Different in every way: Yom Kippur 5785

Tomorrow evening sees the start of Yom Kippur, the quintessential and unique Jewish holy day of the year.  All the other holidays that our God has given to us, as a faith and as a people, have their parallels in non-Jewish life.  All peoples have national independence days, harvest festivals for thanksgiving, celebrations of victories and historic moments of salvation. Naturally, though we have holy days of this genre, ours are far different than theirs: ours are accompanied by specific biblical commandments as to how the day is to be observed and what holy rituals, special foods and unique prayer services are to be attached to them as an integral part of the commemoration of that day.

 We can see that the concept behind days like these, such as Pesach, Shavuot, Succot, Chanukah and Purim, have characteristics that are universal, features that can be said to apply to other nations in the world. This is even true of Rosh Hashanah, since every culture has some sort of day to begin the New Year, whether it be on the solar or lunar calendar.

But Yom Kippur is different in every way; it has no equal anywhere in human civilization or history. There is no other day on the calendar that so strongly grasps the attention of Jews to the relationship between the God of Israel and His people, as does the day of Yom Kippur. This day is a gift from God to the people of Israel. Throughout all the millennia of its existence it has remained an exclusively Jewish concept and holiday. 

The concept of forgiveness per se is itself a novel and even surprising one. After all, whatever a person has done has a finality to it. There are always consequences that are derived and emanate from human behavior. It is almost illogical to think that there is any way in which the past can be undone, that wrongs can be righted, foolishness and sin being erased as though they never happened. These propositions are indeed true in human terms. 

Humans have the power to forgive, but never the power to retract or correct what was done before. But Heaven is operating in a manner that is far beyond our understanding and our ability to judge. The unlimited power of the Almighty seems to include the retroactive ability to erase what happened before, and, the capacity to change those consequences, ordained by our previous behavior, which were deemed to be immutable. 

This idea is the expression of the will and mercy of Heaven, extended to us as put forth in the words of that great prophet, Yechezkel: “The Lord does not wish for the death of human beings due to their sins, but rather wishes that they repent of their evil ways and thereby live.”  The Lord is the master of second chances. This is a rare and uniquely Jewish idea: it opens the way for regrets and rehabilitation, restoration, and accomplishment. Without such ideas, and without such an understanding of the Creator, we would truly be bereft of hope and confidence in our future and in our very lives. 

But this great gift must be earned. The Torah does not offer us a free lunch under any circumstances. Yom Kippur comes with a list of requirements—not just for the day, such as abstaining from food and drink and so forth, but also requiring a complete change of heart and attitude, and true regret on our part for the missteps of our past, and certainly for those of the past year. 

We have all been sorely tested in this past year, with unexpected plagues and tragedies, and a complete change in our societal lives and even our economic fortunes. The events of the past year should certainly have humbled us, making us think twice before we again boast of our abilities and achievements. It hopefully has made us less arrogant and dampened our egos. And that should be viewed as a good thing, for the beginning of repentance is always the feeling of humility and a certain degree of helplessness. We are, after all, but flesh and blood—mortal and frightened, alone and powerless before forces over whom we exert no influence or power. 

We can only ask the Lord that mercy and patience should be extended to us, and that we will try in this coming year to live up to the great challenges and demands that Jewish life imposes upon us. Additionally, we should seek to view these challenges and demands as opportunities, and not as negative trials. 

Shabbat shalom and an easy fast to everyone, Rabbi Berel Wein

Faces of October 7th

Do you know about the StandWithUs Israel Education Center?

You can find the Center in the heart of Jerusalem, less than a mile from Beit Knesset Hanassi and just across the street from the King David Hotel. This establishment now annually hosts tens of thousands of visitors who take part in its educational programs.

According to the Center’s website it welcomes visitors from all over the world, offering them our educational materials as well as the opportunity to learn more about Israel so that they can teach their communities when they return home. The Center adds that visitors will discover diverse content about the key issues related to Israel, from expert written resources to a wide spectrum of sessions, tours and workshops. All of this adds up to a platform for pro-Israel activism and effective tools to counter misinformation about Israel.

Beit Knesset Hanassi member Heshy Engelsberg visited the Center yesterday and saw for himself the Faces of October 7^th exhibition and reflection space. If you want to get a feel for it, Heshy has produced a stunning 15-minute video that encapsulates the events of that tragic date and its dramatic, terrifying impact on ordinary human beings.

