Torah: Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22
Haftarah: Isaiah 1:1-27 (Shabbat Chazon – Shabbat of
Vision)
4 Av, 5780 / July 24, 2020
Tisha B’Av reading: Megillat Eichah – The Book of
Lamentations
This Shabbat is Shabbat Chazon, the
Shabbat of Vision, so-called because we read on Shabbat morning the rebuking
vision of Isaiah, leading into the observance of Tisha B’Av on Wednesday night
and Thursday, July 29-30, and the reading of the horrifying vision of the Book
of Lamentations (Megillat Eichah). Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av,
commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, and
numerous other calamities which have befallen the Jewish people on the same
date. Please join us on line via Zoom or Facebook Live for a community
program of service, reading of Lamentations, study and discussion on Wednesday,
July 29, at 8:00 pm. Links and study offerings will be posted later this week. Have
a meaningful fast.
This d'var torah is offered in memory of Sarah
Labovitz Flom (my grandmother) and Martha Gottschalk Stern (Lynn's
grandmother), whose yahrzeits fall Friday, July 31 (10 Av), and Sunday, August
2 (12 Av), respectively. Both were US immigrants and asylum seekers, escaping
anti-semitic persecution from Romania (1902) and from Nazi Germany (1937 via
France 1934).
Candle lighting: 7:41 pm
Tisha B’Av begins
Wednesday, July 29, at 7:55 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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BEARING
AND SHARING THE BURDEN
"How
(eikhah in Hebrew) can I alone bear your vexation and your burden
and your strife?" Deuteronomy 1:12
Rashi:
"Even if I were to say that I will do so in order to receive a reward, I
may not do so."
Rashi
offers the traditional Jewish take on the limits of personal responsibility.
One is actually forbidden to voluntarily take on a burden that might be greater
than one can bear, even (especially?) if one does so in order to receive a
reward from God and/or the community. One may not voluntarily injure oneself
(except to save a life); also, too much responsibility assumed by one person
can actually do damage to the community.
But
what happens when one refuses to accept any share of the burden for communal
needs? R. Yosef Yozl Horowitz takes Rashi's comment and stands it on its head.
He says, "Traditionally, this verse is read to the melody of Lamentations
(Megillat Eikhah, from the first word of Lamentations), to teach us that
if a person refuses to assume the responsibility for community needs, and
thinks that by doing so he makes things easier for himself, he will in the end
find out that matters will be worse for him, and he will remain alone and
isolated. How (eikhah) does one dwell alone?" (From Itturei
Torah) As John Donne said: “No man is an island entire of
itself.”
We
are forbidden to take on so much responsibility that we become a burden on the
community. On the other hand, we are forbidden to neglect our obligations to
the community. These two teachings together offer a great insight, summed up by
Rabbi Tarfon: "You are not obligated to finish the task, neither are you
free to neglect it." Avot 2:21 If we share the burden, it's easier to
bear. That's community spirit!
Shabbat
Shalom! And have a meaningful fast.
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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Join our Kabbalat Shabbat
Service, with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at
6:30 pm PDT at:
Join our Shabbat
Morning Service with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Saturday morning at
10:00 am PDT 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
You can download both Siddur Sim Shalom and Siddur Lev Shalem at the above link.
You can download both Siddur Sim Shalom and Siddur Lev Shalem at the above link.
For the time being, we
will not be posting separate videos of Torah and Haftarah
readings.
Join us every Sunday
at 11:00 am PDT for "History of the Jews of Israel and
the Middle East" with David Silon at:
Join us every Tuesday
at 12:30 pm PDT for Lunch and Learn, a 60 minute study
session. We're learning the weekly haftarah. Join us at:
Study
materials for Lunch and Learn for Tuesday, July 21 are available at:
Study
materials for Lunch and Learn for Tuesday, July 28 are available at:
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