GOD PROVIDES, PROVIDED YOU PROVIDE

Shevat 14, 5781 / January 29-30 2021

Parashat Beshallach

Torah: Exodus 13:17-17:16 (Shabbat Shirah)

Haftarah: Judges 4:4-5:31 (Ashkenazim); Judges 5:1-5:31 (Sephardim)

SPECIAL BULLETIN! PURIM IS COMING!

Anyone who wishes to take part in our annual Purim Spiel should contact Reb Jason at rebjason613@gmail.com ASAP.  No one will be turned away. A virtual Purim spiel and megillah reading will be Thursday, February 25 at 7:00 pm. Thanks to Reb Jason for creating this year’s spiel!

Candle-lighting: 5:02 PM PST - 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 Refuah Shleimah/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  

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

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GOD PROVIDES, PROVIDED YOU PROVIDE  

"The Lord will fight (y'lachem) for you, and you will hold your peace (tacharishun)." Exodus 14:14 

The commentary P'ninei Hatorah uses word play to understand this text. "God will arrange your food, your bread (lechem), provided that 'you will hold your peace' – that you not quarrel among yourselves, because 'a single argument drives away one hundred livelihoods". 

Rebbe Meir of Premishlan goes one better. "It is true that God will provide bread - provided it is your obligation to work and to plow (l'charosh, punning on tacharishun)." (Both comments appear in Itturei Torah) 

Our teachers have simple but important messages. First, God provides us with sustenance, a livelihood, a way to earn our bread - provided we don't destroy each other’s livelihoods through petty disputes. To me, this means even more - that which God creates, we have the power to destroy. Second, God helps those who help themselves. God creates grain, but we must sow, work, harvest, grind and bake before it becomes bread. We are able to beautify and improve upon God's handiwork in order to make use of it. 

Earlier this week we observed Tu Bish'vat to remind us - we are the ones who have the power to improve the world - or to destroy it. 

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Richard A. Flom 

TBH/CBM 

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! 

All our services and programs are available at: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim 

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

Shabbat Morning Service with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 AM PST. 

Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat/Festival Ma'ariv, Shabbat/Festival Morning, and more, including the weekly Parashah and Haftarah, all available at: 

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/form-download-e-siddur-0 

Fill out the form - the download is free. 

David Silon’s on-going class “Jewish History” meets 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. 

Some excellent on-line Jewish resources are available at: 

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/ 

You can subscribe to the Conservative Yeshiva’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  

LET ALL THE PEOPLE GO!

Parashat Bo
Shevat 10, 5781 / January 22-23, 2021

Torah: Exodus 10:1 – 13:16

Haftarah: Jeremiah 46:13-28

This d'var torah is offered in memory of long-time community member Shirley Sands, who passed away on Wednesday. The Temple B'nai Hayim - Congregation Beth Meier Community extends condolences to the Sands family. Funeral and memorial arrangements are pending. Y'hi zekherah liv'rakhah - May her memory be a blessing. 

Candle-lighting: 4:55 PM PST - 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 Refuah Shleimah/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 

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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LET ALL THE PEOPLE GO!

"... (Pharaoh) said to (Moses and Aaron), 'Go, worship the Lord your God! Who exactly is going?' And Moses said, 'With our young and old we will go; with our sons and daughters, with our flocks and herds we will go, for it is a festival to the Lord.'" Exodus 10:8-9.

 

In Chumash Etz Hayim, Rabbi Harold Kushner asks why Moses emphasizes "young and old." He cites several commentators as answering: "because no celebration is complete without children"; "a child without parents is an orphan, but a nation without children is an orphan people"; and, "We will go with our old people who feel rejuvenated at the prospect of living in freedom."

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was this past Monday - we should pause to reflect on what this passage, and the entire Exodus story, must have meant to African-Americans during their 350-year struggle for freedom. It was only 155 years ago when an entire people was enslaved in America .Individual slaves might from time to time be set free - without their spouses, children, parents or siblings. This is similar to what Pharaoh would ultimately propose to Moses and Aaron - that only the adult men should go and worship God. What did "freedom" mean to those lucky few, in America or in Egypt , who were set free? What did it mean to those who remained in slavery? Dr. King knew, just as Moses did, just as we all know, that freedom means little, if anything, under those circumstances, because a person can not be truly free as long as others around him/her are slaves.

We may be fortunate, indeed, to live in a time and place when we have more freedom, religious and otherwise, than our ancestors could possibly have imagined. But from a spiritual standpoint, with that freedom comes an obligation - to bring our young and old, our sons and daughters, along with us. Everybody is invited to God's party - but the celebration simply can not be complete unless we bring everyone along with us.

