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✡︎ Shalom and Good Shabbos, Friends ✡︎
Our Torah portion this week, Vayakhel, Shemot (Exodus)
35:1–38:20, illustrates how to apply God's word in human action. The manual skills and hard physical labor needed to construct the Tabernacle are described in great detail, and these activities are prohibited on the Sabbath.
In modern times, opinions vary as to what constitutes Sabbath observance. Current day guidelines suggested by some rabbinic authorities resemble the restrictions originally enumerated in the 39 Melachot, the thirty-nine general categories of labor that are forbidden on Shabbat according to our Torah portion.
We need physical rest and spiritual renewal after six days of demanding work. Resting for a day to focus on studying Torah and reconnecting with family and friends heals us and makes life sweet. The quietness and lack of busy activity imposed by a power outage can be practiced voluntarily to some degree as a way to humble ourselves and respect God's word.
Sabbath observance differs according to circumstance. For example, activities required to care for children, the elderly and the sick are allowed. Relevant also is the Jewish legal principle of pikuach nefesh, that all life is special and belongs to God and that the preservation of human life overrides any other religious rule of Judaism, including Sabbath restrictions. Talmudic opinions give special emphasis to saving the life of an unborn child on the Sabbath by caring for a pregnant woman or even attempting to deliver a live baby whose mother has just died in childbirth.
The child in the womb is alive and so pikuach nefesh applies to protecting pre-born humans from destruction. I refer you to several sources below.
Isaiah 49:1
"The Lord called me when I was in the womb, before my birth He had pronounced my name.”
The Fetus is Taught the Entire Torah in the Womb
https://www.sefaria.org/Niddah.30b.21?
Judaism Is Emphatically 'Pro-Life' | Opinion by Rabbi Yaakov Menken
As lifesaving activity is the only situation in which a Sabbath violation is permitted; were a fetus not deemed alive by the Torah, this behavior would be entirely prohibited.
https://www.newsweek.com/judaism-emphatically-pro-life-opinion-1514868?
Scientific Fact: Human Life Begins at Conception, or
Fertilization https://www.lifenews.com/2013/11/18/undisputed-scientific-fact-human-life-begins-at-conception-or-fertilization/
Science in the Service of Halacha
Rav Tendler explains the importance of teaching science, and how Torah and Halacha cannot be fully understood without a grasp on the workings of the world around us. https://download.yutorah.org/2010/3728/742002/science-in-the-service-of-halacha.mp3
or https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/742002/ wait for download.
If you speak conversational Hebrew and would like to volunteer to take outreach calls for our Israel Pro-Life Education Project, please let us know!
All of our memes, power point slides, etc. are now available to view, download and share from photo albums. Visit https://jewishprolifefoundation.com/memes-to-share
Thank you for reading and sharing this newsletter and welcome to our new subscribers and donors.
Cecily
May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.
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