Wednesday, May 27, 2020

FROM OUR ANCESTORS TO OUR DESCENDANTS


Shavuot 1
Sivan 6, 5780 / May 28-29, 2020
Torah: Exodus 19:1 – 20:22; Numbers 28:26-31
Haftarah: Ezekiel 1:1-28; 3:12

Shavuot 2
Sivan 7, 5780 / May 29-30, 2020
Book of Ruth
Torah: Deuteronomy 14:22 – 16:17; Numbers 28:26-31
Haftarah: Habakkuk 2:20 - 3:19

Candlelighting:

Thursday - 7:39 pm
Friday – 7:39 pm

Links to all of our on-line activities can be found below.



Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source
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FROM OUR ANCESTORS TO OUR DESCENDANTS

The holiday of Shavuot is often called Chag Matan Torah, the Festival of the Giving of the Torah. I have some difficulty with that. If one receives a gift, one is under no obligation to use it, or even to keep it. How often have you stashed that gift sweater in a closet, taking it out only when you are likely to see the giver? How often have you taken a gift back to the store where it was purchased, in order to get what you really wanted? We all accept this practice - that's why the stores put gift vouchers in the box. Many of us do that with the Torah, too! We trot it out, in a sense, for the High Holy Days and our children's b'nai mitzvah, which are often the only times some of us go to synagogue services. The rest of the time, we leave it in the closet, with the mothballs. The Torah should not be treated in that way.

Our Rabbis understood that little bit of human nature. That is why a better name for Shavuot would be Chag Kabbalat Torah - the Festival of the Acceptance of the Torah. The midrash teaches that, not only did the Israelites accept the Torah, they affirmatively sought it ought! And God did not want to give it to them! According to Song of Songs Rabbah, God said to them, "Before I give you My Torah, you must provide sureties - a guarantee that you will keep the Torah." The Israelites proposed in their turn their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but each was rejected by God as insufficient. They proposed all of their prophets, but God said they were not acceptable either. Then the Israelites said, "Let our children be our sureties." And God replied, "Verily, those are good sureties; for their sake will I give you My Torah."

Our ancestors wanted the Torah so much that they promised that they, and we, and our descendants, would keep it. And Torah observance has kept us intact as a people for a hundred generations. If the Torah is constantly being given to us, as implied in the Blessing Before the Torah Reading ("notein hatorah" - the One Who gives the Torah), then we are constantly accepting it. And God is giving it to us only because our children are our sureties. For the sake of our children, and our descendants, "na'aseh v'nishma" - we should do it, and we should listen to it!

Chag Shavuot Sameach! Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom
הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם ?אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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This Cyber Torah is offered in memory of my beloved father, Martin Flom, whose yahrzeit falls on Saturday, Sivan 7, the second day of Shavuot. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah – his memory is a blessing.

This Cyber Torah is offered in memory of my beloved grandfather, Jacob Slome, whose yahrzeit falls on Sunday, Sivan 8, the second day of Shavuot. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah – his memory is a blessing.

This Cyber Torah is offered in honor of our Religious School graduates, Jessica Danhi and Gideon Said, who will become b’nai mitzvah later this summer. Mazal tov!

Virtual Tikkun Leil Shavuot with Rabbi Flom and Reb Jason Van Leeuwen, Thursday at 9:00 pm PDT via Zoom (Meeting Number 418 318 664) or Facebook Live at:  



This week's Torah readings, chanted by Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and with commentary by Rabbi Flom, can be viewed here: 

First Day of Shavuot, with Hallel: 



Second Day of Shavuot, with Yizkor:


This week's Haftarot, chanted by Susan Burke and Rabbi Flom, can be viewed here: 

First Day of Shavuot: 



Second Day of Shavuot:



Join our Kabbalat Shabbat Religious School Service, with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT on Zoom (Meeting Number 418 318 664) or at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/ 



Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat Morning, and more, including Shavuot, available at: 




Join us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm PDT for Lunch and Learn, a 90 minute study session. We're learning the weekly haftarah. Join us on Zoom (Meeting Number 637 834 304) or at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/  



This week's Torah Sparks from the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem is available here:  https://uscj.org/blog/torahsparks-parashat-shavuot5780 


You can subscribe to Torah Sparks every week via email here: 
  
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 

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT …

Iyar 29, 5780 / May 22-23, 2020
Parashat Bamidbar
Torah: Numbers 1:1 - 4:20
Haftarah: 1 Samuel 20:18-42 (Machar Chodesh)

Candlelighting: 7:35 pm

Links to all of our on-line activities can be found below.

