (The Golden Haggadah, Catalonia, early 14th century)

Rabbi Nissan Puchinski - The implication is that had they not supplied them with food and water, they would be considered as murderers, because preventing someone from being saved is considered similar to murder.

Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 - "One who takes a single human life; it is as if he destroyed an entire world. One who saves a single human life; it is as if he saved an entire world."

In its classic form, the Kabbalistic concept of tzimtzum relates to God withdrawing or contracting in order to make room for the physical universe. However, according to Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, after the Shoah, tzimtzum was necessary in order for human beings, no longer willing or able to operate only as God's servants under an imposed mandatory covenant system, to instead become God's partners in a voluntary covenant. God has "self-limited", he says, "contracting divine power in order to empower humanity." Under this theory, every Jew is a "Jew by choice". The purpose of the partnership agreement is tikkun olam - the restoration of a shattered world.

God may have withdrawn from visibly active participation in the physical world, but God is still present in healing shattered hearts and comforting the suffering. God acts through us, as we are told in Isaiah 43:12, "You will be my witnesses." Witnessing is NOT merely watching and reporting; it means undertaking action to fulfill the terms of a holy partnership and improving the world to its ideal state. It is our empowerment with independent action which makes every human being truly "in the image of God". 

Please, donate your time and/or money as generously as you can to organizations that feed the hungry, house the homeless, provide medical care to the needy – you get the idea. Now more than ever - in Los Angeles and in other stricken areas across the US and across the world. Now more than ever - join the partnership! Use your power to save life.

Shabbat Shalom!
 
Rabbi Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence is an admission.”
BT Yevamot 87b
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