Parashat B’ha’alot’kha
19 Sivan 5778 / 1-2 June 2018
Torah: Numbers 8:1 - 12:17
Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14 - 4:7
Calendar and dedications follow below. For a full
calendar of events and other info about Temple B’nai Hayim/Congregation Beth
Meier, check out:
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please
cite the source.
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BETWEEN THE LINES
“Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say: ‘Rise up,
Lord. May Your enemies be scattered, and may those who hate You flee
before You.’ And when it rested, he would say: ‘Return, Lord, You who are
Israel’s myriads of thousands.’” Numbers 10:35-6
In a Sefer Torah and in the Chumash, these two verses are
bracketed by upside down letter nuns. According to the Talmud, they
constitute a separate book of the Torah, the purpose of which is to avoid
reporting three successive sins by the Israelites.
In the liturgy, however, the two verses are themselves
“bookends”. Verse 35 is sung when the Ark is opened in the synagogue at
the beginning of the Torah service. The Torah scroll is removed, and it
“sets out” around the sanctuary before it is read. At the conclusion of the
Torah service, verse 36 is recited as the Ark is opened for the Torah to be put
away, to “rest”.
What happens in the synagogue between the recitations of
the two verses is a wonderful ritual pageant, carried out for the past two
millennia in every synagogue in the world. The congregation rises and
sings, the Torah is twice paraded around the sanctuary, the portion and
haftarah are read and discussed, anywhere from three to eight people are called
for aliyot, prayers for healing, for thanksgiving, for the community and for
our country are recited, babies are named, and more.
The Torah service is my favorite part of Shabbat
morning. We are re-enacting history, and creating it as well, each time we
conduct it. Since the Torah is the history of our people, and we read that
history every week, one might say that all of our history occurs between these
two verses. We publicize and renew our understanding of the Torah even as
we stand at Mount Sinai. Most significantly, to my mind, we are making a
statement about our commitment to Jewish heritage and Jewish continuity.
We Jews are a nation that learns the lessons of history
more than any other. We re-enact it, we live it, and we make it. Go to your
synagogue this Shabbat morning, and be a part of history.
Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Visit me on Facebook
“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: 7:42 pm
Friday: Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat
follows.
Saturday: Breakfast/Torah Study – 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning
Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.
Next time you come to
TBH/CBM, please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and
personal items (no glass) for SOVA.
This d'var torah is offered in
memory of Marshall Neiman, whose yahrzeit falls this Shabbat, 19 Sivan. Y’hi
zikhro liv’rakhah – his memory is a blessing.
This d'var torah is offered for a
refuah shleimah for Ze’ev ben Adeline, Eilite bat Miriam, Sarah bat Devorah,
Hiroe Andreola, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya
bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Annabelle Flom
(Channah Bella bat Kreina), Bernard Garvin, Leah Granat, Brandon Joseph, Gabor
Klein, Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), David Marks,
Debra Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat
Kreina), and Jonathan Woolf.
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.
Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will
call!):
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with the subject heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah” to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
Send requests for dedications of Cyber
Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah
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