Shabbat Shalom! Tu Bish'vat Sameach!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom 
TBH/CBM

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!

This Sunday, January 24, we're having a kid/family/everyone friendly on-line Tu Bish'vat Seder at 9:00 am. You can download, and print if you like, the Haggadah for this program at:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1y5HfAhVBthBOrsDiWS4amDEjZXIn3i0R?usp=sharing 

All our services and programs are available at: 

https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim 

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

Shabbat Morning Service with Steve Pearlman and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 AM PST. 

Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat/Festival Morning, and more, including the weekly Parashah and Haftarah, all available at: 

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/form-download-e-siddur-0 
Fill out the form - the download is free. 

David Silon’s class “Jewish History” 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. 

Some excellent on-line Jewish resources are available at: 
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/ 

You can subscribe to the Conservative Yeshiva’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  

WE SHALL OVERCOME

Parashat Va’era
Shevat 3, 5781 / January 15-16, 2021

Torah: Exodus 6:2 – 9:35

Haftarah: Ezekiel 28:25-29:21

This d'var torah is offered in memory of Audrey Montague, who passed away on Sunday. The Temple B'nai Hayim - Congregation Beth Meier Community extends condolences to Jacques Montague on the passing of his wife, Audrey Montague. Funeral and memorial arrangements are pending. Y'hi zekherah liv'rakhah - May her memory be a blessing. 

Candle-lighting: 4:49 PM PST - 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 

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

This Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Dr. King did not simply lead Black Americans to freedom – he led the entire country to a new paradigm in which all Americans were to be truly free and equal, through what can only be called a non-violent revolution. 

 

The Civil Rights Movement was steeped in the language of Tanakh – the Hebrew Bible that Christians call the Old Testament. From the beginning, Black Americans identified with the Israelite slaves in Egypt. The Book of Exodus, which we began reading just last week, was the lens through which they saw their suffering. Through sermons, songs and more, they amplified that connection.

 

Dr. King was not only committed to the principles of non-violence taught by Mahatma Gandhi – he was also an astute observer of American law, politics and traditions. He and his followers used the American democratic system itself to bring peaceful change to that system. The movement could have advocated violence – after all, the United States itself achieved freedom through a violent overthrow of British rule. Alternatively, Black Americans could have left the US – going to Canada, for example, or at least moving from the South to the North where, despite much discrimination, they would have been able to vote and participate in the democratic process. Instead, they chose to stay and achieve their goals through the system.

 

We saw in our country last week a complete rejection of those principles. Peaceful protest and the ballot box and the justice system went by the wayside, and violence and mayhem were chosen instead, by the same forces that opposed the Civil Rights Movement. Down that road of insurrection lies the destruction of our society. If it is not rooted out, it will become a plague as grievous as any visited upon Egypt.

 

We pray that that does not happen. As we prepare to peacefully install a new administration on January 20, despite the recent violence, we again offer this prayer:

 

A Prayer For Our Country

Our God and God of our ancestors, We ask Your blessings for our country - for its government, for its leaders and advisors, and for all who exercise just and rightful authority. Teach them insights of Your Torah, that they may administer all affairs of state fairly, that peace and security, happiness and prosperity, justice and freedom may forever abide in our midst.

Creator of all living, bless all the inhabitants of our country with Your spirit. May citizens of all races and creeds forge a common bond in true harmony, to banish hatred and bigotry, and to safeguard the ideals and free institutions that are the pride and glory of our country.

May this land, under Your Providence, be an influence for good throughout the world, uniting all people in peace and freedom - and helping them to fulfill the vision of Your prophet: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they experience war any more." And let us say: Amen.

Siddur Sim Shalom – The Rabbinical Assembly and The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

We shall overcome the violence and the hate - someday. May that day come soon.

Shabbat Shalom. A Peaceful Sabbath.

God Knows We Need One.

Rabbi Richard A. Flom 
TBH/CBM

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!

All our services and programs are available at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim 

Religious School/Family Shabbat Evening Service with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 PM PST. 

Shabbat Morning Service with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 AM PST. 

Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat/Festival Morning, and more, including the weekly Parashah and Haftarah, all available at: 

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/form-download-e-siddur-0 
Fill out the form - the download is free. 

David Silon’s class “Jewish History” 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. 

