WHAT EXACTLY ARE SUKKOT?

Sukkot - Tishrei 15-16, 5781 / October 2-4, 2020
Sukkot 1 and 2 - Torah: Leviticus 22:26 - 23:44; Maftir: 29:12-16
Sukkot 1 - Haftarah: Zechariah 14:1-21
Sukkot 2 - Haftarah: 1 Kings 8:2-21

Candle-lighting for Friday, October 2: 6:17 PM PDT
Candle-lighting for Saturday, October 3: 7:11 PM PDT

Our Refuah Shleimah/Prayer for Healing List  can be found at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iT0tdp45ITSU6o1tykah41m3IXBxBwLxe8FORSIXzDo/edit?usp=sharing

If you would like to have a name added or removed from this Prayer for Healing list, please write to me at: ravflom@sbcglobal.net

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

Some excellent on-line resources are available for Sukkot/Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah at:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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WHAT EXACTLY ARE SUKKOT?

"So that your generations will know that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 23:43

There is an interesting dispute among the Rabbis concerning the nature of the sukkot in which our ancestors dwelt. In the Talmud (Sukkah 11b), Rabbi Eliezer says the sukkot were "the clouds of glory" (ananei hakavod) that surrounded the Jews in the desert. But Rabbi Akiva says, "They built for themselves actual booths" (sukkot mamash). One might understand from Rabbi Eliezer that the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, surrounded them in the desert - that is something truly spectacular! Rabbi Akiva is a realist - they lived in flimsy structures, just like we build today.

What makes the discussion more interesting is that in the midrashic text Mekhilta D'Rebbi Ishmael (Pischa 14), Rabbi Eliezer says they were actual booths and Rabbi Akiva says they were clouds of glory! Which text is correct and which rabbi is correct?

The answer is - they all are! Sukkot are physical and metaphysical. It comes to teach us that when we spend a week fulfilling the mitzvah of residing in a flimsy hut, we surround ourselves with the Shekhinah. Spend some time in a sukkah, and get your head in the clouds!

This year, because of the rampant COVID-19 virus – far too many of us can not build or get to a sukkah mamash. We will be visiting others' sukkot via Zoom or FaceTime - a new, modern form of the metaphysical sukkot of the rabbis!

May we all dwell in sukkot shalom – shelters of peace.

Chag Sukkot Sameach! Mo'adim L'Simchah!

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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UPCOMING EVENTS AND OTHER USEFUL INFO!

Join our "COOOL SHABBAT/SUKKOT EVENING SERVICE" with Dr. Steve  Pearlman and Rabbi Flom, this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT at: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim 

Join our Shabbat/Weekday Morning/Sukkot Services with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Saturday and Sunday at 10:00 am PDT at: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim

Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat/Festival 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.

David Silon’s "History of the Jews of Israel and the Middle East" will resume Sunday, October 18 at 11:00 am at: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim

Join us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm PDT for Lunch and Learn, a 60 minute study session. We're learning the weekly haftarah. Next class is on October 13 (no class October 6). Join us at: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim

FOR ZOOM LINKS TO OUR SERVICES AND PROGRAMS, PLEASE WRITE TO ME DIRECTLY AT THE ADDRESS BELOW.

You can subscribe to the Conservative Yeshivah’s weekly Torah Sparks via email here: 

https://www.conservativeyeshiva.org/torahsparks/

Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!):

To subscribe to Cyber Torah, and receive Cyber Torah every week in your mailbox, 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

E PLURIBUS UNUM?

Tishrei 8, 5781 / September 25-26, 2020
Parashat Ha'azinu (Shabbat Shuvah) 
Torah Reading: Deuteronomy 32:1-52
Haftarah (Shabbat Shuvah): Hosea 14:2-10; Joel 2:15-27

If you have not already done so, please submit your Chaver Registration Form ASAP! You can find it at our all-new website: 

 http://www.bnaihayim.org    

We will be streaming our Yom Kippur services live via Zoom only, and the Zoom link is being provided only to registered Chaverim. If you need assistance in learning how to access those or any other of our services and programs, please contact Reb Jason Van Leeuwen or Rabbi Richard Flom.

