Sunday 29 May 2011

Jerusalem- city forever united


This Wednesday is Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) and I thought it would be a good idea to say a few words about this and what it means to me. I had better emphasise that I was a little boy when the events of 1967 took place. Indeed I was only 3 years old and I can remember nothing of the event.

I am sure we can find many people around today who could definitely tell me a thing or two about what happened. And that is the great thing about Yom Yerushalayim- it is here in the recent consciousness of the Jewish people. It is an event about which we have photographs, films, and books have been written from people who experienced it first hand and are still alive today.

The Baal Shem Tov taught that everything that happens in our lives- whether it is a positive or a negative event works according to the laws of Hashgachah pratit- Divine Providence. This means that everything that takes place should have special significance to me. Therefore the fact that we are living in a post 1967 age means that there is deep and profound meaning to me and indeed to all of us.

You cannot deny the reality of what occurred in 1967

As a Jew- Yerushalayim is part of my make up- my identity. In our Tefillot we petition G-d every single day:

Veliyrushalayim Ircha berachamim tashuv, Bring us back with compassion to Jerusalem your city. Notice the next words-Vetishkon betocha ka-asher dibarta-And You will dwell in its midst as you have spoken. Yerushalayim with the Temple was the earthly abode of the Divine Presence.

In Birchat HaMazon we request: Uveneh Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh bimheira beyameinu- Build Jerusalem, the Holy city – speedily in our days.

On Motzei Yom Kippur and Seder night- the two holiest nights of the year we declare LeShanah Habaah biyerushalayim habnuyah- Next Year in Yerushalayim rebuilt.

Indeed in our Tenach- Yerushalayim is mentioned over 700 times.

You cannot be a religious Jew without recognising the importance of Yerushalayim in the life of the Jew.

The First and the Second Temples were built there and it was the centre of Jewish life; the place about which it is written: Ki Mitzion Tetze Torah Udevar Hashem miyerushalayim- From Zion shall go forth the Torah and the word of G-d from Yerushalayim.

Yerushalayim was the focal point for all Jews throughout the world until the destruction in 70 CE. The city was ploughed up and eventually there was even a name change by the Romans in 135.

But it remained imbedded deep in the consciousness of the Jewish people. Wherever Jews were, they trained their minds and their hearts, they modelled their Shuls on the Beit HaMikdash. They might have been living thousands of miles from home, yet they never forgot Yerushalayim.

The Talmud in Berachot makes it clear when it says that if you are living in the Diaspora and you want to daven you should face Eretz Yisrael. If you are living in Eretz Yisrael you should face toward Yerushalayim. If you are living in Yerushalayim you should face toward the Har Habayit- where the Temple stood. And if you are in the Temple precincts you should face toward the Kodesh Hakadoshim- the Holy Of Holies. In reality we as Jews wherever we are in the world, are all facing toward the same direction.

At every Jewish wedding we break a glass and we declare from Psalm 135 Im eshkachech Yerushalayim tishkach yemini- If I forget thee O Yerushalayim may my right hand forget its dexterity.

On Tisha B’Av we sit on the floor and we wail the loss of the Beth HaMikdash and we yearn for the rebuilding of Yerushalayim.

But there always remained a Yishuv in Yerushalayim-a small Jewish community. Despite the difficulties, Jews still maintained a presence in the Holy City

So Yom Yerushalayim – what does it mean to me?

Let’s look at the figures. In May 1967 the Arabs had 500 000 men, 5000 tanks and 900 planes. The entire Arab world were united against Israel.

“Our basic aim” said Nasser “will be the destruction of Israel”.

“Our goal” said President Aref of Iraq “is to wipe Israel off the face of the map”.

Israel fielded 275 000 men, 1,100 tanks and 200 planes. (source: Jerusalem by Sebag Montefiore)

The Israeli leadership looked very weak. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol came across as a ditherer and General Rabin suffered a nervous breakdown.

Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren went around the parks and cemeteries of Yerushalayim to see if there were extra places for burial. He expected a very big death toll.

There were people who expected a second holocaust

But that is not what transpired. The Israelis surprised the Egyptian air force off guard and pulverised them. And they launched an attack into the Old City. Before they knew it the cries of “Har Habayit beyadeinu”- “the Temple mount is in our hands” were to be heard and Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren was to blow the Shofar triumphantly at the Kotel.

