Under our roof: a monthly lunch and lecture

Beit Knesset Hanassi is a hive of activity. Apart from its regular tefillot and shiurim, the shul is host to various activities that originate outside the shul but involve some of its members.  One of rhese is the men’s Rosh Chodesh Club which, unsurprisingly, meets almost every month, either on Rosh Chodesh itself or as close as possible to it. 

This Club offers two attractions: a generously-filled bagel (plus extras) supplied by Holy Bagel and a presentation by an outside speaker.  The range of speakers is wide: over the years the Club has platformed scholars, diplomats, politicians, journalists, researchers and rabbis.  Once they have finished speaking, they are tested by a barrage of often penetrating questions from the appreciative audience. The event closes with birchat hamazon and minchah.

Last Thursday's Rosh Chodesh Club meeting featured a talk by Yaakov Lappin, a military and strategic analyst and research fellow at the Begin Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University.  Our member Chaim Sharman, who was there, summarized the talk neatly, recalling that the speaker had two fundamental messages to convey. The first was that Israel should look to the long term rather than focusing on short-term solutions; the second was that our leaders should never underestimate the capabilities of our enemies.

As an aside, the prudent policy of looking to the long term is in accordance with the advice of Rabbi Shimon ben Netanel (Avot 2:13) that one should try to look ahead and identify the consequences of one’s actions. Never underestimating others is part and parcel of another mishnah in Avot (4:3) in which Ben Azzai cautions us to do just that since “there is no man who does not have his hour”.