REJOICE IN THEIR REJOICING

Parashat Ki Tavo

Torah: Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8

Haftarah: Isaiah 60:1-22 (Sixth Haftarah of Consolation)

Elul 20, 5781 / August 27-28, 2021

Rosh Hashanah starts in less than two weeks!

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: 

https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2021/08/cheshbon-hanefesh-worksheet-5782-edition.html 

Also, some excellent on-line resources are available for your Rosh Hashanah preparations at:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/  

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Elisheva bat Minnie Leah, Feigel bat Kreina, and D'vorah bat Feigel. 

NO Lunch and Learn on August 31 or September 7. Resume September 14. Shanah Tovah!

Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, including the High Holidays, at:

https://bnaihayim.org/ 

 

Our Rabbi Jason Van Leeuwen has a blog of Divrei Torah which you should read at: 

https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 

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

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REJOICE IN THEIR REJOICING

“¹¹And you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given to you, and to your house - you, and the Levite, and the stranger who is in the midst of you. ¹²When you have concluded tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be satisfied. ¹³You shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have put away the holy thing out of my house, and also have given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me: I have not transgressed any of Your commandments, neither have I forgotten them: ¹⁴I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away of it while unclean, nor given of it for the dead: I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me.’” Deuteronomy 26:11-14

 
Rashi on verse 14: “I have rejoiced and caused others to rejoice.”
 
The Torah commentary Mikra Meforash makes this comment on Rashi: “All of the Torah is encompassed in the commandment, ‘You shall love your fellow as yourself.’ (referencing Rabbi Akiva’s dictum in Sifra Kedoshim) By helping others to rejoice, one fulfills this commandment, and is thus able to say, ‘I have done according to all that You have commanded me.’”
 
The third year tithe (10%) ma’aser shlishi is also known as ma’aser ani – the tithe for the poor. With the destruction of the Temple, the two other agricultural tithes fell away, but ma’aser ani morphed into the rabbinic commandment of ma’aser kesafim – an annual tithe of money income. It is also more commonly known as the basis of tzedakah – charity, derived from tzedek - justice.

Setting aside 10% of one’s income (Maimonides says 20%) and donating it as tzedakah for the poor allows them to rejoice, to eat, and to be satisfied. In doing so, one fulfills what Rabbi Akiva called “the fundamental principle of the Torah” – loving one’s fellow as oneself.
 
If you are in a position to give tzedakah, rejoice in that happy status – but first, fulfill that central commandment - show your love and dedication to others by causing them to rejoice - with you.
 
Shabbat Shalom!

Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus

TBH/CBM
Sherman Oaks, CA
".איזה הוא חכם? הלומד מכל אדם"
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
 -----------------------------------------------
Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!):
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, 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 

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ON AMALEK

Additional thoughts on Parashat Ki Teitzei (Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19)

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

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Query: Who/what is Amalek?
 
This week’s parashah contains a large number (74 according to the tradition, the most of any parashah) of seemingly unrelated mitzvot. These include: restraints on a warrior who captures a woman in battle; inheritance rights; the rebellious son; returning lost objects; safety measures at home; not mixing species in the field or in the yoke; punishments for rape and adultery, and false accusations thereof; rules of marriage and divorce; caring for work animals; feeding and paying human workers; prohibiting mistreatment of debtors; and, honest weights and measures.
 
The parashah then concludes with these verses:
 
“For whoever does these things, whoever perpetrates such injustice, is an abomination to the Lord, your God. (emphasis mine) You shall remember what Amalekites did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt, how they happened upon you on the way and cut off all the defenseless who were (left) behind, when you were faint and weary, and the Amalekites did not fear God. [Therefore,] it will be, when the Lord your God grants you respite from all your enemies around [you] in the land which the Lord, your God, gives to you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from beneath the heavens. You shall not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25:16-19)
 
Our tradition refers to Amalek as the eternal enemy of the Jewish people (Haman, Hitler, and their followers), that seeks to destroy us out of baseless hatred for us as the perpetual outsiders. Additionally, the Jewish people are sometimes described as canaries in the mine – how a society treats Jews is indicative of how it treats Others, outsiders, as well.
 
