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Shabbat Naḥamu

Parashat Vaet’ḥanan

2 August 2020 * 11 Av 5780

We try to pray at the same time at shuls, backyards, and homes :)

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Earliest Candle Lighting - 6:42pm

Candle Lighting - 7:54pm

Minḥa/Kabbalat-Shabbat/Arvit - 7:25pm

Shaḥarit - 8:30am * Latest Shəma - 9:27am

Zohar - 7:30pm * Minḥa - 7:35pm

Shəkiעa - 8:11pm * Arvit - 8:51pm

Tset Hakokhavim / Havdala - 8:56pm

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Regular Week Prayers (Tefilat Avraham)

Check your email for and the Bayit bulletin full updates.

Picture of the Week

Tish’a b’Av. The saddest day in the Jewish Year... and the only one with a Manhattan street named after it.

In the Beginning

I asked my IDF commander lone soldier son the Michaiaveli’s Prince ultimate question, whether it’s preferable for the Prince to be feared or loved. He replied “Neither, it’s best for the Prince to be respected.” It made me think immediately of the weekly parasha Va’et’ḥanan and the Fifth Commandment “Kabed et avikha v’et imekha - Honor your father and your mother” and why there is no command to love our parents while there is a command to love G-d as it’s written V’ahavta et Hashem E-lokehha - Love the L-d you G-d ...”. Think of an answer over shabbat!

Btw, Michaiaveli replies that ideally, a prince should be both loved and feared, but this state of affairs is difficult to attain. Forced to make a choice, it is much better to be feared than loved. Shabbat shel Shalom! tbs

This Shabbat & Beyond

Rav Ovadia Yosef z”l  

שבת גם הזמן גרמא, אז למה נשים שומרות שבת?

הנשים מחוייבות בכל מצוות "לא תעשה", גם אם הזמן גרמא. שרק ממצות עשה נפטרו. ומעתה מובן מדוע חייבות לשמור שבת, שלא לעשות מלאכות האסורות בשבת וכדומה.

והנה אמת הדבר, שהן מחוייבות בשמירת השבת אף בקום ועשה, כגון במצות קידוש, שהיא מצות עשה, והנשים חייבות בה. וטעם הדבר, שנאמר בלוחות הראשונות (בפרשת יתרו) "זכור" את יום השבת לקדשו, ונאמר בלוחות אחרונות (בפרשת ואתחנן) "שמור" את יום השבת לקדשו. וקבלו חז"ל (בברכות כ:), כי זכור ושמור בדיבור אחד נאמרו (שהשם יתברך אמר בזמן מתן תורה "זכור" ו"שמור" בבת אחת), בכדי ללמדינו: כל שישנו בשמירת השבת, שמוזהר שלא לעשות מלאכה בשבת, ישנו בזכירה, כלומר שחייב בקידוש. והואיל והנשים מוזהרות אף הן על שמירת שבת כהלכתה, כי על מצוות לא תעשה נשים חייבות אף כשהזמן גרמן, (וכמו איסור אכילה ביום הכפורים), לפיכך ישנן גם בחיוב זכירת שבת, דהיינו קידוש היום. ולכן הנשים יכולות להוציא את האנשים ידי חובת קידוש, הואיל והן מצוות על קידוש כמותם.

Seven Weeks of Comfort

 We are now in week one of the Seven Weeks of Comfort that follow the Three Weeks of Affliction. In these weeks we are comforted over the destruction and loss of the Holy Temple, and they prepare us for rebirth and renewal in the upcoming New Year.

Shabbat Naḥamu

The name Shabbat Nahamu - שבת נחמו - is taken from the first verse of the haftara reading from Isaiah - “Comfort you, comfort you, My People” (Isaiah 40:1). It comes to comfort us after the destruction of the temple. Additionally, Tu B’Av, a most fascinating festival day, falls six days after the bleak fast for the destruction of both of our Holy Temples. Tu B’Av celebrates love, reunion, and life and shares with the Shabbat of Comfort a similar message of continuation and life.