For the past few years, I have created a Cheshbon Hanefesh Worksheet, to help get us ready for the spiritual side of the High Holy Days (sorry, no recipes or floral arrangements!). You can download it from my blog at: 
https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2020/08/cheshbon-hanefesh-woksheet-5781.html 

Also, some excellent on-line resources are available for your Yom Kippur preparations at:  
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/ 
 
Candle-lighting for Friday, September 25: 6:26 PM PDT
Candle-lighting for Sunday, September 27: 6:24 PM PDT
Yom Kippur ends: Monday, September 28: 7:18 PM PDT  
 
Our Refuah Shleimah list can be found at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iT0tdp45ITSU6o1tykah41m3IXBxBwLxe8FORSIXzDo/edit?usp=sharing 

If you would like to have a name added or removed from this Prayer for Healing list, please write to me at: ravflom@sbcglobal.net 

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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E PLURIBUS UNUM?
 
"The Lord saw and was provoked by the anger of His sons and His daughters. And He said, 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be; for they are a very unstable generation, children in whom there is no faith.'" Deuteronomy 32:19-20

Rabbi Moshe Pollak comments: "God becomes angry at us because of 'the anger of His sons and His daughters' - i.e., because the Jewish people fight among themselves."
 
Divrei Eliezer suggests what they fight about. Regarding "they are a very unstable generation," he says that the Jewish people are a nation of fast changes and contradictions. Even as they preach and seek peace and brotherhood, there are always many arguments among them. They create many organizations to help those in need, yet have many jealousies between them. 

This is both wonderful praise and a stinging indictment! Yes, our Torah and our holy texts are full of exhortations for peace and brotherhood. Many of our people do practice what we preach. And yet, we are about to spend Yom Kippur confessing our individual and communal failure to fulfill those goals, among others. What are we arguing about? Who is the most peaceful? Who defines peace and brotherhood?

As for organizations helping the needy, the Jews are famous for establishing them, and succeeding. But how much more successful would the groups be if they would not engage in turf wars, or be jealous over each other's balance sheet? God knows (so do we all!) that there are enough needy people around - they don't need the helpers to waste precious time and resources in arguing over who needs the most help or who is the most helpful! 

There is a lesson to be learned on these points not simply from the Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but the Holy Days yet to come - Sukkot. The sukkah requires us to live a minimalist existence, by the skin of our teeth. It helps us understand the most basic needs of those less fortunate than us. By sharing our sukkah with friends, family and members of the community, we create a sukkat shalom - a tent of peace. At the same time, the lulav and etrog set that is used during the holiday is composed of distinct parts, like the Jewish people, but the mitzvah of lulav and etrog is not fulfilled unless and until the parts are brought together as one - as a unit. Then it is shalem - complete. 

Shalem and shalom - one depends upon the other. Only when our people come together in unity will we have truly formed a community of peace.
 
HaRachaman hu yivarekh otanu kulanu yachad b'virkat shalom - May the Merciful One bless us, all of us as one, with the blessing of peace.
 
L’shanah tovah umetukah tikateivu v’tichateimu. May you be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year.

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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UPCOMING EVENTS AND OTHER USEFUL INFO!

Join our Kabbalat Shabbat Service, with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom, Friday evenings at 6:30 pm PDT at: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim 

Join our Shabbat Morning Services with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom Saturday mornings 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.

Join us this Sunday at 11:00 am PDT for "History of the Jews of Israel and the Middle East" with David Silon at: 
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim 

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: 
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim   

The study materials for Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, September 29 can be found at:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1a_KQUEUY--nXl5T4chnpFvkPg_SL3MM8?usp=sharing 

 
FOR ZOOM LINKS TO OUR SERVICES AND PROGRAMS, PLEASE WRITE TO ME DIRECTLY AT THE ADDRESS BELOW.

You can subscribe to the Conservative Yeshivah’s weekly Torah Sparks via email here: 

https://www.conservativeyeshiva.org/torahsparks/   

Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!): 

To subscribe to Cyber Torah, and receive Cyber Torah every week in your mailbox, 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 

DOING WHAT IS RIGHT & GOOD

Chaverim:

There is a d’var Torah below the following important information.

