Parashat Tetzaveh
Adar Rishon 11, 5782 / February 11-12, 2022
Torah: Exodus 27:20 – 30:10
Haftarah: Ezekiel 43:10-27
This d'var torah is offered in honor of my sister and brother-in-law, Lorrie Flom and Jay Goodman, celebrating their wedding anniversary on Monday, February 14. Mazal tov!
This d'var torah is offered in memory of Temple B'nai Hayim founding member Esther Rose, who passed away on Thursday. Y'hi zekherah liv'rakhah - May her memory be a blessing.
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Feigel bat Kreina and D'vorah bat Feigel.
Lunch and Learn meets Tuesdays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. We’re continuing to read and discuss the Midrashic collection Ein Ya’akov. On February 15, we'll be at page 13 (my pagination) of Chapter 3 of Berakhot (28b) - "T'nu rabbanan k'shecholeh Rebbi Eliezer" - "The Rabbis taught that when R. Eliezer was ill...'” The reading may be found at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TpQwHh2XyWT9XYQ5OAjwxDbuVpXbzIDY/view?usp=sharing
Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, at: https://bnaihayim.org/
Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at:
Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", available this week at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UWr5OaZb3eCrZgePWKBeNisyBYoiItNT/view
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משנכנס אדר, מרבין בשמחה Mishenichnas Adar, marbin b’simchah! – With the beginning of Adar, we increase joy! (BT Ta'anit 29a)
HERE'S A LITTLE PURIM TORAH CONTEST
As this is a Jewish Leap Year, it raises a question, and the person who gives me whatever I believe to be the best answer will be awarded one slightly used bottle of slivovitz (the decision of the judge and the amount of slivovitz remaining after he drinks from the bottle are in his sole discretion and are final): Since we are instructed by our rabbis to be joyful in Adar, and Adar is twice as long this year, does that mean that we will have twice as much joy in total this year than in non-leap years, or, does it mean that on any given day in the months of Adar, we are only half as joyful as we would have been in a non-leap year because our joy must be spread over twice as many days? There is no right or wrong answer! Be creative with proof texts!
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Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source
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ETERNAL LIGHT OF TORAH
“You shall command the Israelites to bring you olive oil, beaten clear, for the lamp (the menorah); to kindle the light always.” Exodus 27:10
Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Gur (in Chidushei HaRim), relying on Rashi's comments on other, related verses in the Torah, points out the impossibility of literally following this commandment. Once a lamp is lit, one cannot be _always_ lighting it! Rather, what the kohanim did was to out in fresh oil and then rekindle the lamp every day. Not "always", but "regularly".
He says this is similar to reciting the Sh’ma. According to the Talmud, “Even if a person merely reads the Sh’ma in the morning and evening, he has fulfilled the obligation found at Joshua 1:8 – ‘This Torah shall not depart from your lips’ (which implies that one should be studying Torah all day). The Rim explains: the verse in Joshua concludes with, “You shall meditate on it day and night.” So, if a person recites the Sh’ma with such feeling of awe that it carries through the day, it is as if he studied Torah day and night.
There is a bit of danger in his teaching. Reliance solely on the recitation of the Sh'ma as the fulfillment of the obligation to study can cause complacency - and illiteracy. It should be seen as the bare minimum and only occasionally. One need not be a great scholar, single-mindedly dedicated to study all day. But we have at least the obligation to learn regularly, sufficient to keep the light of Torah burning within us.
It’s okay to light up!
Have a Shabbat of light and happiness - it's Adar!
HaRav HaGa’on Abba Reuven ben Menachem Mendel Flom, Sh’lita
Av Beis Din – Chelm
Slivovitz Taste Tester
משנכנס אדר, מרבין בשמחה
From the beginning of Adar, we increase joy.
BT Ta’anit 29a
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