Av 9, 5782 / August 5-6, 2022
Parashat Devarim (Shabbat Chazon)
Third Haftarah of Rebuke: Isaiah 1:1-27
Tisha B’Av reading: Megillat Eikhah – The Book of Lamentations
Parashat Devarim (Shabbat Chazon)
Third Haftarah of Rebuke: Isaiah 1:1-27
Tisha B’Av reading: Megillat Eikhah – The Book of Lamentations
Torah: Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22
-----------------------------------------------------
This Shabbat is Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbat of Vision, so-called because we read on Shabbat morning the rebuking vision of Isaiah (leading into the delayed observance of Tisha B’Av on Saturday night and Sunday) and then the horrifying vision of the Book of Lamentations (Megillat Eikhah) on (delayed) Tisha B’Av itself. Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, and numerous other calamities which have befallen the Jewish people on the same date. Please join TBH/CBM via Zoom or at https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim for a community program of worship, reading of Lamentations, and study on Saturday, August 6, at 8:45 pm. Have a meaningful fast.
-------------------------------------------------------
This d'var torah is offered in memory of Sarah Labovitz Flom (my grandmother) and Martha Gottschalk Stern (Lynn's grandmother), whose yahrzeits fall Sunday, August 7 (10 Av), and Tuesday, August 9 (12 Av), respectively. Their memories are a blessing.
---------------------------------------------
The community extends condolences to Rabbi Jason Van Leeuwen on the passing of his step-brother Mike Hanna. Y'hi zikhro liv'rakhah - May his memory be a blessing.
---------------------------------------------------------------
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Bella bat Kreina, Feigel bat Kreina, and Devorah 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 August 9 we'll be at BT Shabbat 10(b) - page 107 of Ein Ya'akov Volume 1 - - "R. Hisda was holding two [priestly] gifts of oxen in his hand" - "רב חסדא הוה נקיט בידיה תרתי מתנתא דתורא"
Ein Ya'akov is available for on-line reading or as a downloadable PDF at:
-----------------------------------------------
Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at:
https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/
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.
-------------------------------------------------
RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE – IT’S A TRADITION
In this week’s haftarah, Isaiah warns the people what will happen to them if they continue to disobey God’s instructions – particularly with regard to matters of justice.
“… Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves clean; Put your evil out of My sight. Cease your evil ways. Learn to do good; devote yourselves to justice; aid those who have been wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow.” Isaiah 1:15-17
“If you refuse and disobey, you will be consumed by violence – for it was the Lord who spoke.” Isaiah 1:20
"Your rulers are rogues and cronies of thieves, every one of them avid for bribery and greedy for illicit gifts; They do not give the orphan justice, and the widow's case never reaches them." Isaiah 1:23
This Sunday, delayed by a day due to Shabbat, Jews remember and mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, twice, on the 9th of Av – first in 587 BCE by the Babylonians, and in 70 CE by the Romans. Other calamities suffered by the Jewish people are attributed to or very close to the 9th of Av.
The Book of Lamentations (attributed, probably incorrectly, to Jeremiah) describes the destruction by the Babylonians. The Talmud, in a number of places, attributes both destructions, particularly by the Romans, to baseless hatred among the people.
Thus, we may read the Talmud as teaching that failure to take to heart the teachings of Isaiah leads to the moral and physical destruction of society.
We’ve seen resistance to injustice before. Abraham argued with God for the sake of Sodom and Gomorrah – he lost the argument, but he was not afraid to make the challenge - for people he didn’t know, for people who were not so nice, but who were nevertheless fellow human beings. Our Rabbis taught that one of the reasons God ultimately destroyed the cities was because of “the cry of the maiden” – a woman who was executed in Sodom for the crime of giving food and water to the poor and to immigrants.
More famously, Moses demanded justice from the Pharaoh of Egypt – and set an enslaved people free. It took a while, and God’s intervention, but our Rabbis teach that had Moses refused to do this, had he remained silent, the Israelites might still be slaves. This story of the Exodus led to constant reminders to love the Other because “you were strangers in Egypt” and “you know the heart of the stranger”. On this point, we learn specifically, “You will love the stranger, because you were strangers in Egypt.” Deuteronomy 10:19
Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and virtually all of the other Biblical prophets, have a few things in common. They challenged the status quo of an immoral and unjust power structure, and they demanded that the people act more justly. “For it is lovingkindness I desire, not sacrifice.” Hosea 6:6
At BT Pesachim 66a, Hillel the Elder says of the Jewish people, "If they are not prophets (who have directly heard the voice of God), they are the children of prophets (and thus will know and do the right thing)."
Remember where you come from. Do the right thing. Resistance is not futile - ever.
Shabbat Shalom. Have a meaningful Tisha B'Av.
Rabbi Richard A. Flom - Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
My weekly divrei torah are also available through free subscription to the Cyber Torah e-mail list. No salesman will call!
Cyber Torah list management:
To subscribe to Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Subscribe Cyber Torah”.
To unsubscribe from Cyber Torah, send an e-mail from the receiving address to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Unsubscribe Cyber Torah”.
To dedicate a Cyber Torah in honor of a simchah, in memory of a loved one or for a refuah shleimah, send an e-mail to: ravflom@sbcglobal.net with the heading “Dedicate Cyber Torah” and provide details in the message body.
