Parshat Behar: The Other Jubilee

We are living in auspicious times.  I suspect that no adult in the United Kingdom is unaware of the event that is about to impact our lives.  Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will be marking her Platinum Jubilee as Head of State and we, her loyal subjects, will be blessed to have a long weekend to join in the fun!

In fact, as Jews, we have an opportunity to afford ourselves even more holiday time granted that the aforementioned milestone will be celebrated over Shabbat which itself leads into Shavuot.  I think we should honour Her Majesty's extraordinary achievement by eating lots of cheesecake!

Thinking about this Jubilee more deeply, I am struck by the parallel timing of the weekend in conjunction with Shavuot.  For on that Shabbat, we will mark the completion of our seven weeks count of the Omer.  It seems to have begun such a long time ago, whilst we were enjoying our second Sedarim (or the first night of Chol Hamo'ed if you're Israeli).  It has built up gradually and has edged us slowly and excitedly towards the magnificent crescendo which we call Shavuot (which literally means 'weeks').  Its culmination on the Sunday, will mark the anniversary of our nation's very own Coronation - when the King of the Universe gave us our most precious gift, namely the Torah.

So, Ladies and Gentlemen on Sunday, 5th June 2022 corresponding with the 6th Sivan 5782, we will be marking two Jubilees - one in Heaven and the other on Earth!

Queen Elizabeth is the longest reigning monarch in the history of these isles.  Her nearest competitor in the longevity stakes is Queen Victoria at 63 years and 7 months; followed by George III (59 years and 3 months) and Henry III (circa 56 years).  The length of time that the Queen has sat on her throne is a remarkable achievement.  But, with all due respect, when it comes to Jubilees, we were there first!

In fact, the Queen and the rest of this nation might have used another term to describe her Platinum anniversary had they not anglicised a word that can be found in this week's Parsha of Behar.

 

Let us set the scene:

Hashem instructs Moshe to tell the Bnei Yisrael that when they enter Canaan:

Leviticus 25:2

 The Land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.

The next few verses describe the Biblically mandated commandment of Shmittah:

Leviticus 25:3-9

For six years you may plant your fields, prune your vineyards and harvest its’ crops.

But the seventh year shall be to the land a Sabbath of complete rest, a Sabbath to the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyards.  You shall not harvest what grows of itself or gather the grapes of your unpruned vineyard; it is a year of rest for the land.  You may eat the land's Sabbath yield: you, your male and female servants and the hired worker and resident workers who live with you, your livestock and the wild animals in your land - whatever the land produces is there to be eaten. (ie, Shmita produce is ownerless and free for use by anyone, but can’t be sold).

And you shall count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven Sabbath cycles total forty-nine years.  Then you shall sound the ram's horn.  On the tenth day of the seventh month on the Day of Atonement, you shall sound the horn across your land.

What happens after Yom Kippur? The Torah informs us that:

Leviticus 25:10 You shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.  This shall be your Jubilee...

ויקרא כ״ה:י׳ (י) וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּ֗ם אֵ֣ת שְׁנַ֤ת הַחֲמִשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּקְרָאתֶ֥ם דְּר֛וֹר בָּאָ֖רֶץ לְכׇל־יֹשְׁבֶ֑יהָ יוֹבֵ֥ל הִוא֙ תִּהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם...

The word 'Jubilee' is the direct equivalent of the Hebrew word 'Yovel'.

In reading the above, you may have felt a sense of deja-vu, in terms of the language used to describe the period of seven years. 

Did we not read the following last week?

Leviticus 23:15-17

And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the wave offering (i.e.  the Omer)—the day after the day of rest—you shall count for yourselves seven complete weeks.  To the day after the seventh week, you shall count fifty days; then you shall present a grain offering to the Lord...on that day, you shall make a proclamation; it shall be a sacred assembly for you; you shall perform no laborious work.

Let me bring the varying strands together.

Seven weeks of seven days are followed by the fiftieth day, the festival we know as Shavuot.

Seven years of seven Shmittah cycles which were followed by the fiftieth year, which the Torah refers to as the Yovel.  In fact, as we commemorate Her Majesty's Jubilee, we are now living through a Shmittah year but these days we don’t know when to celebrate the Yovel. 

The Queen's Platinum Jubilee is, without a doubt, going to be a very special event if we recall how previous Jubilees were celebrated.  I am old enough to remember the Silver Jubilee in 1977 and both the Golden and Diamond ones in 1982 and 2012 respectively.  They were simply magnificent.  Who could forget the events of ten years ago, particularly the extraordinary flotilla up the River Thames (our local waterway!)? Yes, it rained and we marvelled at how both the Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh braved the inclement weather, despite their ages and frailty, but those ships were something to behold, were they not?

