A picture speaks a thousand words

It’s a crazy sort of world we live in.

Last night I was in Tottenham to celebrate a friend’s simcha, not too far from the place that the riots had taken place only a few nights earlier. Somebody suggested I take a ride to witness first hand the devastation left by those riots.I declined, since I was with my wife and three kids in the car- it wasn’t a risk worth taking.

But what really gets me is the picture I have posted above. You can follow the link and watch the You Tube video of Chassidim running desperately from a police charge.

http://www.gruntig.net/search?updated-max=2011-08-08T11%3A42%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=10

The question is what were they doing there to begin with?

I spoke to a member of the Stamford Hill/ Tottenham Jewish community police liaison who told me that as he stood on the police side of the riot he did notice a number of Chassidim in the crowd.

What were they doing there?

“Beats me”

Here are two theories:

1. They were joining the hooligans and thugs in their riot and looting of the nearby shops- and like many they were taking advantage of the situation.
2. They wanted a piece of the action. And what better place to witness it than from the front row seats down the road. After all they don’t have their own Televisions from which to view the riots.

I think it was the second reason. Whatever it is they should not have been there and brings our community (the entire Jewish community) into disrepute through their actions. It should be condemned by their leaders in the strongest possible terms!

Hope on the darkest of days

The truth about Tisha B’Av is as follows: for many people there is a difficulty. We live in times of relative peace and prosperity. We are not at war. Anti Semitism is on the wane. Jews live at relative peace with their neighbours. And we have Israel which is our homeland. The place for which we have yearned for 1900 years

Tisha B’Av – when we mourn and wail about the tragedies of yesteryear, seems al right for the shtetl- when the Jews lived in a climate of fear and persecution. We had good reason it seems, to be depressed about our lot in life. But for today it seems an anachronism- a relic of the past.

What are we mourning about? Have we any reason to mourn if things are not so bad in contemporary Jewish life? I’m not the only one who expresses these sentiments. On a number of occasions I have been approached by individuals who tell me the following. “Rabbi, Yom Kippur and all the other Jewish festivals I have no problem about it’s just Tisha B’Av it all seems so superfluous today”.

There’s a scene in Fiddler on the Roof which whenever I see it wrenches my heart. In the little village of Anatekva, the Russians decide to wage a pogrom against the Jewish community. We see all the Jews of Anatekva in the Wedding Hall enjoying and partaking of the simcha. All of a sudden you hear the sound of crashing glass, and the looting and burning of Jewish shops. The cossacks ride into the wedding hall and overturn all the tables.

The Russian captain looks at Tevye and says: “Orders is orders see.”

The camera Looks down from above at Tevye. He is holding some pieces of challah he has picked up from the floor and he glances up – and looking upwards he puts his hands together. He says nothing as if he is asking Hashem, as Jews have done for many years. “Why is this happening to us?”

O.K -you say-it’s only a film – part of a fictional novel by Shalom Aleichem. The story and characters might not have been true, but the story encapsulates that of the Jewish people

My paternal grandparents –The Schwartzbards came to Newcastle in 1913- they were running away from the pogroms that had plagued the Jewish communities in North west Poland in Kalisch.

My maternal grandparents-The Garbacz’s came to London from Rovna in White Russia, escaping the persecution and degradation of life for the Jews in Poland and Russia at that time.

For most of us the story is the same. You go back one or two generations and we were most probably running away from something.

So they had good reason to sit on the floor on Tisha B’av to wail and bemoan their fate. If you’re suffering or you have suffered persecution there’s every inclination to mourn.

But today in 21^st century- You must be joking.

So what’s it all about?

Central to Tisha B’Av is the churban Habayit- the Destruction of the first and second Beit Hamikdash the Holy Temple that stood in Jerusalem, and on Tisha B’Av was destroyed by the Romans.

So what? What difference does that make to me living in 21^st century Britain?

The answer is that it is not the destruction itself that we mourn- yes that was a great tragedy, but it is the consequences and result of that catastrophe that we lament.

