URGENT
TZEDAKAH/CHESED NEED – LOS ANGELES
Chaverim:
A member of our
community is in urgent need of a place to live, as soon as possible. She is
70ish, relying on Social Security, looking for a one-bedroom or studio or
in-law apartment or caretaker cottage. She would also be interested in shared
housing. She is willing to perform light-duty services in exchange for all or
part of rent.
If you are able
to help, please contact me via e-mail at: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
ASAP, and I will put her in touch with you. Thank you for your consideration.
12 Nisan 5777 / 7-8 April
2017
Parashat Tzav
Torah: Leviticus 6:1 -
8:36
Haftarah: Malachi 3:4-24 (Shabbat Hagadol)
Haftarah: Malachi 3:4-24 (Shabbat Hagadol)
My Annual Pesach
Resources Guide is available at my blog:
Also at my blog is
Congregation Beth Meier’s Pesach 5777 Bulletin, including a Calendar of Events
for Passover:
Please feel free to pass
this on to a friend, and please cite the source
--------------------------------------------------------------
STUDYING MATTERS
"The Lord spoke to
Moses, saying, 'Command Aaron and his sons, thus: This is the law (literally,
"the Torah") of the burnt offering ...'" Leviticus 6:1-2
Rabbi Simchah Bunem compares our verse with one from 1 Samuel 15:22: "And Samuel said, 'Does the Lord delight as much in offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.'" To Samuel, "obeying" must mean something other than obeying the commandments to offer the sacrifices. Simchah Bunem attempts to reconcile the apparent contradiction between the two verses by citing the following passage from the Talmud: "All who engage in Torah study have no need for the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, or the guilt offering." BT Menachot 110a
One might think that the Talmud here means that while one is studying Torah, one is exempt from bringing the sacrificial offerings. Simchah Bunem says it means much more than that. According to him, the study of the Torah of the offerings is even better than actually bringing them!
Rabbi Simchah Bunem compares our verse with one from 1 Samuel 15:22: "And Samuel said, 'Does the Lord delight as much in offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.'" To Samuel, "obeying" must mean something other than obeying the commandments to offer the sacrifices. Simchah Bunem attempts to reconcile the apparent contradiction between the two verses by citing the following passage from the Talmud: "All who engage in Torah study have no need for the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, or the guilt offering." BT Menachot 110a
One might think that the Talmud here means that while one is studying Torah, one is exempt from bringing the sacrificial offerings. Simchah Bunem says it means much more than that. According to him, the study of the Torah of the offerings is even better than actually bringing them!
But what about the
obedience that Samuel referred to? The answer might be found in the notion that
we are commanded to study Torah. Note the blessing in the daily morning service
that concludes, "... and Who commands us to be engaged with matters (or, words)
of Torah." (la’asok b’divrei torah)
Observing the commandment of study leads to practice. If we learn the Torah regarding how to treat each other, and put it into practice, we do not need to seek atonement, so we need not bring sacrifices. Study of the Torah of the offerings will not only suffice, it will be better than sacrificing. Hence the Rabbinic dictum: talmud torah k'neged kulam - Torah study is equivalent to all the commandments - because it leads to observance of them.
Observing the commandment of study leads to practice. If we learn the Torah regarding how to treat each other, and put it into practice, we do not need to seek atonement, so we need not bring sacrifices. Study of the Torah of the offerings will not only suffice, it will be better than sacrificing. Hence the Rabbinic dictum: talmud torah k'neged kulam - Torah study is equivalent to all the commandments - because it leads to observance of them.
In this regard, please
note that Monday evening is the first Seder shel Pesach. From
sunrise Monday until the Seder, it is traditional for first-born Jews (except
Kohanim and Levi’im) to observe Ta’anit Bechorot, Fast of the
First-Born. How might one avoid the fast? By studying and completing a section
of Talmud, then celebrating with a siyyum, a feast, in honor of
that completion. Take this opportunity, even if you are exempt from the fast,
to study on Monday with me at 8:00 am at Congregation Beth Meier in preparation
for your liberation from slavery!
Shabbat Shalom and Chag
Pesach Kasher, Sameach V’Mashma’uti!
Have a wonderful Shabbat,
and a kosher, happy, and meaningful Pesach!
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: 7:00 pm
Friday – Shabbat Evening
Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday – Sh’MA (Shabbat Morning
Adventure) Service – 10:00 am. Guitar-accompanied sing-along service with
Cantor Steve Pearlman. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday – Religious School
Monday – Fast of the First-born – Torah
Study and Siyyum – 8:00 am. Sell or/and destroy chametz by 12:00 noon. First
Seder at sundown.
Tuesday - Passover Morning Service – 9:30 am at Temple B’nai
Wednesday - Passover Morning Service – 10:00 am
at Beth Meier.
Friday, 14
April – Shabbat Chol
Hamoed Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 15
April – Shabbat
Chol Hamoed Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday, 16
April – NO Religious School
Monday, 17
April - Passover
Morning Service – 9:30 am at Temple
B’nai
Tuesday, 18
April - Passover
Morning Service with Yizkor – 10:00 am at Beth Meier. Pesach ends at 8:05
pm.
This d'var torah
is offered in honor of my wonderful wife, Lynn Kronzek, celebrating her
birthday this Shabbat. Yom huledet sameach, my dear! Ad me’ah v’esrim!
This d'var torah
is offered in honor of my aunt, Helen Schugar, celebrating her birthday this
Shabbat. Mazal tov! Ad me’ah v’esrim!
This d'var torah
is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Yaakov
Rani Ben Margalit, Sarah bat Devorah, Susan Arbetman, Kyree
Beacham, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky (Serach bat Miriam), 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, Evan Kronzek, Philip
Kronzek (Pinchas Yosef ben Sarah), Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah
Emanu), Toni Linder, Roy Miller, Leo Pomerantz, Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya
Feiga), and Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina).
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!
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