And then what happened after the ceremonies were over, the glorious street parties ended and the chintzy memorial plates, coins and spoons were stored away? Not a great deal.  We relived our memories in late December watching the BBC's review of the year and promised ourselves that we would never forget the grandeur of the occasion, but life just went on. 

People were born and died, homes were bought and sold, seasons came and went and before we knew it, another decade had ended.  Remember that there was life before Covid!  We hoped and prayed that the Queen and her Escort would live long enough to allow us to recreate those feel-good moments in the future.  Sadly, this year, the Queen alone has been able to reach this milestone.  The people in the United Kingdom have experienced a great deal since those heady days just before the London Olympics.

And that is where the two Jubilees part ways. 

The Torah tells us that the Yovel year will leave a much greater impact on the inhabitants of the Land of Israel:

Leviticus 25:23

And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is Mine; you are merely migrants, visitors to Me.

Leviticus 25:39-43

If your brother becomes poor and sells himself to you, do not work him as a slave.  He shall abide with you like a hired worker or a resident worker and work for you until the Jubilee year.  Then he and his children, shall be free to leave you and return to their family and ancestral land—For they are My servants, whom I brought out of Egypt; they cannot be sold as slaves.— Do not rule them harshly with heart-breaking labour; fear your God.

Rabbi Sacks ztl in the last book published during his lifetime, ‘Judaism's Life Changing Ideas’ wrote the following regarding the laws of the Yovel year:

The Torah is making a radical point.  There is no such thing as absolute ownership.  There is to be no freehold in the land of Israel because the land belongs ultimately to Gd.  Nor may an Israelite own another Israelite because we all belong to Gd and have done so ever since he brought our ancestors out of slavery in Egypt.

To the Jewish people, the Yovel wasn’t just another Jubilee.  It wasn’t an occasion to break out the finest China and bunting and hold a street party.  It was an opportunity to remind ourselves of how precious freedom is.  How land is but a commodity that can be bought and sold.  At the end of the day, our lives mean so much more when we are able to live them amongst the people we love, in the bosom of our families.  It was an opportunity to spend an entire year readjusting to the kind of life that we thought we could never experience again.  This is what the Jubilee really entailed. 

At this moment in time, we don’t know exactly when to celebrate the Yovel because the last recorded celebration occurred 150 years before the destruction of the first Beit Hamikdash.  The Rambam wrote that a Yovel would only take place with the arrival of the Moshiach when all of the Jews would be living again in the land of Israel.

Until then, we will have to make do with Coronation Chicken over Shabbat and Cheesecakes on Sunday and Monday.

In the words of our prayers regarding the Queen:

"In her days and in ours May our Heavenly Father spread the tabernacle of peace over all the dwellers on earth and may the redeemer come to Zion; and let us say Amen.”

Shavuah Tov.

Parshat Acharei Mot: The Olive Tree

 

In loving memory of my mother, Bryna Rouge bat Yechiel ah

Last week, Stephnie and I visited a very dear friend of mine who lives with her husband and two daughters in Bet Shemesh.  We have known each other since we were teenagers which, without giving away our respective ages, is a long time.

The family lives near some green belt land and at the top of an adjacent hill lies the monastery of Bet Jamal.  The name of the area seems to be derived from the ancient burial ground of Rabban Gamliel I who was the head of the Sanhedrin. 

During a pleasant tea on their front lawn, the four of us discussed hiking up the hill to a mysterious 'olive tree' that they wanted me to view.

My friend’s husband and I proceeded to make our way through a field and then up the incline to our destination.  As we approached the tree and were about to reach it, he asked me to close my eyes before entering the clearing it occupied.

I have to say that I was intrigued.  What could be so special that required such a move?  I dutifully complied and after leading me by the hand for a few minutes, he asked me to open my eyes.  The sight that greeted me was quite overwhelming.

There, standing before us was an olive tree that has been reckoned to be more than two thousand years old.  It has a circumference of over 8 metres (25 feet) and twisted roots that snake around the tree deep into the ground below.  It is truly a marvel to behold, as you can see from the picture below.  Words cannot describe its presence and form.  It was simply breathtaking.

We both looked at the tree and marvelled at its structure and age.  How much has it seen in two millennia?  Has it acted as a hideaway for our ancestors in a land that has seen so many conquerors?  Has it survived a multitude of brush fires that threatened its very existence?  We noticed that a fungus was growing on some of its bark, yet it was managing to heal itself.

My new hiking partner explained how inspired he becomes each time he encounters 'his tree' and the reaction of those he takes along to pay a visit.  You know when you are in the vicinity of greatness and this tree was simply magnificent.

I found it difficult to tear myself away from the spectacle.  As we descended the hill, we looked at the beautiful vista which took in the different neighbourhoods of Bet Shemesh.  Halfway down, we paused to daven Mincha whilst viewing the rapidly setting sun.

On our way back, he told me about his parents and how his mother had been a survivor of Bergen Belsen.  I shared my own family history and noted that his wife was also the daughter of a hidden child who had been saved in occupied France. 

