Parashat
Miketz
Torah:
Genesis 41:1 – 44:17
Maftir:
Numbers 7:48-53
Haftarah:
Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7
2 Tevet 5777
/ 30-31 December 2016
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Dedications
and Calendar of Events follow.
Please feel
free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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NO TIME LIKE
THE PRESENT
"Now let Pharaoh seek out a discerning and wise man and set him over the
Rabbi Shalom Schwadron asks this question: Why was a "discerning and wise man" needed to oversee the collection of provisions during the seven years of plenty?
He suggests
that gathering and saving food during a time of abundance in preparation for a
famine in the future requires true wisdom and understanding, because it is
against human nature. He quotes the Talmud (Tamid 32a): "Who is wise?
One who has foresight." What is more, Joseph had to convince Pharaoh
and the entire Egyptian nation to share in this foresight, which required even
further wisdom on his part.
In our own lives, we often look back at missed opportunities. For example, when our children are young, we have many chances for teaching them about our heritage. There are Shabbat and Holy Day observances, religious school education, and what the educators call "teaching moments" which can arise at any time. Once they are gone, they are gone forever. It's true that Shabbat comes every week, and the festivals come annually, but _this_ Shabbat and _this_ religious school class will never come again.
In our own lives, we often look back at missed opportunities. For example, when our children are young, we have many chances for teaching them about our heritage. There are Shabbat and Holy Day observances, religious school education, and what the educators call "teaching moments" which can arise at any time. Once they are gone, they are gone forever. It's true that Shabbat comes every week, and the festivals come annually, but _this_ Shabbat and _this_ religious school class will never come again.
As we and our
children grow older, the missed opportunities begin to pile up. Work,
school, activities and the like begin to take over, and the religious and
spiritual education begins to take a back seat. At some point, we look
back and tell ourselves that we know too little and that it is too late to get
the education. We begin to wonder why our children know so little, and do
not practice the religion of our ancestors.
Of course, it's never too late to learn! Nevertheless, we need to bank learning and practice now, for the famine of opportunity which we know will come. The difference between us and Joseph is that he knew exactly when the famine would begin. We are not that wise. But we are wise enough to know that there is no time like the present to begin to add to our stores of knowledge and observance. In doing so, we avoid spiritual starvation in the lean years to come.
Chag Urim Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!
Of course, it's never too late to learn! Nevertheless, we need to bank learning and practice now, for the famine of opportunity which we know will come. The difference between us and Joseph is that he knew exactly when the famine would begin. We are not that wise. But we are wise enough to know that there is no time like the present to begin to add to our stores of knowledge and observance. In doing so, we avoid spiritual starvation in the lean years to come.
Chag Urim Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Richard
A. Flom
Congregation
Beth Meier
Blogging
at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com
Visit me on
Facebook
Twitter: @DrahcirMolf
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence
in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot
87b
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Candle
lighting: 4:35 pm
Friday – Shabbat
Evening Service – 8:00 pm.
Saturday – Shabbat
Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush lunch in honor of our wedding
anniversary and the bar mitzvah anniversary of Robert Flom follows services.
Sunday – NO Religious School
Tuesday – Lunch and
Learn – 12:00 noon.
Sunday,
1/8 –
Movie, Pizza and Ice Cream Bar Night – 7:00 pm. We’ll be showing “Defiance
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, Beth
Goldstein, Myra Goodman, Simon Hartman, Fouad Kay (Yehoshua ben Salima), Philip
Kovac, Tonya Kronzek, Toni Linder, Roy Miller, 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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