So it’s no wonder that I see from these verses that Amalek is an abomination that is equally the enemy of common decency and civilized behavior. Any society that mistreats, cheats, or exploits the marginalized and defenseless outsiders – women, children, poor people, aliens, innocents, and animals – whether de facto, de jure, or structurally – is a society of Amalek. Such a society cannot long survive, and brings its own doom upon itself.
 
The Day of the Sounding of the Shofar is approaching. The Days of Awe are approaching. The Day of Atonement is approaching. Remember. Don’t forget.
 
Shabbat Shalom.

Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus

TBH/CBM
Sherman Oaks, CA
".איזה הוא חכם? הלומד מכל אדם"
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1

LOST AND FOUND

Parashat Ki Teitzei

Torah: Deuteronomy 21:10 - 25:19

Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1-10 (Fifth Haftarah of Consolation)

Elul 13, 5781 / August 20-21, 2021

Rosh Hashanah starts in less than three weeks!

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: 

https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2021/08/cheshbon-hanefesh-worksheet-5782-edition.html 

Also, some excellent on-line resources are available for your Rosh Hashanah preparations at:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/  

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Elisheva bat Minnie Leah, Feigel bat Kreina, and D'vorah bat Feigel. 

Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, including the High Holidays, at:

https://bnaihayim.org/ 

 

Our Rabbi Jason Van Leeuwen has a blog of Divrei Torah which you should read at: 

https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOST AND FOUND

 

"Do not watch your brother's ox or his sheep go astray and hide yourself from them; you shall surely return them to your brother." Deuteronomy 22:1

 

Rabbeinu Bachya (Spain, 13th-14th C.) compares this verse with a similar verse at Exodus 23:4: "If you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.” He continues: "This teaches us that it is not enough for you to merely return that which your enemy lost, but you must make every effort to change that enemy into a friend. (emphasis mine) The return of your enemy's lost object should be the basis for uprooting the hatred between you, so that by the time you have finished returning it he will be your friend."

 

What great insight! This mitzvah of returning lost property, like every other, is not properly observed if one does it grudgingly or with bad feelings. And it's not simply about returning lost property - it's about good fellowship. Even more, it's about repentance. For the words "hasheiv t'shivem" - you shall surely return them - come from the same root as "teshuvah" - repentance. In losing one's hatred, one performs teshuvah through the performance of the simple mitzvah of returning lost property. Try it – you have nothing to lose but your animosity! And you might just make a new friend!

 

Have a wonderful Shabbat!

Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus

TBH/CBM
Sherman Oaks, CA
".איזה הוא חכם? הלומד מכל אדם"
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
 -----------------------------------------------
Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!):
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, 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 

CHESHBON HANEFESH WORKSHEET - 5782 EDITION

Cheshbon Hanefesh Worksheet

A Personal Inventory for the High Holy Days – 5782 edition

Traditionally, cheshbon hanefesh, literally an accounting of the soul, is undertaken during the Aseret Yamei Teshuvah – the Ten Days of Repentance from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur. The entire month of Elul is even better, but in truth, any time is a good time.

With openness and honesty, giving the benefit of the doubt to yourself without being extravagant, being self-critical without beating yourself up, evaluate the following on an appropriate scale of your choosing. There is no yardstick. Every person is a work in progress – no exceptions!

Keep notes in a diary and add to them all year. These questions/reflections require much more than a mere score. Please feel free to add any topics you wish to evaluate. Consider both quality and quantity.  Don’t forget to answer the most important questions of all: How have I improved since last year? In what areas do I need to improve? What are my goals in those areas? What will I do to reach them? Of course, there is no right answer to any of this ….. is there?

The People in My Life

How are my relationships with parents, children, spouses/life partners, other family, friends, neighbors, strangers, employers, employees, customers, teachers, et al.?

Who did I injure? Who injured me? How? Why? Does blame matter?

What did I do to make amends? Was it enough?

What did/can/will I do to assure it doesn’t happen again?

Did I apologize?

Did I ask for forgiveness? Was I forgiven? How do I feel about that? Was I not forgiven? How do I feel about that?

Did I forgive those who asked for forgiveness? How do I feel about them?

Is our relationship the same – better – worse? Reconciliation?

What did I do to heal the people in my life?

Did I help others reconcile with each other? Am I a rodef shalom?

Are there patterns, habits, addictions in my life I need to change? Are there good patterns and habits in my life that I should utilize even more?

