Parashat Vayera
Torah: Genesis 18:1 - 22:24
Haftarah: 2 Kings 4:1-37 (Ashkenazim); 2 Kings 4:1-23 (Sephardim)
Candle-lighting for Friday: 4:37 PM PDT - Sherman Oaks, CA
This d'var Torah is offered in honor of my family members:
Jacob Slome - US Army - WW1
David Flom, MD - US Army - WW2
Merton Flom, OD, PhD - US Navy - WW2
Abraham Kronzek - US Navy - WW2
Leo Kronzek - US Army - WW2
Joseph Kronzek - US Army - WW2
Ira Erenrich - US Army - WW2
Martin Flom - US Air Force - Korean War
Hans Schack - US Army - 1950s
Merwin Erenbaum - US Army - 1950s
and every veteran who has honorably served in the armed forces of the United States. Raise your flag on Wednesday, November 11 to honor them.
LMU Annual Kristallnacht Commemoration
- On November 9th, at 5:00 pm, Loyola Marymount University is hosting its Annual Kristallnacht Commemoration virtually. This year's commemoration will honor the victims of the Holocaust and honor those who despite their own hardships continued to maintain their dignity in order to help others. The program will feature David Silberklang, senior historian in the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem, and LMU students' reflections. Register here. The virtual event will include a community slideshow that features family photographs of loved ones affected by the Holocaust. If you have photos that you would like to be featured, please send digital copies to events@lmu.edu.
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
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
This week's Yahrzeit List can be found at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IvKK6of7m1YFiwWATXCfQXrBrjmLMfS_CAM3WhZ_fu4/edit
A list of all of our on-line activities can be found below. All our services and programs are available at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim
A list of Zoom links to all our programs and services is available at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M5jzfligR7kovoXdiEeah3pd2R4fiJi8NHarmrMEEzM/edit?usp=sharing
Some excellent on-line resources are available at:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/
With the COVID-19 epidemic, SOVA needs your donations more than ever. Please, bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items, (no glass) to the lobby of TBH/CBM. Wear a mask, social distance, and help out those in need.
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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GOD DOESN’T ALWAYS COME FIRST!
"And the Lord appeared to (Abraham) at the terebinths (trees used to make a kind of turpentine) of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day. He lifted his eyes and saw there were three men standing above him; he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, and bowed toward the ground. And he said, 'My Lord, if I find favor in Your eyes, please do not pass away from Your servant.'" Genesis 18:1-3.
At first reading, one would think that God appeared to Abraham in the form of the three men. Therefore, he bowed and addressed them as "My Lord".
However, Rabbinic tradition teaches that these are two separate events. God was visiting Abraham following Abraham's circumcision, and then the three men appeared. Abraham (in his pain!) literally ran from God to greet the men. He then asked God to wait while he attended to the needs of the men!
This might seem extraordinarily disrespectful to God. Not so, according to the Rabbis. "Rabbi Judah said in the name of Rav: 'Hospitality to guests is greater than greeting the Divine Presence.'" (BT Shabbat 127a) How can this be?
For one thing, if God is the Omnipresent, one can never leave God's Presence. Second, if God is the Eternal, then "waiting" is not in God's vocabulary - it's simply not a problem. Perhaps most important, God does not have physical needs, but human beings do; and they must be attended to. In taking leave of God in order to extend hospitality to three strangers who appeared out of the desert, Abraham was actually honoring God - by caring for those who are created "in the image of God".
This implies that if one must choose between fulfilling a “mitzvah bein adam lamakom” (a mitzvah between a person and God) or a “mitzvah bein adam l’chavero” (between one person and another person), we should attend to the mitzvah involving another person first. (See, for example, the Mishnah at Peah 1:1: “These are the things for which a person reaps the fruits in this world, and gets a reward in the world to come: honoring one's father and mother, acts of lovingkindness, and bringing peace between people.”) When we treat others to our hospitality (or feed them or clothe them or house them or provide them with medical treatment or bury them), we do indeed find favor in God's eyes.
Shabbat Shalom Uv'rakhah! A Shabbat of Peace and Blessings
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
TBH/CBM
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 87b
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UPCOMING EVENTS AND OTHER USEFUL INFO!
Coool Shabbat/Evening Service with Steve Pearlman and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT.
Shabbat Morning Adventure Service with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen, Steve Pearlman, and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 am PDT. Haftarah chanted by Steve Pearlman.