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT …

"The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 'Do not let the tribe of the Kohathite families be cut off from among the Levites. Thus shall you do for them so that they shall live and not die; when they approach the Holy of Holies, Aaron and his sons shall come and assign them, every man to his work and his burden.'" Numbers 4:17-19

Rashi teaches that the Kohathites had the responsibility of carrying the ark, altars, menorah, and other implements. However, if they looked upon the ark when not set up in its proper place, the Kohathites would die. The Midrash, Numbers Rabbah, gives two opinions as to why the Kohathites had to be individually assigned their various tasks. Rabbi Elazar ben P'dat says that the Kohathites were afraid of the danger of carrying the ark, and had to be assigned individually to carry it, in order to assure that it was done. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman says, on the contrary, they all wanted to carry the ark. They had to be individually assigned the various tasks in order to assure that everything else was done!

We all know that there are mitzvot we like to do, that we run to do, and there are others that we aren't so crazy about. Perhaps they are uninteresting, or we don't understand their purpose or relevance. I suspect there are very few today that are as dangerous, or as rewarding, as carrying the Ark.

Nevertheless, we should welcome the opportunity to perform any mitzvah, because a primary purpose of every mitzvah is to bring us closer to God and bring more holiness into our lives. As we will see on Friday, May 29, the first day of Shavuot, God gives a promise and a commandment, immediately before the utterance of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai - "And now, if you hearken to Me and observe My covenant, you shall be My treasure from among all the peoples, for all the land is Mine; and you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Exodus 19:5-6

Each of us has our work and our burden - to observe the mitzvot to the best of our abilities, bringing holiness to ourselves and our people. We make the world a better place for having done so. That is our mission – and it’s certainly NOT impossible. Do you accept?

Shabbat Shalom! Rosh Chodesh Sivan Sameach!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom
הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם ?אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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This Cyber Torah is dedicated in memory of all those US military personnel who died in service to our nation and in defense of our freedoms. Please proudly raise your flag on Monday, May 25, for Memorial Day.

This week's Torah reading, chanted by Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and with commentary by Rabbi Flom, can be viewed here: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/tZYudr_9rj03T4aT4wSDU6V_W42-LaKsgClN-KANyRvgAnMDNlGkbrZDYbTUAJ8Uq41RS0Q-b5h22AAj?startTime=1590095891000&_x_zm_rtaid=b3nNojFDQ8mbszUrA60veQ.1590095627264.964e4d0763c42518ebb2a2502e261b72&_x_zm_rhtaid=537 

This week's Haftarah, chanted by Rebecca Marcus, can be heard here: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kRTqzC52QA2o__pO3hd2wgSrXewL0jd2/view 

Join our Kabbalat Shabbat Service, with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT on Zoom (Meeting Number 418 318 664) or at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/ 

Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat Morning, and more, available at: 

Join us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm PDT for Lunch and Learn, a 90 minute study session. We're learning the weekly haftarah. On May 26 we'll be learning the haftarah for the first day of Shavuot. Join us on Zoom (Meeting Number 637 834 304) or at: 
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/ 

Readings for Lunch and Learn are available at: 
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O0-k6_WKD6yl2YrvEOu9eRa4Ena0lZNs

This week's Torah Sparks from the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem is available here: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s9-vV_t4QGISXTp_e5wrJyhl1Z63fuIXLV8sfInyJuw/edit#heading=h.5ay2ehe0i3lj 
 
You can subscribe to Torah Sparks every week via email here: 

Our synagogue community, Temple B’nai Hayim in Association with Congregation Beth Meier, has set up a GoFundMe page to help support some of our employees and members who are particularly vulnerable due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please help us help them with your donation. 

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

Thursday, May 14, 2020

WORKING THE WORK; LIVING THE LIFE



Parashat Behar-Bechukotai (Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazeik!)
Iyar 22, 5780 / May 15-16, 2020
Torah: Leviticus 25:1 - 27:34
Haftarah: Jeremiah 16:19 - 17:14

Candlelighting: 7:29 pm

Links to all of our on-line activities can be found below.

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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WORKING THE WORK; LIVING THE LIFE

“If you walk in My statutes; and observe My commandments and do them.” Leviticus 26:3

Rashi: “If you walk in My statutes” - one might think this means fulfilling the commandments. But “observe My commandments and do them” already refers to fulfilling them. How do I explain “if you walk in My statutes”? That you should toil in the Torah.

Most commentators understand Rashi to mean that we should be toiling at Torah study. In a small segment of the ultra-Orthodox community, virtually all manner of gainful employment is eschewed in favor of full-time Torah study. However, this is not necessarily the way in which the Rabbis of old understood the verse.

Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, taught: “An excellent thing is Torah study combined with a worldly occupation, for the labor demanded of them both makes sin forgotten. All study of Torah without work must in the end be futile and lead to sin.” Pirkei Avot 2:2

Rabbi Moshe Elyakim of Koznitz understands the issue in the following way: we are not simply to be constantly studying Torah. Rather, the purpose of study is to affect the way we earn our livelihood and everything we do. All of our work and all of our lives should be guided by the Torah and conducted in the spirit of its commandments. When working in the field, if one does not mix seeds, and if one leaves the corners and the gleanings for the poor, then one is “toiling in the Torah.” If business people uphold the Torah’s standards of ethics in the workplace, they are “toiling in the Torah.” When a professional or home baker “takes challah” from each loaf, that is “toiling in the Torah.”

Any profession, any work, virtually any activity involves specific commandments. If you work and live for a higher purpose, if you incorporate the Torah’s values into each and every worldly pursuit, you are toiling in the Torah, and you will reap what you sow - a life of decency and spiritual reward.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom
"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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This week's Torah reading, chanted by Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and with commentary by Rabbi Flom, can be viewed here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/6tBcH7ipq1lIXdKS5V6Paq0rAKblaaa81iZI-vRYxU28p73C-YTbjBc4S4mHCNkz?startTime=1589318603000 

This week's Haftarah, chanted by Susan Burke, can be viewed here: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kRTqzC52QA2o__pO3hd2wgSrXewL0jd2/view 

Join our Kabbalat Shabbat Service, with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT on Zoom (Meeting Number 418 318 664) or at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/ 

Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat Morning, and more, available at: 

Join us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm PDT for Lunch and Learn, a 90 minute study session. We're learning the weekly haftarah. On May 19 we'll be learning Haftarat Bamidbar. Join us on Zoom (Meeting Number 637 834 304) or at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/ 

Readings for Lunch and Learn are available at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bLwG-DpusRhLRwc3wIcseO72zJJiE4CI?usp=sharing 

This week's Torah Sparks from the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem is available here: https://uscj.org/blog/torahsparks-parashat-behar-bechukotai5780


You can subscribe to Torah Sparks every week via email here: 

Our synagogue community, Temple B’nai Hayim in Association with Congregation Beth Meier, has set up a GoFundMe page to help support some of our employees and members who are particularly vulnerable due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please help us help them with your donation. 

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

Monday, May 11, 2020

SOME THINGS I THINK I THINK


SOME THINGS I THINK I THINK

Yesterday I went to the synagogue and actually entered the building for the first time since Monday, March 16. Wearing a mask, like a burglar.

It was normal, joyful, eerie, and sad. I sat at my desk for a few minutes. I took a bag of nuts from the little stash in my desk drawer. I got the books I needed from my personal library - perfectly normal. I like normalcy.

And it was a joy to be back in my space, and to go over the shelves, searching a bit but finding every book I wanted, exactly where it was supposed to be. My books make me happy. There they were - all my dependable hard- and soft- and ring- and staple-bound friends.

And that was eerie - everything was exactly where I had left it on March 16. Even the dust bunnies. Not only in my office, but nothing had been moved in the social hall or in the sanctuary, except for Reb Jason's things, since he's there weekly to chant Torah via Zoom. And apparently nothing had been moved in the kitchens since April 8, when we did our Pesach Seder takeout meals. That was the last time I'd even been at the building, though I hadn't gone inside then. It seems that time has stopped in our buildings. Eerie.

And it made me very sad. Our pre-school with its smiling teachers and laughing little ones will not re-open until July 1 at the earliest. The charter school that has been renting space from us is on-line for the remainder of the school year - when if ever will I see all those earnest students and feel the buzz of their presence? Our dedicated office and support staff? I haven't seen them in person since March 13 or 14. No spur of the moment program planning, no drinking coffee while going over the menu for this week's Shabbat lunch or discussing the music on the radio or trying to figure out why the computers are acting strangely again. There’s been no Sunday religious school in our little “one room schoolhouse”. Nor are there congregants or curious local students dropping in for a chat, serious or otherwise. And of course, there have been no communal gatherings, no joining together in song and prayer and Torah study, no hugs of greeting or condolence, no handshakes and "mazel tov" and “shalom aleikhem”, no parading with the Sifrei Torah or walking people through the choreography of the service. Our beit tefillah, our house of prayer, hears no prayers. Our beit k’nesset, our house of gathering, sees no gatherings. Our beit midrash, our house of study, hosts no classes.

There’s been plenty of teleconferencing and emailing and Zooming. They are otherworldly and insubstantial – ephemeral electrons and bytes. So we are still “doing” many of our programs. But there has been no physicality, and if nothing else, Jewish life is of this world, the world of things and people you can touch and you can feel with all your senses.

