Shabbat Shalom

March 2, 2024

22 Adar I 5784

Ki Tisa

Kibbutz Be’eri, in Israel’s Gaza Envelope, suffered enormous destruction on that darkest of days, known in Israel as the Black Shabbat, or simply, 7.10 (October 7th). Much of the kibbutz was destroyed, one hundred of its members horrifically murdered, and many captured as hostages. My visit to Kibbutz Be’eri this week, among other Southern Negev sites of destruction with my fellow members of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors, brought clarity to the reality that it will take Israel a very long time to recover from that most terrible of days.

An interesting feature of Kibbutz Be’eri is its major industry, one of the largest publishing houses in Israel and the entire middle east. D’fus Be’eri, Be’eri Printers, founded in 1950, produces virtually all of Israel’s banking documents, credit cards, government forms essential to the functioning of the country, among countless other printed documents. Of course, the pogrom of 7.10 brought its presses to a halt, but ten days later, they were again up and running.

This week’s parashah of Ki Tisa includes the Golden Calf episode, Moses’ smashing of the first set of tablets, and his receiving from God a second set, a reaffirmation of spiritual continuity following a communal tragedy. Representing the very first document created in our history, the Luhot, the tablets, foreshadowed a future when the written word would capture the hearts and minds of nation of Israel, the “people of the book.”

My visit this week to Be’eri, to the Nova Music Festival site where 364 mostly young people were massacred and 40 taken hostage, and to the town of S’derot, still devoid of inhabitants, having endured numerous casualties, was heartbreaking. The devastation and the stories of loss and depravity are gut-wrenching. But just as the printing presses of Be’eri have resumed production, families have gradually begun returning to their evacuated kibbutzim. Once again the resilience of Israel, the tenacity of her people, the courage of her soldiers and first responders, have become an antidote to despair in these very difficult times. But recovery will not truly begin until the remaining hostages will come home and the war will be successfully concluded. Until then and thereafter, Israel needs our love, our support, our advocacy.

Our parashah details the replacement of broken tablets with a new set, ready to take a troubled nation into a more hopeful future, symbolic of reconstruction and renewal of spirit that will take our beloved Israel into a better tomorrow

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Scheim
rabbischeim@bethdavid.com

We remember with reverence and love those for whom Yahrzeit will be observed this week.

SATURDAY, MARCH 2 | 22 ADAR

Allan David, Father of Noreen Kasman

Bela Mogyoros, Father of Anita Szmuilowicz-Klotz

Betty Slobod, Mother of Annette Gosewitz

SUNDAY, MARCH 3 | 23 ADAR

Louis Altman, Husband of Esther Altman

Judah Balaban, Father of Max Balaban

Arthur Benjamin, Father of Gavin Benjamin

Abraham Rubin, Grandfather of David Rubin and Michael Rubin

MONDAY, MARCH 4 | 24 ADAR

Chaim Bernholtz, Husband of Jean Bernholtz and Father of Martin Bernholtz

Stephen Cohen, Brother of Gary Cohen

Sarah Hacker, Sister of Beatrice Weiss

Kay March, Mother of Marilyn Shupak

Faye Vanek, Mother of Leonard Vanek

TUESDAY, MARCH 5 | 25 ADAR

Morris Fuss, Uncle of Marvyn Lubek

Jerry Goldberg, Father of Maureen Morris

Ruth Gordon, Mother of Carl Gordon

Florence Rosen, Mother of Marlene Abella

Toby Sharpe, Mother of Lionel Sharpe

Lottie Shoub, Mother of Bernard Shoub

Frima Solomon, Grandmother of Barry Cutler

Dorothy Helen Sone, Mother of Marshall Sone

Isadore Weisblatt, Father of Janet Page and Helen Marks

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 | 26 ADAR

Philip Chasin, Father of Diane Zweig

Rita Ennis, Mother of Alan Ennis

Samuel Gilbert, Father-In-Law of Manya Gilbert

Haim Kapulkin, Father of Arie Kapulkin

Regina Kupets, Mother of Rachel Kupets

William Pruskin, Father-in-law of Nancy Pruskin and Grandfather of Zane Pruskin

Murray Shaw (Shogilev), Father of David Shaw

THURSDAY, MARCH 7 | 27 ADAR 

Rose Bockner, Mother of Donald Bockner

Morty Cohen, Father of Stephen Cohen

Harold Cooper, Father of Beverley Zacks

Hedwig Ekstein, Mother of Lewis Ekstein

Bessie Hacker, Grandmother of Steven Hacker

Sarah Levant, Aunt of Marla Levant-Bornstein

Isadore Maidenberg, Father of Bette-Lou Black

Abraham Picov, Father of Ken Picov and Steve Picov

Irvin Strathman, Brother of Helen Rose and Uncle of Elise Rose

Ronald Tugg, Father of Greg Tugg

Sydney Lawrence Wax, Father of Barbara Kochberg

FRIDAY, MARCH 8 | 28 ADAR

Anne Bowman, Mother of Glenn Bowman

Esther Sadavoy, Mother of Lyle Sadavoy

Mary Spiegelman, Grandmother of Jeffrey Spiegelman

Esther Trammer, Mother of Sandra Cayne

Every week we will be posting links to Divrei Torah from the Hadar Institute in NY. You can read the commentary or listen to it (on Spotify).
As well, the JTS Torah online, its Torah portions and Hey-Alma links will also be available for you to read on your own time - in your own space.

This week's Parsha Ki Tisa:

Hadar:

https://hadar.org/torah-tefillah/resources/ecstasy-and-constancy-dynamics-covenantal-commitment

https://hadar.org/torah-tefillah/resources/god-mishkan

JTS: 

www.jtsa.edu/jts-torah-online

MJL:

www.myjewishlearning.com/torah-portions

www.myjewishlearning.com/the-hub/host/hey-alma

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