You can view Heshy’s video on YouTube here.

Tailor-made blessings: Vezot Habrachah 5785

 Though we don't leyn Vezot Habrachah in its entirety until Simchat Torah, which falls on 22 Tishrei/24 October, we have already started leyning it midweek, so here's a devar Torah for it fom Rabbi Berel Wein:

The holy Torah concludes with the blessings of Moshe to the people of Israel before his passing from the world. Though the point has been made before, it bears repetition: the blessing to each of the tribes is different in detail and purpose. Contrary to much current belief and practice in religious Jewish society, there is no one-size-fits-all blessing or mission statement that applies to all Jews.

Rather Moshe, to whom the task of nation building was assigned by Heaven, looks to construct a whole nation, multi-faceted and productive, holy and interactive. If everyone is to be Zevulun, then what will be of Torah study and knowledge amongst the people of Israel? But if everyone is Yissachar, then again Torah will fail to survive within Jewish society.

King Solomon advised us wisely that every child is to be educated according to the individual talents, predispositions and abilities of that particular child. When home schooling was the vogue for Jewish education in biblical times, such an individualized educational program was both more possible and feasible. With the introduction of universal and institutionalized schooling, the task of individualized education to meet every student’s specific situation became a goal that was well-nigh unattainable.

The system was built to create Yissachar, but those that dropped out and became Zevulun were, to a certain extent, treated with less respect in the Jewish scholarly community. Though certainly Yissachar was to be respected, honored and supported, many generations lost sight that it was only through Zevulun that Yissachar could exist in the Jewish world. The two tribes were meant to complement each other, not to compete and denigrate one another.

It is striking to note how careful Moshe is to identify each tribe’s nature and strengths. Moshe is the one person who forges the different tribes into one whole nation. He did so by granting each tribe its different due, by recognizing that all are necessary in this process of nation building. The rabbis carried this idea further when they identified the four species of plant life that form the commandment on Succot, as being representative of the basic groupings that have always formed Jewish life. Just as all four species are necessary for the fulfilment of the commandment, so too are all four groupings of Jews are also necessary to form a vital and healthy Jewish society.

The remarkable variety of people and ideas that have always characterized Jewish society throughout the ages was recognized and extolled by Moshe through his individualized blessings to Israel before his passing from this world. At times Jewish society appears to be riven and chaotic and we long for the elusive “Jewish unity” to which we all pay lip service. But what we really should mean to yearn for is not Jewish conformity but Jewish loyalty, which is a far different matter. There is an Jewish ballad that states this matter clearly and succinctly: “Whatever we are, we are—but we are all Jews!” The blessings of Moshe as they appear in our concluding parsha of the Torah should help guide us to this important conclusion.

Encyclopedia of Torah Thoughts, by Rabbi Charles Chavel (Book of the Month, Tishrei 5785)

Not many people today are familiar with the name of Rabbi Dr Charles Chavel. So who was he? Born in Ciechanow, Poland in 1906, he moved to the United States in 1920, receiving semicha in 1929 and a doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1928. 

A communal rabbi and later a dayan, R' Chavel was chief editor of the journal HaDarom from 1957 until his death in 1982. A recipient of the Rabbi Kook Jewish Book Prize, he moved to Jerusalem where he joined the Board of Directors of Mossad HaRav Kook.

The Encyclopedia of Torah Thoughts, published in 1980, is one of R’ Chavel’s most significant works. Its title is misleading, since it is not an encyclopedia at all. Rather, it is an annotated English translation of Rabbenu Bachya ben Asher’s monumental Kad HaKemach—a set of 60 discourses, arranged in alphabetical order, that sought to embrace every aspect of Jewish life as it was seen from the perspective of 13^th century Spain. As such, it complements his translations of the works of Rambam.

This remarkable book, part of the Marvin N. Hirschhorn collection, can be found on the shelves of Beit Knesset Hanassi, where you are welcome to peruse it.

Grandmother's Courage

ESRA is a remarkable organisation, dedicated to strengthening the English-speaking community in terms of its integration into Israeli society and the making of a positive contribution to life in Israel through work, volunteering and the promotion of educational and welfare projects. One of ESRA's activities is the publication of the ESRA Magazine, to which Hanassi member Pessy Krausz is a contributor.  Here's a powerful and poignant piece by Pessy, which needs to explanation. We pray that Hashem in His mercy will watch over not only Pessy's grandson but also the grandchildren of all our members who put their lives at risk so that we may live safely in the land He has given us.

