BS”D January 22, 2021 Potomac Torah Study Center Vol. 8 #15, January 22, 2021; Bo 5781 NOTE: Devrei Torah presented weekly in Loving Memory of Rabbi Leonard S. Cahan z”l, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Har Shalom, who started me on my road to learning almost 50 years ago and was our family Rebbe and close friend until his recent untimely death. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Devrei Torah are now Available for Download (normally by noon on Fridays) from www.PotomacTorah.org. Thanks to Bill Landau for hosting the Devrei Torah. __________________________________________________________________________________ This Shabbat: Rabbi Avi Weiss and outstanding Rabbi/Chazzan Uri Topolosky present a special Zoom Shabbaton at Beth Sholom: Friday, 3:45 p.m.; Motzi Shabbat at 7:45 p.m. – 19th Annual Herbert Lieberman and Ruben D. Silverman Shabbaton. Details below. _____________________________________________________________________________________ LEARNING TO LIVE WITH COVID-19: PANEL DISCUSSION Bikur Cholim of Greater Washington and several shuls in Silver Spring are presenting a panel of distinguished experts to share latest research and findings on treatment and vaccines. Saturday, January 23, 2021, 8:15-9:15 p.m. NOTE: MOTZI SHABBIS THIS WEEK!! Dial-in-number: 1301-715-8592. Zoom Meeting ID: 878 2795 1873. Pass code: 699427. Speakers: Ronald Reisler, MD/MPH, infectious diseases, clinical research, Davis Defense Group Yosefta Hefter, MD, pediatrician, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellow at Children’s National Hospital Evan Fisher, MD, internist and Chief Nephrologist, Wright-Patterson AFB; and Assistant Professor, Wright State University Medical School. Topics include: ● Main signs of COVID-19 and the various tests used to identify and treat it. ● Changes in treatments over the past 10 months and what lies ahead. ● How the virus affects children and how they spread it. ● Latest research findings about early markers of COVID-19 and its after-effects. 1 Bikur Cholim and shuls invite everyone in the community to listen in by Zoom. ________________________________________________________________________________ This Shabbat: Rabbi Avi Weiss and outstanding Rabbi/Chazzan Rabbi Uri Topolosky present a special Zoom Shabbaton at Beth Sholom: Friday, 3:45 p.m.; Motzi Shabbat at 7:45 p.m. – 19th Annual Herbert Lieberman and Ruben D. Silverman Shabbaton. Friday, January 22, 3:45 p.m.: Rabbi Topolosky will lead a musical Kabbalat Shabbat, and Rabbi Weiss will offer words of inspiration. Motzi Shabbat, January 23, 7:45 p.m. Rabbi Topolosky will lead a musical Havdalah, and Rabbi Weiss will speak on “Coping with COVID: Jewish Perspectives on Dealing with Crisis.” To join on Zoom: www.BethSholom.org/zoom (Password for the event: 613613) ___________________________________________________________________________ “The habitation of B’Nai Yisrael in Egypt was 430 years (12:40).” Really? Levi’s son Kehot, Moshe’s grandfather, was part of Yaakov’s family that went down to Egypt. Kehot and his son Amram, Moshe’s father, lived a combined total of 270 years, and Moshe was 80 when B’Nai Yisrael left Egypt. The Jews thus could not have been in Egypt more than 350 years. Indeed, the timeline is even narrower. According to Chabad, Yaakov and his family went to Egypt in the year 2238 and left Egypt in 2448, 210 years later. (See https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3915966/jewish/Timeline-of- Jewish-History.htm for the timeline.) Moreover, Egypt did not begin to enslave the Jews until after Levi died in 2332. Counting from 2332, when Sefer Shemot begins and when all of Yaakov’s sons had died, our ancestors’ actual slavery lasted 116 years. Why, then does the Torah say 430 years? The Torah takes a longrun view of history. Reading the Torah in depth reminds me of reading a Dickens novel. Any named character in a Dickens novel is likely to return and play a much larger role later. The Torah uses key words to connect episodes and characters from different events to show connections that otherwise would not be obvious. For example, in the story of Sodom and Amorah, when the angels left Avraham to go to Lot, the Torah specifies that Lot prepared matzos to serve them. In a famous comment, Rashi explains that Lot prepared matzos because it was Pesach (Bereishis 19:3). However, the destruction of Sodom was in 2048, and the Exodus from Egypt was in 2448, 400 years later. Rashi certainly knew that Lot could not have known that 15 Nisan would be Pesach 400 years before the tenth plague, when God would pass over Jewish homes while slaying the first born of Egypt. The Torah at Shemot 12:40 dates the beginning of Jewish exile from 2018, the date of God’s covenant of the parts, in which He promised to make Avraham’s descendants a great nation and to give them the land of Israel. In connecting Lot in Sodom to the tenth plague, the Torah is stating that neither Lot nor B’Nai Yisrael really deserved to be saved or freed on their own merit. Rather, God had mercy on Lot and B’Nai