Parashat
Tol’dot
28
Cheshvan 5778 / 17-18 November 2017
Torah Reading - Genesis 25:19 - 28:9
Haftarah: Shabbat Machar Chodesh - 1 Samuel 20:18-20:42
Torah Reading - Genesis 25:19 - 28:9
Haftarah: Shabbat Machar Chodesh - 1 Samuel 20:18-20:42
Calendar
and dedications follow below. For more information about our community, check
out our web site at:
Please
feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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REDIGGING
THE WELLS OF TORAH
"And the Philistines stopped up all the wells which
his father's servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them
with dirt … Isaac dug anew the wells which had been dug in the days of his
father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death;
and he gave them the same names that his father had given them." Genesis
26:15; 18.
We often use the term "Philistine" to refer to
someone lacking or opposed to cultural or intellectual values. However, the
Philistines here are something else - they are opposed to ethical monotheism
and the Jewish conception of God. A Midrash teaches that the wells symbolize
the seven Noachide commandments which prohibit murder, idolatry, immoral sexual
behavior, blasphemy, theft, and meat cut from a living animal, and which require
the establishment of courts of justice.
A later Jewish commentator (Yaakov Zvi Mecklenburg
[1785-1865], in “Haketav V'hakabbalah - “The Written Torah and
the Received Tradition”) sees the Philistines' action as symbolic of idol
worshippers trying to bury faith in God and the righteous behavior that comes
from that faith. The very names of the wells (such as "Be’er-lachai-ro’i”
– “the well of the living God that sees me") were used to tell people
about God; and Abraham, he says, would tell the (physically and spiritually)
thirsty people around him, "Let us go and draw water from the well of the
eternal God."
The Philistines thought that Abraham's death meant the
death of his ideas. Isaac proved them wrong, by redigging the wells and using
the same names for them. So it is with us. The passing of our grandparents' or
parents' generation does not mean the death of "the faith of our
fathers", so long as we keep the faith. If we refuse to learn Jewish
traditions and values, or to teach them to our children, we have surrendered to
the Philistines. It is up to us to redig the wells.
Have a Wonderful Shabbat!
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 88a
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CALENDAR
Candle lighting: 4:30 pm
Friday – Shabbat Evening Service at 6:30 pm, followed
by Annual Turkey Dinner at 7:15 pm. RSVP deadline for dinner has
passed.
Saturday – Breakfast and Torah study - 8:45
am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday – Religious School – 9:30 am. Sign up the kids
and bring ‘em on down! Adult Hebrew with Barry Glass at 10:00
am!
Tuesday – Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.
Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday,
November 24 – Shabbat
Evening Service at 7:30 pm, followed by Oneg Shabbat.
Saturday,
November 25 – Breakfast
and Torah study - 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am.
Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday,
November 26 – NO Religious
School or Adult Hebrew.
TBH Religious School and TBH
Pre-school have 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!
We are looking for volunteers for
services: chant Torah or Haftarah, daven, lead English readings, and have
aliyot and other Torah/bimah honors. Contact Rabbi Flom by e-mail for details
and to sign up!
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah
shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Ze’ev ben Adeline,
HaRav Chana Rivka bat Doronit, Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, Eilite
bat Miryam, HaRav Tzvi Hersh ben Frimet, Sarah bat Devorah, Hiroe
Andriola, Susan Arbetman, Stuart Barth, Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels, Maya
Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard
Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Bernard Garvin, Myra Goodman,
Leah Granat, Simon Hartmann, Brandon Joseph, Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata
Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), Lyndia Lowy (Leah bat Sarah), Deborah Schugar Strauss
(Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), Jonathan
Woolf, and Meagan Yudell.
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.
