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.

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.

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 8^th 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.

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.

The Presidential Seder

Let me share with you a fascinating article from the Ha-aretz Newspaper: for the third year running President of the United States; Barak Obama, the leader of the free world has held a Seder in the White House.

Agreed that Kosher for Pesach food was not used, and it was only Kosher style, with Matza ball soup and Gefilte fish served up for the first time in the executive Mansion. Then again – no Jewish leaders were invited.

But-no kidding they did this properly. They used the text of the Maxwell House Hagadah which is a full unmodified traditional text. And each member of the White House staff who attended, were given a chance to read from the Hagadah in turn.

Obama’s daughters, Malia and Sasha hid the Afikoman which apparently took over 45 minutes for the members of the Secret Service to find.

This was all instigated during the 2008 elections whilst Obama was running in the Pennsylvania Primary elections for President. He walked in on the basement of his HQ where some of his Jewish staff were conducting a Seder, and instead of putting a stop to it, Obama asked to stay. According to those who were present, instead of saying at the end of the Seder; Leshanah Habah biyrushalayim, Next year in Jerusalem, Barak Obama said Leshana Habah beWhite House- which came true.

He decided from that day on to hold a White House Seder every year.

So we laugh.

This is clever politicking by the leader of the free world. Roughly 2% of his electorate are Jewish, a majority of whom are Democrats. It makes sense therefore for the President to hold a yearly Seder in the White House to demonstrate to his electorate- “maybe I’m not so anti Israel or anti Jewish as people make me out to be”.

But I believe there’s more to this story than meets the eye.

In a statement to the press, Obama said that with the Arab revolutions sweeping across the Middle East, the Passover message, the story of freedom is particularly poignant this year and the message is: quote: “We need to alleviate the suffering, poverty, injustice and hunger for all those who are not free.”

Barak Obama is not the first world leader who has used the Exodus motif in relation to the striving for freedom.

I think of Nelson Mandela in his fight against South African apartheid or black civil rights leader Martin Luther King who persistently harped back to the Exodus theme. “Let my people go” became a battle cry not just for the Israelites in Egypt but a modern day cry for freedom. Oliver Cromwell in his first ever speech in parliament, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklyn, all used the Exodus image in their portrayal of freedom from the oppressor.

So what?

In the Hagadah we read the following:

“We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. And if the Holy One Blessed Be He had not brought our forefathers out of Egypt, we and our children and our children’s children would still be slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.”

So the question is- we make this statement in the Hagadah every year, but does this theory really hold water? Would we really still be slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt if G-d had not taken us out? Would we not have fought for the freedom by ourselves? Would freedom not have come by itself as a natural consequence of the oppression of a people?

So would we really still be slaves to a Pharaoh in Egypt?

Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook suggests the following thought: The Exodus from Egypt where G-d miraculously brought Israel out of Egypt, injected and infused an atmosphere of CHANGE in the world.

Without the Exodus story the world would remain stagnant- nobody would ever have struggled for freedom because they would never expect change.

However, the Exodus injected the motif of freedom in the world.

Therefore we can understand how any modern day movement of freedom draws its roots from the Exodus theme.

In every generation a person is duty bound to look at his/herself as if he/she came out of Egypt.

Stop now?

“Eighth child?” You say to me. “Did I hear that right? You’re on to your eighth child. How do you manage? Are you absolutely mad?

Can you really share that amount of love? Don’t your children get neglected?”

These are the standard questions that people pose to me all the time.

It reminds me of the following story that happened after my seventh child was born; I met a Jewish lady outside my house, somebody I didn’t really know, not from my community.

“Mazal Tov” she said to me. “Nice to hear the good news, so, how many do you have presently?” I told her how many. “Are you going to stop now?” she asked. I quipped: “We’re not going to stop till we have a full size football team with substitutes.”

There is a legendary family in Gateshead who has eighteen children in the family. The story is told that their father once got on a bus with nine of them and they were making a bit of a noise. “Couldn’t you have left half of them at home?” Asked the bus driver.

“I already did!” he responded.

But seriously, what drives people like us to build big Jewish families?

A number of years back I visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Centre. If you haven’t been, you must go-it’s a place that you need to spend a long time in contemplation. The next time you visit Jerusalem, take a day out and absorb the exhibits, the photos, and the memorials.

Whilst there in 1991, I went to see the children’s memorial dedicated to the children who died in the Holocaust. I better warn you-it is extremely powerful. One and a half million children perished in the Holocaust. That is a mind boggling number. We can’t even think that amount of people. You enter a cave and there is a single candle reflected by mirrors giving the appearance of hundreds of candles. A voice plays over giving the names of children. The voice is never ending, it keeps on going, and you appreciate the magnitude of the loss.

On that particular visit there was a special photo exhibition about the Warsaw Ghetto. This was a harrowing exhibition; it portrayed graphic images of life in Warsaw, before, during and after the liquidation of the ghetto. You see in vivid detail people lying dead on the streets as others walk past carrying on their business as if nothing had happened. A lady next to me breaks down in tears. She said to me: “My best antidote to Hitler is that I have ten children!”

To a certain degree I agree with her. On the one hand Hitler is dead, but the Jewish people live on. In our long history we have experienced numerous societies who-in the words of the Haggadah “stood up against us to destroy us.” But hey, we are here; Am Yisrael Chai- The people of Israel live on. The antidote to a Hitler is to ensure our survival and continuity.

On the other hand, should my identity as a Jew be affirmed by the negative impact of the holocaust? If I say that we have to be Jews and assert that because of Hitler, what am I teaching my children? That through living the life of the Jew you look forward to death and persecution? Is that what being a Jew means? Is that what this lady meant in her tearful assertion?

I don’t think she meant that at all. Simply put, we need to replace the Neshamot (souls) of those people who perished. Jewish people are a vanishing entity. The average Jewish family is not replacing itself. We are minus minus the average birth rate. It makes sense therefore that Jewish people have children. We need not have to apologise for that.

As to the question as to whether one can give love to many children. Let my children be the judge of that. Ask them.

Am Yisrael Chai!!

It's very personal

It is with a great sense of exuberance that I share these thoughts with you today. Last week my wife gave birth to our eighth addition to the Black clan. Even after eight children I cannot cease to be in awe at the birth of a little baby. There is not a lot I can do there in the Labour ward as my wife goes through the travail of the labour. For reasons of Tzniut I stand back, but it is an over powering moment. As I see our little child for the first time I hold on to his petite manicured fingers. If there is a time to bless Hashem for all the goodness that He has bestowed on us, this is it as I witness first hand the wonder of His hand. I thank Him and I thank my dear wife Yehudit for being so good.