Parashat Balak – Birthday celebration

Shabbat services, TONIGHT, Friday June 29th at the regular time of 7 pm. We have a special speaker and a special birthday. We hope you can join us tonight at 7 p.m. Happy Birthday to our dear Barbara! We will have coffee and cake right after services.

Friday night summer speaker series kicks off with our first guest David Walker, who will be talking about the 14th century Hebrew translation of a remarkable work in Arabic from 10th Century Basra–the Iggeret Ba’alei Hayyim, translated by Qalonymos ben Qalonymos. This is a delightful story of animals suing humankind in the court of the Djinn. The talk is in honor of this week’s parasha, Balak, about a talking Donkey no less!

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly Message;

This week we read Parshat Balak, which tells of the eponymous Balak Ben Tzipor, King of Moav, who hires the seer Bil’am Ben Beor to curse the People of Israel. Bil’am of course ends up blessing our People, with the words “Mah tovu ohalecha Yisrael”, which we say when we enter the synagogue in the morning. He is regarded as wicked, though, in spite of his blessings, because he tried to curse but was prevented from doing so by God. The Midrash actually places him, as well as Yithro, the priest of Midian, at the beginning of the Exodus story. Midrash tells us that Bil’am, Yithro and Eyov, Job, were advisers to the Pharaoh of the Opression (often identified as Seti I). Bil’am, it is said, foresaw the birth of Moses, and advised Pharaoh to pursue the cruel and heartless policy of tearing Hebrew babies from their parents’ arms to kill them. Yithro counseled against this evil action, and was exiled. Job took no stance either way, but merely said that Pharoah had the right to make laws in his own country. Bil’am eventually met his end at the hand of Israelite warriors, Eyov lived but endured great suffering-but Yithro merited being the father-in-law of Moshe and a valued advisor to the People of Israel. Our Torah and our Sages teach us that we must not only refrain from evil, but we must “not stand idly by the blood of our fellow humans”. We are called upon by God and our Tradition to oppose evil, to be a force for good in this world. Shabbat Shalom.

Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Shabbat candle lighting times are at 8: 19 p.m.

Dive into the Talmud!
Next class July 12 at 7pm.

The Talmud has been compared to a vast sea, in which one can swim forever. The Talmud is a vast compilation of law, legend and scholarly discussions, which also gives us a window into the lives of our ancient ancestors.

Come dip a toe into the sea of Talmud as we begin to explore Massecheth B’rachoth, the Tractate of Benedictions, which deals with prayer. The class, led by Chazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe, will meet on alternate Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM, beginning on June 21, July 12, July 26, August 16, August 30, September 6.

Thank you to Juliette for hosting an amazing movie night! Mama Mia with our sisterhood was a blast. And not to mention the wonderful Greek food served! WATCH this space for movie night to watch Mama Mia Here We Go Again, coming soon.

Sisterhood Book Club.
Judas by Amos Oz –
available in Hebrew and English

The sisterhood is reading Amos Oz’s 2016 novel, Judas. We will meet at the end of the summer to have a stimulating discussion, so get your copy soon.

Rabbi Pater Tarlow of the Center for Jewish Hispanic Relations. Rabbi Emeritus Texas A&M

An examination of both Parashat Chukat (Numbers: 19:1-22:1) and also, Parashat Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9):
Of the two, Chukat is the less “interesting” to read. It deals with issues of water, for purification, for drinking, and as an essential resource for life.
The second Parashah, the one read during this Shabbat, deals with blessings and curses, and recounts the story of Balaam and his famous talking donkey.
Reading the text in a foreign language such as English there appears to be no connection between these two sections. Viewing the text in the original Hebrew, however, provides a very different perspective. The Hebrew text revolves around four words: water, a pool of water, life, and blessing. These four words are not related in English but in Hebrew the reader sees a very clear relationship between them. Water in Hebrew is “mayim;” life is “chayim.” Both words sound related and are plural verbal-nouns indicating both motion and consistent change. In a like manner, the Hebrew word for blessing “brachah” is related to the Hebrew word for “pool of water” (brechah). Thus, the Hebrew reader connects the constant flow of water to that of a stream of life and understands that without the physical pool of water (brechah) the spiritual blessings of life (brachah) cannot exist.
The second parashah tells the story of Balak’s asking the “prophet” Balaam (Bilaam in Hebrew) to curse Israel and instead Balaam’s curse becomes a blessing. The parashah concerns a number of “reversals”, things simply do not turn out according to plan. Not only does Balaam’s curse become a blessing, but the tale’s hero is not a human being but rather a mere donkey. The tale is one in which the human acts as an “ass” and the “ass” acts as a human.
While Balaam is arrogant, blind to reality and simply stupid, his donkey sees what he does not, talks to him, and shows both wisdom and compassion.
On the micro level, Balaam and his ass/donkey force us to ask the questions such as: what does it mean to be human? Who was more human Does this Biblical story teach us that people can become “asses” (In Hebrew the word for “ass/donkey” can also mean “stupid”) while some animals act more like people than do people? Do we sacrifice principles on the altar of greed?
In a sense these two sections read together teach us that life has both a material and spiritual side. Both sections deal with the “stated” and the “hidden”, the apparent and the less apparent. Life contains both the tangible and the intangible elements that distinguish it from other forms of existence. These sections remind us that to be successful in life we need to deal with all its aspects, and that life, like water, is an ever-moving stream.
What is true of people is also true of societies. Societies that do not change, that are stand still, soon die. The way we combine these elements of life helps to determine if we drink from the well of bitter waters or of living waters, waters filled curses or with blessings. From which well do you tend to drink, do you see only the apparent or also the hidden?