If you recently sent your Chaver Registration Form to TBH/CBM via USPS, and do not receive your High Holy Day Zoom link in your email by Thursday evening, September 17, it is IMPERATIVE that you let me know by email immediately – no later than 12:00 Noon on Friday, September 18. As you are no doubt aware, there have been serious delays in mail delivery recently, and there is no assurance that your mailing was timely received. Please do not wait until Friday afternoon to start looking for the Zoom link for our services!

Pickup of machzorim for the High Holy Days is Thursday, September 17, 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm. Drive up to the kitchen door in the alley at the rear of the TBH building and knock on the door. If you are unable to pick up your machzor, please let the TBH/CBM office know ASAP so that we may arrange local delivery. These are being loaned to all our registered Chaverim, for return in October. To emphasize – these are only for registered Chaverim of TBH/CBM. How can YOU become a Chaver? Read on!

Please submit your on-line Chaver Registration Form ASAP! You can find it at:

https://bnaihayim.org/join/ 

We will be streaming our High Holy Day services live via Zoom only, and the Zoom link is being provided only to registered Chaverim. If you need assistance in learning how to access those or any other of our services and programs, please contact Reb Jason Van Leeuwen or Rabbi Richard Flom. 

For the past few years, I have created a Cheshbon Hanefesh Worksheet, to help get us ready for the spiritual side of the High Holy Days (sorry, no recipes or floral arrangements!). You can download it from my blog at: 

https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2020/08/cheshbon-hanefesh-woksheet-5781.html 

Also, some excellent on-line resources are available for your Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur preparations at:  

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/  

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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The following appeared two years ago in “Torah Sparks – Rosh Hashanah 5779”, a publication of the Conservative Yeshivah in Jerusalem. In its discussion on the desirability of compromise, it is particularly timely in view of current public discourse in the United States and elsewhere.

Doing What is Right & Good

Vered Hollander-Goldfarb, Conservative Yeshiva Faculty

Don’t steal, don’t transgress Shabbat, don’t trip up a blind person, don’t block an ox that is threshing. Don’t. Don’t. But some “don’ts” seem to be missing. There is no prohibition on foul language, no restriction on being a gluttonous and despicable person, no Mitzvah forcing your neighbor to lower the music. You get my drift, you could probably add your own favorite missing Mitzvah. Why are they not there?! Because no legal system can legislate every possible situation.

This issue bothered Ramban (Nachmanides) enough to write about it in at least 2 places. He comments on the Torah’s instruction “And you shall do that which is right and good in the eyes of the LORD” (Deut. 6:18) and says:

“[this verse] refers to a compromise and going beyond the requirement of the letter of the law….even where He has not commanded you, give thought as well to do what is good and right in His eyes…Now this is a great principle, for it is impossible to mention in the Torah all aspects of a person’s conduct with his neighbors and friends, and all his various transactions, and the ordinances of all societies and countries… [so after giving some legal examples] he reverted to state in a general way that in all matters one should “do what is good and right”, including even compromise and going beyond the requirements of the law.” (Translation by Chavell).

Ramban does not view compromise as a mediocre outcome, rather, compromise is the very best, it is what we should strive to reach. It is not easy. Compromise requires understanding the other side without losing sight of our own needs. It means accepting that the person that is driving us crazy needs to be dealt with through respect and tolerance (and hope that he/she, too, has been studying Ramban). If we can learn to view society as a place where we strive to be wise, not right, then we will be doing that “which is right and good in the eyes of the LORD.”

L’shanah tovah umetukah tikateivu v’tichateimu. May you be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year.

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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UPCOMING EVENTS AND OTHER USEFUL INFO!

Join our Kabbalat Shabbat Service, with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom on non-High Holy Day Friday evenings at 6:30 pm PDT at: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/  

Join our non-High Holy Day Shabbat Morning Services with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom Saturday mornings 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.

Join us every on-holiday Sunday at 11:00 am PDT for "History of the Jews of Israel and the Middle East" with David Silon at: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/   

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: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/  

FOR ZOOM LINKS TO OUR SERVICES AND PROGRAMS, PLEASE WRITE TO ME DIRECTLY AT THE ADDRESS BELOW.

