Edmond J. Safra & Joseph S. Jemal Synagogues
Turnberry Village & Porto Vita Minyan
*Remember to sell your Hamess before Pesah*
Weekday Prayer Schedule
Shahrit
Sunday Gemara Megillah Class 7:00 am followed by prayers 8:00 and breakfast (wiht Hok Le'Yisrael class)
Monday & Thursday 6:50 am
Tuesday, Wed, & Friday 7:00 am
Followed by breakfast & class
Minha & Arbit:
Sunday through Thursday - 7:00 pm
Shabbat Prayer & Class Schedule
Shabbat Messora - Shabbat Hagadol
Friday, April 12th Deal Turnberry Village
Shir Hashirim & Minha 6:45 pm 6:45 pm
Candle Lighting 7:13 pm 7:24 pm
Shabbat April 13th
Shahrit 8:30 am 7:45 am
Rabbi’s Class 5:50 pm 6:05 pm
Minha followed by Seuda Shelisheet 6:50 pm 7:05 pm
Arbit 7:50 pm 8:05 pm
Shabbat Ends 8:12 pm 8:24 pm
Shabbat Messora
Cutting to the Core
Parshat Metzora describes the consequences of negative speech, loshon hara.
"Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me." Whoever made that one up is either naive or deaf. While we might tell our children not to be bothered, the reality is that words hurt a great deal more than sticks and stones. The pain caused by sticks and stones is temporary; the pain caused by words can be eternal.
When someone hits you, it is a very crude and superficial expression of contempt for your humanity. Words, however, can express that contempt infinitely more eloquently and thus penetrate much deeper. When you talk badly about another person, it can be much more personal and biting, and cut to the core of his individuality. Ouch.
Beyond this, Our Rabbis say that whoever speaks loshon hara denies G-d Himself. It is, to be sure, an indefensible action to talk badly about a fellow human being, but to say that one who does so denies G-d seems a little harsh. Here is an explanation that I once heard from one of my students.
Every human being is made in the image of the G-d. No one of us is inherently any more or less G-dly than anyone else. - The question is only whether we will act in a G-dly fashion or not. The Jewish concept is that although a person may 'do' bad, his or her essence 'is' still good. When one recognizes this, one is able to appreciate the goodness, the greatness and almost unlimited potential of those around us.
At the same time, all of us G-dly human beings make mistakes. Yes, we are G-d-ly, but we are not G-d. And only G-d is perfect.
When one speaks loshon hara, one is focusing on the bad that people do. G-d created a world of G-dly and elevated souls and we, in our minds and with our words, turn it into a world of small and petty people. We are looking at G-d's most precious creation, a human being, created in his image, and not even noticing that goodness.
If we wish to see G-d in those around us, He is always there to be seen. But equally, if we want to ignore G-d, we will see the bad and end up speaking loshon hara.
When one puts it into that perspective, it becomes obvious why there are few things in Judaism that are considered worse than talking badly about another person. Next time you are tempted to do so, take a moment to consider how unbecoming it is for a dignified soul to stoop to such depths. It simply doesn't pay.
Shabbat Shalom!