Parashat
Chukkat
10 Tammuz
5776 / 15-16 July 2016
Torah:
Numbers 19:1 – 22:1
Haftarah:
Judges 11:1-33
Dedications
and Calendar of Events follow below. Full calendar and other information
about our community may be found at: www.bethmeier.org
Please
feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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IS YOUR TORAH HEALTHY?
"‘And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, "This is
the chok of the Torah which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to
the Children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, which
has no blemish, and upon which there has never been a yoke.’"’ Numbers
19:1-2
The Rabbis teach that a "chok" is a law in the Torah
for which there is no rational explanation. And yet, Jews have struggled
for millennia to make sense of this chok especially, for we might read this
verse as, "this is the very ultimate chok in
the Torah". Or,
perhaps it’s a chok about Torah itself.
An anonymous teaching in Itturei Torah: “Since this is the chok of the red heifer, why doesn’t the
Torah say ‘this is the chok of the
heifer’ rather than ‘this is the chok
of the Torah’? The reason is that the ashes of the red heifer can make ritually
impure one who was pure, and make ritually pure one who was impure. That is generally
true for all of the Torah: if one uses it properly, it is like an elixir of
life, but if one abuses it, it is like poison.”
Torah may
be used as a caress or a bludgeon. (See also BT Sukkah 49b, where Rabbi Elazar
teaches that there is a Torah of lovingkindness and a Torah that is not of
lovingkindness) One’s Torah learning and practice can improve and spiritually
elevate the self; or one can use it to denigrate and dehumanize others. An
elixir or a poison: not only for the practitioner, but for everyone around him.
Choose your potion.
Shabbat
Shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Congregation Beth Meier - Studio City, CA
Website: www.bethmeier.org
Blogging at: www.rav-rich.blogspot.com
Twitter: @DrahcirMolf
"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: 7:46 pm
Friday: Shabbat
Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows. Service conducted by Melinda
and Warren Trauman.
Saturday:
Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Service conducted by Cantor Steve Pearlman.
Kiddush lunch follows.
Tuesday: NO
Lunch and Learn – Rabbi Flom out of town.
Friday, 22 July: Shabbat
Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 23 July:
Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Tuesday, 25 July: Lunch
and Learn – 12:00 Noon.
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 Ben
Levitt and Brittany Allen, who are getting married on Sunday. Mazal Tov!
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah
shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, HaRav Yisrael Shimon ben
Liebah Breina, Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, Miriam Minya bat
Alisa Batya, Sarah bat Devorah, Jackie Aaronson, Susan Arbetman, Connie
Axelson (Raizel Sura bat Leah), 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,
Barry Glass (Berel ben Feigel), Myra Goodman, Fouad Kay (Yehoshua ben Salima), Stephanie
Kane, Philip Kovac, Carolynne Lavoie-Schwartz, Toni Linder, Deborah
Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat
Kreina), and Beatrice Weide (Bayla bat Malkah).
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.
