Parashat
Mattot-Mas’ei
Torah:
Numbers 30:2 – 36:13 (Chazak!)
Haftarah:
Jeremiah 2:4-28; 3:4 (Second Shabbat of Admonition)
2
Av 5779 / 2-3 August 2019
IMPORTANT
NOTE:
We
are changing our Shabbat Evening Service time for the month of August! On
August 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30, Shabbat Evening services will begin at 6:30
pm. This will give those who do not wish to drive at night, or who
would like to have Shabbat dinner after services, or simply a more relaxed
evening, the chance to do so. We’ll see you here!
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.
Note: I published this d’var torah last year. Nothing has changed for the better. So I’m publishing it again.
Note: I published this d’var torah last year. Nothing has changed for the better. So I’m publishing it again.
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A
CITY OF REFUGE, SHINING ON A HILL?
“You
shall provide yourselves with places to serve as cities of refuge to which a
manslayer that has killed a person unintentionally may flee.” Numbers
35:11
According
to the Torah, the purpose of a city of refuge (ir miklat) was to protect
someone who was not guilty of intentional murder from the blood avengers of the
victim’s family. For example, when an axe-head separated from the handle
and struck another person, the one chopping wood was a manslayer, not a
murderer, and was granted refuge. But, as is our way with Torah, we can find
far deeper and relevant meanings.
In
his farewell address to our nation, January 11, 1989, President Reagan said the
following: “I've
spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever
quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall,
proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and
teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free
ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city
walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and
the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.”
I’ve
always admired this inspiring vision, however unfulfilled it might be. Sadly,
it seems that our country is further from that vision than we have been in many
decades – we are letting it slip away. Today, we are refusing refuge to people
who are actually fleeing real murder and mayhem and oppression – because of
their language, their skin color, their national origin, their religion. Rather
than an ir miklat, a city of refuge, the United States has become
an ir siruv, a city of refusal, a city of denial.
Next
Shabbat is Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbat of the Vision of Isaiah –
the last Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, the date commemorating the
destruction of Jerusalem, the original Shining City on a Hill – lost, according
to tradition, because of the hypocrisy and hatred in the city. Isaiah 1:1-27 is
worth reading now – don’t wait until next Shabbat. The prophet gives this
instruction: “Learn to do good; devote yourselves to justice; aid those who
have been wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the
widow.” (1:17)
This
is how we create a city of refuge – this is how we create an American shining
city on a hill.
Shabbat
Shalom.
Rabbi
Richard A. Flom
Temple
B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Visit
me on Facebook
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
Silence
in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT
Yevamot 88a
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Candle
lighting: 7:35 pm
Friday: A
Capella Shabbat Evening Service – 6:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows. (NOTE
TIME CHANGE FOR AUGUST!)
Saturday: Torah
study/breakfast – 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30
am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Sunday:
Education Committee Meeting – 10:00 am. All members are invited to participate in
developing our vision and programming for
Tuesday: Lunch
and Learn – 12:00 noon.
Friday,
August 9: Shabbat
Evening Service – 6:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows. (NOTE TIME CHANGE FOR
AUGUST!)
Saturday,
August 10: Torah
study/breakfast – 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am.
Kiddush lunch follows. Tisha B’Av is coming. We will have a light
dinner (before the start of the fast), a study session, and evening service
with chanting of Eichah (Book of Lamentations) on Saturday, August 10,
commencing at 7:15 pm.
This
d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Bella bat Shoshanah,
Leah bat Sarah Imanu, Sarah bat Devorah, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Mark
Brownstein, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht
(Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Annabelle Flom (Channah Bella bat Kreina), Bernard
Garvin, Leah Granat, Carol Herskowitz, Brandon Joseph, Gabor Klein, Philip
Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Imanu), Marilyn Lee, David Marks,
Sandra Raab, Marguerite Rassiner, Josef Sands, Debra Schugar Strauss (Devorah
bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), Bernie Seeman, and
William Sragow.
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.
Next
time you come to TBH/CBM, please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged
foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.
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, deliver d’rashot, and have aliyot and other
Torah/bimah honors. Training available! Contact Rabbi Flom by e-mail for
details and to sign up!
Cyber
Torah list management (no salesman will call!):
To subscribe to
Cyber Torah, send an e-mail 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 to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
To unsubscribe from
Cyber Torah, send an e-mail with the subject heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah”
to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net
