Upcoming Eventssee home page for accurate info and see calendar for complete info.
Important notices
SEE HOME PAGE
5781 Calendars are available upon request.
Kosher? Trader Joes sells kosher meats and poultry as well as other kosher items!
Looking for a particular type of book? Maybe we have it in our Mona Maggio Library. Ask- you might be pleasantly surprised!
Please call 237-0390 or write ansheitorah@cableone.net if you can help with keeping in touch with the folk.
Important notices
SEE HOME PAGE
5781 Calendars are available upon request.
Kosher? Trader Joes sells kosher meats and poultry as well as other kosher items!
Looking for a particular type of book? Maybe we have it in our Mona Maggio Library. Ask- you might be pleasantly surprised!
Please call 237-0390 or write ansheitorah@cableone.net if you can help with keeping in touch with the folk.
Torah nutshell from kolel.org
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SEE HOME PAGE
Interesting quotes from famous Jews
My father never lived to see his dream come true of an
all-Yiddish-speaking
Canada.
-David Steinberg
I once
wanted to become an atheist but I gave up. They have no
holidays.
-Henny Youngman
Look
at Jewish history. Unrelieved lamenting
would be intolerable. So, for every
ten Jews beating their breasts, God
designated one to be crazy and amuse the breast beaters. By the time I was five
I knew I was that one.
-Mel Brooks
The time
is at hand when the wearing of a prayer shawl
and skullcap will not bar a man from the
White House, unless, of course, the man
is Jewish.
-Jules Farber
Even
if you are Catholic, if you live in New York,
you're Jewish. If you live in Butte, Montana, you are
going to be a goy even if you
are Jewish.
-Lenny Bruce
The
remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served us nothing
but leftovers. The original meal has never been
found.
-Calvin Trillin
Let me
tell you the one thing I have against Moses. He took
us forty years into the desert in order to bring us to the one place in the
Middle East that has no
oil!
-Golda Meir
Even a secret
agent can't lie to
a Jewish mother.
-Peter Malkin
My
idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with
me.
-Benjamin Disraeli
It's so
simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say
it.
-Sam Levenson
Don't be humble; you are
not that great.
-Golda Meir
I
went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days I had
lost exactly two
weeks.
-Joe E. Lewis
A
spoken contract isn't worth the paper it's written
on.
-Sam Goldwyn
I don't want to achieve
immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not
dying.
-Woody Allen
Whoever called it
necking was a poor judge of
anatomy.
-Groucho Marx
A
politician is a man who will double cross that bridge when he comes to
it.
-Oscar Levant
Too bad that
all the people who know how to run this country are busy driving taxis and
cutting hair.
-George Burns
A committee is a
group that keeps minutes and loses
hours.
-Milton Berle
I don't
want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth, even if it
costs them their
jobs.
-Sam Goldwyn
Television is a medium
because it is neither rare nor well
done.
-Ernie Kovacs
When I bore
people at a party, they think it is their
fault.
-Henry Kissinger
"DAILY JEWISH WISDOM" is found @ Beliefnet.com
JEWISH WISDOM:
Fear builds walls to bar the light. - Baal Shem Tov
Engage in Torah and charity even with an ulterior motive, for that habit of right doing will lead also to right motivation. - Talmud: Pesahim, 50b
The sword comes into the world because of justice delayed and because of justice perverted.- Ethics of the Fathers 5:8
Ever since Rabbi Akiba used the Passover seder to plan a revolutionary struggle against the Roman occupiers, the Jews have used the seder to begin concrete work on tikkun (healing and transformation).
- Rabbi Michael Lerner, the Tikkun Magazine Passover supplement 2006
To work out ends of righteousness and love are you called; not merely to enjoy or suffer.
- S.R. Hirsch, "Nineteen Letters," 1836
“Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.” Golda Meir
The worship of God, though desirable as an end itself, can somehow never be in the right spirit, unless it impels one to the service of man. - Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan
Concentrate on three things and you will not fall into the grip of sin. Know from where you came, where you are going, and before Whom you will have to give account and reckoning.- Pirkei Avot 3:1
We cannot learn from general principles: there may be exceptions. - Johanan, Talmud: Kiddushin
A truly generous man is he that always gives, whether it be much or little, before he is asked.- Orchot Tsadiqim
The best security for old age: respect your children.- Sholem Asch
A Jew can be Jewish with God, against God, but not without God.- Elie Wiesel
He who promotes his own honor at the expense of his neighbor's has no portion in the world to come.- Judah b. Hanina, Genesis Rabbah
Even if all the world tells you, "You are righteous," consider yourself a sinner. - Rabbi Simlai
Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism and falsehood. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, the vision.- Abraham Joshua Heschel, "On Prayer"
Lose with truth and right rather than gain with falsehood and wrong.- Maimonides, "Tzavaah"
Seek the good in everyone, and reveal it, bring it forth.- Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1811), "Likutey Moharan"
Just as we love ourselves despite the faults we know we have, so should we love our neighbors despite the faults we see in them.- Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov
A man should never impose an overpowering fear upon his household. - Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 6b
If you add to the truth, you subtract from it.- The Talmud
Love unaccompanied by criticism is not love....Peace unaccompanied by reproof is not peace.- Genesis Rabbah 54:3
Quote of the Day
The least outlay is not always the greatest gain.
Aesop (620 BC-560 BC) |
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Shabbat Acharei Mot / Kedoshim
Shavuah Tov!
