Midway Jewish Center
57 Years Going Strong: 1953-2010 !
THE CYBERSHUL

330 South Oyster Bay Road
Syosset, NY 11791
www.mjc.org
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Shabbat	Balak
Parashah	Balak
Secular Date	June 26, 2010
Jewish Date	14 Tammaz 5770
Shabbat Begins	8:03pm
Shabbat Ends	9:13pm
MJCyber Shul Minyan	1435 (nice rise in readers !!)
Last Week’s Minyan	1430
Upcoming Observance	ShiVAH aSAR b’tamMUZ—The Seventeenth of Tammuz—Tuesday, June 29, 2010. On this minor fast day, we remember the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by both the Babylonians (586 BCE) and Rome (70 CE) which lead to the destruction of the beit hamikDASH (the Temple) and Jerusalem itself. In three weeks, we will observe a major fast day, tishAH b’AV or the Ninth of Av, the day commemorating the actual burning and destruction of the beit hamikDASH. On minor fast days, we fast only from sunrise to sunset.

TORAH READING

Balak

Balak, king of Moab, dreaded Israel. He sent two delegations of elders to hire Balaam, a wizard, to curse the Israelites for a handsome reward. God first directs Balaam not to go, but then grants permission on condition that Balaam will speak only the words of God. Balaam sets out on his donkey to perform the evil task. The donkey twice sees an angel of God with a drawn sword and swerves off the road to avoid the adversary. Balaam beats the donkey each time. Seeing the angel a third time, the donkey simply sits down only to suffer a severe beating by Balaam. The donkey then speaks to his infuriated and emotional master, whereupon Balaam, finally, sees the angel too. The angel chastises Balaam for striking the animal and notes that had the donkey advanced further, Balaam would have died by the angel’s sword. The angel permits Balaam to continue but to say only that which God permits. Balak and Balaam meet. Three times, seven bulls and rams are offered to God on seven altars. Each time, when Balaam is ready to curse Israel, he utters only words of blessing. Needless to say, Balak did not pay the wizard for services rendered. Oddly enough, some Israelites fraternized with Moabite women, and ended up worshiping to BA’al PeOR, their god. A plague ravages the Israelite camp. PinHAS, son of ElaZAR, sees an Israelite and Moabite woman come into the camp. He takes a spear and skewers them both. He thus checks the plague, but not before 24,000 die.

A SHABBAT THOUGHT

I’ve lived a long life and seen a lot of hard times …
most of which never happened.

~~ Mark Twain ~~

Do You Want to Help Israel?

Help plan Midway's upcoming Trip to Israel to work with the Israel Defense Forces as a Volunteer for Israel (VFI). We'll plan a trip at a time that is most convenient to those who attend.

Come to an informational meeting on July 15th at 8:20 in the All Purpose Room. VFI's Regional Director will be there and Norm Weingart, Midway's VFI representative, will be there. We'll try to answer all of your questions.

If you can't attend but are interested, contact Norm Weingart at normwein@aol.com for details. You might also wish to check out www.vfiusa. org to see what this is all about.

WEBS OF THE WEEK

Gilad Shalit is a 24 year old Israeli who was abducted and has been held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since June 25, 2006. Let’s send a message of hope to Gilad, and above all, demand that Hamas, in spite of its own moral bankruptcy, give the International Red Cross full access to his whereabouts, allowing it to deliver these letters.

http://images.magnetmail.net/images/clients/AIPAC_RABB/atta ch/FlotillaLetters.pdf

Let’s write to our representatives and remind them that Israel, like any other sovereign state, has the right to interrupt and inspect supply deliveries to its sworn enemies. Since Americans would certainly demand this of our military, we can expect no less of the Israeli military.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=ZprVPKi-W6s

I am Israel—very powerful video on Jewish unity

ARE YOU A POTENTIAL BONE MARROW DONOR? YOU ARE, IF YOU AREN’T ALREADY REGISTERED…

Your bone marrow can save another person’s life—and that’s one huge mitzvah.

We have an opportunity to help a friend of the Conservative Movement, Matt Fenster, who was recently diagnosed with AML, acute myelogenous leukemia. He needs a bone marrow transplant to save his life and we are desperately searching for a marrow match for Matt. Please consider making a contribution to the Matt Fenster Donor Circle to defray the costs of processing donor kits. Each donor kit costs $54 to process. The more kits collected and paid for, the better the chance of finding a match for Matt.

More information about this effort, including how to make a contribution can be found at www.mattfenstercircle.org. If you have already been tested, please consider donating $54 to cover the cost of someone else's test.

For more information or to volunteer to assist with this effort, please contact info@mattfenstercircle.org.

AURAL TORAH

(Sorry, not this week...)

...but check out writings of the rara below
http://writingsoftherara.blogspot.com/

The CyberRav would love you to join the blog and leave a comment… Let’s start talking Torah!

Know This Man ??

It’s Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, a human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) in Geneva, Switzerland. He has practiced commercial and civil rights litigation and is one sharp speaker. Check out this video of Hillel challenging the Security Council of the United Nations—

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhWgZu6tcZU

Honor or Memorialize Loved Ones for a New Lower Price

THIS IS THE CYBERSHUL ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN!!