Some excellent on-line Jewish resources are available at: 
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/ 

You can subscribe to the Conservative Yeshiva’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  

HOLY GROUND AND CIVIC RELIGION

Parashat Sh’mot
Torah: Exodus 1:1 – 6:1
Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6 – 28:13; 29:22-23 (Ashkenazim); Jeremiah 1:1 – 2:3
Tevet 25, 5781 / January 8-9, 2021

Candle-lighting: 4:42 PM PST - 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 

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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HOLY GROUND AND CIVIC RELIGION

‘And (God) said: “Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.”’ Exodus 3:5

Yesterday, January 6, 2021, as seditious rioters invaded and vandalized the US Capitol, I heard a senator or a representative, I can’t remember who, refer to their actions as a “desecration”. That word brought me up short. I always think of “desecration” as damage to something sacred, something holy – the Holy Ark, the Holy of Holies, the Holy Temple, the Holy Land, the Holy Torah, or otherwise referring to God or the divine – in multiple places in Tanakh, God refers to Godself as “holy”. What could possibly be holy about a secular political institution?

Most of you reading this took classes in “civics” or “citizenship” or something along those lines in middle school some time ago. I don’t think they teach it anymore, which is a pity. As I learned it, in the civic religion of the United States (for that is what it is, although it’s not simply secular - “In God We Trust” replaced “E Pluribus Unum” in 1956), there are three sacred pillars upholding our democratic republic – the legislative, judicial and executive. Yesterday, incited by some members of the executive and legislative branches, those rioters attacked the temple, if you will, of the legislative branch. They did not succeed in severely damaging, let alone destroying the Capitol. Thank God!

But they literally left their footprints there and on our society, and demonstrated the fragility of our civic religion, which relies on those three pillars to actually be pillars that uphold and defend the most sacred document in that religion, the Constitution of the United States. And note this: a number of them were wearing t-shirts that read “6MWE” (six million wasn’t enough) and “Camp Auschwitz Staff”. Yesterday was about hatred and anarchy – the opposite of the rule of law and respect for civic institutions.

When I was admitted to the State Bar of California and a variety of courts, I swore an oath, “so help me God”, to support and defend the Constitution. So does every attorney, and every person in authority in all three branches of government, as well as members of the military and many, many others. Many have died fulfilling that oath. Over the years, we have seen what happens when that oath is violated by members of any of the branches of government. So I must tell you, I wept as I witnessed the assault on the Capitol, the home of a pillar of our democracy, incited by persons who I am sad to say had taken and violated that very same oath. What we witnessed in the Capitol yesterday was an attack on the Constitution, not a defense of it.

Judaism has a response, a way to infuse holiness into the secular civic religion. Rabbi Chanina teaches: “Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every man would swallow his neighbor alive.” Pirkei Avot 3:2. In furtherance of Rabbi Chanina’s teaching, we have in our siddur, our prayer book, a prayer for the country and its government:

A Prayer For Our Country

Our God and God of our ancestors, We ask Your blessings for our country - for its government, for its leaders and advisors, and for all who exercise just and rightful authority. Teach them insights of Your Torah, that they may administer all affairs of state fairly, that peace and security, happiness and prosperity, justice and freedom may forever abide in our midst.

Creator of all living, bless all the inhabitants of our country with Your spirit. May citizens of all races and creeds forge a common bond in true harmony, to banish hatred and bigotry, and to safeguard the ideals and free institutions that are the pride and glory of our country.

May this land, under Your Providence, be an influence for good throughout the world, uniting all people in peace and freedom - and helping them to fulfill the vision of Your prophet: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they experience war any more." And let us say: Amen.

Siddur Sim Shalom – The Rabbinical Assembly and The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

Prayer and reflection make a good place to start. May that prayer be speedily fulfilled. But, just as Judaism requires direct involvement by fulfilling the mitzvot through physical action, so does our civic religion, now more than ever require action rather than passivity. Say your prayers – then take any and all legitimate, peaceful action necessary to safeguard and strengthen the Constitution and the civic institutions we establish through it. Our very lives in this country depend on it.

Shabbat Shalom. A Peaceful Sabbath.

God Knows We Need One.

Rabbi Richard A. Flom 
TBH/CBM

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!

All our services and programs are available at: https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim 

Cool Shabbat Evening Service with Steve Pearlman and Rabbi Flom this Friday evening at 6:30 PM PST. 

Shabbat Morning Service with Reb Jason Van Leeuwen and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 AM PST. 

Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Ma'ariv, Shabbat/Festival Morning, and more, including the weekly Parashah and Haftarah, all available at: 

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/form-download-e-siddur-0 
Fill out the form - the download is free. 

David Silon’s class “Jewish History” 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. 

Some excellent on-line Jewish resources are available at: 
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/ 

You can subscribe to the Conservative Yeshiva’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