Do I really hear and understand other people – their needs, hopes and dreams? How can/do I encourage them? Do I encourage them?

Do I accept others for who they are, even if they aren’t what I want them to be? Do I have the right to want them to be other than who they are?

Lashon Hara/Rechilut – Slander, gossip, offensive speech

            Did I speak/write it?

            Did I read/listen to it?

            Did I prevent others from spreading it?

God in My Life

Is God in my life?

Do I ever contemplate the Divine?

Do I ever contemplate holiness? Can I be holy? Do I see the holiness in other people?

Do I engage in regular prayer and/or meditation?

            Tefillin

            Daily prayer service/private worship

            Bedtime Sh’ma (teach your children well)

            Blessings for Mitzvot

            Blessings for food/drink

Can I really imitate God?

Did I do teshuvah?

Did I forgive God for what happened to me? Can God cause anything to happen to me?
Do I have a personal theology?

Jewish Ritual/Jewish Observance

Kashruth

            Biblical

            Halakhic - whose halakhah?

            Home

            Out

            Vegetarian

   Vegan

How are my Shabbat and Holy Days (general)?

            Know the stories/reasons

  Candles

            Kiddush

            Family Blessings

            Zemirot – table songs

            Guests

            Refraining from Work

            Attending Services

            Torah Study

            Reflection

            Havdalah

            Fulfilling/meaningful/involved/indifferent

How are my holy days? Do I observe them in some fashion? Do I know what the tradition says? How do I find meaning? Can I/May I/Should I create new traditions?
Specific holy days

            Rosh Hashanah

                        Tashlikh

                        Shofar

            Yom Kippur

                        Fasting

                        Contemplation

                        Teshuvah

            Sukkot

                        Built/ate/studied/slept in a Sukkah

                        Ushpizin – honored visitors

               Lulav and Etrog

            Shemini Atzeret

            Simchat Torah

            Chanukah
                         Chanukiyah/menorah

            Tu BiShevat

            Purim

                        Megillah Reading

                        Shlach Manot

                        Tzedakah

            Pesach

                        Bedikat Chametz

                        Seder

                        No chametz during holiday

            Yom Hashoah

            Yom Ha’atzma’ut

            Shavuot

            Tisha B’Av

            Yizkor – Do I remember those who have gone before me?

Mitzvot – Mitzvah means commandment – or is it a good deed?

            Have I taken on more mitzvot?

            Have I improved my observance of mitzvot I was already doing?

            Have I ceased mitzvot I was already doing?

            How?

            Why?
            Do I find fulfillment in their observance? Am I supposed to?

Judaism - Do I preach it, teach it, live it?

Study

Do I engage in regular Torah study?

Do I read Jewish books and/or periodicals?

What do I know about Judaism generally?

            History

            Holy Days

            Texts – Tanakh, Talmud, Midrash, etc.

            Culture

            Zionism

            Personalities

            Beliefs/tenets/philosophy

            Practices

            Halakhah

            Hebrew language

Israel

The State of Israel

The government of the State of Israel

The people of the State of Israel

The People Israel (am yisrael)

The Land of Israel - these five are all called "Israel" in different contexts - do we understand the differences?

Travel – ever; recently; soon

Support (whatever that means, in whichever way one sees fit)

            How? When? Where? Should these matter?

            Israel Bonds

            JNF

            Israeli products

            Rallies

            Letter writing

            AIPAC

            J Street

            Peace Now

            New Israel Fund
            Other groups

            What do I think about the settlements?

            What do I think about the Occupation?

            What do I think about peace with the Palestinians?

            What do I think about the rabbanut?

            What do I think about non-Jewish Israelis?
            How do I feel about BDS?

Criticize (whatever that means, in whichever way one sees fit)

             How? When? Where? Should these matter?

Zionism - political - types

Zionism - religious - types

Tzedakah/Gemilut Chasadim/Volunteerism

Do I view others as B'tzelem Elohim - in the image of God?

"Tzedek, tzedek tirdof" - Justice, justice you shall pursue

Feed the hungry

Clothe the naked

Defend/care for the stranger in our midst

Hear the cries of others

Charitable donations

            How much tzedakah? (according to Torah and halakhah, tithing [10%] expected)

Donations of Time/Volunteer work

            Congregation

            Other organizations

Donations of Self/gemilut chasadim - acts of lovingkindness

            Bikur cholim - visiting/care for the sick

            Comforting mourners

            Comforting the afflicted

Jewish Community

Do I belong to a Jewish community?
How do I belong?
Supporting without belonging?

