-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.holidays.net/purim/
}}}>Begin
SHALOM and WELCOME
To a Festive Celebration for
the Jewish Holiday of
Purim
Purim on the Net
Holidays on the Net
Additional Jewish Holidays
Purim is the most festive of Jewish holidays, a time of prizes, noisemakers,
costumes and treats. The Festival of Purim commemorates a major victory over
oppression and is recounted in the Megillah, the scroll of the story of Esther. Purim
takes place on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, the twelfth month of the
Jewish calendar. This year (2002) Purim begins at sundown on Monday the 25th of
February
So here for your entertainment are some fun Holiday things for you and your family.
We've got stories of Queen Esther, King Ahasuerus, Mordechai, and Haman, we've
got graggers to spin, and Hamantashan to bake! We hope you find something you
like!
End<{{{
From
http://www.uscj.org/generic759.html
}}}>Begin
“Torah Sparks”
A Service of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
TETZAVEH/SHABBAT ZACHOR
February 23, 2002 - 5762
Prepared by Rabbi David L. Blumenfeld, PhD
Department of Services to Affiliated Congregations
Annual Cycle: Exodus 27:20-30:10; Hertz, p. 339 Etz Hayim p. 503
Triennial Cycle I: Exodus 27:20-28:30; p. 339 p. 503
Maftir: Deut. 25:17-19; p. 856 p. 1135
Haftarah: I Samuel 15:1-34; p. 995 p.1280
This Shabbat’s Torah Portion Summary
(27:20-28:30) Instructions concerning the oil for the Ner Tamid, the fashioning of the
Ephod and breastplate.
(28:31-39) The directions for the High Priest's uniform.
(28:40-43) The clothing of Aaron's sons, i.e. the ordinary kohanim.
(29:1-18) Instructions for the ritual consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests.
(29:19-37) Instructions for the consecration of Aaron and his sons during their seven
days of inauguration.
(29:38-46) Instructions concerning the Tamid, the daily sacrifice.
(30:1-10) Instructions concerning the fabrication of the incense altar and its special
function.
**************************************************
THIS SABBATH’S THEME:
”Who Is "Amalek" Today?”
This Sabbath which comes right before Purim is known as "Shabbat Zachor"
because we are admonished in our maftir to "remember (rufz) Amalek", a ruthless
enemy who without provocation, attacked the weak and unarmed Israelites in the
desert. According to tradition, Haman the arch-enemy of the Jews in the Purim
epoch, was a descendant of the brutal Amalekites.
TEXT: "Remember (rufz) what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left
Egypt. How, undeterred by the fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you
were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in the rear. Therefore,,
when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the
land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out
the memory of Amalek from under the heaven. Do not forget!" (Deuteronomy 25:17
- 19).
A. "You shall blot out the memory of Amalek.." A people so devoid of natural religion
as to kill non-combatants had forfeited all claim to mercy (J.H. Hertz, The
Pentateuch, p 856).
B. "You shall not hate an Edomite, for he is your brother" - good or bad, he is your
brother. "You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a sojourner in his land " -
good or bad, for among them you lived many years. But as for Amalek - "Remember
what Amalek did to you" - they were and remain the persecutor of the weak (Pesikta
Rabbati 47b).
C. 1995 Oklahoma City terrorist bombing - Closure surely is a balm for grief, and we
can only hope that the mutilated families will find it. But if the rest of us are now
lulled
into complacency by a well-conducted trial's fair outcome, that's not closure - it's
amnesia. Timothy McVeigh didn't come from nowhere. (Frank Rich, The New York
Times, June 5, 1997, after McVeigh was convicted for murder in the 1995 Oklahoma
City bombing).
D. "And Haman said to King Ahasuerus: 'There is a certain people scattered abroad
and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and
their laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the
King's laws. It is not in your Majesty's interest to tolerate them. If it please the
king, let
it be written that they be destroyed..' " (Esther 3:8 - 9).
E. Grant them civil rights? I see no other way of doing this except to cut off all
their
heads on one night and substitute other heads without a single Jewish thought in
them. (Johann Fichte, a leading philosopher of the German Enlightment, and first
rector of the University of Berlin, 1762 - 1814).
F. The Jew serves (the anti-Semite) as a pretext; elsewhere his counter-part will
make use of the Negro or the man of yellow skin (Jean-Paul Sartre, Anti- Semite and
Jew, p. 54).
G. Rabbi Elijah Schochet, in his brilliant scholarly work "Amalek, The Enemy Within",
presents another interpretation of Amalek's behavior which is expressed in later
rabbinic writings.
Essentially, all agree that what the Amalekites did was utterly reprehensible. Yet, it
never could have happened if the Israelites had not brought their vulnerability upon
themselves. In this regard, the saintly Lithuanian sage, Rabbi Israel Meir haKohen,
known as the "Hafez Hayyim", deemed the quarrelsome state of the Israelite
community, with its incessant internecine feuding, as the causative factor in
bringing
about Amalek's attack. He asserts, "Had the Israelites but been unified as a
community, the divine clouds would surely have shielded them from all harm". The
homilist concludes his observations with an appeal for unity among his
contemporaries, bidding them to heed the truth of the promise that "...as long as
Israel remains united, Amalek has no power over them" (cf. Schochet, p. 61)
"Sparks" for Reflection/Discussion on Our Theme
In Jewish categories of thought and expression, the mention of Amalek connotes a
particular form of behavior which is considered to be both cowardly and odious.
Accordingly, the term "Amalek" has always been identified in our historic conscience
with and applied to certain situations (e.g. pogroms), specific people (e.g. Haman), to
certain nations (e.g. Germany).
"Amalekite behavior" or attacks directed against the vulnerable and weak can be
applied, of course, universally just as well. A few examples readily come to mind but
none has more relevance to us today then what we have witnessed in recent times -
brutal acts directed against defenseless people by an organized form of terrorism.
Terrorist acts such as those carried out on September 11th in the U.S. and those
perpetrated again and again against Israel's civilian population have an ancient
precedent. They are truly a throwback to the cowardly, vicious activity of biblical
Israel's ancient inveterate foe - the Amalekites.
It is interesting to note that in years past, one might have felt a bit uncomfortable
about the biblical commandment found in this Shabbat's parashah, - to "blot out" - to
completely eradicate the Amalekites. But what about now? What are your thoughts
"post 9/11"?
Would you equate the impassioned, forceful remarks of the U.S. President about
completely obliterating terrorism and any government harboring terrorists with the
sentiments of the ancient Amalekite commandment to "blot out" such evil?
Finally, why is this commandment one that the Jews would particularly understand?
End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
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The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
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"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
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A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
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It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
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"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
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