WELCOME TO SODOM

Parashat Shoftim
Elul 6, 5785 / August 29-30, 2025
Torah - Deuteronomy 16:18 - 21:9
Haftarah - Isaiah 51:12 - 52:12 (Fourth Haftarah of Consolation)
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This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah and a speedy and safe return of all the hostages being held by Hamas.

This d’var torah is offered for an end to the hunger crisis in Gaza.

Lunch and Learn meet again on September 8.

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Our TBH rabbi Reb Jason has a weekly blog which you should read. This week's edition may be found at:

https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/shavua-tov-whos-buried-in-security-grants-tomb/ 

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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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Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.

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WELCOME TO SODOM

“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous justice. You shall not pervert justice: you shall not show partiality; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live, and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.” Deuteronomy 16:18-20

These opening verses of this week’s parashah are most famous – and most difficult to translate. Why? Because the word tzedek (צדק), traditionally translated as “justice” in verse 20, also means “righteous”, as in verse 18, and is the root of the word tzedakah (צדקה), “charity” or “righteousness”. In verse 18, the word for “justice” is mishpat (משפט). This word is closely related to Shoftim, “judges”, the name of our parashah. Hence, they shall judge with “just justice” or “righteous justice”.

In Likutei Yehudah, a collection of teachings from the Chasidim of Ger, we learn: “Whenever tzedakah is mentioned, mishpat is also mentioned (citing Gen. 18:19 and Psalms 99:4).” The reason, we are told, is that where there is no justice, there is no righteousness. One might well infer that where there is no righteousness, there is no justice.

Recently, the federal government announced that houses of worship and other non-profits that face security risks, such as from hate crimes, will be ineligible for monetary grants to enhance their security (NSGP grants) unless they agree to abandon any diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs they might have, and also give ICE permission to enter their premises without interference in order to search for undocumented immigrants.

https://jewishcurrents.org/a-federal-security-grant-program-popular-with-jewish-organizations-may-now-require-beneficiaries-to-cooperate-with-ice

Similarly, the government announced that non-profit groups which provide emergency disaster relief, such as the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, that utilize federal disaster grants distribute by their states, may not provide assistance to undocumented immigrants nor maintain any DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) programs.

https://wapo.st/3Jy4ptv (DHS moves to bar aid groups from serving undocumented immigrants)

Whatever “righteous justice” means, it’s not this. We are doing the exact opposite. There is a name for a nation that mistreats people in these ways – Sodom. The eighth century CE exegetical text "Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer" (PR'E) teaches that Sodom (and Gomorrah) were destroyed by God because of the way the citizens and government treated outsiders and the poor.

Sodom and Gomorrah afire by Jacob de Wet II, 1680 (Creative commons)

"'Rabbi Joshua, son of Ḳorchah, said: "(The people of Sodom) appointed over themselves judges who were lying judges, and they oppressed every way farer and stranger who entered Sodom by their perverse judgment, and they sent them forth naked, as it is said, 'They have oppressed the stranger without judgment' (Ezek. 22:29)."' PR'E 25

"(The people of Sodom) were dwelling in security without care and at ease, without the fear of war from all their surroundings, as it is said, 'Their houses are safe from fear' (Job 21:9). They were sated with all the produce of the earth, but they did not strengthen with the loaf of bread either the hand of the needy or of the poor, as it is said, 'Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy' (Ezek. 16:49) PR’E 25

It's almost as if Ezekiel is with us, right here in the United States, right now. To which voice shall we listen? The voice of the prophet? Or the voice of Sodom? Our country might not be destroyed by God - but we are certainly managing to do that ourselves.

It's now the month of Elul, just weeks before Rosh Hashanah, a time for introspection, which the Rabbis call Cheshbon HaNefesh - an accounting of the soul. 

This Shabbat, take account of yourself - and see how you measure up.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple B’nai Hayim

שְׁתִיקָה כְּהוֹדָאָה דָמְיָא

Silence is like consent. 

BT Yevamot 87b
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SAY IT ISN’T SO!

Parashat Re'eh

Av 29, 5785 / August 22-23, 2025
Torah: Deuteronomy 11:26 - 16:17
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:11 - 55:5 (Third Haftarah of Comfort) Some Sephardic congregations add the first and last verses of the haftarah for machar chodesh.

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This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah and a speedy and safe return of all the hostages being held by Hamas.

This d’var torah is offered for an end to the hunger crisis in Gaza.

Lunch and Learn meet again on September 8.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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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Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.

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SAY IT ISN’T SO!

"You shall not do so to the Lord your God." Deuteronomy 12:4

R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk: Your worship of God shall not be "so", as a monotonous routine - one simply meant to fulfill your obligation - but for the sake of God and with a feeling of holy reverence.

"For you shall surely open your hand to (the needy), and you shall surely lend him enough for his need, that is lacking for him." Deuteronomy 15:8

Rashi: You shall surely open even many times. (Citing Sifrei)

There is a conflict between two concepts relating to the fulfillment of the mitzvot. The concepts are keva' (regularity) and kavanah (focused intent). One must observe the mitzvot regularly and become accustomed to them. At the same time, whenever one performs any particular mitzvah, one should do so intensely, focused on the holy significance of the act, and what it accomplishes. That's not easy to do on a regular basis. That is possibly a reason for reciting a statement of intent (also called a kavanah) and a b’rakhah, a blessing, before performing a mitzvah.

