7:27pm - Candle Lighting Shemini Atzeret, Wednesday
8:28pm - Candle Lighting Simchat Torah, Thursday (after)*
7:30pm - Candle Lighting Shabbat, Friday*
8:30pm - Havdalah, Saturday
(Melbourne Australia)
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Good Shabbos! Good Yomtov!
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PARSHAH IN A NUTSHELL
Shemini Atzeret Torah Reading in a Nutshell
Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17; Numbers 29:35
A tenth of all produce is to be eaten in Jerusalem, or else exchanged for money with which food is purchased and eaten there. On certain years this tithe is given to the poor instead. Firstborn cattle and sheep are to be offered in the Temple and their meat eaten by the Kohen (priest).
The mitzvah of charity obligates a Jew to aid a needy fellow with a gift or loan. On the Sabbatical year (occurring every seventh year) all loans are to be forgiven. All indentured servants are to be set free after six years of service.
The portion then mentions the laws of the three pilgrimage festivals — Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot — when all should go to "see and be seen" before G‑d in the Holy Temple.
G‑d declares that the eighth day will be the festival of Shemini Atzeret, one bullock is offered, together with a ram and seven lambs. With each of the animals is brought the prescribed meal, wine and oil supplements: three tenths of an efah of fine flour, and half a hin each of wine and oil, per bullock; two tenths of an efah of flour and a third of a hin of each of the liquids for each ram; and one tenth and one quarter respectively for each lamb.
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V'Zot HaBerachah in a Nutshell
The name of the Parshah, "V'Zot HaBerachah," means "And this is the blessing," and it is found in Deuteronomy 33:1.
On Simchat Torah ("Rejoicing of the Torah") we conclude, and begin anew, the annual Torah-reading cycle. First we read the Torah section of V'zot HaBerachah, which recounts the blessings that Moses gave to each of the twelve tribes of Israel before his death. Echoing Jacob's blessings to his twelve sons five generations earlier, Moses assigns and empowers each tribe with its individual role within the community of Israel.
V'zot HaBerachah then relates how Moses ascended Mount Nebo from whose summit he saw the Promised Land. "And Moses the servant of G‑d died there in the Land of Moab by the mouth of G‑d... and no man knows his burial place to this day." The Torah concludes by attesting that "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom G‑d knew face to face... and in all the mighty hand and the great awesome things which Moses did before the eyes of all Israel."
Immediately after concluding the Torah, we begin it anew by reading the first chapter of Genesis (the beginning of next Shabbat's Torah reading) describing G‑d's creation of the world in six days and His ceasing work on the seventh—which He sanctified and blessed as a day of rest.
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Bereishit in a Nutshell
Genesis 1:1–6:8
The name of the Parshah, "Bereishit," means "In the beginning" and it is found in Genesis 1:1.
G‑d creates the world in six days. On the first day He makes darkness and light. On the second day He forms the heavens, dividing the "upper waters" from the "lower waters." On the third day He sets the boundaries of land and sea, and calls forth trees and greenery from the earth. On the fourth day He fixes the position of the sun, moon and stars as timekeepers and illuminators of the earth. Fish, birds and reptiles are created on the fifth day; land animals, and then the human being, on the sixth. G‑d ceases work on the seventh day, and sanctifies it as a day of rest.
G‑d forms the human body from the dust of the earth, and blows into his nostrils a "living soul." Originally Man is a single person, but deciding that "it is not good that man be alone," G‑d takes a "side" from the man, forms it into a woman, and marries them to each other.
Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden of Eden, and commanded not to eat from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." The serpent persuades Eve to violate the command, and she shares the forbidden fruit with her husband. Because of their sin, it is decreed that man will experience death, returning to the soil from which he was formed, and that all gain will come only through struggle and hardship. Man is banished from the Garden.
Eve gives birth to two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain quarrels with Abel and murders him, and becomes a rootless wanderer. A third son, Seth, is born to Adam; Seth's eighth-generation descendant, Noah, is the only righteous man in a corrupt world.
HAFTORAH IN A NUTSHELL
Shemini Atzeret Haftorah in a Nutshell
I Kings 8:54-66.
The setting for the haftorah for the holiday of Shemini Atzeret is the dedication of the first Holy Temple by King Solomon. The dedication was a seven-day festive affair, which was immediately followed by the seven festive days of the holiday of Sukkot. And then, as we read in this haftorah, on the "eighth day" (i.e., Shemini Atzeret), Solomon sent the people off to their homes.