Due to the pandemic All activities are cancelled until further notice except phone consultations and discussions possible as needed/ desired [928-227-0582]. Newsletter will continue. If we have pleasant Shabbat weather, we can do an outdoors Shabbat Morning service. It has been too cold of late.
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Acharei-Mot/ Kedoshim 4/24
Is there hope we all can love each other? At Beit Torah we would like to believe so.
Acharei Mot/ Kedoshim 5781 Over 78; VaYikra 16:1-20:27; Amos 9:7-15
In Torah, the do’s and don’ts we often find
If only we bother to open our minds…
First was told how to stay well safe to the Priests
Focussed on the High Priest to the ark’s approach
With a week of cleansing, linen garments cleaned,
To atone for sins: first his, then all others.
To remind us of Aaron’s wrongly burnt feast
Of the sin offering? Or for all brothers?
On seventh day of the seventh month, Tishrei,
For all Peoples is the Spirit’s New Year’s Day…
Incense burnt for gossip, slander, sins unseen;
Blood pure ark in incense cloud for sin goat’s roast
Atones for Priest’s sins. Sins of folk on second goat
Sent to the wilderness to disperse out sins…
Only Mishkan’s offering of two goats wins
As sacrifices elsewhere were banned we note.
The Laws said clearly to us all: Blood don’t eat;
NO carrion; NO mutilated nor live!
If you touch the dead, impure ‘til eve, then bathe.
NO blood sports; NO practices of Canaanites
Nor of Egyptians; NO idolatrous ways;
But tree fruit, fifth year or later, are your treat!
Don’t violate Torah save for folk to save
From idolatry or killing with intent,
Adultery, incest… though your life be spent…
NO close relative sex (marriage included).
Such inbreeding leads to few and sickly kids
Who don’t mature to marry and make more yids…
Sex acts with animals also excluded...
NO child sacrifice, NO sodomy we’re told.
Yet payment for sex with marriage promised slave
Was practiced, not now in use, but then of old…
Follow these Laws for to HaShem’s path to pave,
Surrounded by good folk, other Laws embrace:
Don’t be a scoundrel in Torah, a shrewd con
Who can’t be prosecuted on worldly shores;
Deference to elderly; revere Dad and Mom;
Be Holy! Keep Shabbat! Leave gleanings for poor
Whom we should help (so they won’t steal) even more.
If no left gleanings, are we by greed stealing?
If we then defraud with dishonest dealings,
Is it stealing as robbers of others’ rights?
Watch our tongues to not profane the Holy Name;
NO vengeance nor grudge; NO species mixes;
NO pimping; NO self-mutilation fixes;
NO shaving like Egyptians; NO seance acts;
Nor soothsaying, divination days or nights;
Don’t abuse others who are disabled – PAUSE,
And think it could be you, too, with just the same…
Or you could be blind, unaware of the laws…
Best reaching blind judgments with using just facts…
Do not adopt non-Torah ways of others in the Land.
For if you do misbehave, you’ll have naught on which to stand.
Punishments of old no longer are in use.
They may now appear in subtle ways, obtuse.
To keep the Land, all these Laws we must follow,
Else our prayers to Hashem will be hollow.
To reap the promised blessings that ours could be,
We must love each other and justice seek…
Shabbat Shalom!
=========================================================
Tazria/ Metzora Commentary
It is somber to recall the unnecessary deaths of so many people in every generation. Hence we at Beit Torah are focused on the now: Thursday is Israeli Memorial Day [4/15] and Friday [4/16] Independence Day.
Tazria/ Metzora 5781 Discharge Triage; VaYikra 12:1-15:33; 2 Kings 7:3-20
If it looks off, call Cohanim Priests
For priestly triage with some quarantines.
It may be fungal, allergic, or yeasts
On skin, on clothes, or inside stones unseen…
If it looks wrong presume contagion risk
That must be quarantined until proven not.
For people: bathing and purifying mix
After shaving hair off, tainted clothes thrown out;
By the Tent of Meeting, blood and incense sprinkle
(Yuk! Gross!) to ‘purify’ every wrinkle…
Now discharges make both genders impure they said
Even if natural upon the sex bed.
By the Talmudic times though men were excused
From needing to bathe after every act.
Yet for natural women’s monthly discharge:
Quarantine then bathing was the needed track…
What of childbirth and the blood therefrom?
Quarantine Mother until the brit for boys
Or even longer when a girl babe was born
Who can’t carry on the name? Or brings less joy?
Or do Mom’s hormonal changes differ some?
Unnatural discharges made all impure.
Hence all involved seven days respite received
Followed by washing the bedding and people
Returning to life’s activities relieved,
‘Til the next discharge starts the cycle once more.
For those structures with blight, rot, mildew, or mold:
Quarantine seven days like people we’re told.
After cleaning out the places of wrong hue,
If rot returns, structures are demolished too.
If not, the place must be splashed with mix
Of blood, incense, and so on to complete the fix.
[Ewww!] Shabbat Shalom!
A Haftorah word: describes siege on a town.
With the people starving, the Prophet proclaimed:
This bitter challenge they would soon overcome…
While four outcasts were convinced to surrender
To the invaders, but they arrived too late -
For gallopings were heard echoing around
(?pounding in water cisterns and pipes in the ground?)
Chasing the troops away! Their riches were found,
Shared by all save the King trampled asunder…