Heaven and Earth, the eternal witnesses: Haazinu 5785

This week’s parsha outlines the special nature of Jewish history and all its events. Ramban, in the 13th century, comments that anyone who can, so many centuries earlier, accurately foretell the subsequent fate of a people must be an exceptional prophet. Moshe certainly fits that description since he passes this test: the parsha of Haazinu provides the proof. Now, more than 750 years after Ramban, we can add nothing to his words.

The rabbis of the Talmud ascribed the crown of wisdom to the one who has a vision of the future. Even though Moshe is the greatest of all prophets, his title amongst the Jewish people is “Moshe the teacher”. This indicates that he was able to translate both his wisdom and his knowledge into an ability to view the future.

In this week’s parsha Moshe lays down the basic template for Jewish history throughout the ages: the struggle to remain Jewish and not succumb to the blandishments of current cultures and beliefs, the illogical and almost pathological enmity of the world to Judaism and the Jewish people, the awful price paid by Jews throughout history and the eventual realization by Jews, and the non-Jewish world as well, that God guides us, as he has always done, through the passage of our lives. We may never know the precise particulars of our future but, if we want to know what lies ahead, we have only to read and study Moshe’s words. Given their remarkable prophetic force, it is no wonder that our children would traditionally commit this parsha to memory, for within it is recorded the entire essence of Jewish history.

Moshe calls heaven and earth as witnesses to the covenant and the historical fate of his people. Rashi explains that not only are they honest and objective witnesses but, most importantly, they are eternal, in contrast with human witnesses who, being mortal, will die. Later generations will not be able to hear their testimony and, even though current video technology seeks to correct this deficiency, much of the personal nuance and force which colors all human testimony is lost.

So we rely on heaven and earth to reinforce our belief and commitment to the eternal covenant. The very wonders and mysteries of nature point to the Creator. All human history rises to testify to the uniqueness of the Jewish story and the special role that wehave played, and continue to play, in human events. Much of the testimony of these two witnesses is frightening and worrisome—but it is even more frightening to be unaware of our past, and therefore of our course for the future. We should listen carefully to the parsha. It has much to teach us about our world and ourselves.

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein         

Mizmor LeDavid -- a psalm of thanksgiving

It has been a hard year for us all -- but we all respond to the problems and pressures of the moment in different ways. Our esteemed member Max Stern, a leading light among modern Israeli composers, has responded creatively. He writes:

“In these troubled times I managed to record this song that David wrote when he brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (with almost the original instruments).

 וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִיד, לְשָׂרֵי הַלְוִיִּם, לְהַעֲמִיד אֶת-אֲחֵיהֶם הַמְשֹׁרְרִים, בִּכְלֵי-שִׁיר נְבָלִים וְכִנֹּרוֹת וּמְצִלְתָּיִם--מַשְׁמִיעִים לְהָרִים-בְּקוֹל, לְשִׂמְחָה

May it bring us a blessing in our days as well.”

We asked Max what inspired him and where his idea came from. He told us this:

"I got the idea to set this to music from reading this commentary:

This Song of Thanksgiving was written by King David for Asaph and his brother Levites following the celebrations in bringing the Holy Ark to Jerusalem (1 Chr. 15). It was sung in the Tabernacle which David erected as accompaniment to the daily sacrifices: the first 15 verses (1 Chr. 16:1-15) during the tamid-offering in the morning service, and the last 14 verses (1Chr. 16:23-36) during the mincha-tamid-offering in the afternoon. It continued to be sung for 43 years until Solomon inaugurated the Temple. They were later incorporated into liturgy, as pesukei d’zimra (verses of praise) in the daily morning service of the synagogue.

I then read the passage from 1 Chronicles which gives the instruments he used:

16 And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy.

Because I didn't have a Levitical choir or harps to work with I substituted them with local singers and piano. But this could be done with many harps & trumpets and a 2-part choir as well. Maybe someday..."

You can enjoy Max’s song on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNL9tAfO4iQ

Confusing the satan

Have you ever wondered about our shofar-blowing in the month of Elul? Why do we blow and blow, day after day--but fail to do so on the very last day before Rosh Hashanah? What does this have to with the satan? How can he be confused as to when Rosh Hashanah starts? And why can't he remember from year to year how we annually confuse him? If you find all this puzzling, we're here to enlighten you. 

