Torah Tidbit Archives • The Temple - Congregation Adath Israel Brith Sholom

Lech L’cha (Genesis 12:1-17:27)

November 8, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: Lech L’cha (Genesis 12:1-17:27)

This week’s Torah Portion is called Lech L’cha which means “Go Forth” and it is, at its essence, a journey tale – our first journey tale, as our great, great, greatest ancestors Abraham and Sarah set forth on their journey, to a new land, a new life, and a new understanding of their relationship with God. And, at the same time, Lech L’cha is more than the legend of the physical journey of our ancient forbearers across time and space – it is our story, the story of our people, our family, in every age. It is the story of the spiritual journey from what we know, toward that something greater which we can hope to reach. Lech L’cha is that universal story of courage and faith which teaches us how hard it is to let go of the familiar patterns of our lives, the easier paths of less resistance, the way things have always been, even when we long for a better future. Lech L’cha is an ancient legend waiting still for us to live again, this day and every day.

Lech L’cha, Go Forth! How will you answer God’s call?

Noach (Genesis 6:9-11:32)

November 1, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: Noach (Genesis 6:9-11:32)

At the end of the story of the great flood God places a rainbow in the sky as a token of the covenant between God and all the people of the earth.

Why does God choose the rainbow? The rabbis teach us that the rainbow is an appropriate symbol of peace because it is made up of many different colors, and when you look at it, it is impossible to distinguish one color from the next.

The rainbow reminds us that even though no two humans are alike, we are all part of one covenant with God. Like the colors of the rainbow, we are all different, and yet we are all God’s children and we all have a share in the fulfillment of that covenant to help God create a world of Shalom.

B’reishit (Genesis 1:1-6:8)

October 25, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: B’reishit (Genesis 1:1-6:8)

The Big Bet which Begins each Torah scroll with the word B’reishit is clearly not an accident. God really seemed to want to make a point of beginning the Torah with the letter Bet. This assumes, of course, that God wrote that first letter, with a quill pen and a deep brown ink upon a parchment scroll, just as scribes have done in writing that first word of Torah again and again for thousands of years.

There is a mystical midrash, a legend of our people, which teaches us that God considered beginning the Torah with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet which is Alef. God decided against the Alef because Alef is the beginning of the word Aror, which means “curse”, whereas Bet is the beginning of the word B’rachah, which means, blessing.

May each of us write our works upon this earth for blessing and not for curse, and may we together become repairers of the breach – builders of a better world.

Sukkot (Holidays Exodus 33:12–34:26)

October 18, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: Shabbat Chol HaMo-eid Sukkot (Holidays Exodus 33:12–34:26)

Why do we build a Sukkah? That is a great question, we argued about the right answer for about 200 years and did not come to a conclusion.

One answer is that the Sukkah represents the memory of the Divine presence leading our ancestors when they wandered in the desert for 40 years. “God went before them in a pillar of cloud by day, to guide them along the way,” (Exodus 13:21). When we enter the Sukkah we feel for a moment the presence of the Divine guiding us on our life journeys as we wander through our desert. May you have a Joyous Sukkot, please come and visit the temple Sukkah.

Haazinu (Deuteronomy 32:1–52)

October 11, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: Haazinu (Deuteronomy 32:1–52)

In Haazinu (Listen), Moses explains how the history of the relationship between Adonai our God and Israel began. It is a different version/source, and a different story than the ones we read before. In this version, God did not choose us; God won us in a lottery. We are not the chosen people of God, but the people that won Adonai our God in a lottery. There are many nations in the world according to this version, and each has their own God, our lot is Adonai, and their lot is different.

Vayeilech (Deuteronomy 31:1–30)

October 4, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayeilech (Deuteronomy 31:1–30)

Moses the greatest leader, prophet, law giver we ever had dies. He dies without reaching the Promised Land. Moses’ death teaches us a great lesson, we do not get to fulfil everything we wish and aim for. Even Moses the greatest of all dies without getting to his promised land. A Life worth living, a great legacy is when you still have goals you want to achieve, when you still yearn for more.

Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20)

September 27, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20)

“All of you are standing today before Adonai your God – you leaders, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel, your children, wives, and the Strangers in your midst … I am making this covenant, … not only with you … But also with those who are not here today” (Deuteronomy 29:9-14). All of us are part of the covenant between Adonai our God and everyone who was there in Sinai when the covenant was made. Even if we were not there in body, our spirits were there and we are part of it.

Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8)

September 20, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8)

This week’s Torah Portion begins with the ritual offering of First Fruits which contains within it the famous phrase from the Passover Seder: “My father was a wandering Aramean…” These words were meant as a reminder that the bounty of our harvest was a gift from God which we who were once wanderers without a land of our own are commanded to share with the less fortunate in our society, those who still wander without a home.

At the end of this carefully scripted ritual come the words: “I have not forgotten.”
The lesson of these words is a simple sermon on the meaning and the purpose of our lives.
When you hold in your hands the first fruits of the harvest of life’s blessings, remember.
Remember and give thanks. Remember to share your blessings. Remember where you came from every step along life’s path. Remember those who helped you to reach this day of blessing. Remember.

Ki Teitzei (Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19)

September 13, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: Ki Teitzei (Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19)

This week’s Torah Portion is a cacophonous collection of odd laws and commandments with no apparent order or overarching purpose: We begin with rules of war, followed by laws regarding family, animals, and property; Civil and criminal laws are delineated, laws of sexual relationships, interaction with non-Jews, loans, vows, and divorce; various business laws: fair wages, proper weights and measures. It all sounds like a run on sentence that lasts for four chapters in the book of Deuteronomy, and then it ends with a call to Remember Amalek and all that they had struggled against in their journey from slavery to freedom – now ready to enter the Promised Land.

And then we understand, Moses is saying goodbye. The Children of Israel are stepping forward into their own future. And, like a parent sending a child off to College or to War, or to Work in a far away land, Moses is just rattling off all his final instructions on how to live a good and prosperous life and most importantly, how important it is to remember who you are and how you came here.

Ki Tietzei is a parents prayer, scattered perhaps but heartfelt, a blessing of sorts that we might remember how we came to be standing here this week, so many thousands of years after we set forth on this journey. Ki Teitzei is a blessing from Moses and a hope of remembrance. May this be our blessing.

Shof’tim (Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9)

September 6, 2019/in Torah Tidbit /by Temple Web

This Week’s Torah Portion: Shof’tim (Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9)

How many trees are there in the Redwood forest? On the surface, the answer to this question seems unimaginably large. And yet, beneath the surface of the question there lies a deeper response:
One.

Above the surface, the old growth trees of the Redwood National Park cover nearly 39,000 acres of centuries old majestic forest. But, beneath the surface the roots of the trees grow deep and wide intertwining with one another, spreading out their tendrils, reaching out to one another just as they reach deep within the earth. Together they form one vast organism, one living thing, whose life is dependent upon the sum of its parts.

In this week’s portion Shoftim we read:
When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the axe against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human beings to withdraw before you into the besieged city? (Deuteronomy 20:19)

The great Spanish commentator Ibn Ezra read the last part of this verse not as a question, but as a statement. “The trees of the field are human beings.” And to destroy one human being is to destroy an entire world. These are the roots of our Jewish value to heal and protect the earth.

We are all one. We are all a part of one life and one living being. When we destroy any part of our world, we destroy ourselves.