Parashat Ki Tetze
Torah: Deuteronomy 21:10 - 25:19
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1-10 (Fifth Haftarah of Consolation)
Torah: Deuteronomy 21:10 - 25:19
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1-10 (Fifth Haftarah of Consolation)
11 Elul 5777 / 1-2 September 2017
All religious services and programs are at Temple B’nai Hayim, 4302 Van Nuys Blvd., corner of Benefit Street.
TBH Religious School commences Sunday, September 10. TBH
Pre-school has open enrollment. Enroll your children now! Contact the TBH
office for information.
And be sure to tell your neighbors, friends, and relatives about
our warm and welcoming community and our programs!
Rosh Hashanah is three (3!) weeks from now! Please submit your
Membership/High Holy Day ticket forms ASAP!
We are looking for volunteers for the High Holy Days:
chant Torah and Haftarah, daven, lead English readings, and, have aliyot and other
Torah/bimah honors. Contact Rabbi Flom or Susan Burke by e-mail for details and
to sign up!
We are now well into the month of Elul, the final run-up to Rosh
Hashanah. Jewish tradition teaches that in Elul, we are to engage in “cheshbon
hanefesh”, literally “an accounting of the soul” -self-evaluation. As I do
every year, I have prepared a Cheshbon Hanefesh worksheet to
prepare you for the High Holy Days. For this year’s edition, see: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2017/08/cheshbon-hanefesh-worksheet.html
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the
source.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FORGETTING COMMANDMENTS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FORGETTING COMMANDMENTS
"When you reap the harvest in your field and forget a sheaf
in the field, do not return to take it; it shall be for the stranger, orphan
and widow, in order that the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of
your hand. When you beat your olive trees, do not go over them again; it
shall be for the stranger, orphan and widow. When you harvest your
vineyard, do not pick it over again; it shall be for the stranger, orphan and
widow. And you will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt;
therefore I command you to do this thing." Deuteronomy 24:19-22
"The Gleaners" - by Jean-Francois Millet, 1857
In these verses, as well as in Leviticus 19:9-10 and 23:22
("for the poor and for the stranger"), we are told to intentionally
leave grain, olives and grapes - basic foodstuffs which are also, not
coincidentally, essential for offering the basic sacrifices to God. These are
the necessities of the Israelites' physical and spiritual lives. And yet,
according to the Rabbis, the commandment to leave forgotten sheaves in the field
is the only commandment in the Torah that, in a way, can be fulfilled
unintentionally.
There are several rabbinic tales in which people celebrate the
fact that they forgot sheaves in the field. But how can they celebrate
unless they remember? It seems that what they are celebrating is that they
"remembered" to forget! Sheaves on the ground? Forget about
them! Olives still in the trees? Don't go back for them! Unripe
grapes still on the vines? Don't do a second harvest. Forget about them!
This is all about overcoming human nature. When gathering in
the harvest, anyone would be inclined to go back and get as much produce as
possible - it was hard work to grow it, winter is coming, and who knows what
the future will bring? But by remembering what it was like to have
nothing, we can forget about trying to have everything.
These mitzvot can be fulfilled in a different way today. Please
donate packaged foods to SOVA (we have a bin at TBH) or the local food pantry
of your choice. Don’t forget!
Shabbat Shalom! And have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Candle lighting: 7:00 pm
Friday – NO Shabbat Evening Service this week.
Saturday – Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am. NO Breakfast and Torah study this week.
Kiddush luncheon follows.
Monday – Labor Day
Tuesday – Lunch and Learn – 12:00 Noon.
Friday, September 8 – Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat
follows.
Saturday, September 9 – Light Breakfast
and Torah Study – 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service - 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon
follows.
Mazal tov to Dr. Martin Lee and Marilyn Lee on
the birth of a granddaughter!
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah
shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Ze’ev ben Adeline, Yaakov Rani
Ben Margalit, HaRav Tzvi Hersh ben Frimet, Sarah bat Devorah, Susan
Arbetman, Stuart Barth, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky (Serach bat Miriam), Stana
Cooper, 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, Kerry Katz,
Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), Toni Linder, Stuart
Lytton, Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya
Feiga bat Kreina), Alexis Woolfson, and Simon Woolfson.
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.
