IS YOUR TORAH HEALTHY?

Parashat Chukkat

Tammuz 10, 5782 / July 8-9, 2022

Torah: Numbers 19:1 – 22:1

Haftarah: Judges 11:1-33

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This d'var torah is offered in memory of my mother-in-law, Helena Kronzek, whose yahrzeit falls on Friday, Tammuz 16 (August 15). Y'hi zekherah liv'rakhah - her memory is a blessing.

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

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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 July 12, we'll be at Chapter 9 of BT Berakhot 63(a) - 

"...תניא רבי אומר לעולם אל ירבה אדם ריעים בתוך ביתו” - "We are taught that Rabbi says: 'Never shall a man try to acquire too many friends within his house,...'" The reading may be found at page 35 of my pagination: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TK74GI6tqBSDugLsQmHTYEAzPqDUJxS0/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 should read at: 
https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com   
 
Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, at: https://bnaihayim.org/ 

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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IS YOUR TORAH HEALTHY?

"‘And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, "This is the chok of the Torah which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the Children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, which has no blemish, and upon which there has never been a yoke.’"’ Numbers 19:1-2 

Parah Adumah - Red Heifer

The Rabbis teach that a "chok" is a law in the Torah for which there is no rational explanation. And yet, Jews have struggled for millennia to make sense of this chok especially, for we might read this verse as, "this is the very ultimate chok in the Torah". Or, perhaps it’s a chok about Torah itself.

An anonymous teaching in Itturei Torah: “Since this is the chok of the red heifer, why doesn’t the Torah say ‘this is the chok of the heifer’ rather than ‘this is the chok of the Torah’? The reason is that the ashes of the red heifer can make ritually impure one who was pure, and make ritually pure one who was impure. That is generally true for all of the Torah: if one uses it properly, it is like an elixir of life, but if one abuses it, it is like poison.”

Torah may be used as a caress or a bludgeon. (See also BT Sukkah 49b, where Rabbi Elazar teaches that there is a Torah of lovingkindness and a Torah that is not of lovingkindness) One’s Torah learning and practice can improve and spiritually elevate the self; or one can use it to denigrate and dehumanize others. An elixir or a poison: not only for the practitioner, but for everyone around them. Choose your potion.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom - Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim
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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