THE SINGINGEST HOLIDAY

Seventh Day of Pesach
Torah: Exodus 13:17 - 15:26
Maftir: Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: 2 Samuel 22:1-51

Eighth Day of Pesach
Torah: Deuteronomy 14:22 - 16:17
Maftir: Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: Isaiah 10:32 - 12:6

Additional Reading: Song of Songs

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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THE SINGINGEST HOLIDAY

On the seventh day of Pesach, the Torah portion includes the beautiful Shirat Hayam - The Song of the Sea - the Israelites' paean of thanksgiving to God for the destruction of the pursuing Egyptian army. When this section is read during the year (Parashat Beshallach), the haftarah is Judges 4:4 - 5:31. It comprises Deborah and Barak's song, celebrating their military victory over the forces of the Canaanite general Sisera. In a similar vein, the haftarah for the seventh day is a psalm of thanksgiving (a variant is found at Psalms 18), chanted by David.

There is a lesson in these choices of public readings. In Shirat Hayam, the people as a whole thank God for the miracle of the sea. Just when they feared they were doomed, they were instead saved. In Shirat Devorah, which in many ways resembles Shirat Hayam, Deborah and Barak thank God for both the collective victory of the people and their own personal salvation. Shirat David is strictly personal, completely in the first person singular, reviewing a lifetime of blessings. In each case, pleas for deliverance were answered. This is all in addition to reading Song of Songs on Shabbat Chol Hamoed and the singing of Hallel (Psalms of Praise) every day of Pesach, including at the Seder. And don’t forget all of the traditional and not-so-traditional songs we sing around the Seder table!

What we learn is that we can and should thank God, individually and collectively, for all the miracles and blessings in our lives, great and small, personal and national.  Only then can we truly appreciate the wonders of our lives.

Moadim L'simchah! Shabbat Shalom! Chag Sameach!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

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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Candlelighting: Thursday: 7:16 pm

                       Friday: 7:17 pm – light Yizkor candle first

Friday: Pesach Morning Service – 10:00 am. NO Friday evening service.

Saturday: Pesach/Shabbat morning service with Yizkor – 10:00 am. Pesach ends, and chametz is permitted, 8:16 pm

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

Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.

Friday, 6 May: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday, 7 May: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.

Sunday, 8 May: Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am

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 Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Miriam Minya bat Alisa Batya, Sarah bat Devorah, Scott Beatty, 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, Stephanie Kane, Philip Kovac, Carolynne Lavoie-Schwartz, 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.

My weekly divrei torah are available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail list. No salesman will call!

Cyber Torah list management:

To subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobl.net with the heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah”.

To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobl.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@sbcglobl.net with the heading “Dedicate Cyber Torah” and provide details in the message body.

MATZAH – THE ORIGINAL SOUL FOOD

Parashat Metzora (Shabbat HaGadol)

8 Nisan 5776 / 15-16 April 2016

Torah: Leviticus 14:1 - 15:33

Haftarah (Shabbat HaGadol): Malakhi 3:4-24

DON’T FORGET TO REMOVE AND SELL CHAMETZ – AUTHORIZE RABBI FLOM TO DO SO ON YOUR BEHALF NO LATER THAN 9:00 AM Friday, April 22.

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

http://www.bethmeier.org

The Rabbinical Assembly’s Pesach Guide 5776 can be read and downloaded at the following site: 

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/jewish-law/holidays/pesah/pesah-guide-5776.pdf

Additional Pesach resources from the Rabbinical Assembly may be found at:

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/jewish-law/holidays/pesah/pesah-prep

Kitniyot (beans, rice, corn) on Pesach? Yes! Read the latest from the Rabbinical Assembly at:

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/2011-2020/Levin-Reisner-Kitniyot.pdf

My annual Pesach Guide – 5776 Edition (Revised), is available at my blog:

http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2016/03/pesach-resources-5776-edition.html

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source

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MATZAH – THE ORIGINAL SOUL FOOD

“Then the priest will command for the one who is to be cleansed two pure living birds, cedar wood, scarlet thread and hyssop.” Leviticus 14:4

Rashi – “Because plagues come from pride. What is his remedy, that he should be cured? He should lower himself from his pride like a worm (a play on the Hebrew word for scarlet thread) and hyssop (a low bush).”

For the Rabbis, the “leprosy” (tzara’at) visited on the Israelites was the symptom of a spiritual disorder. The ritual discussed in our portion was carried out only after the victim had been separated from the community, and had taken time to reflect upon his sins and to change his ways.

“For seven days, chametz (leavening) shall not be found in your houses - anyone who eats chametz, that soul shall be cut off from the assembly of Israel ...” Exodus 12:19

There is another ritual which symbolizes the elimination of haughtiness and pride, and that is the observance of Pesach. Chametz, such as yeast, causes dough to bubble and rise, and is symbolic of the inflation of one’s ego. The commandment to remove all of the chametz from our homes may be seen as an instruction to remove pride from our lives. By reducing ourselves to eating matzah for the Passover holiday, we remind ourselves of the sin of pride and the need to deflate our egos. Pesach is "The Festival of Freedom", and matzah is food for the soul.

Remove the chametz from your home and your life for a time; attend a Seder (or two!), and learn about freedom from the slavery of self-importance; eat only “the bread of affliction” for the duration of the holiday; take the hot air out of yourself. Removing chametz from your life can be a spring cleaning of both the physical and the spiritual.

