February 24, 2012 Terumah
S.T.A.R. News & Events
Here are S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
March 11, 2012
March 18, 2012
STAR kids leave your wings at home, we are going to the ultimate trampoline arena; SKY HIGH!!
This Shabbat
Shabbat Parashat: Mishpatim
Candle Lighting: 5:27pm
Shabbat Ends: 6:23pm
Torah Message
Guilding The Lily
"Its knobs and its blossoms will be (hammered) from it… " (25:31)
In English, when we speak of "gilding the lily", we mean that something has been unnecessarily adorned. How can the lily be made more beautiful? If you paint it gold will it be more radiant? When you paint a lily it detracts from its true beauty. It’s "overdone".
There’s a common misconception that the Torah is like a lily and the Rabbis were a bunch of lily painters.
There is not a single Rabbinical dictum or law, not a extrapolation nor an embellishment that is not hinted to in the Torah itself. Everything stems ultimately from the Torah.
We can see this idea in this week’s Torah portion: "You shall make a Menorah of pure gold, hammered out shall the Menorah be made, its base, its shaft, its cups, its knobs and its blossoms will be (hammered) from it."
The Menorah was extruded from one solid block of gold. Nothing was grafted on to it. Just as its base and its shaft and its cups were integral, drawn from the same block of gold, so too were its knobs and its blossoms integral and drawn from the same block of gold.
The same is true with every law that the Rabbis promulgated. Nothing is grafted on. Nothing is unrelated embellishment. Just as the Torah laws – the "shaft" and the "cups" of the Torah – stem from an indivisible unity, so does every last Rabbinical dictum and decree. It’s "knobs" and its "blossoms" derive from that same ‘block of gold’.
The lily is ungilded.
- Source: Chafetz Chaim
Rabbi M. Weiss Rabbi Y. Sakhai
Community News
Em Habanim Congregation
Weekly Parashat Hashavua class with Rabbi Joshua Bittan on Wednesdays at 8:30pm for more info. visit www.emhabanim.com
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Purim Monte Carlo Night March 7th at 8pm at Emhabanim. For more Info. visit www.emhabanim.com
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Rabbi Mizrahi will be speaking at Em Habanim on March 4th 2012. Lecture topic: “The right relationship between the Jew and Hashem”
Sephardic Temple:
Talmud Torah and Youth Havadalah and Movie Nite will return in January after the completion of the remodel of the new Alcana Youth Lounge. Watch for upcoming dates and info!
Get Well Soon
We urge the whole community and all the jews around the world to pray for two 16 year old boys that were in a tragic accident. May hashem grant them a full Refuah Shelema and may he grant their families patience and nachat, Amen.
Ariel Menachem Chayim ben Miryam & Daniel ben Sara
We wish a speedy recovery for all the Jews that may need it where ever they may be and especially for:
Em Habanim:
Max Barchichat From Sephardic Temple: Al Azus,Buena Angel,
Elaine Leon,Itzchak Rachmanony
From S.T.A.R.:
Mordechai Chaim Ben Chana, Chaim Ben Buena,
Meshulam Dov Ben Chana Sarah
Bracha Eliza Bat Ehteram, Bracha Sara Chaya Bat Ronit,
Donna Devora bat Sara