Yisrael becaause of their connection to Avraham and God’s promise to Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov. The Torah pauses in the Exodus story (chapter 13) to present a series of laws of the first born sons and animals. We have an eternal obligation to sanctify every first born son and Kosher animal (plus donkey) to God. (For more on this obligation, see the Dvar by Yehuda Shurpin, page 15 below.) All first born sons were to be a bridge between the parents and the next generation, to carry on religious learning and traditions. Later, because of the sin of Egel Zahav (the Golden Calf), the first born lose this privilege, and God transfers it to shevat Levi. As so often, one must delve beyond the text to appreciate the many levels of meanings and connections across the Torah, Tanach, and Jewish history. Even something as simple as Lot serving matzos to unexpected company, a statement about how long the Jews lived in one place, or a statement of a mitzvah can have meanings well beyond the text in the Torah. I always eagerly sought insights of this kind from my beloved Rebbe, Rabbi Leonard Cahan, z”l, and uncovering these sorts of connections continues to thrill me (as well as make me feel closer to my Rebbe). This Shabbat we have the privilege of learning from Rabbi Avi Weiss, the distinguished founding Rabbi of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (before Shabbat and again Motzi Shabbat). A bit later, Bikur Cholim of Greater Washington is presenting a panel about advances in coronavirus research, treatment, and prevention with three distinguished physicians from our community. Those who wish to listen to the end of Rabbi Weiss’ class on Motzi Shabbat will be able to listen to the coronavirus panel by tape after the event. Watch for details or look at https://www.bikurcholimgw.org/ for information about a rebroadcast. 2 Shabbat Shalom, Hannah & Alan ________________________________________________________________________________ Much of the inspiration for my weekly Dvar Torah message comes from the insights of Rabbi David Fohrman and his team of scholars at www.alephbeta.org. Please join me in supporting this wonderful organization, which has increased its scholarly work during the pandemic, despite many of its supporters having to cut back on their donations. ________________________________________________________________________________ Please daven for a Refuah Shlemah for Menachem Mendel ben Chana, Eli ben Hanina, Yoram HaKohen ben Shoshana, Gedalya ben Sarah, Mordechai ben Chaya, Baruch Yitzhak ben Perl, David Leib HaKohen ben Sheina Reizel, Zev ben Sara Chaya, Uzi Yehuda ben Mirda Behla, HaRav Dovid Meir ben Chaya Tzippa; Eliav Yerachmiel ben Sara Dina, Amoz ben Tziviah, Reuven ben Masha, Moshe David ben Hannah, Meir ben Sara, Yitzhok Tzvi ben Yehudit Miriam, Yaakov Naphtali ben Michal Leah, Ramesh bat Heshmat, Rivka Chaya bat Leah, Zissel Bat Mazal, Chana Bracha bas Rochel Leah, Leah Fruma bat Musa Devorah, Hinda Behla bat Chaya Leah, Nechama bas Tikva Rachel, Miriam Chava bat Yachid, and Ruth bat Sarah, all of whom greatly need our prayers. _____________________________________________________________________________ Hannah & Alan _____________________________________________________________________________ Drasha: Bo: Out of Africa by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky © 1998 [Please remember Mordechai ben Chaya for a Mishebarach!] Imagine that you are a tourist on your way to see this nation’s most revered document, the one that forged our beliefs and principles. You enter the hallowed halls of the Library of Congress and ask a guard, “which way to the Declaration of Independence?” He points to a sign with bold letters. The sign has a large arrow and reads; “This way to the “Declaratsiya o Nezavisimossti” ” In small print it translates the two Russian words – “Declaration of Independence.” You would be shocked. Why in the world would the United States government use a foreign language to identify the very document that symbolizes the essence of America? Of course the story is not true, and probably can never happen. That is why I am troubled by the Torah’s choice of words to introduce us to the most Jewish of all symbols – tefillin. The Torah commands the children of Israel to wear tefillin with an interesting expression. “They shall be for totafos between your eyes.” (Exodus 13:16) The Talmud in Sanhedrin is concerned with the origins of the word totafos, clearly it has no Jewish origin. The Talmud declares that totafos is a compound word that combines two foreign words. The word tot in Afriki (I assume Africa) means two, and the word pas in the Coptic language means two. The tefillin on the head has four compartments. Thus, tat-pas or totafos, means four. How baffling! Why would the Torah use a compound of two very foreign words to describe a Jewish – perhaps the most Jewish — symbol? 3 What is even more interesting is that just a few verses prior the Torah refers to the tefillin boxes as a zikoron (remembrance) between the eyes (Exodus 13:9).