Candle Lighting: 7:49 pmHavdalah: 8:57 pm

SHABBAT WORKSParashat Shelach Lekha

SHABBATService Schedule

SATURDAY MORNING9:00 AM Birkot HaShachar Early Morning Blessings9:10 AM - Rabbi Finley’s 9:30 AM Morning Study Session Doors Close (no wandering in and out)9:45 AM Morning Prayer Service Doors remain open for the remainder of the morning10:30 AM Amidah The Standing Prayer10:45 AM Torah Service11:15 AM - Rabbi Finley’s 11:45 AM Torah Study12:00 PM Concluding Prayers12:15 PM Kiddush, HaMotsi12:30 PM Lunch1:00 PM Lunch then Learn

Teachings Led by Rabbi Mordecai Finley

Community Hazan Jacob KantorVocal Accompaniment Belinda LamsCommunity Torah Readers Rabbi Mordecai Finley

Julie GiuffridaRebecca Pidgeon

Community Gabbai’im Joshua AbarbanelCurt Biren

David Dressler Julie Giuffrida

Pianist Arie SalmaPercussion & Keyboard Jeff LamsAccordionist Art Shane

Friday night June 16 - Saturday June 17 2017

23 Sivan 5777

PARASHAT HASHAVUA

Parashat shelach lekha Numbers 13:1 - 15:41

(pp 358-367 in the Stone Tanakh)

haftarah:Joshua 2:1 - 24

(pp. 518- 523 in theStone Tanakh)

FOR OUR MEMBERS AND GUESTS

MINHAG HAMAKOM*ATTIREMen and boys must wear kippot/yarmulkes while attending Ohr HaTorah.

Please dress up a little to respect and honor the Sabbath (no blue jeans, t-shirts, flip-flops, shorts, cut-offs, immodest dress, etc.)

ELECTRONICSCell phones, pagers, cameras, and other electronics must remain off in the sanctuary. If you must make or receive a call, find a private place.

YOUNG CHILDRENAll parents with infants are kindly requested to leave the service when their child needs immediate attention. We ask that parents with young children sit in the back rows to help minimize any disruption to the service.

MORNING STUDY SESSIONThe Morning Study Session (9:10-9:40AM) is part of the Adult Education Program at Ohr HaTorah. It is open to members, prospective members and visitors for their first few times at Ohr HaTorah. If you are a visitor or prospective member, please sign in on the guest sign-in sheet at the front table in the lobby.

Rabbi Finley’s Morning Study Session begins at 9:10 AM sharp. Please arrive early enough to be seated when study begins.

Doors close at the beginning of Rabbi’s 9:10 AM study session, so that people do not continuously walk into the sessions the Rabbi is teaching. Anyone leaving the session will not be readmitted until the study session is completed.

Doors reopen after the study session and remain open through the rest of the morning.

Those entering during the Rabbi’s Torah study (approximately 11:15-11:45AM) should be seated in the back, and not seek a seat in the front of the sanctuary.

*THE LOCAL CUSTOM(FOR SHABBAT)

Synopsis of the Torah PortionNumbers 13:1 -- 15:41

Parashat

Note: In last week’s Torah portion we learned that the Israelites left Mt. Sinai on the 20th of Iyar (this year falling on May 16th). According to tradition, we arrived at the borders of Canaan and sent out the spies at the beginning of Tammuz. They toured the land for forty days, and arrived back on the 9th of Av (August 1st this year).

1. God tells Moshe to send out spies to scout out the land. The names of the spies and Moshe’s detailed instructions to them are recorded.2. The journey of the spies and their report back to the people -- interjecting their own judgments. The Israelites begin to panic -- they want to return to the good old days of Egypt. Caleb and Joshua try to reason with them. The people threaten to stone Caleb and Joshua to death. 3. God threatens to strike the people -- Moshe pleads with God to forgive. God decrees that this generation will be desert shepherds, for a total of forty years from the time that they left Egypt.4. A breakaway group tries to invade the land -- the attempt fails.5. Laws of sacrifices and meal offerings; the hallah/dough offering. Atonement rituals.6. The man picking up sticks on Shabbat; he is arrested and put to death.7. The mitzvah of tzitzit.

Synopsis of HaftarahJoshua 2:1 -- 24

The prophetic portion tells of the spies sent out by Joshua, the successor of Moshe, to spy out the land, nearly forty years after the events in our parashah took place. The spies go to Jericho and are protected and hidden by Rahab the innkeeper. They promise to spare her and her family from harm once the invasion takes place.