Last Wednesday Rabbi Joel Kenigsberg took over the f ourth and final slot in the OU's Beit Midrash Rechavia program and gave a stunning shiur with the tantalising title "Confusing the Satan". Reviewing a wide spread of sources, he laid this topic open for all to enjoy.  This blogpost offers no plot-spoilers, so if you want to know the real story behind the satan and his confusion, just follow this YouTube link.

Renewing the covenant: Nitzavim-Vayelech 5784

This week’s Torah reading provides a fitting conclusion to the year. At the end of his long life and after decades of service to the Jewish people, Moshe renews the covenant between God and the people of Israel. Addressing the new generation of Jews standing before him, Jews who were neither part of the Egypt experience nor present at the moment of revelation at Sinai, Moshe make it clear that the original covenant between God and the Jewish people remains in force. Not only that, but it will continue to be so throughout the Jewish future. This covenant cannot be repealed, altered or ignored: it is the basis for all Jewish life, the leitmotif of all Jewish history. Moshe concedes that there will be times and events and occurrences in the story of the Jewish people that will seem cruel, inexplicable and irrational. As he phrases it, there will be many “hidden, mysterious” events ahead of them.

Moshe offers no easy explanation for those events except to say that they are somehow related to the attempts of sections of the Jewish people to annul the covenant—and to the consequences of those attempts. The “hidden” part of the covenant belongs to God but its revealed part—the obligations of Torah commandments and Jewish life—belongs to the Jewish people and is relevant in every generation and locale. The Jewish people and the Jewish State will always be judged through their commitment to this eternal pact, the existence of which has caused us much pain and angst throughout the centuries. The other nations of the world harbor resentment against us because of the uniqueness of our relationship to the Creator, which this covenant exemplifies. Many Jewish thinkers have attributed anti-Semitism, both in its virulent or more benign forms, to a jealousy over the existence of God’s pact with the Jewish people.  

The covenant has remained the rock of Jewish identity throughout the ages. Just the knowledge of its existence has created a stubborn Jewish people which possesses a resolve to maintain its faith and lifestyle though a very small minority in a world of many billions. The Torah details its terms and conditions, and its study helps formulate the life that Jews are expected to live. That is why the Torah demands that we study and are aware of these terms morning and night, whether traveling or at home, in all times and places. 

There were, and unfortunately still are, those amongst us who wish to discard the covenant and its obligations and merely to blend in with the surrounding society. The Lord, so to speak, has warned us many times that He would not allow this to occur. All Jewish history teaches us regarding its strength and eternity. In the year that is now dawning, we should all resolutely renew the covenant in our hearts, minds and actions, in order to be blessed with a year of health, success and peace. 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein

Emunah and Bitachon in times of crisis

An audience of nearly 60 people came to Beit Knesset Hanassi last night to hear what Tziva Mor (right) had to say about the Tikva Forum -- a band of families of hostages who maintain that, whatever the personal cost to themselves and their loved ones, the interests of the State of Israel come first. 

Tzvika's son Eitan, who was guarding the Nova Festival, was captured by Hamas on 7 October. The eldest of eight siblings, he was only 23 at the time and the family have heard no news of him since March. Tzvika spoke movingly and eloquently about the impact Eitan's absence has had on the family, and of their collective decision to be brave for his sake, knowing that he would not want to be a bargaining chip in a Shalit-style exchange deal.

The Tikva Forum, Tzvika explained, represents around one-third of the hostage families. Of the rest, approximately one-third are pressing the government vociferously to bring back the hostages at any price. The rest are silent, do not make their views known and do not greatly engage with the rest.

Tzvika cited references in Tanach to no fewer than nine instances of hostage-taking, pointing out that in none of these cases did the innocent party indulge in negotiations. This showed, he argued, that the right path is through victory over the forces of evil, not entering into discussion with them. The correct path, therefore, is to refuse to have to do anything with our enemies and to stand up to them wherever necessary.

The talk concluded with a question-and-answer session in which several members of the audience were asking what they could do for the hostage families and how they could offer support, financial or otherwise, to the Tikva Forum. Tzvika confessed that he had nothing to do with the fund-raising side of things: it simply wasn't in his mission statement. He did however urge anyone who was interested to take to the social media and spread the word.