You can subscribe to the Conservative Yeshivah’s weekly Torah Sparks via email here: 

https://www.conservativeyeshiva.org/torahsparks/ 

Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!): 

To subscribe to Cyber Torah, and receive Cyber Torah every week in your mailbox, 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 

THE ROAD TO HELL AND THE EASY WAY

Parashat Nitzavim - Vayelekh
Torah: Deuteronomy 29:9 – 31:30
Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9 (Seventh Haftarah of Consolation)

Elul 23, 5780 / September 11-12, 2020

Pickup of machzorim for the High Holy Days is this Sunday, September 13, at Temple B’nai Hayim, from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm, and Thursday, September 17, 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm. Drive up to the kitchen door in the alley at the rear of the TBH building and knock on the door. If you are unable to pick up your machzor, please let the TBH/CBM office know ASAP so that we may arrange local delivery. These are being loaned to all our registered Chaverim, for return in October. To emphasize – these are only for registered Chaverim of TBH/CBM. How can YOU become a Chaver? Read on!

Please submit your Chaver Registration Form ASAP! You can find it at our all-new website:  http://www.bnaihayim.org   The form was also sent via snail mail to our 5780 members. We will be streaming our High Holy Day services live via Zoom only, and the Zoom link is being provided only to registered Chaverim. If you need assistance in learning how to access those or any other of our services and programs, please contact Reb Jason Van Leeuwen or Rabbi Richard Flom. We are looking for volunteers for the High Holy Days: chant Torah and Haftarah, daven, lead English readings, and, have aliyot and other honors. A few opportunities are still available. Contact Rabbi Flom or Susan Burke by e-mail for details and to sign up!

We are holding Selichot Service this Saturday evening, September 12, at 9:00 pm PDT. Join us at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/   

We will have the Selichot prayerbook on screenshare for this service. 

If you would like to order a Lulav/Etrog set for Sukkot, please let me know via e-mail – ravflom@sbcglobal.net – no later than Monday morning, 9/14. Cost for a basic set is $40. They will be available for pickup at Temple B’nai Hayim in the days before Sukkot.

For the past few years, I have created a Cheshbon Hanefesh Worksheet, to help get us ready for the spiritual side of the High Holy Days (sorry, no recipes or floral arrangements!). You can download it from my blog at: 

https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2020/08/cheshbon-hanefesh-woksheet-5781.html 

Also, some excellent on-line resources are available for your Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur preparations at:  
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/ 

This d'var torah is offered in loving memory of my grandmother, Cora Slome, z'l, whose yahrzeit falls on Thursday, Elul 28. Y’hi zikhronah liv’rakhah – her memory is a blessing.

This d’var torah is offered in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, the anniversary of which is this Friday. They are not forgotten.

Candle-lighting for Friday, September 11: 6:46 PM PDT  

Our Refuah Shleimah list can be found at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iT0tdp45ITSU6o1tykah41m3IXBxBwLxe8FORSIXzDo/edit?usp=sharing 

If you would like to have a name added or removed from this Prayer for Healing list, please write to me at: ravflom@sbcglobal.net 

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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THE ROAD TO HELL AND THE EASY WAY


“For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not hidden from you; it is not far away. It is not in Heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go to Heaven and get it for us, so that we might hear it and do it?’ For this matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” Deuteronomy 30:11-12, 14

R. Nachman of Bratzlav: “Only the path to Gehinnom (hell) is difficult and bitter. I see people spending restless days and sleepless nights plotting how to go about sinning, and afterwards there is regret, which continues for the rest of their lives. But the way to the Garden of Eden is an easy one, short and pleasant for those who walk it.”

Sometimes we make our lives too difficult. We devote time and energy trying to avoid doing the right thing, making excuses for bad acts, compromising principles, rationalizing our way out of truth, justice and righteousness. An acquaintance of mine, an ex-convict, once told me that the most difficult part of his criminal life was trying to remember all of the lies he had told, keeping them straight in his mind, not getting caught in the web of dishonesty he had spun. It would have been so much easier to be honest.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that same lesson in the context of following the ways of the Torah. With observance, with honesty, with righteousness, there are no regrets, no lies, and no guilt. In the long run, it’s easier to be a mentsch (a decent person) than it is to be a rasha (an evildoer). The Torah, the Tree of Life – “its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace.” Proverbs 3:17

Shabbat shalom!