Tzedakah boxes 

But the giving of tzedakah, charity (derived from the word tzedek - justice), is somewhat different. Tzedakah surely is a mitzvah. It might also be considered a form of worship in the sense of avodah – service to God. Thus, we learn from the Kotzker Rebbe and Rashi that no matter how often we give tzedakah, with keva', it cannot be done in a rote manner; we must do it with kavanah, with feelings of intensity and holiness.

Unlike virtually any other mitzvah, there is no b'rakhah recited before giving tzedakah. Perhaps the reason for no blessing is to prevent us from feeling too proud of ourselves for having performed the mitzvah. Another reason might be that it objectifies the recipient as a means for performing the mitzvah and could also embarrass them. Perhaps more important, the recitation of the b'rakhah delays the performance of the mitzvah, and with charity, time can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.

Give tzedakah, often, and know that it is a holy act. But don't think about it for too long.

Shabbat Shalom! Chodesh Elul Tov!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple B’nai Hayim
.אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם? הַלוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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ON HAUGHTINESS AND HUMILITY

Parashat Ekev

Av 22, 5785 / August 15-16, 2025
Torah: Deuteronomy 7:12 - 11:25
Haftarah: Isaiah 49:14 - 51:3 (Second Haftarah of Comfort)

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This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah and a speedy and safe return of all the hostages being held by Hamas.

This d’var torah is offered for an end to the hunger crisis in Gaza.

Lunch and Learn meet again on September 8.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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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Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.

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ON HAUGHTINESS AND HUMILITY

"And your heart will be haughty, and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery." Deuteronomy 8:14 

"And you will say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.'" Deuteronomy 8:17

There is an old joke that goes something like this: A noted scholar and philanthropist was being honored at a gala dinner. Speaker after speaker extolled his virtues - knowledge, wisdom, generosity, kindness, righteousness, etc. He reached up and tugged on the sleeve of one of the speakers, and said, "Don't forget my humility."

The Ba'al Shem Tov says that there is nowhere in the Torah a commandment to be humble. If there were, there would be those who would attempt to fulfill it by reciting a statement of intent ("Behold, I am prepared to perform the mitzvah of humility ..."), then a blessing (".... and commanded us to be humble."), and then … commence to be humble? It would become a conceit – the belief that, in addition to fulfilling the other commandments, they were observing the commandment to be humble. Unlike any other mitzvah, one would fail to observe it merely by believing that one was attempting to fulfill it or had observed it. "I can say with all humility that I have been humble." It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

What about people who aren't even "humility posers", if you will? In the verses between and surrounding our verses here, Moses exhorts the people to remember that their freedom and their wealth were not their achievements. Rather, they benefited solely from God's help - they had accomplished little on their own. And by extension, we can see that no person truly achieves anything completely on their own. Everyone relies on parents, teachers, friends, associates, employees, etc. To me, this is a simple truth that is undeniable. As Donne said, "No man is an island."

We know that a lack of humility can often be damaging to relationships. We tend to forget that neither we nor our accomplishments exist in a vacuum. Even praise for one’s humility can be a bit dangerous. Perhaps the only way to be truly humble is to run from any suggestion that one is humble - without being haughty about it!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple B’nai Hayim
.אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם? הַלוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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SUBTRACTING BY ADDING

Parashat Va’etchanan – Shabbat Nachamu

Av 15, 5785 / August 8-9, 2025

Torah: Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11

Haftarah: Isaiah 40:1-26 (First Haftarah of Comfort)

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This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort, for the words of God and the prophet following Tisha B'Av (9 Av).

This Shabbat also falls on Tu B'Av, the 15th of Av, traditionally a day for celebrating the beginning of the grape harvest in the Land of Israel, and more importantly for us all, a day for celebrating love.

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This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah and a speedy and safe return of all the hostages being held by Hamas.

This d’var torah is offered for an end to the hunger crisis in Gaza.

Lunch and Learn will not meet until September 8.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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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Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.

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SUBTRACTING BY ADDING

“You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you subtract from it, that you may keep the commandments (mitzvot) of the Lord which I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:2

Rabbi Alexander Moshe Lapidot taught: “A Jew must find the golden, middle path (citing Rambam) in the fear/awe of God and in the observance of the mitzvot. Just as a wicked person is liable to violate the prohibition of “you shall not subtract”, a righteous person is liable to violate the prohibition of “you shall not add”, and can thereby bring tragedy upon the world.”

Jewish tradition understands that there are two general types of mitzvot: bein adam lamakom (between a human being and God) and bein adam l’chaveiro (between a human being and his/her fellow human). Rabbi Lapidot seems to be talking only about the first type. The Vilna Gaon taught that there was a third category: bein adam l’atzmo (between a human and him/herself). These divisions matter.

"Cities of Refuge" - Providence Lithograph Company, 1901

Whether a person violates or makes stricter upon their self a mitzvah bein adam lamakom is strictly between them and God – God can reward or punish as God sees fit. Regarding a mitzvah bein adam l’atzmo – the only one affected is the person – no one else.

But, someone who alters or ignores or makes easier (for themselves) or makes stricter (for others) the mitzvot bein adam l’chaveiro regarding interpersonal relationships, damages others and society. (One could easily frame this in the context of government and other leaders changing laws to their own advantage) For these mitzvot, the person doing the adding/subtracting must answer one simple question: Who benefits from my change to this mitzvah? If the answer is, “I do,” then one is upending their relationships and their society for their own ends, and could well be causing an otherwise preventable tragedy. This was the lesson of Tisha B'Av - the mistreatment or favoritism towards individuals because of their status in society, in violation of established norms, cascaded into the destruction of that society.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus

Temple B'nai Hayim

.הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה

He [Rabbi Tarfon] would say: It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it. Pirkei Avot 2:16

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