We lost our national identity, we lost our homeland. No longer were we in the presence of the Shechina. We went into gallut/ exile. The Beit Hamikdash had been the centre for all Jews. We lost our anchor and focal point. Everything that has happened to the Jews since that catastrophe has been the corollary of that event. All the persecution and degradation over hundreds of years can be traced to that one off event that led to our people being dispossessed of its land and having to live in a harsh and hateful gentile world.

So we cry. We cry, not only for the fact that we mourn the Churban Habayit and the persecutions of the Jews throughout the ages, but we weep for the fact that there are so many Jews out there who don’t even recognise the beauty of Torah. The Jews who are no longer sitting on the floor on Tisha B’av, who have got up, dusted themselves off, and abandoned their faith for the pleasures and freedoms of the world.

We cry for the fact that even though we have Baruch Hashem the Land of Israel, about which is said- “The eyes of the Lord Your G-d are constantly in it from the beginning to the end of the year”- Yet there are Jews who are living in this beautiful land of ours yet refuse to acknowledge their G-d given connection with God and His Torah.

We cry for the Jews who never knew to sit on the floor in the first place on Tisha B’Av because their grandparents threw their Tefillin overboard on their way to this country, whose connection to Judaism is so tenuous it would take moschiach to bring them back.

We cry also for ourselves. For those who are committed to Judaism- are we really living the way G-d has intended us to? Are we doing enough for our fellow Jews who feel disconnected with their Judaism? Have we done enough to stem the outflow of young Jews away from our heritage?

Al Eleh ani bochiya- For these we cry.

The Talmud says that on the very saddest day of the year Tisha B’Av Moschiach will be born. We look forward to the time when we will merit the transformation of Tisha B’Av to a day of Joy and Simcha with the coming of Moschiach Speedily in our Days. Amen

Ultimately it's our responsibility

I want to share with you a story which took place in Newcastle at a Bar Mitzvah in the Shul hall. I was seated next to a Rabbi from the nearby Gateshead community.

For those people who do not know let me explain; Gateshead is a very frum community, just the other side of the River Tyne. It is described by some as the Jewish University town of the Charedi world, because it is famous for its institutions of Higher Jewish learning. It boasts four Yeshivot and three Kollelim and two girls Seminaries, plus Jewish Primary and Secondary Schools.

Newcastle on the other hand, of which I was the Rabbi, is a mainstream- middle of the road Jewish community. With a mixture of people who are entirely Shomer Shabbat to people who virtually keep nothing at all.

People of all shades.

So I sit next to this Rabbi at this Bar Mitzvah.

This was the gist of the conversation:

“Rabbi Black- at the end of 120 years, you will Please G-d go up above to the pearly gates of heaven where the angels will ask you the following question: Rabbi Yehudah Leib Ben Shemariyahu HaCohen Black- You were the Rabbi of the Newcastle Jewish community for X amount of years. What did you achieve in that time allotted to you? Did you raise the standards of the community? Did you try to encourage people to keep Kosher? Did you make your community Shomer Shabbat? Because at the end of the day, if you did not, then it falls upon you- because you had the power and potential to do something about it and you did not, it is therefore your responsibility.”

I felt I had been attacked, personally challenged for my own shortcomings or for that of my community. My reaction to this Rabbi was as follows;

“Rabbi X – at the end of 120 years you are going up to the pearly gates up above and the angels will ask you the following question: You who lived in Gateshead for so many years- you who lived in a community which is so permeated with a love of Judaism and love of G-d. Did you take that love of Yiddishkeit- that love of Torah- that love of G-d, and did you share it with your fellow Jews who live in Newcastle- because if you did not- why didn’t you? Why was it good for you and not for your fellow Jews outside the daled amot; the four cubits of Torah learning in Gateshead. It’s all very good for the self, but what about the Jews who are outside your community. You spoke about love of Torah – love of Yiddishkeit and love of G-d but what about the love of your fellow Jews? And if it’s not there why not?”

The Rabbi from Gateshead was lost for words- he hadn’t expected such a sharp response.

