Parashat
Sh’lach L’kha
26
Sivan 5775 / 12-13 June 2015
Torah:
Numbers 13:1 - 15:41
Haftarah: Joshua 2:1-24
Haftarah: Joshua 2:1-24
Dedications
and Calendar of Events follow below. Full calendar and other information
about our community may be found at: http://www.bethmeier.org
Please
feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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KEEP
YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE
"And it will be for you as a fringe, that you look at it, and remember all of the Lord's commandments, and do them; and that you not rove after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you might go astray." Numbers 15:39
"The
heart and the eyes, they are the spies of the body, acting as procurers for its
sins. The eye sees, the heart covets, and the body sins." Rashi (citing
Tanchuma)
This
verse, also part of the third, concluding paragraph of the Sh'ma, refers to the
commandment to wear tzitzit, fringes, on the four corners of a tallit or other
garment. The great Torah teacher, Nechama Leibowitz z'l, finds Rashi's
statement "rather strange". Why shouldn't we look about at the world,
and take it all in? After all, didn't God create it?
The
answer may be found in the type of looking that we do. When we look at God's
creation, we can appreciate it as something much greater than ourselves, of
which we are a very small part; or, we can look at it as something which we
covet, believing that we are greater than creation – and its Creator.
Our
purpose in the world is not to take whatever we want, whenever we want it.
Rather, we are to serve as God's partners, albeit very limited partners, in
maintaining, repairing and improving the world (and ourselves!). We do this
through the performance of mitzvot. Focusing on the tzitzit keeps us on task
when our minds start to wander. Put on a tallit, look at the tzitzit, and
remember why you are here!
Shabbat
Shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Congregation Beth Meier - Studio City , CA
Visit me on Facebook
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Candle lighting:
7:46 pm
Friday:
Family Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Shabbat
Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday:
Religious School
Tuesday:
Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.
This d’var torah is offered in honor of Hannah
Medved, becoming a bat mitzvah this Shabbat. Mazal Tov!
This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah
for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Naomi bat Yorma, Miriam Minya bat Alisa
Batya, Sarah Mindel bat Toby, Jeannie Berger, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky,
Jacob William Cohen, Jerry Daniels, Howard Ehrlich, Maya Fersht (Maya bat
Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint, Annabelle
Flom (Chanah Bella bat Kreina), Gig Flom (Gittel Tobi bat Blanca), Jerry
Forman, Pamela Huddleston, Betsy Kleiger, Philip Kovac, Marilyn Lee, and Annie
Rivera.
My
weekly divrei torah are also available through free e-mail subscription to the Cyber
Torah list. No salesman will call!
Cyber Torah list management:
To
subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Subscribe Cyber
Torah”.
To
unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address
to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Unsubscribe Cyber
Torah”.
To
dedicate a Cyber Torah in honor of
a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah, send
an e-mail to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Dedicate Cyber
Torah” and provide details in the message body.
