Parashat Sh’mot
Torah: Exodus 1:1 - 6:1
Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6 - 28:13; 29:22-23 (Ashkenazim);
Jeremiah 1:1 - 2:3 (Sephardim)
21 Tevet 5779 / 28-29 December 2018
Calendar and dedications follow below. For more information about
our community, check out our web site at: http://www.bnaihayim.com
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the
source.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
GOD HAPPENS!
"... You shall go with the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, happened upon us. And now, please let us go on a three-day journey in the desert and we shall sacrifice to the Lord, our God.'" Exodus 3:18
A traditional take (Rashi and Sforno) on this verse is that the Israelites are telling Pharaoh that this was not something that they had asked for or intended - after all, Pharaoh hates them enough as it is! And yet, one has to wonder - perhaps the Israelites did cause God to "happen" upon them.
At the end of chapter 2 of Exodus, the Israelites groaned because of their slavery and cried out. Their cries reached God, Who "remembered" the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They turned to God and their outcry caused God to respond. One might say, then, that one can bring God into the world, cause God to "happen", by praying, or by crying out, or by searching for God.
On the other hand, Moses might have made God happen through his own actions. Moses acted righteously on several occasions before God chose him to save the Israelites - he struck down the Egyptian who was beating an Israelite, he saved Tzipporah and her sisters from the shepherds at the well, and he stopped to consider the burning bush. He was not seeking God, but he caused God to happen by acting justly, by defending the downtrodden, and by acknowledging a miracle.
We can cry out to God, we can pray to God, we can search for God, we can act in a Godly way - God comes into our lives, God happens, if we make God happen.
"... You shall go with the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, happened upon us. And now, please let us go on a three-day journey in the desert and we shall sacrifice to the Lord, our God.'" Exodus 3:18
A traditional take (Rashi and Sforno) on this verse is that the Israelites are telling Pharaoh that this was not something that they had asked for or intended - after all, Pharaoh hates them enough as it is! And yet, one has to wonder - perhaps the Israelites did cause God to "happen" upon them.
At the end of chapter 2 of Exodus, the Israelites groaned because of their slavery and cried out. Their cries reached God, Who "remembered" the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They turned to God and their outcry caused God to respond. One might say, then, that one can bring God into the world, cause God to "happen", by praying, or by crying out, or by searching for God.
On the other hand, Moses might have made God happen through his own actions. Moses acted righteously on several occasions before God chose him to save the Israelites - he struck down the Egyptian who was beating an Israelite, he saved Tzipporah and her sisters from the shepherds at the well, and he stopped to consider the burning bush. He was not seeking God, but he caused God to happen by acting justly, by defending the downtrodden, and by acknowledging a miracle.
We can cry out to God, we can pray to God, we can search for God, we can act in a Godly way - God comes into our lives, God happens, if we make God happen.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Visit me on Facebook
Twitter: @DrahcirMolf
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CALENDAR
Candle lighting: 4:34 pm
Friday – Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg
Shabbat follows.
Saturday – Breakfast and Torah study - 8:45
am. Shabbat Morning Service - 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon
follows.
Tuesday – NO Lunch and Learn. Happy Secular New
Year! Resume 1/8
Friday, January 4 – Shabbat Evening
Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, January 5 - Breakfast
and Torah study – 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service - 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon
follows.
Friday, January 11 – Tot Shabbat! at
6:30pm. Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Next time you come to TBH/CBM, please bring some non-perishable
canned and packaged foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.
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. Training available! Contact Rabbi Flom by e-mail for
details and to sign up!
This d’var torah is offered in honor of my best friend and life
partner, Lynn Kronzek, on the occasion of our 38th wedding
anniversary on Friday, December 28. Thank you for always being a blessing in my
life!
This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Elisheva bat
Malkah, Ze’ev ben Adeline, Liora bat Sarah, Eilite bat Miriam, Sarah bat
Devorah, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat
Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Annabelle Flom (Chanah
Bella bat Kreina), Bernard Garvin, Leah Granat, Brandon Joseph, Gabor Klein,
Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), Barbara Levy, David
Marks, Debra Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya
Feiga bat Kreina), Bernie Seeman, Irwin Silon, William Sragow, 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.
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.