Why Jerusalem?

Why did King David select Jerusalem specifically to be Israel’s capital?

Was it for its good water source, the Gihon, essential commodity for the survival of a big city; Was it its defensible location, on top of a mountain between 2 valleys and a fortress to the north; Was it its neutral and therefore uniting location, on the border of  two tribes, Yehuda, Leah’s son, and Binyamin, Rahel’s son; Or was it its holiness, going back to the creation of the world from the Foundation Stone, and the ‘akeda, the sacrifice of Yitshaq, at Har haMoriya? Or else....?! tbs

A Moment of BAN

“No one will listen to you more than someone who transcribes your words.” - Cassie Jaye of the Left

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“No nation can survive if it does not share a history, a philosophy and a culture.” - Ben Shapiro on the Right

The Weekly Riddle

Which was the 14th state to join the USA, after the declaration of Indepence by the Thirteen Colonies? Hint: It is the 49th most populated state, and has no ocean coastline.

(Guess before you take a peek. The answer is on the back page.)

A Story - of a Psalm

Psalm 137 is a hard read, reflecting a harsh, horrific time in the Jewish nation’s history. We read it a few times over the Three Weeks and on Tish’a b’Av, as well as daily when we read Tiqun Rahel. Here is a 5780 more optimistic version:

By the rivers of the new promised land, there we stood and rejoiced when we remembered Tsiyon.

There by the red maples we played our guitars;

For there our neighbors asked us for singings, and our friends for melodies of joy: “Sing to us from the songs of Zion.”

“How can we not sing the song of the L-d on any land?!”

“If I forget you, Yerushalayim, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to my mouth’s palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not place Yerushalayim at the top of my joy.”

Remember our L-d the day of Yerushalayim has risen to the good sons of the West, who say: “Build it up, build it up from its foundations!”

Good daughters of the East, happy is the one who pays thanks for the good you have given to us. Happy is the one who embraces and brings your youngs to the future Temple at the foundation rock.

As Mikha the Morashtite prophesied during the First Temple period:

“In the last days the mountain of the L-d’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and Peoples will stream to it.

Many nations will come and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the L-d, to the Temple of the G-d of Ya’aqov. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Tsiyon, the word of the L-d from Yerushalayim.”

tbs

Tu b’Av

“Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said, ‘There were no greater festive days in Israel than the fifteenth day of Av and Yom Kippur, when the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white dresses so as not to embarrass those who didn’t have their own. They would go out and dance in the vineyards. What would they say? ‘Young man, lift up your eyes and see whom you wish to choose for yourselves. Do not cast forth your eyes after beauty, but cast forth your eyes after family. False is grace and vanity is beauty; a woman who fears the Lord is the one to be praised;’ and the scriptures further state, ‘Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her deeds praise her in the gates.’” Mishna in tractate Ta’anit (26b). Tu b’Av is on Wednesday, 8/5, starting on Tuesday night 8/4 at sunset.

Rav Question - שאלת רב

Lashana Haba’a Birushalayim Habnuya?!

Parasha: Vaet’ḥanan - D’varim (Deuteronomy) 3:23-7:11

Historical Context: Creation Time: 2487 (1437 BCE).

Bnei Israel's 40-year journey is close to an end as they encamped in the plains of Moab, across the Jordan from Jericho, on the first day of the 12th month of the 40th year.