It was a turn around of epic proportions. Now 44 years later we sit back and we take it for granted. But the truth is, it was an event where we witnessed the Yad Hashem- the Hand of G-d. Even people who were not religious at all, after the events of 1967 experienced a religious awakening.

What was the reaction of our Rabbis?

I’m not going to dwell on the views of the anti or non Zionist element of the Jewish community. They believe that we should not have Eretz Yisrael as a separate Jewish state before Maschiach comes. The events of 1948 and of 1967 were wrong, blips on the history of the Jews and they justify their outlook by quoting from the Aggadata in Ketubot 111 that says that Israel was adjured when going into exile to swear three oaths: one of them being not to go back to the land of Israel with force. Another time and place I will go into why I believe that their outlook is wrong.

But what was the reaction of the Orthodox mainstream?

I think firstly of Rabbi Yeshayahu Leibowitz brother of Nechama who took quite an extreme position, writing in an article in Tradition magazine shortly after the events of 1967 he said that like any war there is a winner and a loser. We won, but he did not see anything particularly heroic or Divine in this.

On the other side of the coin there are ultra Zionists like Rabbi Shea Yashuv Cohen who says that after the six day war we have witnessed first hand the wonders and miracles of G-d, indeed the promised redemption has arrived and this is it-the itchalta digeulah-the beginning of the redemption- take it to the next degree and we need to very soon rebuild the Temple in Yerushalayim and offer up the sacrifices once again.

Rabbi Norman Lamm- the Dean of YU says that you definitely cannot deny the Hand of G-d, the Divine intervention in the events of 1967. For the first time in 2000 years Yerushalayim is now in our hands,it is an opportunity of epic proportions. However this is not the redemption. We still need Maschiach to come but the events of 1967, the liberation and reunification of Yerushalayim still have great religious significance to all of us.

Whatever the outlook- we need to internalize the message of Yom Yerushalayim and that is not to forget Hashem’s Hand in the great victory that took place.

Barak Obama says that we should go back to the pre 1967 boundaries. Yerushalayim 1948-1967 was in the hands of the Jordanians, they destroyed 54 Synagogues in the Old City. Jews were unable to daven at the Kotel. Jerusalem was divided, our people suffered from ongoing sniper attacks. My message to Obama- Get real!!

In Psalm 122 we read the following:

Yerushalayim Habenuyah- keir Shechubrah lah yachdav

Jerusalem- built as a city joined together.

Yerushalayim is not for sale!

