28 Elul 5776 / 30 September – 1 October
Parashat Nitzavim-Vayeilekh
Torah: Deuteronomy 29:9 – 30:20
Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9 (Seventh
Haftarah of Consolation)
Important note: If you
have no place to worship for the High Holy Days, or any day of the year, or if
you think you cannot afford tickets or membership, please, please join us for
services. You can pay whatever you can afford later. No one is turned away!
Ever!
Rosh
Hashanah begins
Sunday evening! Please submit your Membership/High Holy Day forms ASAP! Or call
the synagogue office! And check your mail for our High Holy Day bulletin.
Congregation
Beth Meier is looking for volunteers for
the High Holy Days: to help set up/tear down for services, lead English
readings, and, have aliyot and other Torah/bimah honors. Contact Rabbi Flom at
the synagogue office or by e-mail for details and to sign up!
Dedications
and Calendar of Events follow.
For our
complete High Holy
Day schedule, and lots
of other info about our community, please check out our web site at: http://bethmeier.org
For this
year’s Cheshbon
Hanefesh worksheet, see: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2016/09/cheshbon-hanefesh-worksheet.html
An older,
slightly different, version will be distributed at High Holy Day services.
Congregation
Beth Meier has developed a GoFundMe page: Please visit the page and
consider a donation. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!
Please feel
free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER
These final few days leading
up to Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe and through Yom Kippur ought to be a
time of introspection and repentance. Jewish tradition teaches that during
this time, we should repent and make amends for all of the wrongs we have done,
to God, to our relatives, to our friends, to everyone with whom we have a
relationship. The Hebrew word for repentance is "teshuvah". The
root of this word, "shuv", appears seven times in our parashah, at
Deuteronomy 30:1-10. The word connotes repentance, turning, returning,
turning around, and recalling. It has active and reflexive forms.
"... and you shall recall (v'hasheivota)
them to your mind ..." 30:1
"and you shall return (v'shavta) to
the Lord your God ..." 30:2
"and the Lord your God will return
(v'shav)
your captivity and have compassion upon you, and will return (v'shav) and
gather you from all the peoples ..." 30:3
"and you shall return (tashuv) and
hearken to the voice of the Lord ..." 30:8
"... for the Lord will return (yashuv) to
rejoice over you for good ..." 30:9
"... if you turn (tashuv) to
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." 30:10
R. Shlomo of Radomsk once asked, if the
Torah states in verse two that "you shall return to the Lord your
God", implying repentance, why does it say so again in verse
eight? He answers that before a person begins to repent, he doesn't even
know what offenses he has committed - he doesn't know what he doesn't
know. Only after the first steps of teshuvah, through the process of cheshbon
hanefesh (accounting of the soul) does he realize the enormity of his
wrongs. So he begins to ascend, step by step, in his spiritual
development. It's not a one-shot deal.
What R. Shlomo doesn't say, perhaps
because it was obvious to him, is the role that God plays in all of this. It's
a two-way conversation. We turn toward God; God turns toward us. We move
closer to God; God moves closer to us. We repent; God draws us into greater
repentance.
How do we start? The answer is
found in the concluding sentence of "Etz Chaim", recited at the
conclusion of every Torah service. "Bring us back (hashiveinu),
Lord, to You, and we will return (v'nashuvah); renew our days as of
old." Lamentations 5:21. We seriously ask God to help us repent,
and we are on our way!
Shabbt Shalom! L'shanah Tovah
Umetukah Tikateivu V'tichateimu - May you be inscribed and sealed for a good
and sweet new year!
Rabbi Richard
A. Flom
Studio City
Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/
Visit me on
Facebook
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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Candle
lighting: 6:20 pm
Friday – Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00
pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00
am. Kiddush lunch follows services
Sunday - Religious School
Rosh Hashanah Services
Sunday –
6:30 pm – Candle lighting 6:17 pm
Monday –
8:30 am, followed by Tashlich – Candle lighting 7:10 pm
Tuesday –
8:30 am – Yom Tov ends 7:10 pm
Friday 10/7 – Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00
pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday
10/8 – Shabbat
Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services.
This d’var torah
is offered in memory of Shimon Peres, former Israeli Prime Minister and
President, who passed away on Wednesday. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah – May his
memory be a blessing and an inspiration.
This d’var torah
is offered in memory of my grandmother, Cora Slome, whose yahrzeit is this
Shabbat, 28 Elul. After 34 years, her memory remains and will always be a
blessing.
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, Sarah bat Devorah,
Jackie Aaronson, Susan Arbetman, 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, Myra Goodman, Simon
Hartman, Fouad Kay (Yehoshua ben Salima), Stephanie Kane, Philip Kovac, Toni
Linder, Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya
Feiga bat Kreina), and Naomi Zimmermann (Naomi bat Yorma).
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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