Friday 9 October 2020

Shabbos Tzetl: Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah

CANDLE LIGHTING 
7:14pm - Friday
8:13pm - Saturday (light after)
8:14pm - Yom Tov concludes, Sunday
These times are for Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Eruv Status: KOSHER
Good Shabbos! Shabbat Shalom! 
Good Yom Tov! Chag Sameach!

Details of festivals blow...


YESHIVA SHULE TIMES

Please click here to view the Yeshivah Shule Tzetel for Shemini Atzeres.

Please click here to view the PDFs of the Weekly Publications previously distributed in Shule each Shabbos.

Today, you can achieve the greatest impact possible. You can help our community renovate our Men's Mikveh. For only 24 hours, your gift will be doubled by our generous matchers as we work together to raise funds for this important and necessary renovation.

Donate now at: charidy.com/mikvehreno
Every dollar you donate will go directly towards to Mikveh renovations!

Halacha Guides for your reference:
Tishrei 5781 and Lockdown: http://bit.ly/TishreiVic

Sukkos Guide: http://bit.ly/LCSukkos
Including the leadup to Sukkos, first days of Sukkos and Chol Hamoed.

Simchas Torah Guide: http://bit.ly/SimchasT
Including Hoshanah Rabbah, Shmini Atzeres, Simchas Torah and Shabbos Breishis. 



PARSHAH IN A NUTSHELL
Shemini Atzeret
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 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.

V'Zot HaBerachah in a Nutshell
and the Sukkot Torah readings (Deut. 33:1–34:12)

The Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret Torah readings are from Leviticus 22-23, Numbers 29, and Deuteronomy 14-16. These readings detail the laws of the moadim or "appointed times" on the Jewish calendar for festive celebration of our bond with G‑d; including the mitzvot of dwelling in the sukkah (branch-covered hut) and taking the "Four Kinds" on the festival of Sukkot; the offerings brought in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem on Sukkot, and the obligation to journey to the Holy Temple to "to see and be seen before the face of G‑d" on the three annual pilgrimage festivals — Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot.

On Simchat Torah ("Rejoicing of the Torah") we conclude, and begin anew, the annual Torah-reading cycle. First we read the Torah section of Vezot 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.

Vezot 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.




HAFTORAH IN A NUTSHELL
Shemini Atzeret
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."

Simchat Torah
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."






THIS COMING WEEK IN HISTORY
    Wed 



    It is the practice of many communities -- and such is the Chabad custom -- to conduct "hakafot" and dance with the Torah scrolls also on the eve of Shemini Atzeret. (See entry for tomorrow, "Simchat Torah".)

    In today's musaf prayer we begin to insert the phrase mashiv haruach umorid hageshem ("who makes the wind blow and brings down the rain") in our daily prayers (as we'll continue to do through the winter, until the 1st day of Passover). Special hymns on rain and water are added to musaf in honor of the occasion.

    Link: Souls in the Rain

    Yizkor, the remembrance prayer for departed parents, is recited today after the morning reading of the Torah.

    Links:
    The Yizkor Prayer
    Honor Due to Parents
    On Breavement and Mourning

    The festival of Sukkot, commemorating G-d's enveloping protection of the Children of Israel during their 40-year journey through the desert (1313-1273 BCE), is celebrated for seven days, beginning from the eve of Tishrei 15. During this time, we are commanded to "dwell" in a sukkah -- a hut of temporary construction, with a roof covering of raw, unfinished vegetable matter (branches, reeds, bamboo, etc.) -- signifying the temporality and fragily of human habitation and man-made shelter and our utter dependence upon G-d's protection and providence.

    Outside of Israel, we eat in the sukkah an additional day, on the holiday of Shemini Atzeret (see Why are holidays celebrated an extra day in the Diaspora?) The special blessing recitied when eating in the sukkah is not recited today.

    Note: In certain communities it is customary to eat some or all of this day's meals out of the sukkah.

    Links: The Big Sukkah; The Temporary Dwelling; The Easy Mitzvah

    Today is the last day when we eat in the sukkah (although the blessing on the sukkah, recited before eating a meal, is not recited today). Shortly before sunset, many have the custom to enjoy a last snack in the sukkah, thus "bidding the sukkah farewell" until the following year.

    Note: In certain communities it is customary to eat some or all of this day's meals out of the sukkah.







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