The reading opens immediately after King Solomon concludes a lengthy public prayer to G‑d. He then blesses the assembled Jewish people and encourages them to follow G‑d's will and observe the commandments—it is this blessing that occupies the bulk of the reading.
The King then inaugurates the Holy Temple by bringing various offerings: peace offerings, burnt offerings, and meal and fat offerings. And then, "on the eighth day he dismissed the people, and they blessed the King and went to their homes, rejoicing and delighted of heart for all the goodness that G‑d had wrought for David His servant and for Israel His people."
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V'Zot HaBerachah Haftorah in a Nutshell
Joshua 1:1-18
This week's Haftorah describes Joshua's succession of his master Moses, whose passing is discussed in the Torah reading.
G‑d reveals Himself to Joshua, and appoints him as Moses' successor. G‑d encouraged Joshua to lead the Israelites in to the Holy Land. "Every place on which the soles of your feet will tread I have given to you, as I have spoken to Moses. From this desert and Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the great sea westward shall be your boundary." G‑d assures Joshua that He will be with him just as He was with Moses and encourages him to be strong and brave, to study the Torah constantly and keep it close, so that he may succeed in all his endeavors.
Joshua orders his officers to prepare the Jewish people to cross the Jordan River. He then tells the members of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, who had chosen to settle on the eastern bank of the Jordan, to go and assist their brethren in the conquest of the Canaanite mainland, after which they would return to their plot of land. The Jewish people pledge their allegiance to Joshua: "Just as we obeyed Moses in everything, so shall we obey you. Only that the L-rd your G‑d be with you as He was with Moses."
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Bereishit Haftorah in a Nutshell
Isaiah 42:5-21
The haftorah of this week's reading opens with a statement by "the Almighty G‑d, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who laid out the earth and made grow from it." This echoes the Torah portion's recounting of the creation of the world in six days.
G‑d speaks to the prophet Isaiah, reminding him of his life's purpose and duty, namely that of arousing the Jewish people to return to being a light unto the nations, "To open blind eyes, to bring prisoners out of a dungeon; those who sit in darkness out of a prison."
The prophecy continues with a discussion regarding the Final Redemption, and the song that all of creation will sing to G‑d on that day. G‑d promises to punish all the nations that have persecuted Israel while they were exiled. The prophet also rebukes Israel for their errant ways, but assures them that they will return to the correct path and will be redeemed.
SAGES ON THE PARSHAH
In the beginning G‑d created the heavens and the earth (1:1)
Said Rabbi Yitzchak: The Torah ought to have started with "This month shall be to you . . ." (Exodus 12:2), which is the first mitzvah commanded to the people of Israel. Why, then, does it begin with "In the beginning [G‑d created the heavens and the earth]"? . . . So that if the nations of the world say to Israel, "You are thieves, for having conquered the lands of the seven nations," they can reply to them: "The entire world is G‑d's; He created it, and He grants it to whoever He desires. It was His will to give it to them, and it was His will to take it from them and give it to us."
(Rashi, Genesis 1:1)
The above dialogue between the "nations of the world" and the "people of Israel" also takes place in the "miniature universe" within the heart of man.
The Jew serves G‑d in two ways: 1) by fulfilling the divine commandments (mitzvot) of the Torah, and 2) by living his or her ordinary life—eating, sleeping, doing business, etc.—as an exercise in experiencing the divine and serving G‑d's purpose in creation (as expressed by the ideals "All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven" [Ethics of the Fathers 2:12] and "Know Him in all your ways" [Proverbs 3:6]).
It is regarding the second area that the Jew's internal "nations of the world"—his worldly outlook—argues: You are thieves, for having conquered the lands of the seven nations! What business have you commandeering the "secular" areas of life? Must you turn everything into a religious issue? Serve G‑d in the ways He has explicitly told us to serve Him, and leave the rest to their rightful, worldly owners!
To answer this argument, the Torah begins not with its first mitzvah, but with the statement "In the beginning G‑d created the heavens and the earth." The entire world is G‑d's; He created it, the Torah is saying—not just the matzah eaten on Passover or the percentage of one's income given to charity.
With its opening statement, the Torah is establishing that it is not merely a rulebook, a list of things to do or not to do. It is G‑d's blueprint for creation, our guide for realizing the purpose for which everything in heaven and earth was made. Every creature, object and element; every force, phenomenon and potential; every moment of time was created by G‑d toward a purpose. Our mission in life is to conquer the lands of the seven nations and transform them into a Holy Land—a world permeated with the goodness and perfection of its Creator.
(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)
https://w2.chabad.org/media/pdf/6205.pdf
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