Re’eh (Behold) Deut 11

Torah Portion: Re’eh (Behold, See) Deut. 11:26-16:17

HafTorah: Isaiah 54:11-55:5

I would like to start by looking at the Torah section first. I would like to look at it in what it says about worship. In Hebrew the word for worship and work has the same root. What could they have in common? Worship is not something that we sit back and let someone do for us. We must be active participants. It requires effort from us and it must be acceptable.

Sh’mini (The Eighth)

Sh’mini (The Eighth) Leviticus 9:1-11:47 and II Samuel 6:1-7:17

I would like us to look first at II Samuel and then move to the Torah portion for tonight. First a touch of background: the Philistines had captured the ark from Israel in battle and took it to their territory. However, pretty quickly they saw that was not working out for them so they took it from Gath and returned it to Beith Shemesh. In I Samuel 6:19 it tells us the people of Beth Shemesh opened the ark and because of that 50,070 people died. Then they sent it on to Kirjath Jearim where it stayed in the house of Abinadab for twenty years.