Parashat Yitro
Torah: Exodus 18:1 - 20:23
Haftarah: Isaiah 6:1 - 7:6; 9:5-6; (Ashkenazim); Isaiah 6:1-13 (Sephardim)
Haftarah: Isaiah 6:1 - 7:6; 9:5-6; (Ashkenazim); Isaiah 6:1-13 (Sephardim)
Shevat 17, 5785 / February 14-15, 2025
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This d’var torah is offered in honor of Lorrie Flom and Jay Goodman on the occasion of their wedding anniversary on February 14. Mazal tov!
This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for the hostages.
This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for all who have been wounded in the terrorist attacks and in fighting against the terrorists, as well as innocent non-combatants caught in the crossfire.
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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. On February 17, we'll be at Ein Ya'akov Vol. 3, Chagigah, p. 28 (BT Chagigah 15b):
"...ואמר רבי אמי ש' בעיי"
"And R. Ami said: 'Three hundred questions...'"
https://hebrewbooks.org/9630
A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria:
https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov?tab=contents
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about our various programs and becoming a Member at: https://bnaihayim.org/
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"You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the water beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not worship them, for I am the Lord your God...." Exodus 20:3-5.
"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; they have noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; they have feet, but do not walk; they do not utter through their throats. Those who make them are like them, as is everyone who trusts in them." Psalms 115:4-8.
Moses (Hendrick de Somer, 1650)
The Psalmist makes the obvious connection - statuary idols are worthless, and so, it seems, are the people who worship them. Not many people today prostrate themselves before images of Baal or Astarte or Jupiter, but plenty of people still have idols. Cars, houses, big screen TVs, etc. - it's all stuff that so many of us are impressed by and bow down to. In the old days, also, pharaohs, kings and emperors declared themselves to be gods, and forced their subjects to worship them. I suspect there are few such monarchs today, nor people who would be prepared to bow down and worship those monarchs. We have "matinee idols" - and how could we forget "American Idol"? But is there still the possibility that people try to set up themselves or others as gods?
What about worship of the self? Can one be so self-centered, so uncaring and unfeeling of others, that one regards oneself to be a god? Consider the psalm, consider the current state of American society, and then read in this week's haftarah:
'(God) said, "Go and say this to the people: '"You surely hear, but you do not understand; you surely see, but you do not perceive.'" Isaiah 6:9.
The rest of the Ten Commandments (the Second is above) tell us how to treat other people – so do dozens of other commandments in the Torah (See, e.g., The Holiness Code at Leviticus 19, or next week's Parashat Mishpatim). Isaiah, here and elsewhere, and the other Prophets speak even more extensively on the manner in which we are to treat our fellow human beings, our fellow images of God. When we close our eyes and ears to the suffering of others; when we do not speak out against injustice; when we think that we are more important than everyone else around us; then, we turn ourselves into wood and stone - blind, deaf and dumb idols, soul-less objects of self-worship.
Do not make of yourself an idol.
Writing from “The Media Capital of the World”, where image is often everything, I wish you a Shabbat Shalom!
The rest of the Ten Commandments (the Second is above) tell us how to treat other people – so do dozens of other commandments in the Torah (See, e.g., The Holiness Code at Leviticus 19, or next week's Parashat Mishpatim). Isaiah, here and elsewhere, and the other Prophets speak even more extensively on the manner in which we are to treat our fellow human beings, our fellow images of God. When we close our eyes and ears to the suffering of others; when we do not speak out against injustice; when we think that we are more important than everyone else around us; then, we turn ourselves into wood and stone - blind, deaf and dumb idols, soul-less objects of self-worship.
Do not make of yourself an idol.
Writing from “The Media Capital of the World”, where image is often everything, I wish you a Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 87b
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 87b
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