19 August 2017 27 Av 5777 Shabbat ends 9.07pm 7.56pm

Volume 29 No. 47 Re’eh Shabbat Mevarechim. Rosh Chodesn Elul is on Tuesday and Wednesday Artscroll p.998 | Hertz p.799 | Soncino p.1055

In memory of grandparents Iris and Eddie Goldstein, Irving Tenzer, Norma and Baruj Levy on the occasion of the wedding of Victoria Kahn and Oliver Tenzer

Mount Gerizim from the base of Mount Eival c.1900

“It shall be that when the Lord your God brings you to the Land to which you come, to possess it, then you shall deliver the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Eival” ( 11:29). 1 Sidrah Summary: Re’eh

1st Aliya () – Devarim 11:26-12:10 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 14:22-29 Moshe tells the nation to “see” that they have the There is a to tithe produce grown in the choice between “a blessing and a curse”, which Land of , including ma’aser sheni, the ‘second will be determined by whether they hearken to tithe’, which is taken to Jerusalem to eat. However, God’s commandments or not. After the nation one who is unable to carry the produce can redeem enters the Land, they will come to Mount Gerizim its value and, having added an extra fifth, take the and to Mount Eival, where various blessings and money to Jerusalem, to purchase and consume curses (respectively) will be pronounced publically food there. (see Devarim 21:11-26). Moshe instructs the Point to Consider: what is the link between not to destroy the idols and altars they will mixing meat and milk and the mitzvah to give find in the Land. They should bring their own tithes? (see ) offerings to the Mishkan (Rashi). 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 15:1-18 2nd Aliya () – 12:11-28 Every seventh year is shemita, whose agricultural Moshe states the prohibition to erect and offer laws were detailed in parashat ( 25:1- sacrifices on private altars. However, one can 24). Existing loans are cancelled, yet the slaughter and eat kosher (unconsecrated) meat warns against withholding a loan from a pauper anywhere that one desires, though it is prohibited before the shemita year, out of fear that it will not be to consume the blood. Keeping to the general paid back in time. A Jewish servant works for six directives that Moshe has outlined will guarantee years; after which he can go free. When he leaves, peace and serenity for generations to come. his master must give him significant farewell gifts. 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 12:29-13:19 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 15:19-16:17 When the Israelites come into the Land, they must One is not allowed to work a first born male animal resist the idolatrous practices of the Cana’anites. from the flock or herd; rather it must be brought as One is not allowed to add to or subtract from any an offering and its meat then consumed by its mitzvah, such as taking five (instead of four) owner. The nation is to celebrate Pesach in the species on Succot (Rashi). A false prophet who ‘spring month’. Some laws of the festival and the tries to turn the nation away from God should be special Pesach offering are listed. comes rejected and is subject to capital punishment. The after the seven-week counting of the Omer. Succot same applies to someone who tries secretly to is celebrated at the time of year when crops are entice others to worship idols. Moshe details the gathered in from the threshing floors and the severe punishment for a city whose inhabitants turn vineyards. On each of these three festivals, a man to idolatry. has to bring special festive offerings to the Temple. 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 14:1-21 Question: when is a firstborn animal disqualified There is a prohibition against cutting one’s skin or from being brought as an offering? (15:21) Answer making a bald patch on one’s head as a sign of on bottom of page 6. mourning over a lost relative – this was an ancient Emorite custom (Rashi). Some of the laws of Taken from the book of Yeshaya, this is the third of kashrut are listed. Only an animal with completely the seven ‘haftarot of consolation’ read after Tisha split hooves and which chews the cud is kosher. B’Av. Yeshaya prophesies about a messianic future Therefore, animals like the camel and pig, which in which “all of God’s children will be His students” have only one of these characteristics, are and the will be protected from any harm. forbidden. Fish are only kosher if they have both fins and scales. The Torah lists forbidden birds by name. It is prohibited to mix meat and milk.

United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue Editor: Chaim Gross Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Editorial Team: Ilana Epstein, Laitner, Sharon Radley Available also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Loraine Young on 020 8343 5653, or [email protected] If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email [email protected]