Last week witnessed both the first Yartzheit of my dear mother on Tuesday and Yom Hashoah on Thursday - the day in our calendar when we remember those of our nation whose lives were stolen and whose relatives were uprooted.  Hundreds and thousands of years of history were wiped out in the blink of an eye.  Millions of human trees were torn from their deep roots, never to be seen again.

And all the while, this olive tree stood stoically and witnessed from afar the catastrophe that was taking place.  Another incomprehensible event in the span of its gargantuan lifetime.  Perhaps it cried tears by shedding its leaves.  Perhaps it felt that the people it had seen exiled two thousand years ago would never return.  Perhaps it just hoped to cling onto its own dear life by extending its roots even deeper into the shaky ground that had been its home for longer than the lifetime of any human being.

Two thousand years after the people who might have planted it had perished, their descendants whose own families had been cut down, returned to marvel at its resilience and refusal to be defeated.  My friend, her husband and I are living, embodiments of the second generation who have survived the Shoah.  She is Israeli, he is Australian and I am British.  Three wandering Jews and a tree which has never left its place of origin.  Is that not a description of what is means to be a Jew?

The olive tree, whose outstretched roots allowed us to sit in its lap reminded us that it was one of us.  There have been many who would have liked to wrench our roots out of the spiritual soil that has kept us alive since Avraham set up his tent in ancient Canaan.  They have never succeeded. 

For we are like that old tree.  The more you tug at our leaves, the more we dig our heels in.  Perhaps that ancient tree is the perfect metaphor of what it means to be a Jew. 

Long may it continue to flourish.

Shavua Tov.

Parshat Metzora (Shabbat Hagadol): Greatest Last Words

 “I should have switched from Scotch to Martinis.”

“I'm bored with it all.”

“"Either that wallpaper goes or I do.” (Spoiler alert - the wallpaper wasn't changed.)

These quotes were allegedly uttered by Humphrey Bogart, Winston Churchill and Oscar Wilde respectively just before they shook off their mortal coils and entered the next world.  After everything they had contributed to cinema, politics and literature, would they really have wished to be remembered for these parting words?

Closer to home, what would you want your final words to be?

Imagine if it turned out that you were the last prophet to be included in the middle book of Tanach - Neviim/Prophets?  Preceded by the likes of giants such as Joshua, Samuel, Daniel, Isaiah and Ezekiel, which words and thoughts would be important and inspirational enough to close the book?

It's a difficult question, isn't it?  With the weight of Jewish history resting on your shoulders, who would wish to carry this burden?

The answer is the prophet Malachi.

The literal meaning of the name is "my messenger" and he seems to have prophesied during the rule of the Persian Empire, not long after the Jews returned to Jerusalem to start rebuilding the Temple under the leadership of Ezra and Nechemia.  There's only one problem, we don't know who he is.

The Talmud (Megillah 15a) states that he was none other than Mordechai of Megillat Esther fame.  Other opinions hold that he was Ezra.  A third view is that he was an anonymous prophet.  The times in which he lived were characterised by a difficult period in our history when morale was at an all-time low.  Following a familiar pattern, the Jews had strayed from the path of righteousness.  The Cohanim were not meticulous in the proper ritual involved in offering up sacrifices and the people were lax in providing their tithes.  In short, they were not displaying the respect they should have shown in their worship of Gd.  Malachi admonishes them but as the days of prophecy were drawing to a close, he knew that he had to resort to a huge morale booster to remind them of what could take place - if only they would open their hearts and minds to Gd.

In the final couple of verses, he states the following:

Malachi 3:22-24 (22) Remember the Teaching of Moshe My servant, which I commanded to him at Horev (Sinai), statutes and laws for all of Israel.  (23) Behold, I will send you Eliya the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord.

מלאכי ג׳:כ״ב-כ״ד (כב) זִכְר֕וּ תּוֹרַ֖ת מֹשֶׁ֣ה עַבְדִּ֑י אֲשֶׁר֩ צִוִּ֨יתִי אוֹת֤וֹ בְחֹרֵב֙ עַל־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל חֻקִּ֖ים וּמִשְׁפָּטִֽים׃ (כג) הִנֵּ֤ה אָנֹכִי֙ שֹׁלֵ֣חַ לָכֶ֔ם אֵ֖ת אֵלִיָּ֣ה הַנָּבִ֑יא לִפְנֵ֗י בּ֚וֹא י֣וֹם ה' הַגָּד֖וֹל וְהַנּוֹרָֽא׃

It is this Haftorah that we have just concluded reading and it is why today is known universally as Shabbat Hagadol.  If these were my parting words, I don't think I would leave a particularly memorable legacy.  What is really happening here?

