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:
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:
Also, some excellent on-line resources are available for your Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur preparations at:
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:
Join our non-High Holy Day Shabbat Morning Services with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom Saturday mornings at 10:00 am PDT at:
Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat Morning, and more, available at:
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:
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:
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:
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