But on reflection his words – his challenge to me was very real indeed. What he was saying to me and in a very direct way was that the Rabbi is the one who has the power, the potential to change community to transform individual lives, to lead them to the next stage in their religious development, to have the vision and programme for the future, and if he is not doing that and the community lacks growth – then ultimately, he is responsible.

And at the same time I realise that we all have the duty to share what we have with others. If we have some level of learning, if we understand an aspect of Torah in a particular way it’s all too easy to become separatist and not share what we have. It’s so simple to say I’m o.k where I’m at, why do I need to care about a zweiten yid- another Jew? When it’s cold outside it’s easy to wrap oneself up in the fur coat to keep oneself warm but what about other people. How do I warm them up in their Judaism?

We need to be friendly and warm and welcoming. Is there a new face in Shul today? Have we greeted and said Shabbat Shalom and invited them to our homes?

And it’s all got to do with Tisha B’Av-

Listen to this statement from the Gemara in Yoma:

The reason for the destruction of the First temple, says the Gemara was because of three cardinal sins in which they were steeped:

idolatry, bloodshed and immorality-

But what about the second temple- these sins were not rampant during the second Temple period so why was it destroyed?

Answers the Gemara: Sinat Chinam; Baseless hatred .

The nine days is the right time to reflect on our relationships with our fellow Jews.

The darkest hour for the Jewish community

I have just finished watching the footage of the funeral for Leiby Kletsky.

I cannot help but cry for a family distraught beyond measure for the loss of their little child. For those who don’t know; Leiby was a Chassidic boy of eight from Borough Park in Brooklyn, who went missing on Monday afternoon. He was supposed to have met up with his mother after Day Camp but he did not show up at the agreed place.

CCTV footage showed pictures of the boy at an intersection in Brooklyn obviously lost. He stopped a man to ask him how to get to the Sefarim store. The man went away – he had an appointment with the dentist. Came back a little later and you see on the CCTV footage the little boy walking away following the man.

The man was identified as Levi Aron- a thirty five year old divorced man who had recently moved to the area. When they went to his home at Kensington to interview him at three in the morning on Wednesday, the man brought the investigators into his apartment. There was blood everywhere and body parts were found. Other parts of this young boy’s body were found in a dumpster. Levi Aron was arrested immediately.

Looking at the photo of the accused you think how he looks so normal. One would never have thought that this man would have done such a thing.

The whole story gives me the shivers.

This type of thing doesn’t happen in the Jewish community does it? Child and wife abuse doesn’t happen? Does it? The shock is that this type and form of crime is the first that I’ve heard of from within the orthodox Jewish community.

Our weaknesses are that we are all very trusting. We try to see the good in everybody. After all, isn't it better to look at people with your right rather than the left eye? As a Rabbi surely I’m supposed to try to accentuate the good in life and see that in everybody?

Whacko! Animal! Monster!! These are some of the appellations that I have read on various blog and news sites. But the truth is he had two eyes a nose a mouth and two ears like you and me. His photo doesn’t fit the stereotypical picture of a monster. Yet he did what he did. I can never understand the mentality of such a person. Whether or not this is a person suffering from mental illness is for the authorities to determine. But the fact is a person has it within his capacity to do such a crime.

However, this story reminds me of something that happened in our family a few years ago. We had a Polish cleaner. Somebody we thought we could trust with everything. I think of the many times that we left her alone in the house and with the children. Then one day we received a phone call from a lady in Hendon from the place where she was residing as au pair for a Jewish family. The lady of the house had (wrongly in my opinion) gone into her bags when she was out, and found; perfumes, rings, and baby’s clothes- an abundance of them. She knew that we had just had a baby girl- and some of the clothes that we had received as presents had gone missing.

We were shocked. These were all the clothes that we had received from the birth of our baby. Over the time she had worked with us she had quietly filtered off rings and clothes –we still today do not know what she had taken. Somebody in whom we had put our trust had betrayed that trust. Could we ever trust anybody ever again?

The police commissioner on the case said that this was just happenstance, Leiby just happened to be the wrong child in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the eyes of the Orthodox Jewish world there is no such thing as coincidence there is a reason for everything. We don’t understand Hashem it is beyond our rationale.

