Emmanuel's Email : Shabbos Tzetl: Ki Tavo & Selichot

Thursday 26 August 2021

Shabbos Tzetl: Ki Tavo & Selichot

CANDLE LIGHTING

5:37pm - Candle Lighting, Friday.

6:35pm - Havdalah, Saturday.

(Melbourne Australia)

Eruv Status: TBA

Shabbat Shalom!

Selichot

The series of Selichot ("supplication") prayers recited in preparation for the "Days of Awe" of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur begin this Saturday night, after midnight (after the Ashkenazic custom; the Sephardic community begins on the 1st of Elul). On subsequent days, the custom is to recite the Selichot in the early morning hours, before the morning prayers, each morning up to and including Elul 29, the eve of Rosh Hashanah.

Please click here to view the Yeshivah Shule Tzetel for Shabbos Parshas Ki Savo.
Please click here to view the PDFs of the Weekly Publications distributed in Shule each Shabbos.

PARSHAH IN A NUTSHELL

Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8

Moses instructs the people of Israel: When you enter the land that G‑d is giving to you as your eternal heritage, and you settle it and cultivate it, bring the first-ripened fruits (bikkurim) of your orchard to the Holy Temple, and declare your gratitude for all that G‑d has done for you.

Our Parshah also includes the laws of the tithes given to the Levites and to the poor, and detailed instructions on how to proclaim the blessings and the curses on Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival—as discussed in the beginning of the Parshah of Re'eh. Moses reminds the people that they are G‑d's chosen people, and that they, in turn, have chosen G‑d.

The latter part of Ki Tavo consists of the Tochachah ("Rebuke"). After listing the blessings with which G‑d will reward the people when they follow the laws of the Torah, Moses gives a long, harsh account of the bad things—illness, famine, poverty and exile—that shall befall them if they abandon G‑d's commandments.

Moses concludes by telling the people that only today, forty years after their birth as a people, have they attained "a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear."

HAFTORAH IN A NUTSHELL

Isaiah 60:1-22

This week's haftorah is the sixth of a series of seven "Haftarot of Consolation." These seven haftarot commence on the Shabbat following Tisha b'Av and continue until Rosh Hashanah.

In glowing terms the prophet recounts descriptions of what will unfold during the Redemption. Beginning with the resurrection of the dead and the ingathering of the exiles, continuing with the joy and abundance the Jewish people will then experience, as well as the gifts that will be brought to G‑d from all of the nations of the world.

Finally, the Jewish nation will no longer be despised and derided, there will no longer be violence nor mourning, and G‑d will shine His everlasting light on His people.

SAGES ON THE PARSHAH
131670.pdf

You shall take of the first of all the fruit of the land . . . (Deuteronomy 26:2)
Everything that is for the sake of G‑d should be of the best and most beautiful. When one builds a house of prayer, it should be more beautiful than his own dwelling. When one feeds the hungry, he should feed him of the best and sweetest of his table. When one clothes the naked, he should clothe him with the finest of his clothes. Whenever one designates something for a holy purpose, he should sanctify the finest of his possessions, as it is written (Leviticus 3:16), "The choicest to G‑d."
(Maimonides)
The rule "the choicest to G‑d," applies in all areas of life. If the school day must include both sacred and secular studies, the former should be scheduled for the morning hours, when the mind is at its freshest and most receptive. If one's talents are to be divided between two occupations, one whose primary function is to pay the bills and a second which benefits his fellow man, he should devote his keenest abilities to the latter.
In devoting the "first-ripened fruits" of his life to G‑d, a person in effect is saying: "Here lies the focus of my existence. Quantitatively, this may represent but a small part of what I am and have; but the purpose of everything else I do and possess is to enable this percentile of spirit to rise above my matter-clogged life."
(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)