THE TORAH READING FOR SHABBAT 26 TISHRI 5782 SHMITAH October 1-2, 2021
MEDITATION
Sing to the Eternal One a new song, sing to God, all the earth. – Psalm 96:1
OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, AND SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
Mazal Tov – Mazal Bueno to all those celebrating a birthday, anniversary, or significant event during the Month of October. If we were together at Temple Kol Hamidbar, we would extend a Tallit over you, say a special prayer for you, and recite the following blessing (cf Num. 6:24-26):
- May the Eternal One bless you and protect you!
- May the Eternal One deal kindly and graciously with you!
- May the Eternal One bestow favor upon you and grant you peace!
KËIN YEHI RATZON (Let it be so!)
ְPARSHA
From ReformJudaism.org https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/breishit
Berëshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית – Hebrew for “In the Beginning”) – Genesis 1:1-6:8
When God was about to create heaven and earth, the earth was a chaos, unformed, and on the chaotic waters’ face there was darkness. – Genesis 1:1-:2
SUMMARY:
- God creates the world and everything in it in six days and rests on the seventh. (1:1-2:3)
- Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden of Eden, where they eat the forbidden fruit and are subsequently exiled. (2:15-3:24)
- Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain kills his brother, Abel. (4:1-24)
- Adam and Eve have another child named Seth. The Torah lists the ten generations from Adam to Noah. (4:25-5:32)
- God regrets having created human beings and decides to destroy everything on earth, but Noah finds favor with God. (6:5-6:8)
HAFTARAH
Isaiah 42:5-43:10
From Wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bereshit_(parashah)
The parashah and haftarah in Isaiah 42 both report God’s absolute power. Genesis 1:1–2:4 and Isaiah 42:5 both tell of God’s creation of heaven and earth. The haftarah in Isaiah 42:6–7, 16 echoes the word “light” (and God’s control of it) from Genesis 1:3–5, but puts the word to broader use. And the haftarah puts the idea of “opening . . . eyes” (in Isaiah 42:7) in more favorable light than does the parashah (in Genesis 3:5–7).
STRUGGLING WITH TORAH
From Wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bereshit_(parashah)
B’reshith – Gen. 2:4-4:26
(בְּרֵאשִׁית — Hebrew for “in a beginning”)
In the parashah, God creates the heavens, the world, Adam and Eve, and Sabbath. A snake convinces Eve, who then invites Adam, to eat the fruit of tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden to them. So God curses them and expels them from the Garden of Eden. One of their sons, Cain, becomes the first murderer, killing his brother Abel out of jealousy. Adam and Eve have other children, whose descendants populate the Earth. Each generation becomes more and more degenerate until God, despairing, decides to destroy humanity. Only one man, Noah, finds God’s favor.
The triennial part of Parasha B’rë’shít Gen. 5:1-6:8 covers the ten generations of Adam and Eve’s descendants starting with Seth and their respective lifespans up until Noah. God regrets creating humanity and resolves to destroy everyone but Noah. We learn in the next Parasha that God spares Noah, his family and a pair of each kind of animal.
The length of days stated for the listed individuals seems fantastical. However, there is an overall lessening of the length of ages as the story progresses until the limit is set at 120. That raises the question, how long are we meant to live? With a few notable exceptions, most people seem to die somewhere in their 70s and 80s.
In light of that, setting a lifespan at 120 years seems an extraordinary length. Even the few that live past 100, most die well before 120. What does 120 represent? It seems what we are being told is that longer lives were initially necessary in order to pass on the knowledge of how to successfully survive on the physical plane. That knowledge is now part of our DNA and shorter lifespans are generally the norm.
ROSH CHODESH CHESHVAN
Cheshvan begins at sundown on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 and ends at nightfall on Thursday, October 7, 2021. It is the eighth month of the Hebrew calendar and the second of the civil calendar. Cheshvan is sometimes called Marcheshvan or “bitter Cheshvan” due to the absence of any holidays or fast days during it.
When a Hebrew calendar month is 30 days long, such as the current month of Tishri, day 30 is considered Rosh Chodesh of the next month. Then Rosh Chodesh is two days long: day 30 of the old month and day 1 of the new month.
PRAYERS
From “Mishkan T’filah / A Reform Siddur”:
’ROSH CHODESH – FOR THE NEW MONTH p.519
Our God and God of our ancestors, may the new month bring us goodness and blessing. May we have long life, peace, prosperity, a life exalted by love of Torah and reverence for the divine; a life in which the longings of our hearts are fulfilled for good.
FOR OUR COUNTRY p.516
THUS SAYS ADONAI, This is what I desire: to unlock the fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of lawlessness; to let the oppressed go free, to break off every yoke. Share your bread with the hungry, and take the wretched poor into your home. When you see the naked, give clothing, and do not ignore your own kin.
O GUARDIAN of life and liberty, may our nation always merit Your protection. Teach us to give thanks for what we have by sharing it with those who are in need. Keep our eyes open to the wonders of creation, and alert to the care of the earth. May we never be lazy in the work of peace; may we honor those who have [served, suffered or] died in defense of our ideals. Grant our leaders wisdom and forbearance. May they govern with justice and compassion. Help us all to appreciate one another, and to respect the many ways that we may serve You. May our homes be safe from affliction and strife, and our country be sound in body and spirit. Amen.
FOR HEALING
We recite MI SHEBËRACH for the victims of abuse, brutality, conflicts, fear, natural disasters, pandemics, tragedies, violence of all kinds especially directed at individuals and specific communities including us, and war; for all those at home alone or lonely; for all those in need of physical, emotional, and mental healing. “R’fuah sh’lëmah” – a complete recovery!
YAHRZEITS/ANYOS
We say KADDISH YATOM for those of our friends and families who have died and been buried this last week; those in the period of Sh’loshim (30 days since burial); those who have died in the last year; and those whose Yahrzeits/Anyos occur at this time; as well as the victims of brutality, conflict, disease, natural disasters, pandemics, tragedies, violence of all kinds, and war.
This coming week, the 26th of Tishri through the 2nd of Cheshvan, we lovingly remember:
Helen L. Simons
TKH Memorial Board
David Tafoya
First Cousin of Mary Caron
Emma Bessi Yazzie
Friend of Jane Kolber
Those victims of the Sho’ah (Holocaust) who died at this time of year.
“ZICHRONAM LIV’RACHAH” – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE FOR BLESSING.
TORAH STUDY AND SUKKOT SHAZOOM
Al sh’loshah d’varim ha’olam omëd – The world is sustained by three things: Torah, worship and loving deeds. We will meet as usual at the regular times for Torah Study and Shazoom this Friday evening, October 1, 2021.
Zoom continues being updated for security and performance features. In some cases, there are extra steps to go through in order to join a meeting. Making sure you have the latest version of Zoom, please join us online this Friday evening:
Topic: Torah Study – Triennial reading Genesis 5:1-6:8
Time: Oct 1, 2021 06:00 PM Arizona
and/or
Shazoom – Erev Shabbat Service
Time: Oct 1, 2021 07:30 PM Arizona
To join the Torah Study and/or Sukkot Shazoom Meeting click on the following link [you may need to copy it into your browser]:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/72510500854?pwd=Z3VQZWF4U1BBZytNYmh3aHFTWkFDZz09
Meeting ID: 725 1050 0854
Passcode: 4NrMk0
Hint: The last character of the password is the number zero.
Shabbat Shalom – Buen Shabbat,
-Ruben