Shelach Lekha

No Alternative Rabbi Mordecai Finley

All Ohr HaTorah regulars know about my little bit of a trick question: “How long did it take the Israelites to get from Mt. Sinai to the land of Canaan?” The uninitiated almost always say, “Forty years.” This incorrect answer is based on a mistranslation of Numbers 14:33. The Israelites had rebelled against Moses when they were faced with the prospect of fighting their way back into their homeland. A band of rabble-rousers rooted for going back to Egypt, and the people by and large fell for the distraction. These demagogues and those who fell under their sway did not realize that going back to Egypt was not an option. The punishment for rebellion? In Numbers 14:33 we are told, “Your children (i.e., of the rebellious people) shall be shepherds in the desert for 40 years, and they shall bear (the guilt of) your straying, until the last of your carcasses (fall) in the desert.” Hard stuff. The children will not enter the land until the last of their parent mutineers had died.But where did this rebellion happen? On the borders of the land of Canaan. The promised land was just over the horizon. The Israelites had already arrived, had already made the journey from Mt. Sinai to Canaan. The Israelites had left Mt. Sinai on the 20th day of the second month (roughly May 20th), as we were told in last week’s Torah portion. They arrived at the first harvest of the grapes – early August. The journey took about six to eight weeks. That’s it, six to eight weeks. Where did the “40 year” misconception come from? Many Bibles mistranslate Number 14:33, and render “desert shepherds” (ro’im bamidbar) as “desert wanderers.” I can find no Bible dictionary that translates ro’eh as “wanderer” – the word simply means “shepherd.” This mistake goes back to the King James translation, and continues thereon. Aside from this being a great trivia question, what is the lesson of all this? Very simple: we were not in the desert for 40 years because we lacked directions, we were in the desert for 40 years because we lacked inner direction. We lacked courage. This idea, “courage,” is a tough one. I actually like the saying, “the better part of valor is discretion,” spoken by the character Sir John Falstaff in Act 5, Scene 4 of Shakespeare’s Henry the 4th, Part One. As with many of Shakespeare’s most famous sayings, the line is said in great irony. The corrupt and dishonest “false staff” has acted with great cowardice, and then justifies this cowardice with this often quoted saying. Does the fact that the origin of the saying is being said by such a duplicitous man diminish the power of this epigram? To think so commits what is called the “genetic fallacy,” the concept that the worth of an idea depends on who said it. This fallacy is discussed in Morris Cohen and Ernest Nagel’s book, Logic and the Scientific Method (1934). Even though it is fallacious to doubt the idea that “the better part of valor is discretion” because Shakespeare wrote it to be spoken by a notable scoundrel, I trust the profound wisdom of Shakespeare to at least pause a moment. As I have counseled people through the years, I have heard vast and complex presentations of discretion, the whole point of which was to avoid being courageous. I much prefer a person who can say, “I have a completely irrational fear of doing that” as opposed to the person who rationalizes away their fear as actually being the virtue of discretion. Much of the time, courage is an instinct to act, to do the righteous thing in spite of great risk. For others, courage is discovered through a careful process of thought, where one weighs all of the alternatives and arrives at the most righteous one, the act that creates the most good, all things considered. Every path we take includes a path not taken. Everything we do has a cost. As a person considers an act, and whittles things down to their basic alternatives, one often discovers resistance to doing the righteous thing. Sometimes what we discover is just weakness – a given action is easier or more immediately gratifying that another act. We discover that we need strength. Other times, though, as we consider an action, we discover not weakness in face of the temptation to take the easier route, but fear. If we do a certain thing, we are risking. The “discretion” part of valor is asking: is this course of action truly worth it, is it righteous?One might say that the greater part of the courage that comes from deliberation – as opposed to the courage that comes more spontaneously and instinctively - is honesty. Discretion perhaps talks you out of a courageous deed, but honesty might talk you into it. Deep, searching honesty might guide you into doing something that involves the possibility of pain or harm, but the act must be done. Honesty sometimes leads to the fact that, in some existential way, there just is no alternative.