Parashort: Moshe continues his review of the 40-years. He tells Bnei Yisrael how he pleaded to G-d to allow him to enter the Promised Land, but G-d refused, instructing Moshe instead to ascend a mountain and only to see the Land. He describes the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah, declaring them unparalleled events in human history. Moshe predicts that in the future the people will turn away from G-d and be exiled from their land. But from among the nations they will seek G-d again, and return to obey G-d’s commandments. The parasha includes a repetition of the Ten Commandments; the verses of Shema and Oneness of G-d; the mitsvot to love G-d, study Torah, bind G-d’s words as tefilin on the arms and the head, and inscribe them in the mezuzot (doorposts) of our homes. (chabad)

Haftara: 7 of Consolation (1) - Yeshayahu (Isaiah), 40:1-26

Haftit: “Nahamu, Nahamu Ami” “Comfort, comfort my people” The Prophet Yesha’ayahu speaks to the city of Yerushalayim and reassures her that the suffering will end soon. The prophet also informs Yerushalayim’s surrounding mountains and valleys that in the near future they will all become level ground in order to give the Jews returning to Mount Tsiyon (Zion) an easier journey. “G-d’s words stand forever.” (haftorahman)

Connection to the Parasha: The haftara is the first of seven haftarot known as “the Seven of Consolation.” This series starts after Tish’aa b’Av and run until Shabbat Shuva, the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah. During this time, concentration should be on repentance, and improving one’s behavior.

Biblical Quiz: Vaet’ḥanan

Kids: What does Moshe say that he asks from G-d?

Teenagers: Name the three cities of refuge that Moshe designated east of Jordan (Ever haYareden)?

Adults: In our parasha, “Golan” is a: nation, city, family, person? * Experts: What is another name for Mount Ḥermon (Har Haḥermon)? * Rabbis: How many years did the First Temple stand? The Second Temple? * Michael: Which verse in our parasha include the entire Hebrew alef-bet letters?

Speechless in the Parasha: Vaet’ḥanan

How many times and in which instances we read the word “Ahav - to love” in the parasha? Do you love G-d?

Dvar Torah Va’et’ḥanan: 11 Av 5780-31 July 2020. By Rav Dov Lerea

The Nourishing Power of Humility - Parashat Vaetchanan is the first of three magnificent speeches Moshe makes to the generation of the wilderness, dor hamidbar. He has a daunting educational task. How will this younger generation feel inspired by the vision and purpose of the Jewish people? How will they come to understand what God expects of them? How will they know which battles to fight, and how to treat the stranger, the immigrant, and minorities who will live with them in Eretz Canaan?

Originally, the generation of Egypt, dor mitzrayim, was to have entered the promised land. They had experienced life as a minority. They felt first gratitude towards the Egyptians, and then trauma of fear, hatred and abuse. God understood that a people who could remember what it was like to be a minority culture, who experienced both gratitude and vulnerability, could then build a society in which their compassion and sense of justice would temper the intoxicating influence of power.

But that was not to be. The Torah tells the poignant story of an enslaved people and their struggle to gain the self-confidence to build and shape a society of their own. The majority culture of Egypt both hated the Jews and needed them. They dehumanized them, and then kept their bodies for their own purposes. Generations of such oppression shaped a slave mentality such that when Benei Yisrael walked the open-ended path towards freedom, they yearned to return to Egypt instead of shoulder responsibility for themselves. They complained and even rebelled against Moshe. To this generation, Egypt became, perversely, their Garden of Eden, “k’gan hashem, k’eretz mitzrayim.” (Bereshit 13:10)

So Moshe addresses the younger generation, people who could not remember Egypt, or Mt. Sinai, or the construction of the Mishkan, or the appointment of Aharon and the priests, or the rebellion of Korach, or the negative, demoralizing report of the scouts. They only know endless wandering with no historical memory. They are aimless, uninspired, exhausted, and apathetic. They did not stand at the mountain “as one person with one heart,” prepared to fulfill a divine dream.

Moshe speaks to them about loyalty. In order to be a member of the Jewish people, in order to take life’s journey as a Jew, in order to enter and fight the battles required to settle Eretz Canaan, one is required to demonstrate loyalty to God. The leitmotif throughout the parasha is the phrase, Shema Yisrael: listen, comprehend, obey God’s teachings. Moshe transports the people back to Mt. Sinai through a moment of sacred, biblio-drama. He transmits the 10 commandments anew. Strikingly, the explanation for Shabbat, unlike the original text describing Shabbat as a reenactment of the creation of the universe, is God’s desire to protect people from dehumanizing themselves by becoming slaves to their work: Remember, you were slaves in the land of Egypt….Moshe also describes the confrontations with other nations. These wars were less about territory, however, and more about idolatry. Loyalty to God’s sacred covenant entails waging war against idolatry. The prohibition against idolatry appears throughout the parasha, in each of the seven aliyot.

