GIVING THANKS

Parashat Vayetze

7 Kislev 5775 – 28-29 November 2014

Torah: Genesis 28:10 - 32:3
Haftarah: Hosea 12:13 - 14:10 (Ashkenazim); Hosea 11:7 - 14:10 (Sephardim)

Calendar and dedications follow below. For a full calendar of events and other info about Congregation Beth Meier, check out: www.bethmeier.org

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

"She conceived again and bore a son, and said, 'This time I will thank (odeh) the Lord.' Therefore she named him Yehudah (Judah) ..." Genesis 29:35

The late Ken Goldrich (z"l) and his wife Lois wrote a beautiful little pamphlet called "Thanksgiving Reflections" (available at: http://www.uscj.org/JewishLivingandLearning/ShabbatandHolidayInformation/Holidays/SecularHolidays/ThanksgivingReflections.aspx) in which they comment on this verse. They note that we Jews are called in Hebrew "Yehudim", as the descendants of Judah. But it literally means that we are "the ones who give thanks".

On this upcoming Thanksgiving Day, and every day, we should give thanks for our families, our friends, our communities and our lives. We should give thanks that we are fortunate enough to live in a country founded on the Torah principles of justice and freedom, where we are free to practice our faith. We should give thanks - and mean it!

Thanksgiving Day derives from the harvest holiday of Sukkot. At your Thanksgiving table this week, you might wish to recite Psalm 100 (Mizmor L'Todah, A Psalm of Thanksgiving) or any of the psalms that are typically recited during Hallel (the Service of Praise sung at Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot and Rosh Chodesh). Or download the pamphlet and consider its teaching.

Our Rabbis taught: know before Whom you stand. In a similar vein, know to Whom you should give thanks.

Yom L'Todah Sameach - Shabbat Shalom U'Vrakhah!
Happy Thanksgiving! Have a Shabbat of Peace and Blessing!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom – ZSRS ‘00

Congregation Beth Meier

Studio City, CA

http://www.bethmeier.org/

Visit me on Facebook

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Candlelighting: 4:26 pm

Thursday: Thanksgiving Day. CBM office closed. Yom L’Todah Sameach!

Friday: NO Friday evening service this week. Friday services resume December 5.

Saturday: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.

Sunday: NO Religious School. NO Adult Hebrew class. Both resume December 7.

Tuesday: NO Lunch and Learn. Program resumes December 9.

This d’var torah is offered in memory of Lynn’s grandfather, Gabriel Stern, whose yahrzeit falls on Tuesday, 10 Kislev. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah – May his memory be a blessing.

This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Boaz ben Dina, Michah ben Dina, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah Mindel bat Toby, Bonnie Baird, Jeff Bluen, Elsbet Brosky, John Todd Brosky, Howard Ehrlich, Maya Fersht, Dr. Samuel Fersht, Jerry Forman, Leo Hoenig, Neal Hoffman, Pamela Huddleston, Rose Jordan, Lina Kniter, Jeannie Kottler, Shirley Kronzek, Annie Rivera, Irwin Silon and Ruth Silon.

My weekly divrei torah are also available by free subscription to the Cyber Torah 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

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

REDIGGING THE WELLS OF TORAH

29 Cheshvan 5775 / 21-22 November 2014

Parashat Tol’dot

Torah - Genesis 25:19 - 28:9
Haftarah – 1 Samuel 20:18-42 (Machar Chodesh)

This d’var torah is offered in memory of Rabbi Mosheh Twersky, Rabbi Kalman Levine, Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, and Rabbi Avraham Goldberg, murdered by terrorists in their Jerusalem synagogue on Wednesday, and Police Officer Zidan Saif, killed in a gunfight with the terrorists. Y’hi zikhronam liv’rakhah - May their memories be a blessing.

Calendar and dedications follow below. For a full calendar of events and other info about Congregation Beth Meier, check out: www.bethmeier.org

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
REDIGGING THE WELLS OF TORAH

"And the Philistines stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt … Isaac dug anew the wells which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death; and he gave them the same names that his father had given them." Genesis 26:15; 18.

We often use the term "Philistine" to refer to someone lacking or opposed to cultural or intellectual values. However, the Philistines here are something else - they are opposed to ethical monotheism and the Jewish conception of God. A midrash teaches that the wells symbolize the seven Noahide commandments which prohibit murder, idolatry, immoral sexual behavior, blasphemy, theft, and meat cut from a living animal, and require the establishment of courts of justice.

A later Jewish commentator (Yaakov Zvi Mecklenburg [1785-1865], in “Haketav V'hakabbalah - “The Written Torah and the Received Tradition”) sees the Philistines' action as symbolic of idol worshippers trying to bury faith in God and the righteous behavior that comes from that faith. The very names of the wells (such as "Be’er-lachai-ro’i” – “the well of the living God that sees me") were used to tell people about God; and Abraham, he says, would tell the (physically and spiritually) thirsty people around him, "Let us go and draw water from the well of the eternal God."

