Parashat Behar-Bechukotai
(Chazak!)
24 Iyar 5777 / 19-20 May 2017
Torah: Leviticus 25:1 - 27:34
Haftarah: Jeremiah 16:19 - 17:14
24 Iyar 5777 / 19-20 May 2017
Torah: Leviticus 25:1 - 27:34
Haftarah: Jeremiah 16:19 - 17:14
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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WORKING THE WORK; LIVING
THE LIFE
“If you walk in My
statutes; and observe My commandments and do them.” Leviticus 26:3
Rashi: “If you walk in My statutes” - one might think this means fulfilling the commandments. But “observe My commandments and do them” already refers to fulfilling them. How do I explain “if you walk in My statutes”? That you should toil in the Torah.
Most commentators understand Rashi to mean that we should be toiling at Torah study. In a small segment of the Orthodox community, virtually all manner of gainful employment is eschewed in favor of full-time Torah study. However, this is not necessarily the way in which the Rabbis of old understood the verse.
Rabban Gamaliel, the son of RabbiJudah
Rabbi Moshe Elyakim of Koznitz understands the issue in the following way: we are not simply to be constantly studying Torah. Rather, the purpose of study is to affect the way we earn our livelihood and everything we do. All of our work and all of our lives should be guided by the Torah and conducted in the spirit of its commandments. When working in the field, if one does not mix seeds, and if one leaves the corners and the gleanings for the poor, then one is “toiling in the Torah.” If business people uphold the Torah’s standards of ethics in the workplace, they are “toiling in the Torah.” When a professional or home baker “takes challah” from each loaf, that is “toiling in the Torah.”
Any profession, any work, virtually any activity involves specific commandments. If you work and live for a higher purpose, if you incorporate the Torah’s values into each and every worldly pursuit, you are toiling in the Torah, and you will reap what you sow - a life of decency and spiritual reward.
Rashi: “If you walk in My statutes” - one might think this means fulfilling the commandments. But “observe My commandments and do them” already refers to fulfilling them. How do I explain “if you walk in My statutes”? That you should toil in the Torah.
Most commentators understand Rashi to mean that we should be toiling at Torah study. In a small segment of the Orthodox community, virtually all manner of gainful employment is eschewed in favor of full-time Torah study. However, this is not necessarily the way in which the Rabbis of old understood the verse.
Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi
Rabbi Moshe Elyakim of Koznitz understands the issue in the following way: we are not simply to be constantly studying Torah. Rather, the purpose of study is to affect the way we earn our livelihood and everything we do. All of our work and all of our lives should be guided by the Torah and conducted in the spirit of its commandments. When working in the field, if one does not mix seeds, and if one leaves the corners and the gleanings for the poor, then one is “toiling in the Torah.” If business people uphold the Torah’s standards of ethics in the workplace, they are “toiling in the Torah.” When a professional or home baker “takes challah” from each loaf, that is “toiling in the Torah.”
Any profession, any work, virtually any activity involves specific commandments. If you work and live for a higher purpose, if you incorporate the Torah’s values into each and every worldly pursuit, you are toiling in the Torah, and you will reap what you sow - a life of decency and spiritual reward.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Congregation Beth Meier
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: 7:32 pm
Friday – Shabbat Evening
Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday – Shabbat Morning Service –
10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday – Religious School
Tuesday - Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.
Friday, May
26 – Shabbat
Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday,
May 27 – Shabbat
Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday, May
28 – NO
Religious School
Tuesday, May
30 – Tikkun Leil
Shavuot Study Session – 9:00-11:00 pm. With refreshments, of course!
Wednesday,
May 31 – First Day
Shavuot Morning Service – 9:30 am – at Temple B’nai
Thursday,
June 1 – Second Day
Shavuot Morning Service, with Yizkor – 10:00 am – at Congregation Beth Meier
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 honor of Emma Dryden Snyder, chanting haftarah for the first time
this Shabbat. Mazal tov!
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, Harav Tzvi Hirsh ben
Frimet, Kyree Beacham, 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), Annabelle Flom (Chanah Bella
bat Kreina), Leonard Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Myra
Goodman, Simon Hartman, Elaine Kleiger, Dena Kosche (Dena bat Sarah Emanu),
Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), Toni Linder,
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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management:
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To dedicate a
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