Perhapsultimately this has been sent to us as a warning: to watch and look after our children, to recognise that we are near the three weeks- a time of tragedy for the Jewish people or just to recognise the importance and value of every single Neshama.

May his soul be bound up in eternal life

The Eternal Message

"Mah Tovu ohalecha Yaakov mishkenotecha Yisrael."

"How Goodly are your tents O Jacob- Your dwelling places O Israel."

I say these words every single day without fail on my entering the Shul in the morning, and so do many of our fellow Jews throughout the world. It begins my day with this optimistic message of the beauty of Shul and community.

What do they mean? Mah Tovu ohalecha Yaakov- How goodly are your tents O Jacob- One explanation from the Gemara in Megillah is that they refer to the Synagogues and Yeshivot of the Jewish people wherever they may be, that the blessing is eternal.

And who originally said them?

It was Bilaam the Heathen Prophet in this week’s Sedra employed by Balak, the King of Moab to curse Israel; but try as he might the words that came out from his mouth were not curses but blessings.

And indeed Our Rabbis say that from the nature of the blessed that spurted forth from his mouth, you can deduce exactly what the curse was supposed to be. In other words, Bilaam wanted the exact opposite of what he achieved. He fully intended to curse Israel

Shelo yiheyu lachem batei knessiyot ubattei medrashot- That your Shuls and Yeshivot should not endure, yet he ended up only with blessing.

So the question is: There is no doubt that Bilaam intended to curse Israel, yet as he admitted to Balak in a later communication, “Even if you were able to give me a house full of gold and silver- I am unable to transgress the word of G-d- Everything that G-d puts into my mouth I have to say”.

Bilaam becomes a mere automaton.

So my question is, why do we commence each and every day when we enter Shul with the words said by a heathen prophet and sorcerer, who set about with the intent to curse Israel?

The question becomes more pronounced and aggravated when we hear the words of the famous 16^th Century Halachist – the Maharshal- Reb Shlomo Luria who said in a responsa the following:

Ani matchil berov chasdecha umedaleg mah tovu she-amro bilam – veaf hu amro likllalah-

He says- I begin from the next line and I miss out Mah Tovu because it was said by Bilaam who intended to curse Israel.

In other words the Maharshal rejects saying Mah Tovu because of its negative source.

Yet we, by “we” I mean The Jewish people anywhere you go in the world, have accepted these words from Bilaam as part of our everyday prayers, no questions asked?

You’ve got to listen to this one because the message is simple but profound.

We recite mah Tovu – a prayer recited by a Heathen prophet Bilaam, the first thing that we say every morning when we come into shul because it symbolises the essence of Judaism.

And that is... the power to transform curse into bracha- blessing.

Bilaam intended with full sincerity to curse Israel- but he ended up blessing them.

The quintessence of Jewish history has been that we take a situation of kelaala- of curse- of negativity- of no hope, and we transform it into bracha- blessing= positivity- hope for the future.

And I can go throughout Jewish history and you can see the Mah Tovu.

The Churban Beit Hamikdash- Temple destruction- something about which we begin our national mourning on Shiva asar betamuz for three weeks.

Yet out of that negative experience comes a spark of positivity, a glimmer of hope, because when Reb Yochanan Ben Zakkai, the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish people at the time of the destruction heard about the impending catastrophe, he went to see Vespasian the Captain of the Roman Legion- and he said to him:

“Give me Yavneh as a town where I can set up a Yeshivah – an establishment of Jewish learning- a makom Torah- a place where there would be Jewish continuity”

Reb Yochanan Ben Zakkai knew the Temple was going to be destroyed but he found the positive in a very negative situation. We look back at what happened next in history. The Temple was destroyed- that was an inevitability, but Yavneh was alive and well.

And from Yavneh came the Sages of the Mishneh and the Talmud- and if it were not for the foresight of Reb Yochanan Ben Zakkai- we would have become lost in the quagmire of history. It was the ability of Reb Yochanan to see the Mah Tovu, the blessing out of the curse.

