FUTURE PERFECT

Parashat Bereishit

27 Tishrei 5777 / 28-29 October 2016

Torah Reading - Genesis 1:1 - 6:8

Haftarah - Isaiah 42:5 - 43:10 (Ashkenazim); Isaiah 42:5-21 (Sephardim)

Dedications and Calendar of Events follow.

For more info about our community, visit our website: http://bethmeier.org

Congregation Beth Meier has developed a GoFundMe page: Please visit the page and consider a donation. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

https://www.gofundme.com/saveourschul

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

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FUTURE PERFECT

"And the heavens and the earth and all their hosts were finished. And by the seventh day God finished all God's work that God had done, and God rested on the seventh day from all the work that God had done. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it God rested from all the work of creating that God had done." Genesis 2:1-3.

The above verses are chanted in the synagogue and at the Shabbat evening table as the lead-in to Kiddush. In their book, "Five Cities of Refuge", Rabbi Lawrence Kushner and playwright David Mamet point out that work and Shabbat observance go together – they are inseparable. Like God, we can truly bless our work only by refraining from it for a day, and reflecting on the work we have done.

They also point out that the chapter and verse structure of the Torah is a construct, which artificially separates Shabbat (Chapter 2) from the rest of Creation (Chapter 1). This is symbolic, they suggest, of our broken world. And it is a reason why we silently say the concluding words of Chapter 1, "and there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day", before chanting Kiddush.

I would note that the Jewish mystics have taught that a way to repair the world is through "yichidut", the Unification of God's Holy Name. One way we can “repair” Shabbat, then, is to reunify Shabbat with the rest of the week - not by working on Shabbat, or resting all week, but by realizing that our work, which is never done, can have meaning for us only if we take time off to contemplate that which we have not created - and understand that we play a role, however minor, in perfecting that Creation.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Congregation Beth Meier

Studio City, CA

http://bethmeier.org

Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/

Visit me on Facebook

Twitter: @DrahcirMolf

"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"

"Silence is consent.”

BT Yevamot 87b

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Candle lighting: 5:45 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 – 9:30 am. If you have or know of any Jewish children ages 6-13 in need of a warm and welcoming Jewish education in a small setting, bring them on down! Or call Rabbi Flom or Elaine Kleiger at the synagogue office. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED to take down the sukkah – 10:00 am.

Tuesday – Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon

Friday 11/4 – NO SHABBAT EVENING SERVICE

Saturday 11/5 – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services.

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, Zehavah B’rakhah bat Leah, 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), Philip Kovac, Toni Linder, Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), Hedy Woolf, 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.

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.

WHAT EXACTLY ARE SUKKOT?

20 Tishrei 5777 / 21-22 October 2016

Shabbat Chol Hamoed Sukkot

Torah: Exodus 33:12 – 34:26; Numbers 29:26-31

Haftarah: Ezekiel 38:18 – 39:16

22 Tishrei 5777 / 23-24 October 2016

Sh’mini Atzeret (The Eighth Day of Assembly)
Torah: Deuteronomy 14:22 - 16:17; Numbers 29:35 - 30:1
Haftarah: 1 Kings 8:54-66 (some add 9:1)

23 Tishrei 5777 / 24-25 October 2016

Simchat Torah (Joy of the Torah)
Torah: Deuteronomy 33:1 - 34:12 (V’zot Hab’rakhah); Genesis 1:1 - 2:3 (Bereishit); Numbers 29:35 - 30:1
Haftarah: Joshua 1:1-18

Dedications and Calendar of Events follow.

For more info about our community, visit our website: http://bethmeier.org

Congregation Beth Meier has developed a GoFundMe page: Please visit the page and consider a donation. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

https://www.gofundme.com/saveourschul

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

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WHAT EXACTLY ARE SUKKOT?

We read this past Monday, on the first day of Sukkot:

"So that your generations will know that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 23:43

There is an interesting dispute among the Rabbis concerning the nature of the sukkot in which our ancestors dwelt. In the Talmud (Sukkah 11b), Rabbi Eliezer says the sukkot were "the clouds of glory" (ananei hakavod) that surrounded the Jews in the desert. But Rabbi Akiva says, "They built for themselves actual booths" (sukkot mamash). One might understand from Rabbi Eliezer that the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, surrounded them in the desert - that is something truly spectacular! Rabbi Akiva is a realist - they lived in flimsy structures, just like we build today.

What makes the discussion more interesting is that in the midrashic text Mekhilta D'Rebbi Ishmael (Pischa 14), Rabbi Eliezer says they were actual booths and Rabbi Akiva says they were clouds of glory! Which text is correct and which rabbi is correct?

The answer is - they all are! Sukkot are physical and metaphysical. It comes to teach us that when we spend a week fulfilling the mitzvah of residing in a flimsy hut, we surround ourselves with the Shekhinah. Spend some time in a sukkah, and get your head in the clouds!