All in all, the evening was informative, educational, stimulating and well worth the effort that went into putting it on. 

Beit Knesset Hanassi thanks the Iriyah, Yerushalayim, for its support for this event.

Living in turbulent times

At the invitation of the Women's League, Rebbetzin Sori Teitelbaum (right) gave the pre-Rosh Hashana shiur to the ladies this morning at Beit Knesset Hanassi. Having prefaced her shiur with two perakim of Tehillim, she went on to give us a thoughtful message to help us prepare for the upcoming Yamim Noraim.

Speaking about living in turbulent times of terror and increased antisemitism, the Rebbetzin explained how it affects our faith and religious practice. We live, she said, in a time when we need to recognize our flaws and remember that, as humans, we are not perfect and still need to strive to become better.

Rebbetzin Teitelbaum then cited parshat Bereishit, going day by day through the world’s creation in order to highlight the middot of Hashem that are reflected in two of his names, as the God of Justice and the God of Mercy. Enriching her points with anecdotes from Pinchas Wallerstein and others, she observed that on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur the 13 middot of Hashem are repeated on many occasions—a clear signal to us of how central the middot are to these awesome days.

The Rebbetzin’s main message was that we should learn that, as humans, we need to make allowances for our frailties. We must work on fixing ourselves and not others. We need to look into our own souls and to be the best person that we can be. Only we can do this because it is only ourselves, as individuals, who can stop ourselves from changing.

Thank you, Kathy Wallach, for providing this note—and thank you, Ann  Rosman, for your photos.

Further thanks to Rebbetzin Sori for letting us have this link to her inspiring words (leave time to enjoy it: it's just under 38 minutes long).

Jewish history in just two scenarios: Ki Tavo 5784

This week’s parsha reflects the whole of Jewish history in two relatively short scenarios. The opening section describes a promise: the Jewish people will enter the Land of Israel, settle there. develop the country, build the Temple and express their gratitude to God for the blessings that He has bestowed upon them. They will harvest bountiful crops and commemorate these achievements by bringing the first fruits of their labor as a thanksgiving offering to the Temple and the priests of the time. They will then recite a short statement of Jewish history, a synopsis of events that led from the time of the patriarchs until their own time.

 In the first scenario the Torah promises blessings and serenity to the people of Israel. Though it does not minimize the toil and travail that led to the moment when these offerings arrived in the Temple, it does convey a sense of satisfaction and achievement, of  gratitude and appreciation, for the accomplishments of the Jewish people, individually and nationally, regarding the Land of Israel and its bounty.

When a spirit of wondrous gratitude marks the accomplishments of the individual farmer and of the people generally in settling and developing the Land of Israel, the set text that accompanies this offering has little room for hubris and self-aggrandizement. Rather, its wording highlights the relationship between God, the Land and the people of Israel.

The second scenario in the parsha is far more somber and even frightening. It describes the events, travail and persecution that will visit the Jewish people over the long millennia of its exile. In vivid detail, the Torah describes the horrors, defeats and destruction that this exile will inflict. In our generation, tragic evidence of this portion of the Torah reading can actually be seen on film and in museums.

We are witness to the fact that not one word of the Torah’s description of dark future events was an exaggeration or hyperbole. This period of trouble and exile lasted far longer than the initial scenario of the offering of the first fruit in the Temple. And, unfortunately, the residue of this second scenario is still with us and within us as we live in a world that manifests its hostility towards the Jews.

Be that as it may, we should still be heartened by the concluding words of this parsha, which promises that it will be the first of our two scenarios that will eventually prevail. Even though so much of the negative is still with us, we must be grateful for our restoration to sovereignty, for dominion over our own homeland and for the bounty of the land that we currently enjoy.

All of this is a symbol of the beginning of the resurrection of the first scenario and the diminution of the effect of the second. May we all be wise enough to realize this and adjust our attitudes and actions accordingly.

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein

BKH goes to Habayta

Habayta is an organization for new and old immigrants alike.  In terms of Jewish and Israeli identity, Habayta seeks to create a broad and spectacular social mosaic. In doing so, it strives to create a meaningful community experience for olim that will strengthen their sense of identity and belonging, shedding light on their path to becoming part of the Israeli story while still preserving their own unique cultural voice.