The positive out of the negative.

Right up to modern times. The most destructive and negative experience of our history-the holocaust- millions of Jews perished at the hands of their Nazi oppressors, yet out of those flames of destruction- when Jewish communities in Europe were literally reduced to atzamot yevashot- dry bones- yet out of that negativity, that period of no hope came the emergence of Medinat Yisrael- Our homeland.

And we look back at history and we praise those who had the prescience to look forward to see the mah Tovu- the positive out of an extremely negative situation. Against all odds they fought to build our land- that tiny strip of land –one of the smallest countries in the world- yet it has defied all natural phenomena to become the country Israel is today, despite the fact that there are people who still question its right to exist. Despite the fact that we are surrounded by millions of Arabs who have vowed to destroy us- Yet we hold our heads high because we are able to say Mah Tovu ohalecha Yaakov...

Shabbat Shalom

Chukat-What did he do wrong?

Whenever I read the Sedra of Chukat I feel vexed for Moshe Rabbeinu- The Raya Mehemna- the true Shepherd of Israel.

Miriam dies- The well dries up, and as our sages say that the portable well accompanied the Israelites in their travels was in her merit, so now they are without water to drink. We encounter the Israelites ganging up against Moshe and Aharon:

“Why did you bring us out of Egypt to this bad place- it is not a place of vegetation- fig, vines and pomegranates and there is no water to drink.”

Moshe and Aharon fall on their faces in resignation.

G-d gives them the following instructions:

“Take the staff, gather the people, speak to the rock in their presence; and the rock will produce water, and you shall give to drink to the community and their animals.”

So Moshe takes the staff- as commanded, gathers together the people around the rock, nothing wrong so far- and he speaks to them;

“Listen here you rebels- Is it from this rock that we will bring forth water?”

Moshe lifts up his hand and he hits the rock twice with the staff, water gushes forth and the Israelites and their animals drink.

G-d says to Moshe and Aharon: “because you did not believe in me to sanctify me in the eyes of all of Israel therefore you will not bring this community to the land which I have given to them.”

It’s harsh and very final:- Moshe because of this singular sin here will not be the one to lead Israel to the promised land.

Moshe is the one who had brought them out of Egypt, and he is the one to have experienced the closest ever relationship with G-d –panim el panim- but, with all that behind him, he will not be the one to bring them to the land.

But it’s difficult really to put your finger on what Moshe exactly did wrong.

He was commanded to take the staff, to gather the people together- which he did-and even if you were to say as many of our commentators say (among them Rashi)-that he was commanded to speak to the rock not to hit the rock which he did twice; Nevertheless, it is hardly a serious enough crime to deny him entry into the land.

So he was under pressure, he didn’t listen to the instructions properly. He even had a precedent to strike the rock; because that was what he had done 38 years previously at Refidim when the waters gushed forth from the rock.

So we struggle to find a real cause for the harsh rebuke of Moshe:

The Ibn Ezra suggests that his sin was that he hit the rock twice, something that was unnecessary for Moshe to do.

The Ramban and Rabbenu Chananel suggest that his sin was saying: Listen you rebels- is it from this rock that we will bring forth water? They say that through these few words he implies that they – Moshe and Aharon are the miracle workers- he excludes G-d from the equation, and therefore misses out of the opportunity to create a kiddush Hashem-a public sanctification of G-d’s name- that this is G-d who has done this miracle.

I find this answer shver-difficult because there are many instances in the Torah where Moshe speaks in the first person-or leaves out the name of G-d in his communication with Israel, yet he is not chastised for so doing.

Don Itzchak Abarbanel- the famous Spanish commentator who lived at the time of the expulsion, has a novel explanation: he says that in actuality Moshe didn’t deserve to be punished for this sin alone. But really he deserved to have been punished for the sin of the spies 38 years earlier- it was Moshe who had sent them out and he was therefore complicit in their attempt to dissuade B’nai Yisrael from entering the land. G-d- says Abarbanel, did not want Moshe to be punished together with the spies but was waiting for a good reason to chastise him independently. Therefore G-d waited until the incident of the striking of the rock to punish Moshe for what he had done earlier. Once again- it’s difficult- was Moshe so guilty with the sending out of the spies all those years earlier, that he should be denied entry into the land?