Our Sages tell us that in the year of the Exodus, the Shabbat before Yetziat Mitzrayim fell on the 10th Nissan.  This was the day that the Israelites were told to house a lamb in preparation of what was about to transpire on the following Wednesday afternoon when it would be offered up as the first Korban Pesach.  That Shabbat was also the day when they realised that the Exodus was really happening.  The Egyptians who could have attacked the Israelites for taking an animal that was one of the gods they served, did nothing to stop this happening.  They stood in amazement and it was truly a portent of the seismic events that were about to transpire.

It was therefore a 'great' Shabbat if you happened to be a member of the twelve tribes.  Five days later, following the great and awesome Seder night.  They experienced their first taste of what it meant to be liberated from slavery; to be recognised as a legitimate nation.

Pesach is the festival of freedom and from time immemorial, we have believed that when we achieve the real freedom that will come to us, this will be heralded by the appearance of Elijah at Pesach.  Malachi was therefore telling us that though times were tough and it looked as if our future was uncertain, Gd would send Elijah in the future to rescue us from the fate that would befall those nations who persecuted us - on the great and terrible day of the Lord.

The very last verse states:

And I will return the hearts of parents back to their children and the hearts of children back to their parents, lest I come and lay the earth waste.

There could be no more fitting haftorah for the Shabbat before we celebrate Pesach to inspire us to work towards bringing forth the ultimate Exodus.  A return from the Galut - the exile when the 'hearts of parents and the hearts of children will be reunited'.  It is the ultimate Geulah - redemption.

The Torah ended with the death of Moses at the edge of the Promised Land.  It was the first stage in our Exodus.  Now, Malachi tells us about the final and most glorious chapter in our history.  The one that hasn't been experienced yet.  I would say that's a pretty good way to end, wouldn't you?

Many years ago, a school friend told me (in a half-serious manner, I think...) that he was born on Shabbat Hagadol and this is why it has been so named!  A member of our community, Richard may or may not have entered this world on that day as he can't remember whether he was born on Friday morning, afternoon or evening.  If it was the latter, then he would surely be able to make this boast!

Whether it is the words of the Prophet, the anniversary of our lamb-sitting experience or even Richard’s birthday, let us take the message of the day into our hearts.

Please Gd next year, we will be able to eat of the Paschal lamb with our 'belts secured, our sandals on our feet and our staff in our hands' as we prepare for the greatest journey in our nation's history.  Next Shabbat Hagadol, let us hope and pray that we will be able to celebrate Richard's birthday in Jerusalem experiencing the glow of a Messianic future.

For when the Messiah arrives, we will not need to think of 'last words'.  Instead, we will await the arrival of our loved ones following 'Techiyat Hametim' - the resurrection of the dead.  We might then consider Steve Jobs' last words, which he said, looking at his sister Patty, "Oh wow.  Oh wow.  Oh wow".

Wishing you and your families a chag Kasher veSameach - a happy, healthy, wonderful Pesach and Shabbat Shalom. 

Parshat Tazria: Here, There and Everywhere

 

It took place in the corner of my study.  The act didn't take very long but its significance will be etched into my mind for the rest of my life.  Last Monday night, the 28^th March and the evening following the 25th Adar, I switched off the electric memorial light that has been illuminated since the 7th April, corresponding with the 25th Nissan.  The day that my mother both passed away and was later interred.

The strange vagaries of the Hebrew calendar were not lost on me.  In any other year, this action should have occurred on the exact anniversary of my mother's death.  She left us three days after Pesach but our religion dictates that one does not mourn a parent for more than a maximum of twelve lunar months.  The Talmud (Shabbat 152b) tells us that over that period of time, a person's soul (the Ruach element) ascends and descends to the body.  When these months have been completed, the Ruach rises to heaven and no longer returns (although another part of the soul, the Nefesh, stays with the body, in the grave, forever).

The passage of time is strange and ending my mourning a month early, although of course, this isn't the case, seems like a shortcut to something I feel that I don't deserve.

My servitude to honouring my mother through the Aveilut should run its full course.  Dare I move into this new state of mind?

In removing the memorial light, I started a new chapter of my life.  My official mourning was now over and I now entered a new phase of my existence which meant returning to a sense of 'normality', albeit without the physical presence of my mother.  It felt very odd to have ended my Aveilut and almost wrong.

That was until Stephnie said gently, "This is what your mother would have wanted."

I guess the Israelites might have felt something akin to this.  After hundreds of years of slavery and finding themselves in the midst of the destruction of Egypt wreaked by the plagues, this command would have left them speechless:

Exodus 12:1-2

Then the Lord spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt.  He said, "This month shall be to you the beginning of the months; the opening of the year, this month will be for you."

The nation was then given the instructions to take a lamb on the tenth day of the month and prepare it for what would become the night of their first seder whilst Gd enacted His final plague on the Egyptians.

And on which day were they to be given this command?

