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Candle lighting is at 4:30 pm on Friday, November 21. This week's Torah portion is Parashat Chayei Sara. Havdalah starts 60 minutes after sundown, at 5:47 pm on Saturday, November 22. Courtesy of hebcal.com |
Avot 1:2: How to Preserve a WorldBy Rabbi Alan Yuter Rabbi Simon the Just is an important transitional figure. He was one of the remnant of the Great Assembly, or pre-Rabbinic supreme court. The word "just" was an ancient epithet for priests, the teachers of Torah in ancient Israel. This Simon functions as a rabbi, moving the mindset of our people from the sacerdotal past of ancient Israel to the egalitarian free access to Torah that began in Deuteronomy and flowered after the Temple's destruction. Simon's signature saying proclaims that the world stands of three moral pillars, [a] Torah, [b] serving God and [c] doing acts of kindness. This list may be understood in two ways. Torah, which we have learned is the will of God that began to be revealed at Sinai, which at its peak is between heaven and earth. This Torah teaches how to serve God, through sacrifice and prayer, and how humanity should behave as a consortium of social beings. A second possibility is that Torah draws us to serve God and then, appreciating that the only way to be "good to God" is to be good to God's creatures, translate our religious fervor into acts of loving kindness |