The Philistines thought that Abraham's death meant the death of his ideas. Isaac proved them wrong, by redigging the wells and using the same names for them. So it is with us. The passing of our grandparents' or parents' generation does not mean the death of "the faith of our fathers", so long as we keep the faith. If we refuse to learn Jewish traditions and values, or to teach them to our children, we have surrendered to the Philistines. It is up to us to redig the wells.

Have a wonderful Shabbat and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom – ZSRS ‘00

Congregation Beth Meier

Studio City, CA

http://www.bethmeier.org/

Visit me on Facebook

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Candlelighting: 4:28 pm

Friday: NO Friday evening service this week or next. Friday services resume December 5.

Saturday: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.

Sunday: Rosh Chodesh Kislev. Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew class – 10:00 am.

Tuesday: NO Lunch and Learn. Program resumes December 9.

Thursday: Thanksgiving Day. CBM office closed. Yom Hodu Sameach!

The Los Angeles Clippers are having Jewish Community Night on Wednesday, December 17. Contact the Beth Meier office for specially-priced ticket info and purchase – this program is only available through participating synagogues – not on the Clippers website.

This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Boaz ben Dina, Michah ben Dina, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah Mindel bat Toby, Bonnie Baird, Jeff Bluen, Elsbet Brosky, John Todd Brosky, Howard Ehrlich, Maya Fersht, Dr. Samuel Fersht, Jerry Forman, Leo Hoenig, Neal Hoffman, Pamela Huddleston, Rose Jordan, Lina Kniter, Jeannie Kottler, Shirley Kronzek, Annie Rivera, Irwin Silon and Ruth Silon.

My Divrei Torah are also available by free subscription to the Cyber Torah 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

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

SACRIFICE – WHAT SACRIFICE?

15 Cheshvan 5775 / 8 November 2014

Parashat Vayera

Torah: Genesis 18:1 – 22:24

Haftarah: 2 Kings 4:1-37

Dedications and calendar follow below. For complete listings and lots more info on our community, see our web site at: http://www.bethmeier.org/

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source
----------------------------------------------------------------
SACRIFICE – WHAT SACRIFICE?

"And it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, 'Abraham', and he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains that I will tell you of.'" Genesis 22:1-2

This is the lead-in to the Akeidah, the binding and near-sacrifice of Isaac. There are many, I among them, who believe that Abraham failed God's test by acquiescing to this command. Our children are our legacy. They are a part of us and so much more. We live on through them. Why would we sacrifice them? The very idea goes against everything Judaism stands for – indeed, molokh worship (human sacrifice) is specifically forbidden, subject to the death penalty, and was one of the reasons given for the commandment to destroy the Canaanites.  

But there is another way to fulfill a mitzvah, to offer up parts of ourselves, to live on in a meaningful way and yet to suffer not at all - organ donation. Indeed, virtually all rabbis agree that organ donation at death is a positive mitzvah - an obligation of pikuach nefesh - saving a life. This idea represents everything that Judaism does stand for.

Next weekend, November 14-16, is National Donor Sabbath, a project of the US Department of Health and Human Services. More information is available at the web site: 

http://www.organdonor.gov/

Last year, about 30,000 organ donations were performed in the US. This is impressive, until one realizes that there are over 120,000 Americans on the waiting lists for various organs. Every day, 80 transplants are performed in the US, while 18 people die waiting for organs they needed to survive. You can alleviate the pain and suffering of others, literally give them life, merely by completing an organ donation card available from your motor vehicle department or at the web site above.

Does it work? My childhood friend and neighbor, Toni Linder, is alive today because the family of 18-year-old Kevin Fox, who died as the result of a traffic accident, overcame their grief and permitted doctors to harvest his organs, one of which she received. As I was preparing this d’var torah, Toni wrote to me to tell me that a friend of hers, also on the transplant list, had just been notified that a heart had become available – another life being saved!

Sacrifice? Giving up that which is no longer needed to those in the greatest of needs - this is a final exam anyone can pass.

L’chayim! To Life!

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Richard A. Flom - ZSRS '00

Congregation Beth Meier

Studio City, CA

http://www.bethmeier.org/

Visit me on Facebook

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Candlelighting: 4:37 pm

Friday: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.

Sunday: Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew class – 10:00 am.

Tuesday: Lunch and Learn - Noon.

The Los Angeles Clippers are having Jewish Community Night on Wednesday, December 17. Contact the Beth Meier office for specially-priced ticket info and purchase – this program is only available through participating synagogues – not on the Clippers website.

This d’var torah is offered in honor of Toni Linder, the living, Kevin Fox, who lives on, and the Fox family who made it happen.

This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Boaz ben Dina, Michah ben Dina, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah Mindel bat Toby, Bonnie Baird, Jeff Bluen, Elsbet Brosky, John Todd Brosky, Howard Ehrlich, Maya Fersht, Dr. Samuel Fersht, Jerry Forman, Leo Hoenig, Neal Hoffman, Pamela Huddleston, Rose Jordan, Lina Kniter, Jeannie Kottler, Shirley Kronzek, and Annie Rivera.

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