Today, Rosh Chodesh Nissan.  The very same day that a year later would see the inauguration of the Mishkan and induction of Aharon and his sons.

In our lives, moving from one phase to the next is never easy and, at times, it is extraordinarily challenging.  We need a metaphorical guard rail to hold onto, to avoid falling into the gaping hole that we fear lies beneath us.  The Torah, in describing the very first mitzvah given to the Children of Israel, is perhaps providing that security blanket.

How can you find something to grasp when the world around you is spinning?  Start by understanding the centrality of time in our lives in the guise of our calendar.

Whether or not I was ready to make that jump, from the 25th of Adar when I was an Avel, to the 26th, when this no longer applied, was immaterial.  I had no choice.  Our religion dictates that twelve calendar months Aveilut do make.  And that is it.  No more.  No less.  If Gd let us know that the importance of creating a calendar meant installing a dividing line between the bondage of Egypt and the journey to freedom, who was I was to argue?  Before the end of the plagues; before the first Seder; before the Exodus and the splitting of the sea and even before the giving of the Torah - it was the mitzvah to establish a calendar that set the path upon which we have travelled for five millennia.

Towards the end of my year, a thoughtful and caring friend did something wonderful for me.  He commissioned a lady to crochet a kippah for me with the legend 'Kan Sham Uvechol Makom  -          כאן שם ובכל מקום' which translates as 'Here, there and everywhere'.  He told me he thought of this as he knew that as I reach the first anniversary of her passing, I will wear the kippah and think about how my mother is always 'here, there and everywhere' in my life (and he knows what a Beatles' nut I am).

Time, by its very nature exists here, there and everywhere.  We live within its borders and it governs our every move.  Without it, we are rudderless.  With it, we are imprisoned.

That is why, by instructing us to establish our own calendar, Gd started off by populating it with some key dates - Pesach, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret.  We then added the rest and included in this, the idea of setting down the boundaries for what constitutes a mourning period.  And like everything else in the calendar, it too has its time.

As King Solomon wrote in Kohelet:

Everything has a moment; a time for every action beneath the sky.  There is a time for birth and a time for death...a time to weep, a time to laugh; a time for eulogy and a time for dance.

Please Gd, we will soon find a time to laugh and dance.

Shavuah Tov and Chodesh Tov

Parshat Shemini: The List

"It's on the list".

I remember the first time I heard that statement.  It was in the mid to late 1970s and I was standing in the playground of my Jewish primary school in the heart of Golders Green.  One of the children had uttered this cryptic message to another child.  At the time, I had no idea what this 'list' was.  Occasionally, my friends would claim that some item of food was either 'on the list' or off it.

I was brought up in a traditional home where we ate kosher and observed Shabbat.  My mother didn't cover her hair but neither did the majority of her friends whose kids also attended the same school.  One of the ways we could tell how 'frum' a classmate was by observing the mothers in their sheitls (or not for that matter) coming to pick them up at the end of school.

These were the days before the glossy ‘Really Jewish Food Guide’ and its companion ‘Is it Kosher?’ app existed.  In my childhood era, the 'list' was literally a sheet or two of paper that those in the know could acquire from specific locations such as Jewish bookshops.

When I reflect on those times, I remember how scrupulous my friends were when checking the 'list'.  If it was ‘on’, the food was permitted, if not, they kept well away.  I think I may have seen it a few times when visiting a mate over Shabbat but that was as close as I got to the treasured and rare manuscript.

With the transformation of the list into a book form, a new game began for us newbies.  I would peruse its contents to see what I could and could not eat.  Every time an update was published (in the days before email), I would carefully look through the book and either add the newly qualified products to an existing line or sadly add a bolded 'NK - not Kosher' label in front of previously approved entries.  It always seemed to be the chocolate bars that ended up being dropped!

I distinctly remember the first few editions of the aforementioned guide which came out when I was in my late teens.  Suddenly, the 'list' was available and soon became ubiquitous in our homes.  The science and complexities involved in the production of food now made more sense and the bizarre E471 and E120 codes were to be avoided at all costs (especially the latter as it signified the product contained cochineal, otherwise known as ants' blood.  Yeuch!

What had started life as a list was now presented as a thin tome that could sit comfortably in my mother’s car glove compartment or on a bookshelf.

On the flip side, every now and then, a product I had chalished (longed) for eons ended up being relisted.  I can't really describe the thrill I got, and still do, when something I really wanted to eat re-joined my special ‘kosher club’.  Bounty used to be kosher and then it wasn't and then it was!  Sun-Pat Peanut Butter took the same trajectory...and I won't even mention the ongoing saga of Marmite!

In the last few years though, something has happened that makes certain product addition to the lists more and more exciting.  Whereas in the past, I was only aware of the KLBD's efforts to make the edible world as open as possible (in conjunction with American Kashrut Authorities such as the OU and Star-K), their previous virtual monopoly on deciding what we can and cannot eat has been challenged by an exciting new horse in the race.