Belonging without adequately supporting?
How active in congregation?

            Affiliates

            Religious school/teaching

How active in other Jewish groups?

Reaching out to other Jews

Captive Jews
What about everybody else?

My Body, My Self

Exercise

Diet

Self-abuse (drugs, alcohol, tobacco)

Self-control

Care of the body

Care of the soul

Care of the mind

What did I do to heal myself?

Take reasonable advantage of the pleasing things in this world – art, music, good food and drink, travel, etc.

The Physical World Around Me

The environment – b’al tashchit – do not destroy; cleanup; conservation; climate change

Kindness to animals

Stop and smell the roses/meditate on the wonder of Creation?

Tikkun olam?

A Few Final Thoughts for Your Consideration

Do I deserve another year because I have been good?

Do I deserve another year because I will be better? I promise!

Am I prepared to do teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah?

© Rabbi Richard Flom - 2021

FOUR PILLARS OF SOCIETY

Elul 6, 5781 / August 13-14, 2021
Parashat Shoftim

Torah - Deuteronomy 16:18 - 21:9
Haftarah -  Isaiah 51:12 - 52:12 (Fourth Haftarah of Consolation)
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Calendar and dedications follow below. For a full calendar of events and other info about Temple B’nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier, check out: https://bnaihayim.org/   

This d'var torah is offered in memory of Lynn's sister, Janis Devorah Kronzek, died far too soon, whose 20th yahrzeit falls on Sunday, Elul 7. Y'hi zekherah liv'rakhah.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Elisheva bat Minnie Leah, Feigel bat Kreina, and D'vorah bat Feigel. 

 
Our Rabbi Jason Van Leeuwen has a blog of Divrei Torah which you should read at: https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 

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

--------------------------------------------------------------

FOUR PILLARS OF SOCIETY

“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous justice. You shall not pervert justice: you shall not show partiality; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live, and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.” Deuteronomy 16:18-20

These opening verses of this week’s parashah are most famous – and most difficult to translate. Why? Because the word tzedek (צדק), traditionally translated as “justice” in verse 20, also means “righteous”, as in verse 18, and is the root of the word tzedakah (צדקה), “charity” or “righteousness”. In verse 18, the word for “justice” is mishpat (משפט). This word is closely related to Shoftim, “judges”, the name of our parashah. Hence, they shall judge with “just justice” or “righteous justice”.

In Likutei Yehudah, a collection of teachings from the Chasidim of Ger, we learn: “Whenever tzedakah is mentioned, mishpat is also mentioned (citing Gen. 18:19 and Psalms 99:4).” The reason, we are told, is that where there is no justice, there is no righteousness. One might well infer that where there is no righteousness, there is no justice.

But there is more. Hosea 2:21, the verse which is recited as the tefillin shel yad is wound around the fingers, says: “And I will betroth you unto Me forever; yea, I will betroth you unto Me in righteousness (צדק), and in justice (משפט), and in lovingkindness (chesed – חסד), and in compassion (rachamim - רחמים)." I tingle as I read this this - and not simply because this comes from the haftarah of my Bar Mitzvah.

The Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moses Schreiber; 1762-1839) teaches that this is an exchange, I imagine as with a double ring wedding ceremony – if we act with justice and righteousness, then God will show us lovingkindness and compassion. We are literally binding ourselves to God in an exchange of vows.

I would like to read even more into this – I must read more into this. These concepts are of a piece. To me, these are the four pillars of the only society worth creating and worth living in.

We are well into the month of Elul, a time for cheshbon hanefesh, an accounting of the soul, leading up to the Days of Awe – Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The daily shofar sounding is our wake-up call. What have we done this past year to establish justice and righteousness and lovingkindness and compassion in ourselves and our families and our communities and our world? What will we do in the year to come to make ourselves worthy of living in the world God wants us to create?

Shabbat Shalom!

Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus

TBH/CBM
Sherman Oaks, CA
".איזה הוא חכם? הלומד מכל אדם"
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
 -----------------------------------------------
Cyber Torah list management (no salesman will call!):
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, 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