Grandmother's Courage

My grandson’s in Gaza
need I say more?
Yes, his wife, sweet student runs
to her parents forth and back
to her own home where her
soldier husband returned!
Smelly uniform, socks, no shower
from days on end fighting at the front
boots on the ground – a paratrooper proud...

My grandson's in Gaza
need I say more?
Yes! Now there’s a sweet baby
a beauty who’s named Harel
‘Har’ in Hebrew stands for mountain
‘El’ stands for the Almighty’s name
a new generation fights for peace
Prime minister David Ben-Gurion said,
“To be a realist in Israel, in Miracles you must believe!”

My grandson’s in Gaza
need I say more?
Yes! Grandmother’s heart races
sighting him in uniform
with gun slung on one shoulder
his baby on the other
free hand his baby’s carriage wheels
along supermarket’s corridor…
unlike one he emerged from – in Gaza

My grandson’s in Gaza
need I say more?
Yes! Baby fast growing up, asks
“Will dad return home soon from our
Swords of Iron War?” Hug him
Hug him tight, give him courage,
explain, his dad’s not the only one –
who comforts grandma with this slogan
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

The author dedicates her poem to the many grandmothers who share the pain and pride of their grandsons proudly defending our one and only country which we can call home. She shares the immeasurable agony of families coping with loss of dear ones who fall fighting for us all. May our worthy cause bring some measure of comfort.

Photo with permission of Noam Krausz.

Our two great poems: Haazinu 5785

Checking through our little pile of pending divrei Torah, we found that the Destiny Foundation had provided us this year not with one devar Torah for Shabbat Shuva (parshat Haazinu) but with two. This is the second one. Enjoy!

There are two major poetical songs that appear in the Torah. One is the great song of deliverance, which was the reaction of Moshe and the Jewish people to their being saved from the bondage of Egypt and the waters of Yam Suf. The other is that of this week's parsha, Haazinu. Moshe composed this too, at the end of the forty-year sojourn of the Jewish people in the desert of Sinai, at Moshe’s point of departure from life in this world.

The background of these songs is manifestly different, as is their tone. The song of Yam Suf is a song of exultation and triumph, expressing relief of deliverance from a brutal foe. But it is basically a poem of the past, of what has already just occurred, and an acknowledgment of God's previous goodness towards Israel. This week, in Haazinu the song is of a much darker hue. Visionary, prophetic and somber, it sees the great challenges of the future that lie before this people that Moshe so loved and loyally served. It is a song that will accompany the Jewish people throughout their long and tortured road of exile, persecution, survival and eventual triumph.

To our generation, standing as we do centuries after Moshe spoke these words, this is a clear and incisive description of what has happened to us and of our mission in the world. Haazinu reflects current events and not merely a recording of our past. Both of Moshe’s poems are essential to the development of Jewish life—but they each transmit a different message. The ability to live, so to speak, in the past and in the future at one and the same time is a particularly Jewish trait. The Jewish people have a long memory and collectively, even if not individually, we remember everything that has befallen us. Tragically, for many Jews of our time this memory has failed. For them, our story has been lost.

Only a minority of the Jewish world recites Moshe’s song at the Yam Suf in daily prayer services, and there are large numbers of Jews for whom deliverance from Egypt and the splitting of the sea at Yam Suf are no longer even distant memories. Forgetting the song of Yam Suf is tantamount to gradually excluding oneself from Jewish society. Forgetting the song of Haazinu is even more damaging to the individual Jew and to the nation. Those who live only in the present and do not glimpse the greatness of the future truly cut themselves off from participation in it.

The poem of Haazinu promises us repentance and redemption, serenity and a better world. Without this song, and without the belief that the vision it contains is accurate and true, the Jewish people could never have survived the long night of our exile and troubles. This song was “to be placed in their mouths” as the witness for all our history and a valid proof of the just entitlements of our future. Our task is to rededicate ourselves to fulfill the goals of this great song of Haazinu in the year before us, which we hope and pray will be good and blessed.

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein

Ha'azinu set to music

Besides Rabbi Berel Wein's divrei Torah, we can also share with you Max Stern's Ha'azinu. This piece lasts around half an hour and Max -- a leading Israeli classical composer and a long-standing member of Beit Knesset Hanassi -- is playing the double bass in it. 

The link is on YouTube is here.

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.