Parashat Terumah
Torah: Exodus 25:1 – 27:19
Haftarah: 1 Kings 5:26 – 6:13
Haftarah: 1 Kings 5:26 – 6:13
4 Adar 1 5776 / 12-13
February 2016
For a full calendar of
events and other info about our community, check out www.bethmeier.org
Please feel free to pass
this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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Candlelighting:
5:15 pm
Friday: Family Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30
pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am.
Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday: NO Religious School
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon
Friday, 19
February: Shabbat
Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 20
February: Shabbat morning
service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday, 21
February: Religious
School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class - 10:00.
SHABBAT ACROSS
AMERICA is coming
– Friday, March 4 – Learners’ Service and Shabbat Dinner – mark your
calendar. Cost - $5.00/person – RSVP MANDATORY! You can now
view the flyer at:
For Shabbat Across
America, off-street parking will be available at First Christian Church
cattycorner from the synagogue.
Next time you
come to Beth Meier, please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged
foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.
This d'var torah
is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben
Bella, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah bat Devorah, Ken
Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat
Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint
(Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Pamela Huddleston (new kidney –
hooray!), Stephanie Kane, Philip Kovac, Suzanne Rosenthal (Sima Devorah
bat Chanah), and Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga).
Please let me know
if there is anyone you would like to add to this list or if there is anyone who
may be removed from this list.
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THE WORLD YOU SAVE MAY BE
YOUR OWN
“Speak to the Children of
Israel, that they bring Me an offering; from every person whose heart so moves
him you shall take My offering.” Exodus 25:2
The word “v’yik’khu”, usually translated here as “that they bring”, literally means “that they take”. The idea is that the Israelites willingly take from among their possessions and donate for the building of the tabernacle. Some commentators understand the verse to mean that leaders of the people are to “take” up a collection. However, the Hasidic master Menachem Mendel of Kotzk has a different “take” on the matter (pardon the pun).
He teaches that “v’yik’khu” also means to trade or engage in business. Simply because one has a setback in business, he doesn't stop trading, for then his business will collapse completely. The Kotzker says that the same is true for the Torah and the mitzvot. If one does not succeed once or twice, he must nevertheless continue to work at self-improvement, and not give up.
That all seems straightforward enough. But then he says, “If the Torah is not learned and the mitzvot not performed, the world simply cannot exist.” This is an astonishing statement! The world needs Jews who actually practice Judaism! Even if one disagrees with him about the state of the world (I happen to agree with him wholeheartedly), one cannot dispute the state of the Jewish people, which needs Jews who practice Judaism! If all we have is an identity fostered by lox and bagels (foodaism), or observance limited to a once a year visit to the synagogue (nostalgic tourist Judaism), we simply will not exist as a people. If our children see that Torah and mitzvot mean little to us, they will wonder why Judaism should mean anything at all to them. But if we live Jewish lives, then the Jewish people will survive and thrive.
“Take” the time to offer your heart and your mind and your limbs for learning and for doing Jewish. It might just save the world.
The word “v’yik’khu”, usually translated here as “that they bring”, literally means “that they take”. The idea is that the Israelites willingly take from among their possessions and donate for the building of the tabernacle. Some commentators understand the verse to mean that leaders of the people are to “take” up a collection. However, the Hasidic master Menachem Mendel of Kotzk has a different “take” on the matter (pardon the pun).
He teaches that “v’yik’khu” also means to trade or engage in business. Simply because one has a setback in business, he doesn't stop trading, for then his business will collapse completely. The Kotzker says that the same is true for the Torah and the mitzvot. If one does not succeed once or twice, he must nevertheless continue to work at self-improvement, and not give up.
That all seems straightforward enough. But then he says, “If the Torah is not learned and the mitzvot not performed, the world simply cannot exist.” This is an astonishing statement! The world needs Jews who actually practice Judaism! Even if one disagrees with him about the state of the world (I happen to agree with him wholeheartedly), one cannot dispute the state of the Jewish people, which needs Jews who practice Judaism! If all we have is an identity fostered by lox and bagels (foodaism), or observance limited to a once a year visit to the synagogue (nostalgic tourist Judaism), we simply will not exist as a people. If our children see that Torah and mitzvot mean little to us, they will wonder why Judaism should mean anything at all to them. But if we live Jewish lives, then the Jewish people will survive and thrive.
“Take” the time to offer your heart and your mind and your limbs for learning and for doing Jewish. It might just save the world.
Be Happy – It’s Adar!
Shabbat Shalom!
Grand Rabbi Abba Reuven ben Menachem Mendel Flom, Sh’lita
Grand Rabbi Abba Reuven ben Menachem Mendel Flom, Sh’lita
Der Heiliger Studio City
Rebbe
Av Beis Din - Chelm
Av Beis Din - Chelm
Mishenichnas Adar, Marbim B’simcha
- From the beginning of Adar, we increase joy!
Congregation Beth Meier - Studio City , CA
Website: http://bethmeier.org
Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com
"From the place where
we are absolutely right, flowers will never grow in the spring."
"מן המקום שבו אנו צודקים לא יצמחו לעולם פרחים באביב"
Yehuda Amichai
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