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Candle lighting time for Friday, January 20, 2012, 5:01 p.m.
Triennial Cycle Year II: Exodus 7:8-8:15
Humash Etz Hayim, page 357
- (7:8-13) Moses and Aaron demonstrate their miraculous sign before Pharaoh: the staff transformed into a serpent. Pharaoh’s magicians duplicate this feat, but then Aaron’s “snake” swallows up theirs.
- (7:12-25) The Ten Plagues begin: The first plague is the turning of the River Nile into blood.
- (7:26-8:11) The second plague: Frogs.
- (8:12-15) The third plague: Lice.
| Blood [dam] 7:14-25 Warning at the Nile “Station yourself” By Aaron’s rod Magicians match it River Nile was a god |
Frogs [tzfarde·a] 7:26-8:11 Warning at the palace “Go to Pharoah” By Aaron’s rod Magicians match it Frog was a sign of fruitfulness |
Vermin [kinim] 8:12-15 No warning No instruction By Aaron’s rod Magicians fail Body blow to all Egypt |
| Beetles [arov] 8:16-28 Warning at the Nile “Station yourself” By the Lord Beetle was sacred Goshen is spared |
pestilence [dever] 9:1-7 Warning at the palace “Go to Pharoah” By the Lord Holy ram, bull, goat |
Boils [sh’hin] 9:8-12 No warning No instruction Moses and Aaron Body blow to all Egypt |
| Hail [barad] 9:13-35 Warning at the Nile “Station yourself” By Moses’ Rod |
Locusts [arbeh] 10:1-20 Warning at the palace “Go to Pharoah” By Moses’ rod |
Darkness [hoshekh] 10:21-9 No warning No instruction By Moses’ hand Sun-god Ra eclipsed Body blow to all Egypt |
| Slaying of the first-Born [makat b’khorot] 11;12:29-36 Warning to the Israelites No instruction formula God is the agent |
Searching for the God of Lice and Other Very Small Things
Rabbi Philip Ohriner
Exodus 8:12-15
Aaron held out his arm with the rod and struck the dust of the earth, and vermin came upon man and beast; all the dust of the earth turned to lice throughout the land of Egypt. The magicians did the like with their spells to produce lice, but they could not. The vermin remained upon man and beast; and the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God!”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation p. 53-56
The Egyptians worshipped a multiplicity of gods, most of whom represented forces of nature. By their “secret arts” the magicians believed that they could control these forces. Magic is the equivalent in an era of myth to technology in an age of science… One of the purposes of the plagues was to produce an effect, which the magicians could not replicate. They try. They fail. Immediately they conclude, “This is the finger of God”. This is the first appearance in the Torah of an idea, surprisingly persistent in religious thinking even today, called “the god of the gaps.” This holds that a miracle is something for which we cannot yet find a scientific explanation. Science is natural; religion is supernatural. An “act of God” is something we cannot account for rationally. What magicians (or technocrats) cannot reproduce must be the result of divine intervention. This leads inevitably to the conclusion that religion and science are opposed. The more we can explain scientifically or control technologically, the less need we have for faith. As the scope of science expands, the place of God progressively diminishes to vanishing point. What the Torah is intimating is that this is a pagan mode of thought, not a Jewish one…To be sure, God is in the events, which, seeming to defy nature, we call miracles. But God is also in nature itself. Science does not displace God: it reveals, in ever more intricate and wondrous ways, the design within nature itself. Far from diminishing our religious sense, science (rightly understood) should enlarge it…What the Egyptian magicians (and their latter-day successors) did not understand is that power over nature is not an end in itself, but solely the means to ethical ends.
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws regarding the Foundations of Torah 8:1
Israel did not believe in Moses our teacher because of the signs he performed. When faith is predicated on signs, a lurking doubt always remains that these signs may have been performed with the aid of magic.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Hadashot Religious School – On announcement page on WIKI
Volunteer to Help Bake for Purim
Donations Needed for Purim Silent Auction
SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, March 10: Beth David Hamantaschen Ball - 7:00 – 11:00 p.m. RSVP
UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday, January 21: Shabbat Afternoon Torah Discussion - 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 21: Hot Tub and Karaoke Night with Sausy - 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, January 25: General Board Meeting – 7:30 p.m.
Friday, January 27: Wine? Cheese? Shabbat? Why Not? – 6:00 p.m.
Friday, January 27: Jews’ Next Dor Potluck Shabbat – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 28: Wisdom and Witdom with Doug Brook: Ireland or Oyreland - after Shabbat Kiddush lunch (about 1:15 p.m.)
Sunday, January 29: Zimriya Song Festival Honoring Debbie Friedman – 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (note new start time)
Sunday, January 29: Jews’ Next Dor Winchester Mystery House – 1:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 29: Kadima Bagels and Board Games - 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 29: Women’s Voices – From Torah to Contemporary Israel - 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, February 1: Intermediate Hebrew – 10:00 a.m.
Wednesday, February 1: Beginning Hebrew - 11:45 a.m.
Thursday, February 2: Career Chavurah – 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Friday, February 3: Hagigat Noar Celebration of Youth – 6:30 p.m.
Friday, February 3: Family-Friendly Shabbat Supper – 7:00 p.m. RSVP
Saturday, February 4: Board Installation and Volunteer Appreciation Shabbat – 9:30 a.m.
Saturday, February 4: Ask the Rabbi - after Shabbat Kiddush lunch (about 1:30 p.m.)
Saturday, February 4: 2nd Annual Talent Show Benefit for Jews’ Next Dor - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 4: Sausy Sato Sleepover – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 5: Jewish Families Group Brunch and Planning Meeting – 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Sunday, February 5: Men’s Club Meeting at CBD – 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Monday, February 6: Beginning Hebrew for FSU Emigres – 2:00 p.m.
Monday, February 6: Three Short Books of the Bible - 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Thursday, February 9: CBD Membership Committee Meeting – 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 12: Hazak – Crossing Delancey Street - 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 18: Save the Date: Donor Shabbat – 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 26: Mah Jongg Tournament – 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Sunday, February 26: Jews’ Next Dor Hamantaschen Baking - 1:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Daily Minyan – Sunday 9:30 am & Monday – Thursday 7:00 p.m.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
The Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley is asking for input on possible community initiatives. Click here for survey
Sunday, January 22: Jewbilee - 1:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 29: South Bay Teen Idol Auditions - 9:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 29: South Peninsula Hebrew Day School - 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 31: Knitzvah a Mitzvah! - 3:45 – 4:45 p.m.
Tuesday, February 7, “Love the Earth and Eat Healthy!” – A Joyous Celebration of Tu B’Shevat - 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Monday, January 23: Dr. Deborah Lipstadt – The Eichmann Trial, National Jewish Book Award Finalist! – 7:30 p.m.