,runv vacug s; Volume 28 No. 19 TERUMAH Daf Hashavua

13 February 2016 • 4 Adar I 5776 Shabbat ends in at 6.00pm Artscroll p.444 • Hertz p.325 • Soncino p.500

Solutions in The Power of Live Aid the Sidrah by Yoni Birnbaum, Hadley Wood Jewish Community

In the summer of 1985, (the Apron of the High Priest) (Shemot 25:3-8). Wembley Stadium staged Many different explanations are given as to the biggest music event why this is the case. A simple but profound the world had ever seen, idea suggested by the Kli Yakar (Rabbi Shlomo known as Live Aid. Ephraim Luntschitz d.1619) is that the key Designed as a revolu- purpose of the Mishkan was to achieve total tionary way of raising unity of the people in serving G-d. The Torah money for famine victims therefore lists the most precious item of all in Ethiopia, 58 bands last, in order to demonstrate that all their were brought together to donations were of equal value in the eyes of play live music for over 16 hours. Broadcast G-d. The key factor was not necessarily how live to the world, the event was viewed by an much each individual gave but the fact that estimated two billion people. contributions were made by all, in a shared The power of Live Aid ultimately lay in its outpouring of appreciation for the worthiness unifying effect. It went beyond ‘charity’, of the cause. bringing people together across continents, At the height of the Live Aid concert, £20,000 making them feel part of a global group a minute came flooding in to the campaign. promoting compassionate humanity. This was not, as we might have expected, The organisers’ initial target was to raise £1 because of a few large donations, but rather million. Yet the final figure actually raised as a result of the small efforts of thousands from Live Aid was around £150 million (equi- of individuals determined to make a differ- valent to approximately £350 million today). ence together. This week’s sidrah opens with a list of the The power of Live Aid, with so many materials donated by the nation in order to participants lends greater understanding to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The Torah the words of the Kli Yakar in emphasising appears to list the materials in descending the real achievement of the building, a order of importance – starting with gold, determined effort by the entire nation to silver and bronze, followed by wool, linen, join forces in order to create something animal hides and wood. However, the very special. Unity can be a tremendous force for last item on the list is arguably the good in the world. The prototype for this most significant of all, the precious stones is undoubtedly the remarkable Biblical for the Choshen (Breastplate) and the Ephod Tabernacle building project. An Indivisible Package by Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor, Daf Hashavua

“G-d spoke to Moshe, saying: ‘Speak to the Mishkan’s construction and Children of Israel and let them take for Me function acted as an atonement a portion, from every man whose heart for the nation’s worship of motivates him you shall take My portion. the Golden Calf. In that grave This is the portion that you shall take from episode, the nation misap- them…’” (Shemot 25:1-3). propriated three of their These verses, which open this week’s sidrah, resources. They physically contain the word ‘portion’ (terumah) three worshipped the Calf, using their times. Rashi (d.1105) writes that this alludes to bodies. They also made a mental mistake, the three different portions that the Jewish wrongly attributing godly powers to the nation gave towards the Mishkan (Tabernacle). idol. Finally, they misappropriated their One mention alludes to the contribution financial resources, donating their gold for towards the sockets (adanim) that supported the construction of the Calf. the planks of the Mishkan (ibid Given that these were their 38:26). The second alludes to the three areas of sin, atone- annual donation for communal ment was required to right offerings. The third one refers these wrongs. The sockets to the terumah detailed in this were the physical mainstay week’s sidrah, designated for the and foundation of the Mish- various materials used to construct kan, representing man’s body. the vessels and clothing of the Mishkan. The offerings brought atonement for inner thoughts. In as much as everyone had in The Maharal of (Rabbi Yehudah Loew equal measure a body and a soul, these d.1609) asks the following question. Given portions were compulsory, with a fixed that the only one of these three donations amount of half a shekel each. Just as the actually discussed in this week’s sidrah is the body and soul make up a complete person, third, referring to the materials used for so too these two portions made up a full shekel. vessels and clothing in the Mishkan; why was it necessary to state the other two? The third terumah was designed to atone for the mistake that the nation had made with To understand how he answers this question, their money. Unlike a body and a soul, which we must bear in mind that the first two we all have in equal quantity, financial donations (for the sockets and the communal resources vary from person to person. offerings) were compulsory, with a fixed value Therefore this offering had no fixed amount. of half a shekel each. In contrast, the third Rather it could vary from person to person, donation was voluntary, with no fixed amount depending on their financial status. – someone with less financial resources could We therefore see that the allusion to all three offer less than someone better off. With this in of these portions at the beginning of the mind, the Maharal offers a beautiful answer to sidrah, even if only the third is detailed here, is the question, showing how these different not a mere play on words. Rather it is a deep portions were in fact inter-dependent: hint to the inter-dependence and united Rashi writes elsewhere (Vayikra 9:23) that the function of these different terumot. Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook in London: Part 1 by Rabbi Z M Salasnik, Bushey & District