For a Few Dollars You can Touch Someone in a Beautiful Way
A CyberShul Dedication—Only:

$100

Send your name, location, and a $100 check made payable to:

Midway Jewish Center
330 South Oyster Bay Road
Syosset, NY 11791

Send CyberShul to All Your Friends!

GOTTA QUESTION?
THE CYBER RAV HAS AN ANSWER AND GOOD NEWS--
THE CYBER RAV IS ALWAYS IN
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO rafirank@mjc.org
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DEAR CYBERAV… I’VE GOTTA QUESTION

THE MEANING OF HUMAN LIFE AND CAR INSURANCE

Dear Cyber Rav,

I'm taking an online driver's course to save money on my insurance. Here's a quote I'd like to ask you about: "Although no one would want to hurt an animal, your safety and the safety of others is more important." This statement is not justified in any way, legal or otherwise. I think ultimately it stems from a feeling that humans are more important that other animals (to the point where we don't even consider ourselves animals). The Torah seems to share that view, although there are many cases where animals are given special treatment (such as the interpretation of Deuteronomy 11:15 to mean that we must feed our animals before ourselves). What's your take on it? Is there a universal law that says we are more important than other animals?

The GEICO Gecko

CYBER RAV ANSWERS

Dear Gecko,

What a wonderful question, one that inspires much introspection as we ponder an ultimate reality: who are we? What is a human being anyway?

I think you will find many people distinguishing human beings from animals, as if human beings in some way stand outside the animal kingdom. We can understand why to the extent that human beings have advanced in the arts and sciences in ways that no other animal on earth has. Our abilities in language, reasoning, tool-making, problem-solving, all point to a biological entity that far surpasses the abilities of other animals on earth, as if to say that we are distinct from other animals not merely in degree, but truly in kind.

Of course, science has deflated our exalted position by proving that other animals are not without their communication skills. Whether dealing with dogs, dolphins or chimps, we know that their brains cannot be so easily dismissed as they have been in the past. Our enhanced knowledge base of animal cerebral life ought to substantively change our own view of who these animals really are and the way in which we relate to them. In fact, the Torah has always been a document demanding that we respect animals in ways that perhaps the world around us does not, and so there were restrictions placed on animals working on Shabbat (Exodus 20:10), animals being barred from eating while working the fields (Deuteronomy 25:4), animals of two different strength abilities being harnessed together (Deuteronomy 22:10), and ignoring the plight of lost animals (Deuteronomy 22:3).

There is a hint that the Torah does recognize the animal nature of human kind in the Torah itself. It revolves around the statement God makes just prior to creating the human being. God states: "...Let us make man in our image..." (Genesis 1:26), a fine statement but who is God speaking to? Some say the angels, all well and good except we have not heard about the creation of any angels in this Torah tale. Some say God has employed the royal we, also well and good, but God does not use that kind of royal we anywhere else in the Torah. And finally, some have suggested that God is speaking to the animals for on the sixth day, God created both the animals and human kind. He creates the animals first and then employs the royal we. "Let us make man in our image..." Man will be a little like you (the animals) and a little like me (God). And so there we have a hint that the Torah, at least in one narrative, does not try to divide humanity and animals with an impenetrable wall.

At the same time, the Torah does not place human beings on the same level as animals. We are taught to rule over "the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on the earth" (Genesis 2:28). We are in charge, not them. When we allow animals to rest on Shabbat, it is because we are their masters; they are not masters over us. But our mastery is demonstrated not through cruelty, but through kindness, that is, the ability to treat God's creatures with the dignity a creation of God deserves.

All this is, of course, directly related to reducing your auto insurance premiums by taking an on-line driver's safety course. How so? The statement you quote, "Although no one would want to hurt an animal, your safety and the safety of others is more important," is an eminently reasonable statement. To think that one might brake abruptly for a raccoon crossing the road, risk a rear-end accident in which drivers and passengers in both vehicles are wounded or worst in order to preserve the life of the raccoon is, I believe, a serious confusion of priorities. I don't think we can find a universal law which states that human beings are more important than animals, but we don't need to--this is not about universal law but about values. Think of it in this way-- Is it only selfishness that would move you to save your child as opposed to the skunk crossing the road? I think not. You are not out to run over skunks (and if you are--that is a breach of ethical living), but when it comes down to it, the life of a human being is of eminently greater value than that of the skunk. This is not a law, it's a value. And when someone values the life of a skunk over a human being, that should be a red flag not to be a passenger in a car that person is driving.

Not long ago,. I did have an occasion to ask a group of high schoolers whom they would save if they found their dog and a stranger drowning simultaneously, and was horrified to learn how many would opt for the pet. This, I think, is a sad state of affairs and points to a failure in our educational system. And so, in short, we value the life of human beings much more than the lives of animals, but that gives us no license to abuse or destroy them. To the contrary, we must protect them as the handiwork of God and learn to understand their own unique position in the created cosmos.

I hope the preceding fifteen minutes of Torah study has saved you a lot of hours of pondering the human condition versus that of animals. Hope to see you in shul someday!

Rabbi Rafi Rank
CyberRav

Shabbat Shalom

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