I give an extremely warm welcome to the Sephardi Kashrut Authority, otherwise known as the SKA!

I have a personal debt of gratitude to the Spanish and Portuguese Community,not only because I received my Semicha through their network via the Montefiore Endowment, but also because they really opened up the kosher world in a way that would have been unthinkable two decades ago.  Dayan Amor (ztl), who was the Rosh Bet Din and head of my Kollel, certified Kingsmill Bread.  The KLBD followed suit a few years later by certifying other companies that manufactured bread such as Hovis and Warburtons.  Need I say more?

For the kosher consumers such as myself, that mysterious list had borne fruit that I could have never envisioned back in the day.  As of writing, I am rubbing my eyes in disbelief in the knowledge that a few feet away from me, numerous packets of specifically labelled and certified McVities biscuits are waiting to be consumed.  McVities biscuits I'll have you know!

In considering the 'list', I should have realised that the origins of the document I had thought to be secretly available to a chosen few was in fact exceedingly old.

It was based on another detailed list - the one we read in this week's Parsha which described the animals, fish and birds that we are and are not permitted to consume.

What differentiates its contents lies in the lack of specific detail.  Unlike the aforementioned lists, the Torah's description provides limited information about what makes an animal or fish kosher.  Ruminant animals with completely split hooves, check.  Fish with fins and scales, check.  Any type of pig meat being prohibited, check.  Shellfish are out, check.  Certain types of locusts, crickets and grasshoppers, check (they may be kosher, but I'll pass on them, thank you).

No mention of mono-diglycerides of fatty acids, stearates, polysorbates or gelatine in the Torah or references to E120, E422, E570 et al.

It seems as though, just like the Torah's list of what was permitted or prohibited, the manufacture, preparation and consumption of food was much easier in the day.  You couldn't boil a kid in its mother's milk, but that didn't prevent the consumption of steak tartare in cheese sauce either.  Our Rabbis wisely put paid to this dish when they forbade the mixing of meat and dairy in all of its forms.

Compared to the recently published Kashrut Guide, the 1970s list was considerably more compact.  The times they are forever a-changin'! I have no idea what our lists will include in a decade's time and, like us, they are constantly being updated to fit the times in which they are being consulted.

I fervently look forward to their contents...and with that in mind, hope that they will at least include the standard size of Marmite!

Shabbat Shalom.

Parshat Pekudei: The Lion of Judah [in Kyiv]

In loving memory of Yitta bat Mordechai Leib (our Hilary)

I have to admit that it's been a slow burn.

I'm not one of those people who looks at a current global situation and thinks that Gd's hand is so prevalent that the Moshiach is not only here, but he's caught the 09.15 to Euston from Terminal 5.  This is not to say that I'm about to join the Northern Line at Edgware to greet him (and besides, there are no trains at the time of writing due to the Tube strike).

However, the spectacle of the world's most powerful leader (Biden gave up his throne a while back) who is armed with 5,977 nuclear warheads going to war against a country that has zero warheads is jaw-dropping.  That its leader would not stand a chance to defend himself, were the capital in which he is residing to fall to Russian forces, is heart-breaking.  That this same leader is an assimilated Jew and former actor and comedian to boot, whose great-grandfather and three great-uncles were murdered by the Nazis is, in my eyes, simply unbelievable.

But here we are.

Who knows what will have happened to Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his democratically elected Parliamentarians by the time I stand at the pulpit to read this Drasha.  Will Putin have achieved his aim of 'removing the Neo-Nazi' by (according to a senior defence official in the Pentagon) 'decapitating the Ukrainian Government'?

The penny dropped for me this morning (1st March) when I saw this cartoon by Morten Moreland in The Times.

 You can see a diminutive Putin standing on a huge pile of Russian armoury reading a document entitled 'My Demands' to an imposing and unmoveable giant Zelinskyy, into whom the said vehicles have crashed.]

The penny dropped when I watched the Ukrainian President dressed in a blue T-Shirt addressing the European Parliament via a huge TV screen.  In an impassioned speech which brought the interpreter close to tears.  He said,

"Do prove that you are with us.  Do prove that you will not let us go...Do prove that you are indeed Europeans and then life will win over death and light will win over darkness.  Nobody is going to break us.  We are strong.  We are Ukrainians".

 When he had finished.  they gave him an extended standing ovation.

The penny dropped a third time.

I realised that whether or not Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy is able to withstand the overwhelming military machine that comprises Russia's Armed Forces, his extremely courageous and stubborn refusal to submit to the enemy is completely indicative of who we, the Jewish people, are.

Exodus 38:21 These are the accounts of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of testimony, recorded at Moshe's command by the Levites, under Itamar, son of Aharon the Priest.