In 2006, Wolfe Morris, a member of wife, Rize Rivka, went earlier to see their son. Bushey Synagogue, reached the age of War broke out and the conference was 100. I interviewed him for the synagogue’s cancelled. Rav Kook was a Russian citizen, magazine, FORUM. The first thing he and Russia was at war with Germany. The mentioned to me was that he was the last Kooks found refuge in St. Gallen, in neutral surviving person in to shake the Switzerland. hand of Rav Kook just before the latter left Meanwhile, the independent Machzikei England in 1919. I replied that my father Hadath Synagogue in the East End of London and maybe others living now in England had been without an official would have shaken Rav Rabbi since the death of Kook’s hand in the 1920s or Rabbi Aba Werner in 1912. early 1930s in Israel. Always The community invited Rav alert, the almost centenarian Kook to become their Rabbi. responded that my father had shaken Rav Kook’s He accepted, arriving in hand in Israel, whereas he, January 1916, spending the Wolfe, was the last survivor remainder of the First in England to have shaken World War in London. A few his hand in England. articles about this period, 100 years ago, will appear in What most impressed me Daf Hashavua in the coming about our conversation was weeks. that 87 years after the event, Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook this brief connection with However, within this brief Rav Kook was the first thing that he introduction, I wish to suggest that the mentioned in our interview. Wolfe’s father greatest effect of his three years in London had been a baker, and had baked all the bread was not the Balfour Declaration, where his for a reception in honour of Rav Kook on his involvement was tangential, nor the departure from London to return to the Holy leadership of Machzikei Hadath, nor his Land, this time not as Rabbi of Jaffa, his relationship with Chief Rabbi Hertz, which position since 1904, but to be Ashkenazi was significant in reducing the friction Rabbi of Jerusalem and, subsequently, the between the synagogue and the Chief first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine. Rabbinate of Hermann Adler a decade earlier. Rather it was that many families Why had Rav Kook been in London? Rav within London Jewry felt connected to a Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook had been man who they came to know as a spiritual invited to an Agudat Israel conference in giant of the Jewish world, so much so that Germany in 1914. As their son, Tzvi Yehuda, a meeting with a 13 year old still left its was learning in Europe, Rav Kook and his impression 87 years later. Insights into Thrown into the Lion’s Den Jewish History by Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein, Cockfosters & N Southgate Part 22 United Synagogue; US Living & Learning Educator

The Babylonian Empire fell to the combined By now Daniel’s practice of praying three forces of the Medes and the Persians on the times a day facing Jerusalem was well night of Belshazzar’s feast, which coincided known. The Talmud (Berachot ) even tells us with the first night of Pesach. The Medes of Daniel’s attic room-cum-shul. Though were led by Darius, and the Persians by his formal prayer would not be instituted until son-in-law Cyrus. after the building of the Second Temple, by the Men of the Great Assembly, Daniel The transition, once the war was over, was had already put into practice elements in most cases uneventful. People were not of the formal prayer that we follow until exiled and most of the this day. The first was praying three times administration, including a day, the second to face Jerusalem and the Daniel, remained in their third is a minhag (custom) that many positions. Darius ruled for communities have; to pray in a shul only a few years and was that has windows. succeeded by his son-in-law. Darius was a tolerant ruler Daniel’s attic room was who allowed all the different broken into while he peoples under his rule to prayed. He was dragged worship as they pleased. Administratively, before Darius and asked to account for his he placed 120 governors over 120 violation of the royal decree. As Daniel provinces; three men were placed in charge stood before Darius, who was fond of him, of the governors. One of the three was Daniel saw that the sun was about to set. Daniel, now an old man, but still admired Rather than defend himself, Daniel started for his sagely advice. to pray the afternoon Minchah service, showing that he indeed was praying to a Darius’ advisors told him that unless he truly G-d and not Darius. exerted himself as an Emperor, he would lose the respect of the people. They advised Daniel needed to be punished by royal him that he should issue a royal decree that decree; he was thrown into the lion’s for one month, everyone in the kingdom den, where he was greeted by 1,000 hungry should worship Darius alone. Anyone found lions. Yet he miraculously survived the not praying to Darius would be put to death. night unscathed.

United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue, together with US Living & Learning Editor: Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor in Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Available also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Richard Marcus on 020 8343 5685, or [email protected] If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email [email protected]