Parashat Nitzavim
28 Elul 5775 / 11-12
September 2015
Torah: Deuteronomy 29:9 –
30:20
Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10 -
63:9 (Seventh Haftarah of Consolation)
Dedications and calendar
follow below. See our web site at www.bethmeier.org for complete listings.
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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THE ROAD TO HELL AND THE
EASY WAY
“For this commandment which
I am commanding you today is not hidden from you; it is not far away. It is not
in Heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go to Heaven and get it for us, so that
we might hear it and do it?’ For this matter is very near to you, in your mouth
and in your heart, to do it.” Deuteronomy 30:11-12, 14
R. Nachman of Bratzlav:
“Only the path to Gehinnom (hell) is difficult and bitter. I see people
spending restless days and sleepless nights plotting how to go about sinning,
and afterwards there is regret, which continues for the rest of their lives.
But the way to the Garden of Eden is an easy one, short and pleasant for those
who walk it.”
Sometimes we make our lives
too difficult. We devote time and energy trying to avoid doing the right thing,
making excuses for bad acts, compromising principles, rationalizing our way out
of truth, justice and righteousness. An acquaintance of mine, an ex-convict,
once told me that the most difficult part of his criminal life was trying to
remember all of the lies he had told, keeping them straight in his mind, not
getting caught in the web of dishonesty he had spun. It would have been so much
easier to be honest.
Rebbe Nachman teaches that
same lesson in the context of following the ways of the Torah. With observance,
with honesty, with righteousness, there are no regrets, no lies, and no guilt.
In the long run, it’s easier to be a mentsch (a decent person) than it is to be
a rasha (an evildoer). The Torah, the Tree of Life – “its ways are ways of
pleasantness and all its paths are peace.” Proverbs 3:17
Shabbat shalom!
L’shanah tovah u’metukah
tikateivu v’tichateimu. May you be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet
year.
Rabbi Richard Flom
Congregation Beth Meier
Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/
Visit me on Facebook
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Candlelighting:
Friday: 6:47 pm
Sunday: 6:44 pm
Monday: 7:39 pm
Friday: Shabbat Evening Family Service – 7:30
pm. Oneg Shabbat follows
Saturday: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am.
Kiddush lunch sponsored by Avremi and Brenda Manzur.
Sunday: Religious School
Rosh Hashanah
Service Schedule (all
services at First Christian Church at Moorpark and Colfax):
Sunday - Rosh Hashanah Evening Service – 6:30 pm
Monday and
Tuesday - Rosh Hashanah
Morning Services – 8:30 am both days. Tashlikh following Monday service. Bring
your bread crumbs!
Friday, 18
September: Shabbat Dinner
– 6:30 pm (SORRY, DINNER RESERVATIONS HAVE CLOSED) Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00
pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 19
September: Shabbat
Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Trip to Israel
This d’var torah
is offered in memory of my grandmother, Cora Slome, whose yahrzeit falls on
Shabbat, 28 Elul. Y’hi zikhronah liv’rakhah – Her memory is a blessing.
This d’var torah
is offered in memory of Amram Manzur, whose yahrzeit falls on Shabbat, 28 Elul.
Y’hi zikhrono liv’rakhah – His memory is a blessing.
This d’var torah
is offered in memory of our Founder and Teacher Rabbi Meir Schimmel, whose
yahrzeit falls today, 26 Elul. Y’hi zikhrono liv’rakhah – His memory is a
blessing.
This d’var torah
is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Lieba
bat Fishel, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah bat Devorah, Ken Bitticks,
Elsbet Brosky, 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, Stephanie Kane, Philip Kovac, Annie Rivera, Lenore Rosen, and
Gil Robbins.
My weekly divrei torah are
also available by e-mail from the Cyber Torah list.
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.