Idolatry is a mind-set, with implications for how humanity builds society, relates to each other, and views the natural world we inhabit. To explore this mind-set, I would like to compare two sections from the parasha, and then offer an explanation based on the Chasidic commentary of the Mei HaShiloach, Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica, (1801-1854). When Moshe describes the future incursion into the Land of Canaan, he describes the following reality:

When the LORD your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akov…[you will find] great and flourishing cities that you did not build, houses full of all good things that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant. When you eat your fill, take heed that you do not forget the LORD who freed you from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. Revere only the LORD your God and worship Hashem alone, and swear only by God’s name. Do not follow other gods, any gods of the peoples about you….(Devarim 6:10-14)

Moshe describes Benei Yisrael occupying houses built and formerly inhabited by the pagan nations who preceded them. He describes Benei Yisrael eating their food, drinking their water, and finding vineyards and groves already planted and thriving. Immediately following this passage is yet again another admonition against idolatry. Moshe said:

It is not because you are the most numerous of peoples that the LORD set His heart on you and chose you—indeed, you are the smallest of peoples; but it was because the LORD favored you and kept the oath God made to your fathers that the LORD freed you with a mighty hand and rescued you from the house of bondage, from the

 Continues on the back page >>>

Rav Dov Lerea Dvar Torah Continues >>>

power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know, therefore, that only the LORD your God is God, the steadfast God who keeps God’s covenant faithfully to the thousandth generation of those who love God and keep God’s commandments...However, God will destroy immediately those who turn their back on the covenant….. (Devarim 7:7-10)

What does conquering a land and appropriating houses, food, water systems, indeed the entire infrastructure of a functioning society, have to do with idolatry? The Mei HaShiloach also wondered about the connection between the acquisition of material blessings, the feeling of ownership, the privileges of a majority culture, and idolatry. He wrote:

God chose you because you are the smallest amongst the nations….This means the following. The Holy One said to the Jewish people: “I love you because you humble yourselves before Me precisely when I shower you with blessings/privileges. I blessed Avraham with power and greatness, and he responded, “I am but dust.” Moshe and Aharon said to Me, “Who are we [to take on this task….?] Pagans do not have this mind set. For example, Nebuchadnezer, King of Babylonia, said, “I will build a tower up to the clouds.” Avraham and Moshe’s humility did not belie their self-understanding. Avraham certainly knew his position, and Moshe understood his greatness as a prophet. King Solomon expressed this quality of character when he said, “A rich man is clever in his own eyes, but a perceptive poor man can see through him.” (Mishle 28:11) This captures the fundamental nature of paganism. A pagan is a person who believes that everything he has achieved in the world he possesses as a result of his own potential and capability. They see themselves as the source of their success. The Jewish people, however, are regarded as a meek people, because with humility they realize that the fullness of the world, all of reality, really belongs to the Creator. The humble recognize this by noting that the blessings of one nation, another nation lacks, whereas what the first lacks, the second possesses….Therefore, [since the Jewish people receive blessings with humility], God desired them in full measure…. (Mei HaShiloach on Devarim 7)