Thursday 26 May 2011

The Sound of Silence

A little song which is one of my favourites from the 60’s written by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in the wake of the assassination of John F Kennedy is; “The Sound of Silence”
I’m going to disappoint you by not singing the fabulous tune but Paul Simon explains the lyrics that describe what happens when there is a lack of communication.
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people maybe more
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb- the sound of silence
Wow what words; The sound of Silence- it’s like you’re talking away but nobody is actually listening to your words or you’re speaking but then again you’re not on the same wavelength or frequency, perhaps your words are not worth the bother.
You know sometimes as a Rabbi I feel these words are spot on.
Art Garfunkel said that the words of this song just wrote themselves- perhaps a sign of the frustration of those times.
One thing as a father, a parent and a teacher that I am concerned about and that is whether or not my children will follow in our footsteps. What do I mean by that? Not, whether or not my children will go into the ministry and become Rabbis like myself- after all being a Rabbi is no job for a Jewish boy.
My concern is whether or not my children will uphold and keep Judaism. I hope that they will be Shomer Shabbat, Shomer Torah umitzvot, keeping Kashrut and Taharat Hamishpacha, davening three times a day and taking time out to study Torah and connect up with Hashem. I hope that my children will be turned on to uphold Jewish values in the same way that I was at their age. And most of all I hope that my children will be mentschen- dealing with their fellow human beings in an honest and mentschliche way. I’m sure many of us want to see these ideals in our children and grandchildren.
But there is never a guarantee. At the end of the day my children have Bechirah Chofshit- freedom to choose. The Talmud says that 40 days before a child is born it is decreed whether a person will be rich or poor etc... But it doesn’t say whether a person will be a Tzaddik or a Rasha- that, says the Talmud is in our own hands. We can as parents, as teachers, and as guides show them the way, lead them- but you can’t force them to drink.
An interesting book which has been published for the frum community is called “Off the Derech”- it speaks about the growing phenomena of children who have been brought up in families in the dati/chareidi world but make a decision to move away from their world. They have gone off the Derech – the path of their parents and educators. The book deals with these issues and how we can try to hold on to our children, and to ignite that love of Yiddishkeit and those values that we hold so dear.
In this week’s Sedra we start reading the fourth book of the Torah Bamidbar, which speaks about the census of the B’nei Yisrael. Now listen to this; the Torah after telling us the names of all the tribes and their numbers and where each of them would encamp in the desert, then the Torah tells us
Ve, elleh Toldot Aharon Umoshe
And these are the generations- (the offspring) of Moshe and Aharon.
Then the Torah tells us about the 4 sons of Aharon who were Nadav and Avihu, Elazar and Ithamar.
But surprisingly the Torah glaringly leaves out an important piece of information; The Torah says these are the generations of Moshe and Aharon but doesn’t tell us about the offspring of Moshe Rabbeinu.
Rashi picks up on this and says that the Torah calls the children of Aharon also as the children of Moshe to imply, as the Talmud in Sanhedrin says:
“Melamed shekol hamelamed ben chaveiro Torah maaleh alav hakatuv keilu yoldo”
It comes to teach us that whosoever teaches someone else’s children Torah it is as if he had begotten them.
In other words Moshe, being the leader and teacher par excellence of all B’nai Yisrael it’s as if he has become their spiritual father. Their father Aharon having brought them into this world and Moshe Rabbeinu having taught them Torah, giving them spiritual nourishment, and bringing them into the next world. A profound and powerful message about the influence and power of teaching somebody Torah.
But let’s be honest. Rashi based on the Talmud has asked a question. Why does the Torah mention the B’nai Aharon over here as being the offspring of Moshe?- But what Rashi doesn’t really ask or attempt to answer is why it doesn’t mention the children of Moshe Rabbeinu – Gershom and Eliezar at this time?
Indeed in the Torah they get very little press
It’s the sound of silence.
It’s not what is written- it’s about what’s left out.
We are never told about what happened to the children of Moshe. Let’s face it, what does it say in the Torah- Lo Kam Beyisrael kemoshe od navi- that no prophet will arise in Israel like Moshe. He was the one that took them out of Egypt, he was the one who came down the mountain to give them the Torah, but his own children we know very little about.
I am a Cohen- I am a descendant of Aharon Hakohen. It’s clear what happened to the children of Aharon Hacohen. But when it comes to Moshe’s children we can only speculate.
Could it be that the very children of Moshe Rabbeinu went off the Derech? They saw a father who was so busy occupying himself with the multifarious duties for and on behalf of the Children of Israel, that his own children got left behind?
The Sifrei hints at this in a comment from Sidra Yitro where it says that Moshe came down the mountain to B’nei Yisrael, but, says the Sifre it doesn’t say that he went to his family.
Or when he went to meet his father in law Yitro and his wife Tzipporah and the Torah says Ve-et Shnei Baneha- her two children. A comment by the commentators; but were they not also his two children?
Perhaps he was so immersed in his job as leader of kelal Yisrael he just didn’t have the time to invest in his own children?
Who knows?
Shabbat Shalom

Saturday 21 May 2011

Do you believe in peace?

This is a précis of the sermon I delivered this past Shabbat.

Enjoy….

This morning at the outset of the Sedra we read about the rewards we get for keeping Torah and Mitzvot.

Some of the rewards are as follows:

The rains will come at the proper times. The produce will appear in abundance. Everybody will have plenty. The trees of the field will yield its fruit and you will eat your bread to satisfaction and you will dwell in your land with security.

Now listen to the next words because they are very familiar:

Venatati shalom ba-aretz ushechavtem ve-ein macharid-

G-d says: “I will provide peace in the land – and you will lie down with none to make you afraid".

These words are familiar because we recite them as part of the bakasha – the request in the Tefillah leshalom medinat yisrael-The prayer for Israel

We ask Hashem to give us peace.