No- all fascinating responses but I’m not obligated to buy them.

Furthermore, there has to be a message for me in 21^st Century Britain to take out from this episode- and from all these responses that I have mentioned before, it’s not there, there’s nothing for me.

However I would like to put forward the view of Rambam- Reb Moshe Ben Maimon in his book Shemona Perakim- eight chapters, called that because it has 8 chapters- and he says the following.

Moshe did wrong because he lost it- he blew it. First he spoke to Israel in a derogatory way when he said Shimu na hamorim - listen here, you rebels. Then he takes the staff and instead of speaking to the rock as commanded, in a temper he struck the rock twice. Unacceptable behaviour for the Leader of the Children of Israel- and for that reason G-d says to Moshe because you did not believe in me to sanctify me in the eyes of all Israel, you will not bring them to the land.

Notice the words:- belief and sanctification of G-d are brought into question when one loses control.

In defence of Moshe: He was really provoked, and it wasn’t the first time he had been put under such tremendous pressure. Umpteen times we read of the Israelites complaining about the lack of food, water, shelter- yet for Moshe this was the last straw. And Moshe didn’t hurt anybody, at most he vented his anger on a rock- an inanimate object- hardly something to deny him entry to the Promised land.

But for Moshe even though he had been pushed he should not have lost control. There is no excuse for a man in the position of Moshe

All of our Sages tell us that we need to keep far away from kaas-anger- to the extent that our Rabbis say in the Gemara: Kol hakoes keilu oved avodah zarah- you lose your temper it is as if you have served idols.

Why? What has idol worship got to do with it?

Because when I lose it- I become the centre of my own worship. How could that have been done against me- How could he/she do that to me? We lose control and we forget Hashem – faith and trust goes flying out of the window and we can do anything in a fit of temper. Now we understand why G-d could say to Moshe after he struck the rock- because you did not believe in me to sanctify me in the eyes of Israel.

Says Rambam in Hilchot Deot when it comes to kaas- anger there is no derech haemtzai- no middle way- we need to keep away from it to the other extreme.

I might answer that I’m only human, but then again that’s not a good enough excuse.

The Torah is everlasting and the message is always here.

Shabbat Shalom

The Round Up

It is very rare indeed that I watch a movie and I am so moved to the extent that it instigates me to write about it on this blog. The Round Up (la rafle) is such a movie. A French film (with subtitles) about the true story of the events leading up to the early morning of 16^th July 1942 in Paris which was; the rounding up of 14 000 Jews in Paris and their being sent to the Velodrome d’Hiver.

The conditions in the Velodrome were appalling. The Jews remained there for eight days, without much food and water –only that provided by the Red Cross and the Pompiers, with only ten toilets, of which only five were in any working order.

Following this, they were sent from Gare d’Austerlitz to the internment camp at Drancy. And from there they were deported to the east-and we all know what that meant.

The movies focus is on a few individuals and specifically the experiences of an eleven year old boy; Joseph Weismann, whose entire family were rounded up on that morning. Jo was the only child out of 4051 children to survive by escaping from the Drancy camp. He is still alive today and was interviewed extensively for this film. The strange thing about the film was that even though it had been advertised in the Jewish Chronicle, there were very few movie theatres where it was showing, and where we went there were only four other people present!

A few points to ponder: The Vichy government under Marshall Petain deported 75000 Jews from France, many of whom did not survive. The complicity of the French is a stain on their national character. The police and other organisations were all guilty in their involvement.

However, with all that you cannot forget the French citizens who did come to the aid of the Jews. Over 10000 Jews were hidden on that morning of the rafle du vel d’hiver. Many people risked their own lives to help save Jewish lives.

In my opinion The Round Up is a film well worth seeing. The acting and cinematography is superb and the dialogue is excellent. Go and see it and tell me what you think, but don’t take your wife out to see it on your wedding anniversary.