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
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.
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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.
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
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
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
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:
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