Rashi – quoting from the Sifra asks the simple question… why bring peace in at the end of all the set of requests in the Sedra- and his answer is as follows- peace comes at the end to teach us that you might have everything else- all the blessings from Hashem- you might have all the abundance of produce and wonderful weather conditions- the rain that we need so desperately in Eretz Yisrael- but if Shalom is not there – then something really elemental is lacking.

Shalom- peace in the land outweighs everything else.

My friends- do not be deceived- Jews want peace. It’s part of the Torah- and its part of our Tefillot everyday. The last blessing of the Amidah is Sim Shalom Tovah uveracha- Provide peace goodness and blessing on your people Israel.

The end of the Birchat Hamazon , the end of Kaddish, the end of Amidah we say Oseh Shalom Bimromav hu yaaseh shalom aleinu veal kol yisrael… We just recited the words when we put the Torah back- Derachecha darchei noam vechol netivotecha shalom- The Torahs ways are ways of pleasantness and its paths are Shalom.

To be an Orthodox Jew- a Jew full stop- peace has to be the paradigm.

The only thing is that you cannot have peace without ensuring the security in the land.

Vishavtem lavetach beartzechem- you dwell securely in the land- precedes peace.

The media for example gets it wrong when they have a go at Israel for building an “apartheid” wall. The truth is that since that wall has been up the number of terrorist attacks in Israel has decreased dramatically.

People’s lives have been saved.

People get it wrong as well if they think that Israel can return to the pre 1967 borders. It couldn’t work then- so how could it work now?

People get it wrong as well when they suggest that we can sit down and negotiate with Fatah and Hamas jointly-who do not recognise Israel’s right to exist and indeed want to destroy us.

And we judge Israel by a double standard. Israel has to defend its borders and the security of its people, especially when they are attacked by missiles from without-but what about Turkey have they got a justification to oppress the Kurds who live in their borders?

Does anybody do anything about that?

Consider the people of Darfur. A crisis nobody in the west seems to know anything about. But if you look into the history of the conflict-look it up on Wikipedia, it’s about Arab Muslims against black Muslims- it’s simply a race issue yet the world is quiet. Yet when Israel needs to do things for its own security the whole world is in uproar.

Read on in the verse – after telling us about the importance of peace, the Torah then goes on to say.. vecherev lo taavor beartzechem… the sword will not cross your land.

So the question is… Peace- true shalom is more than the mere absence of war. Peace means that people will come to respect one another despite the fact that they might have their differences- It’s not just the fact that you don’t lift up a sword against your enemy – that might be just a matter of convenience- you don’t want to endanger yourself – but that doesn’t mean peace. So the order of the verse should have been that there will be no sword in the land, talking about the absence of violence and then, that will ultimately lead to venatati shalom ba-aretz- I will provide peace in the land.

You understand the question?

One interpretation is that the verse is referring to two different types of shalom. When it says Venatati shalom ba-aretz- I will provide peace in the land-it doesn’t mean just peace with our neighbours but it means providing an inner peace amongst us, the Jewish people. Because if there is no peace at home, amongst ourselves how can we expect that there will be peace with our neighbours?

We need to kindle the respect for one another as Jews-

Whether it is between the richer or the poorer elements of society, Ashkenazi or Sefardi- Chiloni or Chareidi, North African Jews or North European Jews- there has to be respect.

The Sefirat HaOmer are days of mourning because 24000 students of Rabbi Akiva died. Why- asks the Gemara in Yevamot did they die?

Shelo nahagu kavod zeh lezeh- they had no respect for one another.

And what a paradox, that it was their teacher Rabbi Akiva who quoted the verse in the Torah-Veahavta lereacho kamocha- You shall love your neighbour as yourself and he said: Zeh klal gadol baTorah- this is an important principle of the Torah.

His very same students could not live up to that principle.

Before we think about peace in the land we need peace amongst ourselves first.

Thursday 12 May 2011

Death of a murderer

“Do not rejoice at the downfall of your enemy” (Mishlei 24:7 + Avot 4:20)

The above words resound in my ears as I cogitate on the recent demise of Osama Bin Laden. Yesterday, it was reported that his son; Omar Bin Laden, born from one of his five wives, criticised the Americans for assassinating his father rather than bringing him to trial. Furthermore, the Bin Laden family were upset that they were not consulted regarding his burial at sea. It must be emphasised that Omar stresses that he does not ascribe to the ideology of his father.

