TORAH READING FOR 29 TISHRI 5784 Oct 13-14, 2023
PRAYER FOR PEACE
Oseh shalom bimromav, Hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol Israel, v’imru Amen.
May the One who makes peace above, make peace for us and for all Israel. And we say, Amen.
SCHEDULE CHANGE SHAZOOM AND TORAH STUDY
Beginning with this evening, Friday, October 13, 2023, we will meet every other week at 6:30 pm for Shazoom only. On alternate weeks we will have both: Torah Study at 6 pm followed by Shazoom at 7:30 pm. (The New Schedule through December follows below.)
PARSHA
From Reform Judaism 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 [historic: I Samuel 20:18-20:42]
Machar Chodesh
From Wikipedia 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).
RECOMMENDED READING
From Reform Judaism https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/breishit
By: Rabbi Kari Tuling
STRUGGLING WITH TORAH and REFLECTION
You can read this week’s Torah Portion at https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.1.1-6.8, and the Haftarah at https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.42.5-42.21
From “The Torah / A Women’s Commentary” edited by Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D.
בראשית B’reishit – Genesis 1:1–6:8
Contemporary Reflection – by Rachel Adler, pp. 29-31
THE ANCIENT BABYLONIAN MYTH (or foundational story) that strongly resembles Genesis 1 has one great dissimilarity from it; in that myth, creation begins with a murder. The goddess Tiamat–cognate to our word t’hom (watery chaos, 1:2)–is slain by the hero-god Marduk; and the universe is carved out of her body. Violence there is inextricable from the process of creation. In Genesis 1, however, creation entails no destruction. Even the primal watery abyss is not completely obliterated but lingers at the bottom of the sea to reappear in many a psalm or story. The drawing of distinctions and boundaries that marks both accounts is in Genesis 1 peaceful and harmonious.
God distinguishes elements of the original watery chaos by drawing boundaries between them and naming them: light and darkness, day and night. Created elements are not simple oppositions. They are both distinct and akin. Juxtaposed verses emphasize the parallels between elements. There are waters above and waters below. Between them stretch a solid expanse of earth and a solid expanse of firmament. The earth brings forth grasses and trees. The sky is strewn with lights. The sea and the air bring forth swarms of living things, schools of fish, flocks of birds, clouds of insects. The earth births its many creatures, joyously productive, mirroring the water and the air.
The creation of humankind continues these dual themes of distinction and similarity. Not one but two words underline the likeness between adam (the earthling) and its Maker. Humankind bears the tzelem (image) and d’mut (resemblance) of the divine Creator, although in contrast to God’s oneness, they are several. They are also distinguished from one another: zachar (which means “male” but is also a word related to “remember”), the bearer of the male member, and n’kevah (which means “female” but is also a word related to “piercing”), the pierced one. In Genesis 3 the two will become a hierarchy, but in Genesis 1, they are presented as equals. Both bear the divine image and semblance, both are adjured to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and tame it, and hold sway … over all the earth” (1:28).
Adam is the only creature whose sexuality the text notes–that is, describes as male and female. This suggests a sexuality unlike that of the animals. Moreover in both 1:27 and a summary in 5:1–3, the mention of adam’s maleness and femaleness is immediately followed by the proclamation of its divine image, as if our diverse sexualities and our kinship with God were linked. Rather than our sexualities being dissimilar to God or excluded from the divine image, they seem to point toward some element in the divine nature, some divine attribute–creativity or delight, perhaps, or the longing for an Other–for which our embodied sexuality is the metaphor.
Genesis 2 and 3 tell a darker tale. Here we learn why adam is called adam. Multiple puns are evoked by the name: kinship with adamah (earth or soil) out of which adam is fashioned, association with the color red (adom) like the ruddy sunburnt skin of the worker and the red earth he was created to till, and resonance with blood (dam), the red life-fluid. Unlike in Genesis 1, however, in 2:7–3:20 the term adam refers to the man. The woman is never called adam but only ishah (woman), “for this one is taken from man” (2:23). Together they are ha-adam v’ishto, “the human and his woman,” for the first man represents both the male particular and the generically human.
