Monday, May 30, 2022

THE MOSAIC

Parashat Bamidbar
Sivan 5, 5782 / June 3-4, 2022
Torah: Numbers 1:1 – 4:20
Haftarah: Hosea 2:1-22
Shavuot 1
Sivan 6, 5782 / June 4-5, 2022
Torah: Exodus 19:1 – 20:22; Numbers 28:26-31
Haftarah: Ezekiel 1:1-28; 3:12
Shavuot 2
Sivan 7, 5782 / June 5-6, 2022
Book of Ruth
Torah: Deuteronomy 15:19 – 16:17; Numbers 28:26-31
Haftarah: Habakkuk 3:1-19 (Ashkenazim) or Habakkuk 2:20 - 3:19 (Sephardim)

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

This d'var torah is offered in memory of my father, Martin Flom,  z”l, whose yahrzeit falls on Monday, Sivan 7. His memory is a blessing.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of my grandfather, Jacob Slome,  z”l, whose yahrzeit falls on Tuesday, Sivan 8. His memory is a blessing.
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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 June 7, we'll be at page 1 (my pagination) of Chapter 7 of BT Berakhot (45a) - "When three eat together..." -  "...שלשה שאכלו באחד” The reading may be found at: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RcHx6HDRnN1ZxsRK7l4xA21wuL6Z87EU/view?usp=sharing 

Previous chapters of Ein Ya'akov are available as follows:
Chapter 1: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jt-NLamlIiAGpBhU7WNrCVZGBYhHHWCN/view?usp=sharing  
Chapter 2: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vJHoKQJwoObg2ygnnXc7qIV5Adgcvswc/view?usp=sharing 
Chapters 3 and 4: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TpQwHh2XyWT9XYQ5OAjwxDbuVpXbzIDY/view?usp=sharing 
Chapter 5: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18naYXIfd37WqagfJ5UfJoH84amqt2-tA/view?usp=sharing 
Chapter 6: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QOGujnXBhbJalQbfp3vPpK7TeeZejXZo/view?usp=sharing 
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My Tikkun Leil Shavuot study materials are available at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DciPH28b0BO9z9P11taj3tjnJFVjaWIN?usp=sharing  

Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at: 

Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", which you can read here: 
https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com   

Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, athttps://bnaihayim.org/  
 
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source. 
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THE MOSAIC

“Every man with his own standard, with ensigns according to their fathers’ houses, so shall the Children of Israel pitch the camp; at a distance from the tent of meeting shall they encamp.” Numbers 2:2

One should not for a moment believe that this verse is a license for each of us to go our individual ways. We are indeed to maintain our individual identities, but only within the context of the larger community.

The commentary Bet Aharon (Rabbi Aaron of Karlin, 1736-1792, disciple of Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch) makes this point in an interesting way. “Every Jew must know and think that he is unique in the world, and there has never been another person exactly like him. If there had been someone just like him, there would have been no need for him. In truth, every person is someone new in the world, who needs to improve his character and his Torah for the sake of his soul, until the entire world has been repaired through the effort of the Jewish people.”

Let me expand upon Bet Aharon. In my view, this applies to every member of the human race. We live in a broken world - each of us can make a unique contribution toward improving it through our moral and ethical development and then by putting our learned principles into action.

Revelation at Mt. Sinai (Providence Lithograph Company, 1907)

It’s a pretty tall order. Look at it this way. Each of us is a "work-in-progress", an accumulation of mosaic tiles (nature, nurture, experience, education, relationships, etc.) that needs to be assembled into a complete, functional, and autonomous moral being; each of us is then a tile in a much vaster communal/societal mosaic for which we have individual and joint responsibility to assemble. When we put together the pieces of our own lives and our own souls, and place the tiles of our individual selves into the mosaic of the community, we are contributing to the improvement of the world as well.

It all starts with you.
Have a wonderful Shabbat! Chag Shavuot Sameach! See you at Mount Sinai!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom - Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/
Visit me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RabbiRichardFlom 
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
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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 

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

UNCLE SAM WANTS.... YOUR EXTRA FOOD!

Parashat Emor
Iyar 13, 5782 / May 13-14, 2022
Torah: Leviticus 21:1 - 24:23
Haftarah: Ezekiel 44:15-31
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This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Bella bat Kreina, Feigel bat Kreina, and D'vorah bat Feigel.