Last week Beit Knesset Hanassi participated in the Habayta conference which was held in nearby Heichel Shlomo. This event, which attracted over 250 people, offered sessions in Hebrew, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese and its focus was on how to accept olim, especially in this time of war. The impressive cast of speakers included Minister for Aliyah and Integration Ofir Soffer, MK Oded Forer, Rabbi Leo Dee and Rachelle Fraenkel, among many others.

Habayta offers a variety programs from which members of the shul may benefit. You can find them on the Habayta website at https://habayta.org.il/en/.

Thank you, Paul Bloom, for contributing this item.

Longing for peace :Ki Teitzei 5784

In this week’s parsha the Torah portrays an accurate if unforgiving view of war and its personal consequences. No one who participates in a war escapes these consequences unscathed. Those who are killed or wounded take a physical toll. But even those who have emerged safely from the battle are affected by their involvement in it. This is the supremely important, albeit subliminal, message of the beginning of parshat Ki Teitzei. 

A Jewish soldier, according to the ritual requirements of becoming such a soldier and being accepted for the battle, is a God-fearing patriotic and observant person. Nonetheless he somehow enters into a sexual relationship with a non-Jewish woman—a relationship which, Rashi points out, will only bring him future grief and regret. The heat and passions of war cannot be confined to the actual battlefield alone. They spread within the psyche and the body of the combatant, finding different ways to show themselves other areas of human life and experience. The observant Jew becomes a sexual predator. Is this not the strongest message possible that the Torah wishes to communicate to us about the deleterious effects of military combat? 

The opening to our parsha shows how the exigencies of war demand the abandonment of personal inhibitions. Without inhibitions there can be no morality or piety. As all of us who live in Israel are aware, war is a constant state of affairs in our national and personal lives. The Jewish people have been at war in the Land of Israel for almost all of the past century. These wars may not be of our choosing or instigated on our initiative, but they are omnipresent in our lives. 

Given this difficult state of affairs, Israeli society has been affected and even shaped by the constant threat of armed combat. Many of the rough spots that still exist in our society—the divisiveness, the absence of courtesy, the endemic social aggression—these are consequences of our being in a perpetual state of war. Where this is so, inhibitions and piety are hard sustain. 

Peace is not merely the absence of military engagement. It is a state of mind that induces tranquility, rationality and all-round general goodness. That is why peace is so exalted in the works of the prophets, throughout the Talmud and in Jewish tradition. And that is why we pray three times daily that its presence should be felt amongst us. With both inner and outer peace, such events as are portrayed at the beginning of this week's parsha simply do not occur. 

There is no people that longs for peace as greatly as do the people of Israel. May the Lord bless us with the achievement of peace and thereby restore us to normality, piety and eternal goodness. 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein

A visit to the Knesset

 Last week a group of 35 intrepid Hanassi members spent the best part of five hours on a fascinating and most informative visit to the Knesset Building, the current home of Israel's parliamentary democracy. Aided by the superlative skills of tour guide Joel Rabinovitz, we toured the sights, studied the dramatic Chagall artwork (a sample of which appears on the right), sat in the debating chamber and experienced the cold intimacy of the committee rooms -- the place where the real decisions are made and deals struck in order that the country's fissiparous political groupings can achieve any sort of consensus that might be turned into an actual law.

Our guide gave us an account of the Knesset that embraced its historical, political, legislative and technological functions. My impression was of a building that was very much bigger on the inside than it appeared to be from the outside, and that it was designed in such a way as to enable the many people who work there to have enough space for comfort and confidentiality while being sufficiently compact that no-one would be too remote as to be imaccessible. Whatever criticisms and grievances may be directed to Israeli governments past, present and no doubt future, they are not the fault of the building that houses them! 

One thing that struck me was the parallel between the Knesset's state-of-the-art technology for monitoring the activities of MKs and an old mishnaic prescription for the avoidance of sin. When MKs are in the debating chamber they sit, stand and speak before a battery of cameras. Their every word is recorded and stored in the Knesset's computer system and stenographers write it all down for posterity so that it may be printed out and read at leisure.  This echoes Avot 2:1 where Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi urges us to remember that, even though we are not MKs ourselves, whatever we do is seen, heard and recorded by an authority even higher than the Knesset.

