Seventh
Day of Pesach
Nisan
21, 5781 / April 3, 2021
Some
congregations read Song of Songs
Torah: Exodus 13:17 - 15:26
Maftir: Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: 2 Samuel 22:1-51
Torah: Exodus 13:17 - 15:26
Maftir: Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: 2 Samuel 22:1-51
Eighth Day of Pesach
Nisan 22/5781 / April 4, 2021
Torah: Deuteronomy 15:19 - 16:17
Maftir: Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: Isaiah 10:32 - 12:6
Candle-lighting:
Shabbat Evening / Pesach 7 - 6:56 PM PST - Sherman Oaks, CA
Saturday Night / Pesach 8 (and Yizkor candle) – 7:53 PM PST – Sherman Oaks, CA
Nisan 22/5781 / April 4, 2021
Torah: Deuteronomy 15:19 - 16:17
Maftir: Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: Isaiah 10:32 - 12:6
Shabbat Evening / Pesach 7 - 6:56 PM PST - Sherman Oaks, CA
Saturday Night / Pesach 8 (and Yizkor candle) – 7:53 PM PST – Sherman Oaks, CA
NOTE: Pesach ends at 7:54 PM (Sherman Oaks) on Sunday.
This d'var torah is offered in honor of my wonderful wife and partner, Lynn Kronzek, who is observing her birthday on Thursday, April 8. Happy Birthday, My Dear!
This d'var torah is offered in memory of The Six Million. Thursday, April 8 is Yom Hashoah. Never forget! Y'hi Zikhronam Liv'rakhah - May their memory be a blessing.
PESACH SERVICES AND PROGRAMS
(VIA ZOOM AND FACEBOOK)
Friday, April 2 - Shabbat / Pesach 7 Evening - 6:30 pm
Saturday, April 3 (Shabbat / Pesach 7) – 10:00 am
Sunday, April 4 (Pesach 8 - Yizkor) – 10:00 am
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
All our services and programs are available at:
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim
PESACH SERVICES AND PROGRAMS
(VIA ZOOM AND FACEBOOK)
Friday, April 2 - Shabbat / Pesach 7 Evening - 6:30 pm
Saturday, April 3 (Shabbat / Pesach 7) – 10:00 am
Sunday, April 4 (Pesach 8 - Yizkor) – 10:00 am
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
All our services and programs are available at:
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim
More info about our services and programs follow this d'var torah. And even more info about our community is available at our website: https://bnaihayim.org/
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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A SONG FULL OF MEANING
On the seventh day of Pesach, we read most of Parashat Beshallach. Part of the Torah reading will be very familiar to those who daven Shacharit regularly. Other than the paragraphs of the Sh’ma, which we read twice a day, it is the part of the Torah that we read most often. It is Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea, the victory song of the Israelites that they sang after the drowning of Pharaoh's army at the Sea of Reeds (not the Red Sea).
There is a well-known Midrash associated with this piece of Torah; well-known because it is often incorporated in the Hagaddah Shel Pesach, which we read earlier this week. It's the traditional "take" on the events of the Exodus and the Reed Sea. Why do we spill out drops of wine when we recite the Ten Plagues? And on the seventh day of Pesach, which is a Yom Tov commanded in the Torah, why do we only recite half Hallel, unlike the full Hallel we did on the first two days of Pesach? Because, we are told, we should not fully rejoice in the destruction of even our most dangerous enemies. Proverbs 24:17 teaches, "Do not rejoice at the fall of your enemies."
The Talmud, in Tractate Sanhedrin and in Tractate Megillah, teaches this idea in the following way: "Rabbi Yonatan says ... The Holy One is not happy at the downfall of the evil ones ... as Rabbi Shmuel the son of Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: It is written: ‘And they did not approach one another all that night ...’ (Exodus 14:20), for at that moment the angels wanted to sing before the Holy One. God said to them: ‘My creatures are drowning in the sea and you would sing?'''
God forbade the angels, who exist only to praise God, from praising God at that moment. Even though they were evil, bent on destroying God's people, the Egyptians were deserving of some consideration, some pity, and some recognition of their basic humanity and their common origins with the Israelites as images of God. Israelite freedom came at the expense of Egyptian lives. It's an important lesson, but not the only one that we might draw from this text.
The Kotzker Rebbe has a vastly different conclusion, drawing on a Midrash in Exodus Rabbah. That Midrash says that, when Israel emerged from the Reed Sea, the angels immediately came forward to sing God's praises. According to this Midrash, God said, "No, let my children sing first, as it says, literally, 'Then Moses and the Children of Israel will sing this song...''' (Exodus 15:1) The Kotzker asks, “Why should Israel be given permission to sing first?” He answers, because angels are forever ready to offer songs of praise, but this isn't true of Israel. Israel sings only when the desire and feeling are spontaneously aroused within them. God feared that unless Israel were permitted to sing immediately, the desire would pass. It’s an interesting insight into the human psyche and the Hasidic view of God.
As different as the Kotzker's interpretation is from the traditional one that we know, it is a sort of middle ground, for there is another interpretation which takes an even more permissive view of rejoicing at the destruction of one's enemies. In many Siddurim, the Torah trope marks are printed in Shirat HaYam. In Kabbalistic literature, it is taught that Shirat HaYam should be sung, each morning, with the trope, with great joy, as if one were standing at the seashore, personally witnessing the miracle. In many congregations, like ours,Shirat HaYam is sung to a specific melody, though not with the trope. The Zohar, the classic of Kabbalism, says that one who recites Shirat HaYam with the proper intent will earn the privilege of singing the praises of future miracles.