However, he does have a point.

Was it right of the Americans to do what they did? Or should they have done things differently, more in line with international law?

In reflection, I entirely agree with what the Americcans did in this instance. They had to assassinate Bin Laden, to prevent him from becoming the centre piece of a trial against Al Qaeda which would only be manipulated as a propaganda tool by their movement. According to Jewish law if somebody is a pursuer, one is permitted to kill him before he murders you.

If only the allies had bumped off Hitler when they had the chance many of our people would have been saved.


The Americans would have been very unwise to bury Bin Laden on land because his followers would make his burial place a shrine, he would be made a martyr and it would become a focal point to further criminality.

However, the triumphalism of some of the Americans, dancing and partying the night away in Times Square and at Ground Zero was not in good taste.

He’s dead. Now we move on.

Thursday 5 May 2011

How to do a Hagbah

Watch the video below and enjoy…..

Today I discuss Hagbah and Gelilah- I hope you will find this an uplifting experience.

When I announced this in my Shul that I was going to do this I immediately had a few women up in arms about “what are we going to do whilst you show the men how to do Hagbah?”

What I really want to try to do is not just show you the practical aspect of how Hagbah is supposed to be done, but I want to try to understand the why behind it.

What does Hagbah mean?

Hagbah means to lift up the Sefer Torah and Gelilah means to roll it.

Originally Hagbah and Gelilah was one single unit, but in latter years it became two distinct aliyot.

The first time that Hagbah is mentioned in our literature is from an extra canonical tractate: The Masechet Soferim written by the Geonim in the middle 8th century.

We read the following:

After the Sefer Torah is taken out from the ark it is opened up to three columns and shown to all the men and the women to the right to the left, forward and back. When they see the writing, they bow down and say the following passage: Vezot HaTorah asher sam Moshe lifnei bnei Yisrael- and this is the Torah that Moshe placed before the Children of Israel. And also the verse Torat Hashem Temimah Meshivat Nafesh- The Torah of G-d is perfect, it refreshes the soul.

There are a few things to note about this statement:

First: Hagbah according to Massechet Soferim-the earliest source, was originally done before the Torah reading. Our Minhag however is to do the Hagbah after Reading from the Torah. Indeed the Sefardim and certain Chassidim have the Minhag of the Beit Yosef (Rabbi Yosef Caro) which is to do Hagbah prior to Kriat HaTorah and most Ashkenazim do Hagbah after the reading.

Interesting to note that Rabbi Chaim Toledano, a nineteenth century Sefardic Rabbi of note, writes in his version of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch that the Ashkenazi minhag is more correct because once people have seen the Hagbah-in his day- they did not bother to listen to the Torah reading thinking that they had fulfilled their obligation through Hagbah and it thereby degraded the Torah reading.

We continue from Massechet Soferim: The act of Hagbah was performed to include men and women. And it was important that people could actually read the letters in the Torah- otherwise they should not recite the verses.

We learn from this that as opposed to Keriat HaTorah which is involved in the listening to the words of the Torah – Hagbah is about seeing.

Rabbi Avraham Gombiner emphasises the importance of being able to read the letters and says that through the fact that one reads the letters on the Sefer Torah, a Divine light is bestowed on the individual.

The Ari Zal- Rabbi Isaac Luria says that when one witnesses Hagbah one should see the letters and think about every single Jew who are compared to the letters of the Torah and how the Torah unites the Jewish people. Indeed it was Saadiah Gaon who said that the Jewish people are a people by virtue of the Torah.

The Ben Ish Chai says that one should be able to read from the Torah, when it is held aloft, the letters that spell out ones name.

But I think the essence of Hagbah is really a statement; you lift it up to declare that this book is not like any other book. This book is different: Vezot HaTorah asher sam Moshe lifnei bnei Yisrael- This is the Torah that Moshe placed before the Children Of Israel. In other words we must not forget the honour, the veneration that we need to have for the Torah because its source is Divine.

Interesting to note our Minhag- Ashkenaz is to say the following addendum to Vezot: al Pi Hashem beyad Moshe- by the mouth of G-d through the hand of Moshe. However many authorities do not say this because it’s not from the verse. It actually comes from a different verse which describes how Israel encamped and journeyed al pi Hashem – by the mouth of G-d. These authorities criticise the welding together of different texts that are not connected and out of context.