BTW, whether or not you have been in a sukkah this year, you are invited to “Pizza in the Hut” at our home this Sunday, October 23. The evite link with necessary information is at:

http://evite.me/huKWmcTwFq

Please let us know if you are attending by 3:00 pm Friday, to make sure we have enough pizza!

Chag Sukkot Sameach! Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Congregation Beth Meier
Studio City, CA

http://bethmeier.org

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: 5:53 pm

Friday – Shabbat Chol Hamoed Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday – Shabbat Chol Hamoed Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services

Sunday - Religious School – 9:30 am. If you have or know of any Jewish children ages 6-13 in need of a warm and welcoming Jewish education in a small setting, bring them on down! Or call Rabbi Flom or Elaine Kleiger at the synagogue office. Adult Hebrew – 10:00 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am. PIZZA IN THE HUT at home of Rabbi Flom and Lynn Kronzek – 1:30 pm – see evite link above. Sh’mini Atzeret begins at 5:51 pm.

Monday – Sh’mini Atzeret Morning Service – 10:00 am. Simchat Torah Evening Service – 7:30 pm – Dance with the Torahs!

Tuesday – Simchat Torah Morning Service – 10:00 am.

Friday 10/28 – Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday 10/29 – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services.

Sunday 10/30 – Religious School – 9:30 am. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED to take down the sukkah – 10:00 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am. 

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, Zehavah B’rakhah bat Leah, 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), Philip Kovac, Toni Linder, Monte Mazo (Mottel ben Minnie), Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), Hedy Woolf, 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.

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.

YOU CAN’T GIVE UP!

13 Tishrei 5777 / 14-15 October 2016

Parashat Ha’azinu

Torah: Deuteronomy 32:1-52

Haftarah: (1 Samuel 22:1-51)

Dedications and Calendar of Events follow.

For more info about our community, visit our website: http://bethmeier.org

Congregation Beth Meier has developed a GoFundMe page: Please visit the page and consider a donation. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

https://www.gofundme.com/saveourschul

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

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YOU CAN’T GIVE UP!

“For from afar, you will see the land, but you will not come there, to the land I am giving the children of Israel.” Deuteronomy 32:52

Rabbi Tarfon taught: “It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task; neither are you free to refrain from it.” Avot 2:16

Moses already knows he is going to die – before he is able to completely accomplish the assignment he had been given forty years before – leading the Israelites into what will thereafter be known as the Land of Israel. Yet, even to his dying day, he continues to carry out his duties as the leader of the Israelites, still asking God to permit him to go into the land with them. Once he knew he would not be allowed, he didn’t throw in the towel – he didn’t say, “Well, there’s no further reason to do this anymore, since I can’t finish the job.”

That’s how it is to be a Jew – that’s how it is for every human being. It’s up to every one of us to strive to accomplish our work as long as we are able. Others will pick up where we have left off. Moses knew that Joshua would take up the mantle of leadership afterward – that’s one of the reasons he continued to serve as Joshua’s mentor. Similarly, we should all know that if we give up on the holy enterprise of living lives of meaning and goodness, our children and our community might well assume that there is no point to that task at all – pursuing the work means it will continue after us.

Another way to understand Rabbi Tarfon is this: The Israelites’ release from Egyptian bondage created the freedom to act on, rather than to reject, the responsibility to willingly serve others.

Don’t give up!

Shabbat Shalom! Chag Sukkot Sameach!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Congregation Beth Meier
Studio City, CA

http://bethmeier.org

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: 6:01 pm

Friday – Family Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services

Sunday - Religious School – 9:30 am. If you have or know of any Jewish children ages 6-13 in need of a warm and welcoming Jewish education in a small setting, bring them on down! Or call Rabbi Flom or Elaine Kleiger at the synagogue office. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – to set up the sukkah at the synagogue – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew – 10:00 am. Sukkot begins at 5:59 pm.

Monday – Sukkot Morning Service – 10:00 am.

Tuesday – Sukkot Morning Service – 10:00 am. CBM Board Meeting – 7:30 pm.

Friday 10/21 – Shabbat Chol Hamoed Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday 10/22 – Shabbat Chol Hamoed Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services.

Sunday 10/23 – Religious School – 9:30 am. PIZZA IN THE HUT at home of Rabbi Flom and Lynn Kronzek – 1:00 pm. Watch for e-vite!

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, 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), Philip Kovac, Toni Linder, Monte Mazo (Mottel ben Minnie), 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.

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.

Bubbe Flom’s Honey Cake (amended)

Bubbe Flom’s Honey Cake (amended)

Ingredients

1 pkg yeast

¼ cup very warm water

2 teaspoons sugar

4 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

1 ½ cups sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup honey

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ cup triple strength coffee

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

Directions

1.    Dissolve yeast in warm water with 2 teaspoons sugar

2.    Beat the eggs in a large bowl

3.    Add and beat in 1 ½ cups sugar and the oil

4.    Add in the honey and cloves and beat

5.    Stir in coffee and yeast

6.    Gradually beat in the flour and baking powder

7.    Stir in nuts and raisins

8.    Preheat oven to 350°

9.    Line a 9/12 pan with wax paper, and lightly grease

10.  Pour in the batter and bake for 30-35 minutes, until toothpick in center comes out clean

Great with peanut butter!

