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.
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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/

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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. 

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