As the verb “built” (2:22) attests, the creation of woman differs from other creations. The dual adam of Genesis 1 is created (bara) by divine word, and the adam of Genesis 2 is fashioned or molded (yatzar) by a divine potter. The woman is constructed (banah) out of part of an existing creation. An afterthought, created when adam finds the animals unsatisfactory for mating, she is meant to be ezer k’negdo, literally “a helper over against him,” that is , opposite him or corresponding to him. The ambiguity in the expression foreshadows an ambivalent relationship. Is she against him or for him? A challenger or an “other” who mirrors him and merges with him? Awakening, adam claims her as part of himself: “bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh” (2:23). He does not appear to recognize her otherness, nor does he address her. Her only recorded conversations are first with the serpent and then with God. Finally, at the end of the chapter, adam names her as he previously named the animals. It does not occur to him to ask her what she calls herself.
Genesis 1 is an account of the Creation, whereas Genesis 2–3 is an account of the creation of patriarchy–a remarkably truthful account. The word brought about by Genesis 2–3 is one in which desire is no longer joyful but oppressive. Even before the disobedience, relations between man and woman and world are commodified and function-based. Adam is created to till the soil. Woman is created to help Adam. However lush, the garden is a workplace. Created things are good, not intrinsically as in Genesis 1, but because they are resources. The Garden is described as prime real estate, rich in water and in trees, and adjacent to lands rich in gold and gemstones. Everything is viewed extractively. The forbidden fruit is presented as the epitome of desire in terms not of intrinsic value but of what it is good for: “good to eat,” “alluring to the eyes,” “desirable for insight” (3:6).
Woman’s desire for man ensures her subjugation and her anguish (3:16). Man’s desire is not even mentioned. He is exhausted by the effort to pull from the ground what can be consumed before descending into the ground and being consumed by it. Adam and Eve are alienated from each other, from the earth, from their labors, from the rest of creation.
The world of patriarchy cries out for mending. A mending world would commit itself to equality and power-sharing, to working cooperatively in order to fill needs and solve problems. At one again with the rest of Creation, perhaps we would even learn not to resent our mortality so bitterly. Reunited also with the rest of creation, men and women could learn again to be “loving friends”–as the traditional rabbinic wedding blessing portrays them.
ROSH CHODESH CHESHVAN – Rosh Chodesh Machar
From Hebcal.com https://www.hebcal.com/holidays/rosh-chodesh-cheshvan-2023
Cheshvan begins at sundown on Saturday, October 14, 2023, and ends at nightfall on Monday, October 16, 2023. 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.376
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 THE STATE OF ISRAEL p.377
PRAY for the peace of Jerusalem; may those who love you prosper. Ps. 122:6
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 29 Tishri through the 6 Cheshvan, we lovingly remember:
Monte Surrat (First Yahrzeit)
Friend of Jane Kolber
Raymond Espinoza
Brother 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.
SHAZOOM
This Friday evening, we will meet at 6:30 pm for Shazoom only. The following week we will meet both for Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
Zoom regularly updates its security and performance features. Making sure you have the latest version of Zoom, please join us online this evening with wine/grape juice for Kiddush and Challah for Motzi.
Shazoom – Erev Shabbat Service
Time: Oct 13, 2023 06:30 PM Arizona
To join Torah Study and/or Shazoom 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/Gut Shabbos
-Ruben
PS – NEW Schedule for Torah Study and Shazoom (Arizona Time Zone):
October 13, 2023 – Shazoom at 6:30 pm
October 20, 2023 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
October 27, 2023 – Shazoom at 6:30 pm
November 3, 2023 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
November 10, 2023 – Shazoom at 6:30 pm
November 17, 2023 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
November 24, 2023 – Shazoom at 6:30 pm
December 1, 2023 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
December 8, 2023 – Shazoom at 6:30 pm [Chanukah 2nd Candle before sundown]
December 15, 2023 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm [Chanukah ends]
December 22, 2023 – Shazoom at 6:30 pm
December 29, 2023 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm