Parashat Bamidbar
2 Sivan 5777 / 26-27 May 2017
Torah: Numbers 1:1 – 4:20
Haftarah: Hosea 2:1-22
Shavuot - 6-7 Sivan 5777 / 31 May– 1 June 2017
Torah (Day 1): Exodus 19:1 - 20:23
(Day 2): Deuteronomy 14:22 - 16:17
Maftir (both days): Numbers 28:26-31
Haftarah (Day 1): Ezekiel 1:1-28; 3:12
(Day 2): Habakkuk 2:20 - 3:19
(Day 2): Deuteronomy 14:22 - 16:17
Maftir (both days): Numbers 28:26-31
Haftarah (Day 1): Ezekiel 1:1-28; 3:12
(Day 2): Habakkuk 2:20 - 3:19
Additional reading: Book of Ruth
Dedications
and a Calendar of Upcoming Events follow. For a full calendar and lots of other
information about our community, visit:
Please
feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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THE TEST
“The Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after their exodus from the land of Egypt, saying.” Numbers 1:1
This
parashah, and the book of the Torah named for it, is called “Numbers” in
English. But in Hebrew, it is “Bamidbar”,
which means “in the wilderness”. The census taken in this parashah, the
numbering, is done in the wilderness. The wilderness is a fearful place, with
dangers both physical and spiritual. It is a place to be tested, to stand up
and be counted.
The
giving of the Torah will be commemorated on the holiday of Shavuot next week.
In the Midrash, Bamidbar Rabbah, it
is taught that the Torah was given in fire, in water and in the desert. In a
sense, this wasteland where our ancestors ultimately will spend 40 years,
serves as a forge. Just as a sword is hammered and shaped, plunged into
fire and water and sand, and tested for durability, so were the Israelites.
Often,
people having a life cycle event, whether a bar/bat mitzvah, wedding,
graduation, or even a divorce or a death, feel they have passed a test. While
that may be true, it is not the end, but the beginning. Now it is time to
do something positive with the test results, and more especially with the
knowledge and experience by which the passing grade was accomplished. It
is life itself that is the ultimate test. And the Torah, given to our ancestors
and to us, is the study guide.
Good luck
on your exams!
Shabbat Shalom!
Chag Shavuot Sameach!
Rabbi Richard A.
Flom
Congregation Beth
Meier
Studio City, CA
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:
Friday - 7:37 pm
Tuesday – 7:40 pm
Wednesday – 8:42
pm – light memorial candle after the holiday candles
Friday – Shabbat
Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday – Shabbat
Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday – NO Religious
School or Adult Hebrew – Memorial Day weekend.
Monday – Memorial Day.
Tuesday – NO Lunch and Learn – resume June 6. Tikkun Leil Shavuot Study Session –
9:00-11:00 pm. Join us at Congregation Beth Meier for Torah study with Rabbi
Jason van Leeuwen of Temple B’nai Hayim and Rabbi Flom. There will be
cheesecake! And other refreshments, of course!
Wednesday – First Day
Shavuot Morning Service – 9:30 am – at Temple B’nai Hayim
Thursday, June 1 – Second Day
Shavuot Morning Service, with Yizkor – 10:00 am – at Congregation Beth
Meier
Friday, June 2 – Shabbat Evening
Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, June 3 –
Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday, June 4 – Religious School Culmination – 10:00 am – 12:30 pm. Pizza and other fun
stuff will be served. Everyone is invited to celebrate another year of
educating our children!
Saturday, June 24 – Temple
B’nai Hayim Women’s Rosh Chodesh Shabbat Morning Service. All women-led service
– leyning, aliyot, other readings available. Contact Carol Herskowitz at (818)
708-1906 for details. Men, be there too‼ We will not have a separate service at
Beth Meier on this date – we’ll be at B’nai Hayim!
This d'var torah is
offered in memory of my beloved father, Martin Flom, whose yahrzeit falls on
Thursday, June 1 (7 Sivan). Y’hi zikhro barukh – his memory is a blessing.
This d'var torah is
offered in memory of my beloved grandfather, Jacob Slome, whose yahrzeit falls
on Friday, June 2 (8 Sivan). Y’hi zikhro barukh – his memory is a blessing.
This d'var torah is
offered in memory of all American military personnel who fell in service to our
country.
This d'var torah is
offered in memory of the murder victims of Manchester, England.
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, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet
Brosky (Serach bat Miriam), Jerry Daniels, Bryon Fendrich (Berel ben Chanah),
Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard
Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Myra Goodman, Simon Hartman, Dena
Kosche (Dena bat Sarah Emanu), Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat
Sarah Emanu), Toni Linder, Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga),
Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), and all those injured in the Manchester
terrorist attack.
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.