שמות ל״ח:כ״א  אֵ֣לֶּה פְקוּדֵ֤י הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙ מִשְׁכַּ֣ן הָעֵדֻ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר פֻּקַּ֖ד עַל־פִּ֣י מֹשֶׁ֑ה עֲבֹדַת֙ הַלְוִיִּ֔ם בְּיַד֙ אִֽיתָמָ֔ר בֶּֽן־אַהֲרֹ֖ן הַכֹּהֵֽן׃

Why would the Torah need to repeat the same story again and again?  Enough already!  We know that Betzalel and Oholiav worked together to create all of the holy items that had been commanded to them by Moshe who had received the instructions directly from Gd.  We know what the Ephod / Apron and Choshen / Breastplate were made from because we read about it in Parshat Tetzave!  And so on and so forth.

Our Sages underscore the central role of the Mishkan as a symbol of the everlasting Covenant between Gd and the Jewish people.

It mattered because what it contained, mattered.

As Rashi tells us,

“In this section are enumerated all the weights of the metals given as a contribution for the Tabernacle, of silver, gold and copper, and also there are enumerated the vessels used for every kind of service in it.”

The Israelites, as a nation built the Mishkan.  They may not have fashioned the final result but that didn't diminish their contribution.  The verb 'p-k-d' used here, refers to the concept of accountability.  It impressed upon our ancestors the concept that were, and are, accountable for everything we do.

Just as every single contribution was enumerated, so every single contributor mattered. 

Every single person counts. 

So, when I see a Jewish man standing up to tyranny, demonstrating to the world that, even if the odds are heavily stacked against him, he is refusing to give in, the metaphorical penny enters into my consciousness in a way that I cannot even describe.

He may not think that his Jewish background is particularly relevant, but to the rest of us, President Zelinskyy is the Jewish hero of our time.  He is our David to Putin's Goliath.  He is our Lion of Judah, this time ensconced in Kyiv.

I fear for him and for the people he is trying to protect but, at the same time, I hope that his nemesis will be made accountable for the firestorm and butchery he is inflicting on the people of Ukraine.  May his putrid name be wiped out from under the heavens and may Hashem protect all our brethren and their neighbours, young and old.

With Purim in our reach, we need to pray really hard for another miracle.

Shavuah Tov.

Parshat Vayakhel: It's All Too Much

Parshat Vayakhel: It's All Too Much

Last summer, following the evacuation of the troops from Afghanistan, my shul in Bushey found itself being featured in both the local and national headlines.

At the height of the crisis, seventeen refugee families arrived in the area having boarded a flight from Kabul to escape the Taliban. Our local councillor contacted the Rabbi and told him that there was a desperate need for items such as warm clothing, toiletries, school supplies and toys. Our community banded together to provide these and within three hours, on Sunday, 22nd August, the shul car park was packed with dozens of black rubbish bags containing donations of said items. These were handed out to thirty grateful families living in local hostels. By Thursday night, the number of recipients had risen to seventy-two.

I remember the pride I felt watching the news snippet on the BBC. It was the ultimate Kiddush Hashem - sanctification of Gd's name and I am certain that a similar project would take place should the UK accept refugees from Ukraine.

Both the Rabbi and the Shul were honoured with a "Points of Light" Award from the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson which stated, "In recognition of your exceptional service supporting Afghan refugees, you are presented with the UK's 1745th ‘Points of Light’ award on the 24th September 2021."

Towards the end of that memorable week, I looked in awe at the collection and asked the Rabbi as to how they could possibly accept any more contributions. The car park was almost unrecognisable!

He responded with a smile saying that the demand to donate had been so high, he was having to politely refuse any more donations, which brings me to this week's Parsha.

At the start of Vayakhel, Moshe assembled the people (the word for a community 'Kehillah' is derived from the same root which is 'k-h-l') and asked them to bring 'an offering to the Lord' towards the construction of the Mishkan/Tabernacle and its contents.

He requested the following:

○ gold, silver, bronze, sky-blue purple and scarlet wool

○ linen and goats' hair

○ rams' hides dyed red and fine leather

○ acacia wood

○ oil of the lamp

○ spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense

○ and finally rock crystal together with other precious stones for the ephod (apron) and breast piece.

He then asked for skilled craftsmen and women to make the items that would comprise the entire project including the tents and coverings, poles, curtain, table of shewbread, incense altar and the Menorah.

The people left Moshe's presence and returned with everything he had requested, from gold brooches and earrings to wool spun by the women's own hands as well as the finest linen available. Moshe instructed Betzalel a chief artisan from the tribe of Yehudah along with Oholiav from the tribe of Dan and the skilled craftsmen within the nation, to construct all the holy items from the donated materials.