2 The Pig of the Future by Hughes, Radlett United Synagogue

"But this shall you not eat from “Why is it [the pig] called ‘chazzir’? Because one among those that bring up day God will return it to us and it will become their cud or have completely kosher(!)” In other words, God will ‘save our separated split hooves: the bacon’! camel, the hare, and the hyrax, for they bring up their One should be clear that the ‘one day’ the cud, but their hooves are not kabbalists speak of is, of course, not yet here. split — they are unclean to As of today, pork is very much not kosher. you; and the pig, for it has a split hoof, but not In fact, some understand that this ‘one day’ the cud — it is unclean to you" (Devarim 14:7-8). refers to the messianic era and the worldwide refinement that it will usher in, when even the Pig has always represented the prototype of pig will become kosher. impurity, the quintessential ‘treif’ (non-kosher) item. In Hebrew, the very word for pig has Beyond telling us about the future kosher become a common epithet used to refer to all status of pork chops, we are also being repulsive, unwanted items or behaviours – even taught a lesson about repentance and those which have nothing to do with food. redemption. If we understand the pig to Something deemed really disgusting is represent all that is negative, we might say sometimes referred to as “chazzir treif” – that perhaps we all have elements of ‘pig’ in meaning as unkosher as a pig! Yet why is pig our personality and our past. Yet it is all meat more infamous than tiger or lion's meat? redeemable – all those activities that are Surely they are also just as ‘treif’, but they do not presently very much on the negative side of our have anywhere near as bad a reputation! spiritual scorecard can be ‘returned to us’ if we turn our lives around. To be kosher, an animal must chew the cud and have split hooves. There are four animals that God has a plan for the world and for every only have one of these signs. Of these four, individual. Every act has the potential to be only the pig has split hooves, whereas it does redeemed towards the ultimate good. The not chew the cud. It is as if the pig is saying: prophesy of the purified pig of the future “Look at me, I'm kosher!” Yes, it is kosher on the represents the potential purity that is within outside; but when one takes a closer look, it is reach of each and every one of us. not kosher on the inside. The Vilna Gaon (Rabbi Eliyahu Kramer d. 1797) compares the pig to those who come across as attractive and sophisticated, but, upon examination, are fundamentally immoral. This is perhaps why the epithet has developed.

However, there is a silver lining. There is a kabbalistic teaching that seems to take a more benign view of the pig. Using a play on the Hebrew word for pig (chazzir) which in Hebrew also means ‘return’, the Kabbalists make the following surprising statement:

In memory of Moshe ben Avraham Zarach 3 Bein Adam Lechaveiro Part 10: Judging People Favourably: The Other Side of the Coin by Rabbi Daniel Fine, Community Rabbi, Stanmore & Canons Park United Synagogue

In the last few articles, we do as the Torah expects of them. We should have explored the laws, not put ourselves into situations in which background and deeper our integrity could be misconstrued or perspectives behind the compromised. The records that mitzvah to give others the officials who entered the Temple treasury did so benefit of the doubt. The wearing garments that contained no hemmed requirements vary, based on parts or wide sleeves, and certainly no pockets, the particular person and so that it would be impossible for them to hide situation. For a righteous person, even a any coins (Shekalim 3:2). They were going out seemingly negative action is to be construed of their way to make sure that nobody would positively. For a person who is neither righteous accuse them of theft from the Temple donations. nor wicked, the mitzvah applies in situations This practice is derived from the verse: “you which could equally be interpreted as positive or should be clean in the eyes of God and negative, whilst the mitzvah does not apply to a the Jewish People” (Bemidbar 32:22). Those person whose actions are wicked. collecting communal funds would often collect in pairs or threes so that they could avoid any We have also seen that this mitzvah does not suspicions or charges of having embezzled call for us to be naive or to ignore facts. On funds. the contrary, it obligates us to look at events and actions with a discerning eye and give We have obligations to others just as much the benefit of the doubt wherever it is sensible as they have obligations to us. Their job is to to do so. judge me favourably and give my actions the benefit of the doubt. However, I must do my It is, unfortunately, not uncommon to come job to be righteous and ensure that my conduct across negative sensationalism. Yet when we is pristine, above suspicion, and ultimately a rise above a tendency towards negativity and shining example to others. look at others positively; when we utilise the mitzvah of giving them the benefit of the doubt, we can see new sides to people and situations. When we may previously have seen negativity and failure, we can see silver linings and opportunities. in previous articles we have showed that, generally, we should give people the benefit of the doubt and we should be more critical of ourselves and less of others. However, in our own conduct, we should not put ourselves into situations in which our integrity could be misconstrued or compromised. We are not allowed to rely on others to judge us favourably; we cannot assume that everyone will always

In memory of Frida Mirel bat Chaim Simcha 4 Parallel Thinking Part 30: The Enigma of Consciousness II by Rabbi Dr Moshe Freedman, New West End United Synagogue