I should mention two other important features of the Hanassi tour. The first, chronologically if not in terms of its significance, was our opportunity to sample the many and varied delights of the Knesset canteen, where an excellent and tasty lunch may be picked up at a most modest cost. 

The second, which concluded our visit, was an opportunity to engage in a question-and-answer session with one of the MKs, a lively young man by the name of Ohad Tal. (pictured, left, with Rabbi Kenigsberg). We tried our best to ask him his opinions on some inevitably sensitive and topical subjects, though sometimes the temptation to give him our thoughts instead was well-nigh irresistible. 

 It only remains to thank the Women's League for organising this event, with special mentions for Shirley March and Avelyn Hass.

Law, order, justice -- and an open mind: Shofetim 5784

Law and order are the hallmarks of a functioning democratic society. The idea that someone who has suffered damage or hurt can receive fair redress through an equitable system of established justice is central to the concept of a free society that grants individual rights to its citizens. But dictatorships also provide law and order for those who live under their rule—and perhaps rather too much of it. It is in this contrast that we find an eternal contest between an ordered and properly functioning society and respect for an individual’s inherent freedoms and rights. 

Anarchy and dictatorial rule are literally poles apart. The Torah addresses this issue while allowing for a great deal of human and national choice in the matter. The general tenor of Jewish tradition is to be wary of big and powerful government. Avot teaches us not to make ourselves known to government, adding that the nature of government is to demand, albeit in a seemingly benign manner, much from the individual. Thus government appears friendly and helpful when it is for its own benefit to do so—but it may be unavailable to help the individual who is hard pressed and in need of outside help. Even so, Pirkei Avot also stresses the necessity for government and the requirement to pray for its success and welfare, for otherwise civilized life could not exist. As in all matters of human existence, the Torah here demands from us a good sense of proportion, wisdom and sophistication in dealing with government and society. The Torah does not lay down absolute rules, but rather establishes general parameters for righteous judicial systems and equitable standards of law enforcement. 

The Torah is clear in its condemnation of corruption and bias, especially in judicial and legal matters. The poor and the wealthy, the scholar and the unlettered, the well-connected and the unknown—all are to be equal before the eyes of judges and the law. The Torah defines true justice as being the pursuit of righteousness and fairness by just means. No unjust means can be condoned, even in the pursuit of apparently righteous causes. 

The Torah abhors every form of corruption in all forms, basing its attitude on recognition that corruption is a natural state of being for humans. We are all somehow corrupted by our past experiences and our pre-set worldviews. It is interesting to note that, for example, the outcome of many cases brought before the United States Supreme Court is almost always predictable, given that the individual justices reflect strongly held views held before they hear an appeal. They are certainly not corrupt in the criminal sense of the word, but in the world of the Torah they are certainly not free from the taint of corruption. The Torah demands an open mind, a listening ear, flexibility of thought and an understanding of human nature and of the ways of the world from those who would serve as judges of other humans. These qualities are not found in abundance, but they are to be searched for and respected in Jewish life and law. True and absolute justice may be unattainable in this world, but the concept of true justice must always be present in all matters of Jewish law and life. 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein

Exclusiveness and Tolerance, by Jacob Katz (Book of the Month, Elul 5784)

 Jacob Katz, born in 1904 in Magyargencs, Hungary, was an acclaimed Jewish historian and educator. He was also something of an innovator, bringing sociological methods into play in his study of Jewish communities, with special attention to changes in halachah and Orthodoxy. In his youth he pursued both religious and secular studies, receiving rabbinic ordination and a doctorate in social history. Awarded the prestigious Israel Prize in 1980l he died in Israel in 1998.

Published in 1959, Exclusiveness and Tolerance is a scholarly account of one of the most difficult and persistent issues faced by Jews in the diaspora: how to live as Jews in a non-Jewish world.

Subtitled ‘Studies in Jewish-Gentile Relations in Medieval & Modern Times’, this work is divided into three sections. The first sets out the author’s methodology and terms of reference. The second reviews the 10^th to 14^th centuries and the third spans the 16^th to 18^th centuries. In an even-handed approach, Katz examines both Jewish and Christian sources and materials.

You can find this book here in Beit Knesset Hanassi, in the Marvin N. Hirschhorn collection.