BOARD OF DIRECTORSPresidentRabbi Mordecai Finley, Co-CEOrabbifinley@ohrhatorah.orgVice-President, SecretaryMeirav Finley, Co-CEOMeirav@ohrhatorah.orgSecond Vice-PresidentEndre Balogh, Legal Liaisonendrebalogh@ohrhatorah.orgTreasurerPamela MahoneyPam@ohrhatorah.org Director at LargeHelana BarryHelana@ohrhatorah.org

OFFICERS OF THE CONGREGATIONAL COUNCILJosh Abarbanel, Gabbai, Religious Service LeaderStacey Abarbanel, Officer at Large Alex Abramovici, Officer at LargePam Abramovici, Officer at LargeEndre Balogh, Community Photographer, Music CommitteeAdela Barnett, Officer at LargeCurt Biren, Gabbai, Religious Service LeaderEmily Blakeney, Preschool Parent Committee Chair, Fundraising EventsShia Blakeney, Rabbinic Intern Paul Brooks, Men’s Group Co-ChairMalcolm Brown, Officer at LargeBella Cohen, Early Childhood Committee, Sophos CafeNeisha Cohen, MembershipDavid Dressler, GabbaiRandi Dressler, Fundraising EventsTamara Effron, Religious SchoolJanet Ehrenberg, Community OutreachMatt Ehrenberg, Community PhotographerKaren Feldman, G’milut Chassadim, Membership ChairpersonDaniel Frohlich, Officer at Large Louise Kotze Frohlich, Officer at Large Audrey Giuffrida, AdministrationJulie Giuffrida, Sophos Cafe, Programming, Publications

Noam Gonen, TechnologyStephen Grynberg, Community OutreachDavid Guth, MembershipJacob Kantor, Cantorial Leader, Music CommitteeJulia Kantor, Officer at Large Larry Klein, Music CommitteeBelinda Lams, Music Committee, Sophos CafeJeff Lams, Sound Engineering, Music CommitteeJeff Linnetz, HHD CommitteeStephen Macht, G’milut Chassadim CommitteeDavid Mamet, Building CommitteeSheri Manning, Officer at Large Debra McGuire, Fundraising EventsGene Miller, Music CommitteeSusan Miller, Music CommitteeAnna Rose Moore, Cantorial Committee Masoud Moradzadeh, Fundraising Events, Religious Service CommitteeArlene Nelson, Sophos Cafe David Nelson, Sophos CafeIlbert Phillips, Men’s Group Co-ChairMelinda Rosenthal, G’milut Chassadim CommitteeArie Salma, Music Committee, Web DesignArlene Sarner, Gala CommitteeArthur Shane, Music CommitteeLoriAnne Shane, Officer at Large Rina Shapira, Officer at Large Andrea Spector, Officer at LargeRoss St. Phillip, Officer at LargeRobb Strom, Legal CounselYolanda Strom, Membership Outreach, Fundraising EventsSonya Sultan, JWWJodi Swartz, Officer at LargeEric Taub, Technology Committee Anna Turco, Special MembershipKathy Wisnicki, Officer at Large Colette Yosef, Early Childhood Committee, Sophos Cafe

The Ohr HaTorah staff is available to assist you during normal office hours: Mon. - Fri. 9am - 4pm

11827 Venice BlVd. los angeles, ca 90066 phone: (310) 915-5200 Fax: (310) 915-5792

email: info@ohrhatorah.org

Please Note: All materials for the Weekly Update, as well as flyers for Shabbat, must be in the OHT office no later than the end of business hours the preceding Monday!

COMMUNITY

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Saturday, June 17 LunchThenLearn,1PM SophosClosedWednesday, June 21 WeeklyWisdomSeminar,1PMMonday, July 03 KinderCircleSummerCampBegins

Want more information? Visit www.thehubonvenice.com

Mazal Tov...Agnes Chouchan & Martin Berman on their daughter,

Fifi, being called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, June 03.

continued from page 3The Israelites, as they considered fighting their way back home, used great discretion. The enemy was too great, the land too poor, and Egypt, upon careful reflection, was actually not all that bad. Spoken like Falstaff. Joshua and Caleb realized something very simple. At the most basic level, there was no alternative. The true deed must be done. It might involve risk and loss, and maybe death. So be it. This kind of courage is the resolute will to do the most true thing. Maybe in most day-to-day things, discretion is the greater part of valor. There are times, though, when the greater part of valor is just valor.

Our Condolences ...to the family of Nigel Grainge who passed away on

Sunday, June 11.