This is not how it's supposed to be. And that is why I am sad. It is what it is.

But I do not despair, because I know we will get through this. Things will not be the same, even though almost everything above will return. Some things might well be better than they were before. But they will not be the same. And … that’s okay and to be expected, actually.

More than 60 years ago, Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, z’l wrote a book about Conservative Judaism – “Tradition and Change”. We’ll be getting much more of the latter, some things all-new, some merely different, as we try to maintain as much as we can of the former, with this understanding – Judaism and the Jewish people have always been about tradition and change. This is Judaism – normal and joyful and eerie and sad. Same as it ever was.

Tuesday is Lag B’omer – a date commemorating a radical and miraculous change of circumstances in the midst of an epidemic, according to tradition. Also, according to tradition, Lag B’omer is a day to get married - or to get a haircut. This is Judaism. Same as it ever was. And that is profound.

Thursday, May 7, 2020

SPEAKING AND SAYING

Parashat Emor
Iyar 15, 5780 / May 8-9, 2020
Torah: Leviticus 21:1 - 24:23
Haftarah: Ezekiel 44:15-31

Candlelighting: 7:24 pm

This d'var torah is offered in honor of all our mothers because this Sunday is Mother’s Day. Be good to your mother. Don’t take her out to a restaurant for brunch! Maintain recommended health protocols, be safe and be well so you can celebrate Mother’s Day next year too.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of Steven Kleiger z”l, whose yahrzeit falls on Sunday, 16 Iyar. His memory is a blessing.

Links to all of our on-line activities can be found below.

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source. 
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SPEAKING AND SAYING

And the Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and say to them, 'None may be defiled for the dead among his people.'" Leviticus 21:1

Rashi, quoting B. Talmud Yevamot 114a: "Speak" and "say" - to admonish the big ones regarding the little ones.

Porachat Altah Nitzah: This is to warn leaders (literally, "those standing at the head of the people") to make themselves small, so that they do not step on the heads of this holy people, that they not be prideful and lord it over the people. (Quoted in IttureiTorah)

Our commentators see in the linguistic redundancy a hint at something more. Rebbe Elimelekh of Lizhensk is even more forceful. He suggests that the more powerful and influential one is, the more scrupulous one needs to be about even the least significant obligation or character fault. (Quoted in Itturei Torah)

More and more frequently, it seems, we hear political leaders, captains of industry and other powerful figures in our society tell us we must "tighten our belts" even as they make excuses for their excesses (that necessitated the belt tightening!) and justify them as entitlements that come with their positions. Even worse, they all too frequently demand sacrifices of others while carving out exemptions from those sacrifices for themselves and their friends.

Lord Acton wrote: "Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." He might have been referring to this week's parashah - the unbridled exercise of power causes one to be defiled, one whose sacrifices (and good works) are thereby unacceptable to God, one whose soul can be irreparably damaged.

We need leaders - but we need leaders who know and respect their limits. How much more so as we in the United States go deeper into this year’s political season, and with the cloud of a pandemic hanging over our heads. Authority without responsibility is a license to do unmitigated damage. When will we ever "get it"?

Speak to our leaders, and say to them.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
"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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Our synagogue community, Temple B’nai Hayim in Association with Congregation Beth Meier, has set up a GoFundMe page to help support some of our employees and members who are particularly vulnerable due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please help us help them with your donation. 
https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/maot-hittin-bread-to-the-afflicted?utm_campaign=oc&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=crowdrise&fbclid=IwAR2D1ZzLUwc1iYjSci4SXjRjxXqetRfZvfWSl-LzymYsj2pFpBR9ZZVUQYw



This week's Haftarah, chanted by Barry Glass, can be viewed here: 
Join our Kabbalat Shabbat Service, with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT on Zoom (Meeting Number 418 318 664) or at:
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/ 

Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat Morning, and more, available at: 
http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/form-download-e-siddur-0 

Join us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm PDT for Lunch and Learn, a 90 minute study session. We're learning the weekly haftarah. On May 12 we'll be learning Haftarat Behar-Bechukotai, Jeremiah 16:19 - 17:14. Join us on Zoom (Meeting Number 637 834 304) or at: 
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/ 

This week's Torah Sparks from the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem is available here: https://uscj.org/blog/torah-sparks-parashat-emor5780 

You can receive a fresh Torah Sparks every week via email by subscribing here: https://www.conservativeyeshiva.org/torahsparks/

PUTTING GOD SECOND

Parashat Vayera Cheshvan 15, 5783 / November 15-16, 2024 Torah: Genesis 18:1-22:24 Haftarah: Kings II 4:1-37 (Ashkenazic); Kings II 4:1-23 (...