L’shanah tovah u’metukah tikateivu v’tichateimu. May you be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year.

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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UPCOMING EVENTS AND OTHER USEFUL INFO!

We are holding Selichot Service this Saturday evening, September 12, at 9:00 pm PDT. Join us at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/ 
 

We will have the Selichot prayerbook on display for this service. 

Join our Kabbalat Shabbat Service, with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT at: 
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/  

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.

Join us every Sunday at 11:00 am PDT for "History of the Jews of Israel and the Middle East" with David Silon at: 
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/   

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: 
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim/  

NO Lunch and Learn on September 15. We’ll resume on September 22.

FOR ZOOM LINKS TO OUR SERVICES AND PROGRAMS, PLEASE WRITE TO ME DIRECTLY AT THE ADDRESS BELOW.

You can subscribe to the weekly Torah Sparks via email here: 
https://www.conservativeyeshiva.org/torahsparks/ 

Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!): 
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, and receive Cyber Torah every week in your mailbox, 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 

NO GOOD HABIT

Parashat Ki Tavo

Torah: Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8
Haftarah: Isaiah 60:1-22 (Sixth Haftarah of Consolation)

Elul 16, 5780 / September 4-5, 2020

Candle-lighting for Friday, September 4: 6:56 PM PDT 

Our Refuah Shleimah list can be found at: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iT0tdp45ITSU6o1tykah41m3IXBxBwLxe8FORSIXzDo/edit?usp=sharing 
If you would like to have a name added or removed from this Prayer for Healing list, please write to me at: ravflom@sbcglobal.net 

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

For the past few years, I have created a Cheshbon Hanefesh Worksheet, to help get us ready for the spiritual side of the High Holy Days (sorry, no recipes or floral arrangements!). You can download it from my blog at: 

https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2020/08/cheshbon-hanefesh-woksheet-5781.html 

Rosh HaShanah is two weeks from now! Please submit your Chaver Registration Form ASAP! You can find it at our all-new website: http://www.bnaihayim.org   

And check your snail mail for our High Holy Day bulletin.

We will be streaming our High Holy Day services live via Zoom. If you need assistance in learning how to access those or any other of our services and programs, please contact Reb Jason Van Leeuwen or Rabbi Richard Flom.

We are looking for volunteers for the High Holy Days: chant Torah and Haftarah, daven, lead English readings, and, have aliyot and other honors. Contact Rabbi Flom or Susan Burke by e-mail for details and to sign up!

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

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NO GOOD HABIT

"Then you shall say before the Lord your God, 'I have cleared out the sanctified portion from the house, and also I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandment which You commanded me; I have not transgressed your commandments and I have not forgotten.'" Deuteronomy 26:13

The Sefat Emet, Yehudah Aryeh Leib of Ger (late 19th C.), is highly exercised by this verse. He says, "If you fulfilled the commandment, it is obvious you did not forget it! This is not what the verse means."

He takes a psychological approach. Consider how often you leave your house or go to bed and then say to yourself, "Wait a minute! Did I lock the door? Did I shut off the gas?" Our teacher says that if you fulfill a commandment without  intent, unthinkingly, while distracted, by rote, or out of mechanical habit, it is as if you have forgotten it.

If you give to charity or say a blessing or perform any other mitzvah without considering the inner meaning, you nevertheless "get the mitzvah points", to put it crassly. You have "been there, done that", but without deriving any spiritual benefit from it whatsoever. According to the Chasidim, of whom the Sefat Emet was a leader, one of the purposes of the commandments is "tikkun olam", repair of the world, through the gathering up of the shattered vessels of creation. But another equally important purpose is to close the gap between ourselves, on one hand, and God and other human beings, on the other, and thereby repair our souls. By not "forgetting" what we are doing, we can have a more positive impact on both our world and ourselves.

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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