GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER!

Cheshvan 27, 5781 / November 13-14, 2020
Parashat Chayei Sarah
Torah: Genesis 23:1 - 25:18
Haftarah: 1 Kings 1:1-31
 
Candle-lighting for Friday: 4:32 PM PDT - Sherman Oaks, CA  
 
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 

This week's Yahrzeit List can be found at: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IvKK6of7m1YFiwWATXCfQXrBrjmLMfS_CAM3WhZ_fu4/edit?usp=sharing 

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. 
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER!

“And Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother; he married Rebecca, she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother.” Genesis 24:67

Rashi: He brought her to the tent, and behold, she was Sarah his mother! That is to say, she became like Sarah his mother. For as long as Sarah was alive, a candle burned from one Shabbat eve to the next, a blessing was found in the dough and a cloud was attached to the tent. When she died, these things ceased, and when Rebecca came, they resumed (citing Genesis Rabbah 60:16). 

According to the Midrash, Sarah was the first to kindle Shabbat lights and to take challah (a symbolic offering) from dough and recite a blessing over it. In doing these things, she caused the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence, symbolized by the cloud) to descend to her home. Isaac and Abraham either could not or would not do these things. It was Rebecca, the wife who replaced (became?) the mother, who reinstituted the practices, and brought about the return of the Shekhinah.

There are several ways to look at this. First is a rather obvious oedipal reference. Then is the implication that kindling lights for Shabbat and baking are gender specific jobs – women’s work. We could also derive the female viewpoint that men are clueless when it comes to certain matters. However, I am more interested in mystical cause and effect.

Simply by kindling Shabbat lights and reciting a blessing over the dough, Sarah and Rebecca (and any of us!) could bring God’s Sheltering Presence into the home. What’s the mystery? Take a couple of mundane acts, baking bread and lighting candles, infuse them and yourself with holiness through kavannah (focused intent) and by reciting the appropriate blessings (the hamotzi bessing can be inferred here as well), and you have instant Shalom Bayit, a peaceful household. 

This Friday evening, perform the simple mitzvah of Shabbat candles; then look at the light, marvel at the Creation it symbolizes, and bring the Shekhinah home for dinner!

Chaverim, if you would like to bring the Shekhinah into another person's life, please consider becoming an organ donor. This weekend is National Donor Sabbath, a project of the US Department of Health and Human Services. More information is available at the web site:

https://www.organdonor.gov/awareness/events/donor-sabbath.html  

Last year, about 40,000 organ transplants were performed in the US. This is impressive, until one realizes that there are about 120,000 Americans on the waiting lists for various organs. Every day, 80 transplants are performed in the US, while 20 people die waiting for organs they need to survive. You can alleviate the pain and suffering of others, literally give them life, merely by completing an organ donation card available from your motor vehicle department or at the web site above.

Does it work? Of course! Most of our parts are “recyclable”. And don’t forget, there are ways to save lives while we are still alive – through blood, plasma, platelet and bone marrow donations, and as living organ donors. Go ahead – perform an act of chesed (lovingkindness) or pikuach nefesh (savng a life) – and the Shekhinah will be with you and every organ recipient whose life you save.

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! 

Shabbat Evening Service with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 pm PDT.

Shabbat Morning Service with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 am PDT. Haftarah chanted by Barry Glass.

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 Hasidic teachings on the weekly parashah. 

The study materials for the November 17 class, Midrash on Parashat Tol’dot, can be found at: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16iYXU2p7Dwiaj5G6X9J7rDLJSfy7i9JZ?usp=sharing 

This 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 by sending an email to bnaihayim@yahoo.com or to 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