Parashat Beha'alot'kha
9 Sivan 5774 / 6-7 June 2014
Torah: Numbers 8:1 - 12:16
Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14 - 4:7
Dedications and calendar
follow below. For complete listings and lots of other information about
our community, see our web site at: www.bethmeier.org
Please feel free to pass this
on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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TANSTAAFL*
"The riffraff in their midst surely felt a craving; and then the
Israelites wept and said, 'If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we
ate for free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the
garlic. Now our bodies are wasting, there is nothing at all except this manna
to look at.'" Numbers 11:4-6
Rashi: "For free" means freely, without the obligation of the
mitzvot.
Sefat Emet: They craved a craving.
The people did not actually crave meat. In truth, they sound like people
with a substance abuse problem - looking back wistfully at their days of
slavery. Addiction isn't freedom. They craved a lifestyle in which
they were not responsible for themselves or to God. They preferred to be
slaves to their physical desires than to be servants of God. Who needs
responsibility when one can be led by one¹s nose by masters - masters that are
human, or created by humans? It is often difficult to cope with real
freedom, because with freedom comes responsibility.
The punishment the Israelites receive is to be buried under a mountain of the
stuff they claim to crave - until it comes out of their nostrils. They
were sickened by their craving, and struck by a plague from God.
Alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling - these are plagues from humans, but the
lesson is the same. Like the Israelites, one is cured - one can get to
the Promised Land - only once one accepts the responsibility that comes with
freedom.
*TANSTAAFL - There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!
Rabbi Richard Flom
Congregation Beth Meier
Studio City, CA
Visit me on Facebook
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CBM Calendar:
Candle lighting: 7:43 pm
Friday: Shabbat evening service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00
am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.
Friday, June 13: Family Shabbat Evening Service –7:30 pm
Saturday, June 14: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avram Yisrael ben
Channah (Robert Flom), Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Howard Ehrlich, Jerry
Forman, Pamela Huddleston, Rose Jordan, Jayne Kaplan, Frank Marcovitz, Marshall
Neiman, Phil Raider, and Helen Schugar.
Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to the refuah
shleimah list or if there is anyone who may be removed from the list.
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
To request dedications of Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in
memory of loved ones or for a refuah shleimah send an e-mail with your request
to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail with the subject
heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah” to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