The immense project was undertaken and we are told that:

Exodus 36:3-7

From Moshe they received all the offerings that the Israelites had brought for the work of the Sanctuary. And the people kept bringing additional gifts every morning. So all the craftsmen engaged in the work of the Sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moshe, “The people are bringing more than is necessary for the work that Gd has commanded us to do.” Moshe ordered an announcement to be made throughout the camp: “Let no man or woman make anything more as an offer for the Sanctuary!” So the people brought no more for what they had was more than enough for all the work that was to be done.

The Malbim (d.1879) adds an incisive comment on this. He says that this project was not like any other as it had been requested from the people by no less than Gd himself. He had asked for a finite amount of material that was to be used. No more, no less. One may have thought that if you added to the quantity specified, it would make the entire project even grander than it already was, which was not the point of the exercise. In fact, had more material been added, the Malbim explains that it would have rendered the entire Mishkan Pasul - invalid, which is the opposite of the word 'kosher' or 'fit for purpose.' He cites the example of the instruction to build the Menorah out of one single piece of gold and if two were used, the beautiful result would also have had such a status.

I believe that the Torah is teaching us a powerful lesson here. Sometimes, in our enthusiasm to show our dedication to a project, we can end up overdoing this.

As Oscar Wilde famously put it, "everything in moderation, including moderation."

In a few weeks’ time, we will be reading the Megillah whose descriptive language of the opulent palace in Shushan in the first chapter is not dissimilar to that used for the Mishkan:

Esther 1:6

There, swaths of fine fabric -of precious white cotton and sky-blue wool – were caught up with cords of the finest linen and purple and draped over silver bars and columns of marble; and couches of gold and silver were arranged on a terrace paved with alabaster and marble; with mother of pearl and black onyx.

The Megillah describes the feast that Achashverosh prepared for his guests:

Esther 1:3-5

in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his ministers and courtiers—the elite of Persia and Media, the nobles and the governors of the provinces in his service. For no fewer than a hundred and eighty days he displayed the wealth of his kingdom and the dazzling glory of his greatness. At the end of this period, the king gave a banquet for seven days in the courtyard of the king’s palace garden for all the people who lived in the fortress Shushan, high and low alike.

Esther 1:7-8

Royal wine was served in abundance, as befits a king, in vessels of gold, vessels unlike any other. And the rule for the drinking was, “No restrictions!” For the king had given orders to every palace steward to comply with each man’s wishes.

The gluttony and debauchery that took place led to what could have resulted in the genocide of our people. Sometimes, too much really means too much.

Judaism recognises this and places limits on excess, hence the command by Moshe to cease from bringing gifts.

I also see another way to view the beauty of our religion's sensible approach as I will shortly be concluding my year of mourning. In Parshat Chaya Sarah, we are told that when our first Matriarch died, her husband Avraham mourned over her.

In the Torah it is written that:

Genesis 23:2

Sarah died in Kiryat Arba—that is Hebron—in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

בראשית כ״ג:ב׳

וַתָּ֣מׇת שָׂרָ֗ה בְּקִרְיַ֥ת אַרְבַּ֛ע הִ֥וא חֶבְר֖וֹן בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן וַיָּבֹא֙ אַבְרָהָ֔ם לִסְפֹּ֥ד לְשָׂרָ֖ה וְלִבְכֹּתָֽהּ׃

Look carefully at the final word in the verse, Velivkota - and to weep for her and you will notice that in both the Torah and Chumash, the kaf is smaller than the other letters. Numerous commentators including the Rosh (d. 1327) explain that Avraham demonstrated his acceptance of her passing and whilst he no doubt mourned for her, he also limited the way in which he carried this out.

Judaism understands that just as there is a time to celebrate and a time to weep (as per the beautiful description in Kohelet - Ecclesiastes), everything must take place in a controlled and measured way. I could continue saying Kaddish for the entire year, but for a number of reasons, the process of mourning which began as soon as the Levaya ended must itself also finish in a set amount of time, which happens to be today.

In just over a month, on 25th Adar Sheni, my year of aveilut (mourning) will conclude and I will have the opportunity to remember my mother in a different, less public manner. This doesn't diminish her place in my heart and I am no less a son to her than I would be if I wore black for the rest of my life. Everything in moderation.

The Rabbi of Bushey Shul and similarly, the Jewish people's greatest leader understood that, in order to appreciate the gifts that people wanted to make, it was important for the overall project to curtail the contributions. This did not impact on the extraordinary achievement that took place in both the helping out of refugees and the building of the Mishkan. On the contrary, it provided a shining example of what our people can achieve when we unite as a community.

It shows that, if we can work together and put aside our differences, the Jewish people well and truly live up to Gd's requirements that we be to Him, 'mamlechet kohanim vegoy kadosh' - 'A kingdom of priests and a holy nation'. If we achieve this, we can demonstrate that we really are 'or lagoyim' - 'a light unto the nations' and one that completely deserved to be recognised as one of this countries' eminent 'Points of Light'.

Shavuah Tov.