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:
The Rabbinical
Assembly’s Pesach Guide 5776 can be read and downloaded at the following
site:
Additional Pesach
resources from the Rabbinical Assembly may be found at:
Kitniyot (beans, rice,
corn) on Pesach? Yes! Read the latest from the Rabbinical Assembly at:
My annual Pesach Guide –
5776 Edition (Revised), is available at my blog:
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
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
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
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
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