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, as well as the weekly Parashah and Haftarah at the above link.
David Silon’s class "Jewish DNA? The Science Behind the History, or Vice-Versa" meets every Sunday at 11:00 am PST.
Join us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm PST for Lunch and Learn, a 60-90 minute study session. We're learning midrash on the weekly parashah.
The study materials for the November 10 class, Midrash on Parashat Chayei Sarah, can be found at:
A list of all of our on-line activities can be found below. All our services and programs are available at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim
A list of Zoom links to all our programs and services is available at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M5jzfligR7kovoXdiEeah3pd2R4fiJi8NHarmrMEEzM/edit?usp=sharing
Some excellent on-line resources are available at:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/
With the COVID-19 epidemic, SOVA needs your donations more than ever. Please, bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items, (no glass) to the lobby of TBH/CBM. Wear a mask, social distance, and help out those in need.
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOD DOESN’T ALWAYS COME FIRST!
"And the Lord appeared to (Abraham) at the terebinths (trees used to make a kind of turpentine) of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day. He lifted his eyes and saw there were three men standing above him; he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, and bowed toward the ground. And he said, 'My Lord, if I find favor in Your eyes, please do not pass away from Your servant.'" Genesis 18:1-3.
At first reading, one would think that God appeared to Abraham in the form of the three men. Therefore, he bowed and addressed them as "My Lord".
However, Rabbinic tradition teaches that these are two separate events. God was visiting Abraham following Abraham's circumcision, and then the three men appeared. Abraham (in his pain!) literally ran from God to greet the men. He then asked God to wait while he attended to the needs of the men!
This might seem extraordinarily disrespectful to God. Not so, according to the Rabbis. "Rabbi Judah said in the name of Rav: 'Hospitality to guests is greater than greeting the Divine Presence.'" (BT Shabbat 127a) How can this be?
For one thing, if God is the Omnipresent, one can never leave God's Presence. Second, if God is the Eternal, then "waiting" is not in God's vocabulary - it's simply not a problem. Perhaps most important, God does not have physical needs, but human beings do; and they must be attended to. In taking leave of God in order to extend hospitality to three strangers who appeared out of the desert, Abraham was actually honoring God - by caring for those who are created "in the image of God".
This implies that if one must choose between fulfilling a “mitzvah bein adam lamakom” (a mitzvah between a person and God) or a “mitzvah bein adam l’chavero” (between one person and another person), we should attend to the mitzvah involving another person first. (See, for example, the Mishnah at Peah 1:1: “These are the things for which a person reaps the fruits in this world, and gets a reward in the world to come: honoring one's father and mother, acts of lovingkindness, and bringing peace between people.”) When we treat others to our hospitality (or feed them or clothe them or house them or provide them with medical treatment or bury them), we do indeed find favor in God's eyes.
Shabbat Shalom Uv'rakhah! A Shabbat of Peace and Blessings
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
TBH/CBM
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 87b
------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OTHER USEFUL INFO!
Coool Shabbat/Evening Service with Steve Pearlman and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT.
Shabbat Morning Adventure Service with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen, Steve Pearlman, and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 am PDT. Haftarah chanted by Steve Pearlman.
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, as well as the weekly Parashah and Haftarah at the above link.
David Silon’s class "Jewish DNA? The Science Behind the History, or Vice-Versa" meets every Sunday at 11:00 am PST.
Join us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm PST for Lunch and Learn, a 60-90 minute study session. We're learning midrash on the weekly parashah.
The study materials for the November 10 class, Midrash on Parashat Chayei Sarah, can be found at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CJP41KiMssFuLwJI9jC6nyMOy07TGLYT?usp=sharing
On Sunday, November 15 at 2:00 pm PST, TBH/CBM will host a Special Lecture by Dr. Jonathan Dobrer, "We're Still Here! Why Judaism Survived and Will Survive Despite the Odds". Please register for the Zoom link by calling the synagogue office at: (818) 788-4664 or send an email to: bnaihayim@yahoo.com or office@bethmeier.org
On Sunday, November 15 at 2:00 pm PST, TBH/CBM will host a Special Lecture by Dr. Jonathan Dobrer, "We're Still Here! Why Judaism Survived and Will Survive Despite the Odds". Please register for the Zoom link by calling the synagogue office at: (818) 788-4664 or send an email to: bnaihayim@yahoo.com or office@bethmeier.org
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
