Parashat
Vayeishev
Torah:
Genesis 37:1 – 40:23
Haftarah:
Amos 2:6 – 3:8
24
Kislev 5777 / 23-24 December 2016
CHAG URIM SAMEACH! HAPPY HANUKKAH!
For
more info about our community, visit our website: http://bethmeier.org
Congregation
Beth Meier has developed a GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/saveourschul Please visit the
page and consider a donation. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!
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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PRINCE
OR SLAVE?
"And
it came to pass after these things that the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and
his baker had sinned against their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was
angry at his two princes - the prefect of the cupbearers and the prefect of the
bakers." Genesis 40:1-2
Rabbi
Samson Raphael Hirsch says that the reference to the two courtiers as
"princes" is mockery. To those who served beneath them, they were
"princes", wielding great power; but to the king, they were nothing
more than slaves with fancy titles. He threw them into prison for no apparent
reason. The cupbearer and baker failed to understand that, when one's
position is dependent solely upon the whim of one's superior, one's position
is, at best, precarious.
So
it is all too often with people who attain positions of power granted by
another. They clothe themselves in self-importance. The opinions of those
who work for them are irrelevant. These "princes" believe that
direct contact with the king somehow makes them as powerful as the king.
The
most desirable community, it seems to me, is one where every member, whether leader
or not, fully understands that they are serving a higher purpose; where there
is no self-aggrandizement, no delusion of grandeur interfering with their
dedication and perseverance. Fortunate is that community whose leaders
understand that they are NOT royalty. Equally fortunate are the leaders and
workers who serve that community which does not treat them like slaves. (I am
thankful to be a member of that kind of community! J)
May it be thus for all of us.
Shabbat Shalom! Chag
Urim Sameach!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Congregation Beth Meier
Studio City, CA
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: 4:31 pm
Friday – Shabbat Evening Service –
8:00 pm.
Saturday – Shabbat Morning Service –
10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services. First Light of Hanukkah after Shabbat
ends – 5:30 pm. Happy Hanukkah!
Sunday – NO Religious School or Adult
Hebrew class – both resume 1/15.
Tuesday – NO
Lunch and Learn – resume 1/3.
Friday, 12/30 – Shabbat Evening Service –
8:00 pm.
Saturday, 12/31 – Shabbat Morning Service –
10:00 am. Kiddush lunch follows services.
Sunday, 1/1 – Meshuga Nutcracker – AJU – 2:00 pm.
Sunday, 1/8 – Movie and Ice Cream Bar Night – 7:00 pm.
This d'var torah is
offered in honor of my wonderful life partner, Lynn Kronzek, on the occasion of
our 36th wedding anniversary this coming Wednesday.
This d'var torah is
offered in memory of my uncle, David Flom, whose yahrzeit was on Wednesday, 21
Kislev. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah – May his memory 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,
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.
My weekly divrei torah
are available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail list.
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