It certainly doesn't seem that the Kabbalists learned the lesson of not rejoicing over the destruction of one's enemies. The teachings of the Kotzker Rebbe and the Kabbalists are jarring, because they are so different from the tradition with which we are familiar. They do not trouble me, and it is not necessarily because I believe we should rejoice in the destruction of our enemies. Rather, I am inspired by the continued vitality of the Torah. No other book is as full of life as our Torah. Thousands of years after it was written, we still ask new questions and find new meanings. And every time we do, we participate in a conversation with our ancestors and our descendants. Unlike the Reed Sea, the Sea of the Torah is endless. And that really deserves a song.
Mo’adim L’simchah! Chagim Uz'manim L'sasson! Shabbat Shalom!
A SONG FULL OF MEANING
On the seventh day of Pesach, we read most of Parashat Beshallach. Part of the Torah reading will be very familiar to those who daven Shacharit regularly. Other than the paragraphs of the Sh’ma, which we read twice a day, it is the part of the Torah that we read most often. It is Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea, the victory song of the Israelites that they sang after the drowning of Pharaoh's army at the Sea of Reeds (not the Red Sea).
There is a well-known Midrash associated with this piece of Torah; well-known because it is often incorporated in the Hagaddah Shel Pesach, which we read earlier this week. It's the traditional "take" on the events of the Exodus and the Reed Sea. Why do we spill out drops of wine when we recite the Ten Plagues? And on the seventh day of Pesach, which is a Yom Tov commanded in the Torah, why do we only recite half Hallel, unlike the full Hallel we did on the first two days of Pesach? Because, we are told, we should not fully rejoice in the destruction of even our most dangerous enemies. Proverbs 24:17 teaches, "Do not rejoice at the fall of your enemies."
The Talmud, in Tractate Sanhedrin and in Tractate Megillah, teaches this idea in the following way: "Rabbi Yonatan says ... The Holy One is not happy at the downfall of the evil ones ... as Rabbi Shmuel the son of Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: It is written: ‘And they did not approach one another all that night ...’ (Exodus 14:20), for at that moment the angels wanted to sing before the Holy One. God said to them: ‘My creatures are drowning in the sea and you would sing?'''
God forbade the angels, who exist only to praise God, from praising God at that moment. Even though they were evil, bent on destroying God's people, the Egyptians were deserving of some consideration, some pity, and some recognition of their basic humanity and their common origins with the Israelites as images of God. Israelite freedom came at the expense of Egyptian lives. It's an important lesson, but not the only one that we might draw from this text.
The Kotzker Rebbe has a vastly different conclusion, drawing on a Midrash in Exodus Rabbah. That Midrash says that, when Israel emerged from the Reed Sea, the angels immediately came forward to sing God's praises. According to this Midrash, God said, "No, let my children sing first, as it says, literally, 'Then Moses and the Children of Israel will sing this song...''' (Exodus 15:1) The Kotzker asks, “Why should Israel be given permission to sing first?” He answers, because angels are forever ready to offer songs of praise, but this isn't true of Israel. Israel sings only when the desire and feeling are spontaneously aroused within them. God feared that unless Israel were permitted to sing immediately, the desire would pass. It’s an interesting insight into the human psyche and the Hasidic view of God.
As different as the Kotzker's interpretation is from the traditional one that we know, it is a sort of middle ground, for there is another interpretation which takes an even more permissive view of rejoicing at the destruction of one's enemies. In many Siddurim, the Torah trope marks are printed in Shirat HaYam. In Kabbalistic literature, it is taught that Shirat HaYam should be sung, each morning, with the trope, with great joy, as if one were standing at the seashore, personally witnessing the miracle. In many congregations, like ours,Shirat HaYam is sung to a specific melody, though not with the trope. The Zohar, the classic of Kabbalism, says that one who recites Shirat HaYam with the proper intent will earn the privilege of singing the praises of future miracles.
It certainly doesn't seem that the Kabbalists learned the lesson of not rejoicing over the destruction of one's enemies. The teachings of the Kotzker Rebbe and the Kabbalists are jarring, because they are so different from the tradition with which we are familiar. They do not trouble me, and it is not necessarily because I believe we should rejoice in the destruction of our enemies. Rather, I am inspired by the continued vitality of the Torah. No other book is as full of life as our Torah. Thousands of years after it was written, we still ask new questions and find new meanings. And every time we do, we participate in a conversation with our ancestors and our descendants. Unlike the Reed Sea, the Sea of the Torah is endless. And that really deserves a song.
Mo’adim L’simchah! Chagim Uz'manim L'sasson! 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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Shabbat / Pesach 7 Evening Service with Rabbi Flom (a cappella) this Friday at 6:30 PM.
Shabbat / Pesach 7 Morning Service with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 AM.
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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Shabbat / Pesach 7 Evening Service with Rabbi Flom (a cappella) this Friday at 6:30 PM.
Shabbat / Pesach 7 Morning Service with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 AM.
Weekday/ Pesach 8 Morning Service, including Yizkor with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Sunday at 10:00 AM.
All our services and programs are available at:
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim
https://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 again on Sunday, April 11, at 11:00 am.
Join us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm for Lunch and Learn, a 60-90 minute study session. We're learning Hasidic and classic 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/
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