This d'var torah is offered in memory of Steven Kleiger z”l, whose yahrzeit falls on Tuesday, 16 Iyar. His memory is a blessing.

Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, athttps://bnaihayim.org/  
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Lunch and Learn is going on hiatus for the month of May, as I will be traveling quite a bit. We meet Tuesdays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live, and may be going back to in-person as well starting in June. We’ll be continuing to read and discuss the Midrashic collection Ein Ya’akov. On May 31, we'll be at page 5 (my pagination) of Chapter 6 of BT Berakhot (40a) - "Raba the son of Samuel said in the name of R. Chiya:...” The reading may be found at: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QOGujnXBhbJalQbfp3vPpK7TeeZejXZo/view?usp=sharing 

Previous chapters of Ein Ya'akov are available as follows:
Chapter 1: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jt-NLamlIiAGpBhU7WNrCVZGBYhHHWCN/view?usp=sharing  
Chapter 2: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vJHoKQJwoObg2ygnnXc7qIV5Adgcvswc/view?usp=sharing 
Chapters 3 and 4: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TpQwHh2XyWT9XYQ5OAjwxDbuVpXbzIDY/view?usp=sharing 
Chapter 5: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18naYXIfd37WqagfJ5UfJoH84amqt2-tA/view?usp=sharing 
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Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at: 
https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 
 
Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", which you can read here: 
https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com   
 
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source. 
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UNCLE SAM WANTS.... YOUR EXTRA FOOD!

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not completely reap all the way to the corners of your field, and you shall not gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger; I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 23:22

In the Book of Ruth, which we will read in three weeks on the festival of Shavuot, we see this commandment in action. Ruth follows the harvesters in the field of Boaz, and gathers food for herself and her mother-in-law, Naomi. The requirement that the corners and gleanings be left for the poor to collect, rather than simply given to them, is important; it gives them the dignity of gathering it, and thereby providing for themselves. It also demonstrates that the food is not really the farmer's to give away. "For the land is Mine," says God, "for you are sojourners and residents with Me." (Lev. 25:23) God created it; God owns it; we are only tenant farmers in the Ribono Shel Olam's vineyard. And since that is the case, we should take seriously God's commandment to share with those who are less fortunate than we are.

Well, few of us are farmers today, but we reap God's bounty every time we go to the market, every time we open the refrigerator. And if we are not prepared to let strangers go picking through our pantries, we can at least give food to them, or to people who know how to distribute food to those who are hungry.

This Saturday, mail carriers throughout the United States will be "stamping out hunger", collecting cans, bags and boxes of non-perishable groceries. (For more info, go to: 
https://www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive and  https://about.usps.com/newsroom/local-releases/mi/2022/0509-stamp-out-hunger-food-drive.htm) The food will be distributed to local food banks and soup kitchens. This is a no-brainer. All you have to do is leave groceries by your mailbox and the carrier will take them when s/he delivers your mail. One item or fifty, it will all help alleviate some people's hunger for a time.



But there are poor and needy people who are hungry at other times of the year, not just when we run annual food drives. So at home, or at your synagogue or church or mosque, or at school, set up a box, and put some food items in it once in a while. Encourage your friends and family to do the same. When it's full, take it over to the nearest community food bank or soup kitchen, and give people the corners and the gleanings of your field. Here at B'nai Hayim/Beth Meier we have a box that is constantly filled and delivered to SOVA, which is also a local beneficiary of the Postal Service drive. We learned in last week’s parashah, “You shall love your neighbor, who is like you.” (Lev. 19:18) When you perform the dual mitzvot of “peah” (corner) and “leket” (gleaning), you fulfill the mitzvah of love as well, for then your neighbor can do as you do: eat and be satisfied (Deuteronomy 11:15).

Wishing you Shabbat Shalom Uv'rakhah - A Shabbat of Peace and Blessing!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom - Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/
Visit me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RabbiRichardFlom 
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
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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 

PUTTING GOD SECOND

Parashat Vayera Cheshvan 15, 5783 / November 15-16, 2024 Torah: Genesis 18:1-22:24 Haftarah: Kings II 4:1-37 (Ashkenazic); Kings II 4:1-23 (...