The Mei HaShiloach read the Torah both literally and figuratively at the same time. The Torah’s words are simultaneously “physical” and spiritual. They describe a narrative sequence of events that construct a historical framework, while simultaneously transmitting a sacred history, a history of the human soul’s yearning for perfection, completion, and reunification with its divine source. The conquest here is not the conquest of land. It is the conquest for the neshama of the people. Moshe is teaching this young generation how to enter a promised land with homes, food, water and roads; clothing, resources, flocks, hills and sky. The people must enter that place and possess it with awe and not arrogance. The purpose of our society, Moshe is teaching, is to become a majority culture that will be humbled by its own success. Every nation has within themselves a predisposition towards idolatry and arrogance, or a humbling awareness as a creature of a common, shared Creator with responsibility for each other and the world. The war against idolatry is an interior battle. Israel has the seven Canaanite nations inside of us. It is Israel’s task to enter the land with humility, and to ensure that their humility deepens with every achievement, with every accomplishment, with every triumph. The battle is for the soul of the people, as the arrogance that emerges with power fragments and slowly destroys the foundation of society.

We need to read these words today more than ever. America is infected by arrogance and the assumption that people deserve what they have. Contentiousness, violence, and acrimony have overwhelmed this society, revealing the instability of its foundation. Moshe, and the Mei HaShiloach are admonishing us: unity, empathy, compassion, and the redemption of spirit will come only through humility, respect and awe. Unless this society respects nature, human dignity, and equitable justice, chaos could reign. Humility can emerge when a people struggle against arrogance, and sense with gratitude life’s many blessings.

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Dov

Biblical Quiz - Answers: Vaet’ḥanan

Kids: To cross the Jordan River and enter the Holy Land.

Teenagers: Betser in the desert, in the plains of Reuven, Ramot in Gilead of Gad, and Golan in the Bashan of Menashe.

Adults: Golan is one of three Ever haYarden’s cities of refuge.

Experts: Mount Si’on (Har Si’on). * Rabbis: The First Temple lasted 420 years, while the Second Temple lasted 410.

Michael: Devarim 4:34... and there is only one more in the Torah in Shemot 16:16 :)

The Weekly Riddle Solved - Vermont

Time to Smile   - Always!

Things That Matter

● Support Beth Aharon! Thank you for being part of the Beth Aharon community. Please keep on supporting us on these corona-days. Mail donations, pledges, High Holidays 5780 and membership dues to: Congregation Beth Aharon/HIR, 3700 Henry Hudson Pkwy, Bronx, NY 10463. Check our website/blog to donate online and for daily updates: www.bethaharon.org.Contact us via email: bethaharon@gmail.com. Tizku Leshanim Rabot V’tovot!

● Rəfuaa Shəlema to ‘Am Yisrael wounded bodies & souls and the sick: Reuven ben Aliza, Menachem ben Yehudit, Yig’al ben Sulika, Yonit bat Yehudit, Ilana bat Victoria, Pesach Shlomo ben Alta Chaya Dvora, Michal Haya bat Tamar, Meira Esther bat Devora, Yehudit bat Sara, Mirel bat Alta Bayla Devorah, Rachamim Ben Aisha, Avraham ben Miryam, Bryna bat Devorah Baila, Vitali Hayim ben Esther, Carlo ben Rose, Naftali Yesha'ya Asher ben Esther, Rav Yosef Yitzhak Ben Chava, and all the ḥolim.

● We Thank you all for staying in touch with each other to the best of your ability in these corona-days, conversing over the phones and the social media.

● BA Tefila WhatsApp Group: please text Ami @ or email bethaharon@gmail.com.

In the Good Corona News

- The volume of revenue to the State of Israel from gas production is expected to reach 200 billion shekels. Kol hakavod to the Netanyahu government for extracting it from the Mideternean seabed, thereby establishing Israel as a regional energy power.

- The US has become over the last 3 years, the world’s number 1 producer of oil and maintained its position as the number 1 producer of natural gas. In September 2019, the US became a net petroleum exporter for the first time since monthly records began in 1973.

Congregation Beth Aharon is Riverdale’s Sephardic Orthodox Congregation, located at the Riverdale Bayit (HIR) Bronx, NY. We welcome all worshipers regardless of eda or level of observance. Our congregants take an active-leading role in Tefila and Kria’at haTorah.