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Yahrtzeiten 120 sg vfrck oburfz Aug 18 • 1 Elul Sadie Rubenfeld – Relative of Susan Barad Perry Kaye – Fathert of Stuart Kaye Aug 19 • 2 Elul Benjamin Epstein – Father of Ruth Jason Ida Hecht – Mother of Larry Hecht Aug 21 • 4 Elul Robin Lewis Lebowitz – Sister of Ron Lebowitz Aug 23 • 6 Elul Max Ponter – Grandfather of Alan Rosenberg Birthdays Aug 19 Aug 23 Aug 25 Anniversaries Shep Scheinberg Stuart Kaye Fran Alpert Aug 15 Donna & Alan Rosenberg (54) jna `skuv ouh Shabbat Kiddush Sponsored by: Mitchell Eil in memory of his father Dr. Harry Eil k”z Maven: Steve Chizzik Assisted by: Sue & Joe Hammerman, Elaine Kamin, Fran Kaufman, Shep & Linda Scheinberg cuy kzn Sponsor a Kiddush Contact Arleen Sivakoff: dsivakoff@aol.com • 239.455.8811 “...rautn vhfnu`u vc ohehzjnk thv ohhj Jg” “She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who hold her tight are happy…” Remember Lunch-N-Learn with Rabbi Chorny life’s Tuesdays joys & celebrations 12:15 P.M. Prov. 3:18 Dedicate new leaves in commemoration of Please contact the Synagogue office or Harvey Rosenthal: HAROSENTHAL80@GMAIL.COM
Torah & Haftarah Readings: Shabbat Re’eh: Deuteronomy 16:18-18:5 (Etz Hayim p. 1088) 1. 16:18-20 2. 16:21-17:7 3. 17:8-10 4. 17:11-13 5. 17:14-17 6. 17:18-20 7. 18:1-5 M. 21:7-9 (p.1106) Haftarah: Isaiah 51:12-52:12 (p. 1108) Torah Commentary D’var Torah: You Ain’t Never Had a Prophet Like Me - Bex Stern-Rosenblatt Moses is unique. We read, at the very end of the Torah, right after the successful transfer of leadership from Moses to Joshua, that Moses is special - “But no prophet again arose in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face-toface,with all the signs and the portents which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and with all the strong hand and with all the great fear that Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.” Moses has a relationship with God that no one else will have and Moses had a job to do, an exodus to lead, that no one else will copy. Our parashah is Moses’s explanation of how we will function without him. He presents to us four overlapping branches of government, four types of leaders - judges, kings, priests, and prophets. Each of these types replaces part of Moses’s role. He is dividing his job up and making it more manageable by hiring more people. This division of labor is very much in line with the sentiment expressed at the end of the Torah - Moses is irreplaceable, it’ll take a whole group of people to do the job he did alone. Yet there is one verse in our parashah that seems to contradict this sentiment. We read, in Deuteronomy 18:15, “A prophet like me from your midst, from your brothers, the LORD will raise up. Him shall you heed.” Moses tells us that God will elevate a prophet like Moses himself. Yet the Torah ends by telling us this never happens. And in our parashah, Moses seems to be making arrangements so that a prophet need never again bear all the responsibilities alone for leading a nation that Moses bore. So what does Moses mean when he says that God will raise up a prophet like him? The context of the quote is Moses trying to explain to us how to recognize a true prophet. He makes clear that prophecy is something different from the abhorrent practices of soothsaying or practicing magic in which the Canaanite nations engage. We are given two signs for how to recognize a true prophet. The first is that a false prophet who pretends to speak in the name of God will die, although we are not given a timeframe for this prophet’s death. The second sign is that the things that a true prophet of God prophesizes will come true, while those of a false prophet will not. With this as context, Moses perhaps is explaining his own death and his own loyalty. Moses did in fact act as a prophet in a manner that was not sanctioned
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Bulletin SHOFTIM

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