Bubbe Flom’s Honey Cake (“Original” Recipe) – As given to me by my mom and Aunt Ruth

Ingredients

1 pkg yeast

¼ cup very warm water

2 teaspoons sugar

4 eggs

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup honey

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ cup strong coffee

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

Directions

1.    Dissolve yeast in warm water with 2 teaspoons sugar

2.    Beat the eggs in a large bowl

3.    Add and beat in 1 ½ cups sugar and the oil

4.    Add in the honey and cloves and beat

5.    Stir in coffee and yeast

6.    Gradually beat in the flour, baking powder and baking soda

7.    Stir in nuts and raisins

8.    Preheat oven to 350°

9.    Line a 9/12 pan with wax paper, and lightly grease

10.  Pour in the batter and bake for 45-60 minutes, until toothpick in center comes out clean

How I altered it to make it moister:

1.    More oil – ¾ cup instead of ½

2.    NO baking soda

3.    An extra egg yolk

4.    ½ cup walnuts instead of 1 cup

5.    Bake 30-35 minutes

6.    Do NOT use whole wheat flour

It worked, and still tastes the same, but moister with a better crumb!

THIS IS AWESOME!

6 Tishrei 5777 / 7-8 October 2016

Parashat Vayeilekh

Shabbat Shuvah - The Sabbath of Return

Torah: Deuteronomy 31:1-30
Haftarah: Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20 (some add Joel 2:15-27)

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!

Yom Kippur begins Tuesday evening! Kol Nidrei Service is at 6:15 pm. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Tuesday at 12:00 Noon at the church to set up, and Wednesday after services end at 7:00 to clean up and move everything back to the synagogue.

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!

https://www.gofundme.com/saveourschul

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

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THIS IS AWESOME!

“And that their children who have not known may hear and learn to fear (to hold in awe) the Lord your God, all the days you live in the land where you go over to Jordan to possess it.” Deuteronomy 31:13

The word translated as “to fear”, l’yira, might also be translated as “to hold in awe”. Indeed, these days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as “Yamim Nora’im” - the Days of Awe, not the Days of Fear, even though nora’im and yira share the same root.

Note 1: The verses immediately preceding our verse instruct all the Jewish people to gather together to hear the reading of the Torah - to learn how to practice Judaism. We do this now in the synagogue, on Shabbat, Mondays and Thursdays, New Moons and Holy Days.

Note 2: Since the dispersion following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. until 1948, few Jews lived in the Land of Israel - i.e., over the Jordan. Yet, they continued, even to today, even though most Jews still do not live in the Land of Israel, to hold God in awe and to hear and to learn, and to practice Judaism. I want to suggest that it is not only God that is awesome, but that the verses mean to tell us that the Torah and Judaism as we know it (and as it is still developing) are also awesome! Our ancestors knew this – and so should we all!

The best way, perhaps the only way, to hear and learn how to practice awesome Judaism is to come together, in synagogues and in study halls and in living rooms, and study Torah. We don’t have to be over the Jordan, in the Land of Israel; we can be anywhere, and these days, thanks to the internet, we don’t even have to be in the same time zone, let alone the same room.

Go to a synagogue; join a Jewish learning program; gather together with other Jews, and experience the awesomeness of it all!

Shabbat Shalom! Wishing you a g’mar chatimah tovah umetukah - May you completely sealed for a good and sweet new year!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Congregation Beth Meier
Studio City, CA

http://bethmeier.org

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: 6:10 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 – 9:30 am. If you have or know of any Jewish children ages 6-13 in need of a warm and welcoming Jewish education in a small setting, bring them on down! Or call Rabbi Flom or Elaine Kleiger at the synagogue office. Adult Hebrew – 10:00 am.

Tuesday – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED AT 12:00 NOON AT THE CHURCH TO SET UP FOR KOL NIDREI AND YOM KIPPUR! KOL NIDREI SERVICE - 6:15 pm

Wednesday – Yom Kippur Morning Service - 8:30 am. Yizkor – approximately 11:00 am. Torah study – 3:00 pm. Blessing of Children and Minchah – 5:15 pm, immediately followed by Neilah. Shofar, Havdalah and Break Fast – 7:00 pm. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HELP CLEAN UP AND MOVE EVERYTHING BACK TO BETH MEIER IMMEDIATELY AFTER NEILAH (AFTER A BAGEL, OF COURSE!)

Friday 10/14 – Family Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday 10/15 – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services.

This d’var torah is offered in memory of my uncle, Sidney Schugar, whose yahrzeit is Yom Kippur. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah - his memory is 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, 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), 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.

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.