In our previous article, Eve only understood things which were good, we introduced the idea such as the comprehension of God and the reality of inner consciousness as they existed in. Following the sin however, they the inner knowledge of perceived evil. one’s own existence. While consciousness is assumed Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno (d. 1550) adds that they to exist in some animals to now turned their attention to things that were varying degrees, some have pleasurable, even though potentially damaging. investigated whether human consciousness is This is why, unlike the animals, they recognised different and whether there are Jewish sources to their nakedness and covered themselves out of support this idea. shame. Before the sin, the purpose of reproduction was innocently viewed only in the Studies in animals have demonstrated varying context of procreation, which was a levels of self-awareness. They seem to have a commandment from God. Now it was also level of conscious experience and an desired for the personal gratification it offered. understanding that other animals have mental states which are different from their own. While it Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Schwadron (d. 1911) is impossible to know if animals contemplate their explains that mankind must contemplate the own existence, the Torah indicates that mankind greatness of God in contrast to the lowliness of certainly has a different type of self-awareness. man. Before their sin, Adam and Eve looked only towards God, because they possessed the same While animals have a spiritual essence called spiritual purity. Their sin damaged the very nature a nefesh (see Bereishit 1:20-26), mankind was of their being, invading their minds with self- “made in God’s image” (ibid. 1:27) and with a serving thoughts of physical gratification. They higher spiritual essence, called a neshamah (ibid. were therefore able to contemplate their own 2:7). This neshamah is what elevates mankind downfall – their nakedness, and attempted to hide above the animals and allows us to contemplate it with fig leaves. and yearn for God. In their book Beyond Your Ego, Jewish psychologists Dr. Judith Mishell and This translates into our own inner struggle Dr. Shalom Srebrenik associate self-awareness between the self-awareness of who we really are, with this neshamah. versus the supreme spiritual potential we possess – the refined people we could become. Mankind’s When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of inner consciousness is therefore dominated by Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Torah indicates this struggle: how much of our lives will we use that they changed the nature of what it is to be to strive for greatness, and how much will we use human. Immediately following the sin, the verse to pursue more animalistic desires? states: “And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves garments” (ibid. 3:7).

Rashi (d. 1105) notes that this does not mean that Adam and Eve had thought they were clothed and suddenly saw that they were in fact naked, but rather refers to a new level of awareness. Rabbi Yehudah Loew (known as the Maharal, d. 1609) explains that until this point, Adam and

In memory of Yochanan ben Moshe 5 Insights into Jewish History Part 79: When did the Lighting Start? by Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein, Cockfosters & N Southgate United Synagogue; Head of Project Development, US Living & Learning

In our last article, we noted debating the laws of Chanukah candle lighting, some that the accounts of the years 40 years prior to the destruction of the Temple? following the Chanukah story do not make any reference to We can offer two solutions. The first is simple: the the mitzvah of lighting the argument was actually between Beit Hillel and Beit Chanukah candles, which – the scholarly descendants of those two today is the practice most great scions; not the scholars themselves. closely associated with the miracle of one cruse of pure oil lasting for eight days in the Temple. An alternative explanation is offered by Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch (born in London in 1926 and now Av Beit Din of the Eidah HaChareidit in The Rambam ( d. 1204) explains this Jerusalem). The mitzvah incumbent upon every omission - the mitzvah of lighting Chanukah candles individual to light in their own home did not exist in was in fact not instituted until the destruction of the the time of the Temple, as the sources indicate. Temple, some 200 years after the Chanukah story. However, at the time that the Hasmoneans instituted Chanukah as a festival thanksgiving, they included The initial absence of a special mitzvah of lighting a mitzvah to light candles as a sign of thanksgiving candles may be self-explanatory. As the menorah in public settings, such as when people gathered would have been lit every day in the Temple, not just in synagogues or celebrated at Chanukah parties. during Chanukah, no special mitzvah would have It was this public lighting that Hillel and Shammai been required. A lit menorah was already in place. It were disputing. It was only after the destruction of was therefore only after the destruction of the Temple the Temple that the obligation to light in the privacy that the lighting of a personal menorah during of one’s home was instituted. Chanukah had to be legislated.

An early allusion to the future laws of Chanukah is mentioned by Rabbi Yitzchak Yehudah Trunk (d. , 1939) in his study of the Ramban’s commentary ( d. 1270) to the opening verses of parashat Beha’alotecha (Bemidbar 8:2). Aharon the Kohen Gadol had been disappointed not to be included in the princes’ offerings during the inauguration of the Mishkan (). God told Moshe to reassure Aharon that his tribe was destined for even greater things, as even when the Temple would cease to be in existence and the sacrifices would no longer be brought, the lighting of the menorah would go on with the lighting of the Chanukah menorahs. This would recall the heroism of the Hasmoneans, who were Kohanim and Rabbi Yitzchak Yehudah Trunk, Aharon’s descendants. one of the leading lights in Polish Jewry, Rabbi in Ciechanow, 1907-1912. Yet a new question arises. If the mitzvah of candle Source: https://no.pinterest.com/pin/ lighting was only instituted after the destruction of 381539399652893874/ the Temple, how do we explain the fact that the

sages Hillel and Shammai are recorded in the Answer: when it has a specifc type of blemish of type specifc a has it when Answer:

In memory of Chaya Rachel bat Moshe Ben-tzion 6 The Tribe Learn 2 Lead Jerusalem Experience Your journey begins here.

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