Parashat
Va'etchanan - Shabbat Nachamu
Dedications and Calendar of Events follow.
Check out our web site at: http://www.bethmeier.org/
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
-----------------------------------------------
Standing At Sinai Again - And Again
This week's parashah is packed with some of the most familiar passages in the Torah. Among them are: the Ten Commandments (5:6-18 - a slight variant from Exodus 20); a verse which has been incorporated into the prayer Aleinu (4:39); the congregational statement when the first aliyah to the Torah is called up (4:4); and the first paragraph of the most important Jewish theological statement, the Shema (6:4-9).
Why has so much of this parashah been taught to us (more than from any other parashah), incorporated into our prayer services, recited morning and evening every day? It seems as if it has been permanently hardwired into the Jewish brain and soul. The answer, I believe, is found in other, less well-known verses from this parashah and from Parashat Nitzavim.
"The Lord our God sealed a covenant with us in Horeb (Sinai). Not with our ancestors did the Lord seal this covenant, but with us, us, who are here today, all of us living." Deuteronomy 5:2-3
Since the events of Sinai had occurred 38 years previously, Moses could not have meant that the younger, desert generation received the Torah at Sinai, could he? Well, yes, he did. Moreover, we learn that he means all of us, all of our ancestors and all the generations yet to come.
"Not with you alone do I seal this covenant and this oath; but with the one who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as the one not here with us today." Deuteronomy 29:13-14; see also Babylonian Talmud Sh'vuot (Oaths) 39a
Every time we study the Torah or hear it read, we are standing before God at Sinai, receiving the Torah anew, and reaffirming the covenant with God. God continually reveals Torah to us, even as we continually uncover new layers of meaning. Each of us was there then, each of us is there now, each of us will always be there. See you there!
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom - ZSRS '00
Congregation Beth Meier
Studio City, CA
http://www.bethmeier.org
Visit me on Facebook
"For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still." Isaiah 62:1
--------------------------------------------
Candle lighting: 7:44 pm
7/16 – 7/22 – Rabbi Flom out of town
7/19 – Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Services led by Warren and Melinda Trauman
7/20 – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Ba'al Kriat Torah and Darshan – Moshe Blechman; Ba'alat Maftir – Melinda Trauman. Kiddush lunch follows services.
7/23 – Lunch and Learn – noon - a 90 minute discussion on a Jewish topic of interest. Everyone is welcome to participate. Lunch is provided - donation requested.
7/28 – TBM Congregational Meeting – 4:00 pm. Meet with Rabbi Flom and the Board of Directors for all to share our goals, hopes and dreams for our community.
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Dov Nechemya Hakohen ben Rachel Chaya Sarah, Eve Beatty, John Todd Brosky, Beth Goldstein, Pamela Huddleston, Micah Kosche, Sara Lanxner, Frank Marcovitz, Phil Raider, Helen Reiter, Len Reiter, Judith Sakurai, and Kitty Schmerling.
Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to this list, or if anyone's name may be removed from this list.
My weekly d'var torah is alaso available via free e-mail from Cyber Torah.
Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!):
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail with the subject heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah” to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
Send requests for dedications of Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail with the subject heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah” to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
x