Shabbat shalom - a Shabbat of peace!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

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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Candlelighting: 7:06 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: NO Lunch and Learn – kashering the synagogue kitchen.

Friday, 22 April: Fast of the First Born – Study and Siyyum with Rabbi Flom – 8:00 am. Synagogue office closed. All chametz must be sold or destroyed by 11:45 am. First Seder – sundown. NO Friday evening service.

Saturday, 23 April: Pesach/Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Beth Meier Community Second Seder – 7:00 pm. Reservations required – due no later than 2:00 pm Thursday, April 14, 2016.

Sunday, 24 April: Pesach Morning Service – 10:00 am. NO Religious School or Adult Hebrew Class. 

Tuesday, 26 April: NO Lunch and Learn.

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 Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, 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, 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.

My weekly divrei torah are available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail list. No salesman will call!

Cyber Torah list management:

To subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobl.net with the heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah”.

To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobl.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@sbcglobl.net with the heading “Dedicate Cyber Torah” and provide details in the message body.

THOU SHALT NOT EAT UP THY NEIGHBOR

1 Nisan 5776 / 8-9 April 2016

Parashat Tazria (Shabbat Rosh Chodesh - Shabbat Hachodesh)
Torah Reading: Leviticus 12:1 - 13:59

Seventh Aliyah (Shabbat Rosh Chodesh): Numbers 28:9-15

Maftir (Shabbat Hachodesh): Exodus 12:1 - 20

Haftarah (Shabbat Hachodesh): Ezekiel 45:16 - 46:18 (Ashkenazim); 45:18 - 46:15 (Sephardim);

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

http://www.bethmeier.org

The Rabbinical Assembly’s Pesach Guide 5776 can be read and downloaded at the following site: 

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/jewish-law/holidays/pesah/pesah-guide-5776.pdf

Additional Pesach resources from the Rabbinical Assembly may be found at:

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/jewish-law/holidays/pesah/pesah-prep

My annual Pesach Guide – 5776 Edition (Revised), is available at my blog:

http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2016/03/pesach-resources-5776-edition.html

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source

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THOU SHALT NOT EAT UP THY NEIGHBOR

"If a person has in the skin of the body a swelling, a rash, or a bright spot, and it is in the skin of the flesh like the plague of tzara'at, the matter shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests." Leviticus 13:2

Throughout this week’s and next week’s portions, the Torah describes "tzara'at", usually mistranslated as "leprosy". It does not appear to be any known physical disease. The Talmud says that "metzora", "leper", is really an acronym for "motzi shem ra" - "one who brings forth a bad name", i.e., a slanderer (slander is "lashon hara" - literally, "an evil tongue"). The Rabbis taught that tzara'at was inflicted by God as punishment for slander, and could not be cured by physicians.  

Rabbi Israel Salanter, the founder of the Mussar (Ethics) movement, notes that last week's parashah listed the various animals, fish and birds which are forbidden and those which are permitted to be eaten. He then teaches the following:

"The reason for this juxtaposition (between food and tzara'at) is because people are more concerned about not eating non-kosher food than they are about 'eating up' a person through lashon hara. Thus we learn that 'eating up' a person is no less a sin than eating a worm."

If only it were still true that most Jews cared about kashruth! Even if it were so, Rabbi Salanter is being gentle. If one violates the laws of kashruth, one can atone at a later date, seek and receive God's forgiveness, and observe kashruth again. But if one engages in lashon hara, the Rabbis taught, it is like murder, for which there is no atonement - just like the dead person, the murdered reputation of a slander victim can not be brought back to life. 

Forget about eating worms! We ought not engage in lashon hara anymore than we would cannibalism! What comes out of your mouth can be more deadly than what goes in.

Sh'mor et halashon - Guard your tongue!

Shabbat Shalom. Chodesh Tov.

Rabbi Richard A. Flom 

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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Candlelighting: 7:01 pm

Friday: Family Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Rabbi Flom will be away. Thanks to Warren and Melinda Traumann for conducting the service. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Rabbi Flom back. Kiddush lunch follows.

Sunday:  Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am. Movie Nite! – 7:00 pm – “The Gefilte Fish Chronicles”. Snacks provided. No charge, but donations accepted.

Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon

Friday, 15 April: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday, 16 April: Shabbat morning service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.

Sunday, 17 April:  Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am. 

Tuesday, 19 April: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon

Saturday, April 23: Congregation Beth Meier Community Second Seder – 7:00 pm. Reservations Required! Deadline for reservations: Thursday, April 14.

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 in honor of my wonderful wife, Lynn Kronzek, celebrating her birthday on Friday, April 8. Yom huledet sameach, my dear! Ad meah v’esrim!

This d'var torah is offered in honor of my aunt, Helen Schugar, celebrating her 90^th birthday on Friday, April 8. Ad meah v’esrim!

This d'var torah is offered in memory of Peter Chernack, who passed away on Sunday. May his memory be a blessing to his wife Rebecca, his daughters Michelle and Daniela, and all his friends and relatives.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of my father-in-law, Abraham Kronzek, whose yahrzeit falls on Shabbat, 1 Nisan. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, 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, 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.

My weekly divrei torah are available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail 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.