Shabboom! Weekly Announcements

Energize your week with Ohev Sholom                                           August 15, 2019

Shabbat Times and Announcements

Erev Shabbat, August 16: Tu B'Av (Av 15)
6:30a Shacharit
6:45p Kabbalat Shabbat
7:44p Candle Lighting

Shabbat, August 17: Shabbat Nachamu, Vaetchanan (Av 16)
9:15a Shacharit, with a Dvar Torah from guest scholar Yael Keller
10:30a Shabbat Youth Groups
6:20p Daf Yomi
7:20p Mincha, followed by Seudah Shlishit with a Shiur from Yael Keller
8:43p Havdalah

Upcoming Kiddush Schedule
8/17: No food served
8/24: Kiddush Luncheon sponsored by the Shurkin family
8/31: No food served

Comments on the Portion & Haftorah, Contributed by Rabbi Ben Mintz

This week's parsha is V'etchanan, meaning "I pleaded." It tells of Moshe imploring God to allow him to enter the Promised Land. God rejects the plea, saying, "Rav lecha," "Enough." I do not want to hear from you anymore. The rabbis point out that Moshe used the same words in telling the group following Korach that he did not want to hear any more from them. 

This parsha contains the second iteration of the text of the Ten Commandments. The rabbis comment on the several differences in the text between the first and second versions. In the commandment to honor parents, the earlier version states that the reward for following the commandment will be lengthy days, while the version in V'etchanan adds that the days will also "yitav lach." Your life will be "good." Why the difference? The rabbis explain that "yitav lach" was not included in the first tablets because they were smashed by Moshe because of the sin of the Golden Calf. 
 
A second discrepancy: In the commandment about Shabbos, the first version, on the first tablets, says Remember the Shabbos ("Zachor"), whereas the second says Observe the Shabbos ("Shamor"). The rabbis say that both Zachor and Shamor were stated and heard at exactly the same moment. This idea is restated in our Friday night Lecha Dodi prayer, "Zachor V'Shamor be'dibur echad." In  practical effect, Shamor emphasizes observance while Zachor highlights the idea underlying the Shabbos, that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day.

Significantly, the parsha also contains the first paragraph of the Shema. The Shema reads, "And you shall love the Lord God with all your heart and all your soul and all your possessions." It is told of the great sage Rabbi Akiva that he was being persecuted by the Roman authorities for teaching Torah in the period following the destruction of the Second Temple. As he suffered severe torture, Rabbi Akiva's students asked him, "Even to this point?" Akiva responded that his whole life he had been troubled by the words of the Shema, "with your entire soul," because he had had no opportunity to fulfill this obligation. "And now that I have the opportunity, shall I not fulfill it?" And with these words, Rabbi Akiva died, with the words "Shema Yisrael ... The Lord is One." A heavenly voice proclaimed, "You are to be praised, Akiva, dying with the word "One" on your lips."

The story of the Ten Martyrs of the Roman period, which includes the story of Rabbi Akiva, is told in a liturgical poem recited on Yom Kippur ("Eila Ezkera") and on Tisha B'Av ("Arzei Ha'levanon"). See also a volume by Barry W. Holtz in the Yale University "Jewish Life" series, entitled "Rabbi Akiva."

The Haftorah is the first in a series of seven Haftorahs following Tisha B'Av, referred to as the Seven Haftorahs of Consolation. They all come from the latter chapters of the Book of Isaiah, and this Shabbos we read from chapter 40: "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, says the Lord. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem...that she has received double from the hands of the Lord for her sins."

PIRKE AVOT, ETHICS OF THE FATHERS
Chapter 3, Mishna 19: Rabbi Akiva used to say: Everything is foreseen, yet free will is granted. The world is judged with kindness, yet all depends on the abundance of good deeds. 

Haftorah Video, by Hal Brodsky z"l

A video about the Haftorah can be found here: Isaiah 49:14-51:3

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