Some people have the obscure custom to point to the Torah with their little finger or with a Tallit. Is this reminiscent of when the Children Of Israel beheld the Splitting of the Red sea they declared Ze Eli Veanveihu- this is My G-d?

The Minhag in certain communities is to lift up the Torah from the reading desk, then after the hagbah to put it down on the desk again and roll it there and there and the Golel has the task of just placing the ornaments on the Torah.

A few pointers to Hagbah:

If a person is asked to do Hagbah he should only accept if he knows how to do it properly. If not – he should decline.

When he is called up, like any Aliyah he should go the shortest route to the Bimah- to indicate his alacrity and excitement to fulfil the mitzvah.

When he goes up he should go to the Reading desk and kiss the Sefer Torah. He should then open the Sefer to display three columns. There are those who have the minhag to actually have the Sefer Torah closed and lift it up in that way and open up the Torah when it is aloft. However not everyday is able to do this. It is preferable therefore to have the three columns open on the desk.

The stitching of the Sefer Torah- that means when two parts of the klaf- the parchment are joined together should be in the centre of the scroll.

This is a safety feature of Hagbah- If there is a weakness in the Torah- the Torah would tear along the seam which is easy to repair rather than ripping the holy writing.

Make sure that the Torah is taut with three columns open to avoid the klaf falling down. Grasp the Atzei Chayim – the Torah staves and gently pull the Torah towards you without lifting it, so that half the Torah is leaning toward you in order that you use the desk as leverage.

Grasp the Staves of the Atzei Chayim close to the disks which gives added security and leverage.

Lift up the Torah and show it slowly to the right, the left, forward and back.

Do not lift it up too high. We have enough fast days-we’re not looking for more!

Bring the Torah to the Chair that the Shamas presents to you.

The Gollel- the one who is going to roll and bind the Torah and dress it comes forward and rolls the atzei chaim from the top. He makes sure that the Bereishit part of the sefer is always on top.

He then binds the Torah with the little belt and clips it together.

He puts on the mantle making sure that it fits in the holes and then he puts on the breastplate, the yad and then the keter or bells on top.

The Torah is then held by the magbiah- person who did hagbah until the Haftarah is finished.

He then stands with the Torah and hands it back to the Chazan at Yehallelu.

The Gemara says at the end of Megillah that the one who has the mitzvah of gelilah- rolling the sefer Torah- that means the one who today has Hagbah, receives the reward of all those who preceded him. Why? Because it is the last aliyah -and acharon acharon chaviv. The last one is the most beloved.

So my friends: never underestimate the importance of Hagbah.

Sunday 1 May 2011

Yom Hashoah in Kenton


“One cell of anti Semitism always has the potential to re-grow”. These were the words from Susan Pollack (pictured), this morning’s speaker at Kenton Shul’s Yom Hashoah service. She was trying to explain the dangers of anti Semitism and the need to root it out before it becomes harmful. Her mission in life has been to let the world know what she and her family went through during the war years. She still visits schools at the age of eighty to deliver her message.

Sue was born in Felsogod, a little village north of Budapest, Hungary. She described in detail her life there. She came from quite an Orthodox family. She recounted how they would not touch pens or pencils on Shabbat as a child. Her father was the one who ran the Synagogue in the village.

Early in 1944 her father together with other men of the village were taken away on a lorry never to be seen again. She wasn’t quite sure what happened to him. However a woman reported that they had been severely beaten and then brutally murdered.It also wasn't quite clear whether this was a Nazi or Hungarian attrocity.

Sue was later deported to Aushwitz together with her mother and brother. She was sent by Dr Mengele to work detail, her brother was sent to take the bodies from the gas chambers and burn them in the crematoria, something he never got over until his death in 1995. Her mother was sent straight to the gas chambers.

From Aushwitz she went on the death march across Germany and ended up in Bergen Belsen where she was liberated in a very emaciated state.

She started her life over again first in Sweden then in Canada then finally she came to UK to London. Twenty years ago she finally received her degree after being denied this in Hungary.

Thank you Sue for sharing that with my community.