16 September 2017 25 Elul 5777 Shabbat ends London 8.00pm Jerusalem 7.20pm

Volume 29 No. 51 - Artscroll p.1086 | Hertz p.878 | Soncino p.1138

In memory of Chaya Rachel bat Moshe Ben-tzion

“I call heaven and earth today to bear witness against you: I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse; and you shall choose life, so that you will live, you and your offspring – to love the Lord, your God, to listen to His voice and to cleave to Him, for he is your life and the length of your 1 days…” (Devarim 30:19-20). Sidrah Summary: Nitzavim-Vayelech

1st Aliya (Kohen) – Devarim 29:9-28 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 31:7-13 On the last day of his life, Moshe gathers every Standing in front of the nation, Moshe tells member of the nation, of all ages. He enters them Yehoshua not to be afraid. Moshe writes the into a covenant with God, which will be binding entire Torah and gives the scroll to the Kohanim for future generations too. Moshe warns them and the elders. Moshe instructs the people in a against idolatry. Forsaking the covenant will result new mitzvah, known as hakhel – just after the end in the Land being destroyed and the nation being of every seventh year of the agricultural cycle exiled. (shemitah), on Succot, all the people are to gather in Jerusalem, young and old, to hear the king read Question: which type of labourers are specified parts of the Torah. as being included in those who entered the Point to Consider: why was just after the covenant? (29:10) Answer on bottom of page 6. shemitah year the chosen time for hakhel? (Levi) 2nd Aliya – 30:1-6 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 31:14-1 If the nation does indeed stray and finds itself in God calls Moshe and Yehoshua to stand by the exile, it will return to God wholeheartedly. God will entrance to the Tent of Meeting (ohel moed), have mercy upon the people and bring them in where He tells them that the nation will turn from wherever they have been ‘scattered’. against Him to other gods. God’s anger will flare against Israel, and he will ‘hide His face’ from (Shlishi) 3rd Aliya – 30:7-14 them, as if He is unaware of their sufferings After Israel’s ‘return’ to God, His wrath will turn (Rashi). He commands Moshe to write the Song upon those enemies which persecuted her. God of Ha’azinu, next week’s sidrah (Rashi). will bless the nation like He blessed their forefathers. The Torah is not hidden, nor is it so 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 31:20-30 far away that it is inaccessible. Rather it is ‘very God continues with His message; excessive close’ to us (see p.3 article). enjoyment of the Land's abundance will lead the nation to idol worship. Reading the Song of 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 30:15-31:6 Ha’azinu will remind them that they were warned God has placed ‘life and good, death and evil’ in of the consequences of rebellion. Moshe finishes front of the nation, who are urged to ‘choose life’. writing the Sefer Torah and tells the Levi’im to That means loving Him and walking in His ways. place it next to the aron (ark). Heaven and Earth are called to bear witness to this decision and its consequences. Haftarah Taken from the book of Yeshaya, this is the last of Parashat Vayelech starts with Moshe reminding the seven ‘haftarot of consolation’ read after Tisha the people that he is not going into the Land with B’Av. The redemption will come, with the nations them, but that Yehoshua (Joshua) will lead them of the world recognising Israel’s splendour. and that they will conquer their enemies in the Though sullied by the blood-stains of the same way that God allowed them to defeat the struggles of exile, the nation should always be mighty kings Sichon and Og. aware that God loves them and is guarding them.

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, Michael 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 How America Got Its Name by Rabbi Yoni Birnbaum, Hadley Wood Jewish Community

At 2.00am on 12 October relationship with the Torah. If one approaches the 1492, Christopher Columbus’ study of Torah with the view that their own ship finally collided with land. principles are always correct, then the Torah will A young sailor shouted “Land! seem as if it is “on the other side of the ocean”. Land!” from the mast head, In contrast, studying Torah with an open mind, having sighted what we now enables us to see the world through the eyes of call the Bahamas. Columbus the Torah, a world where people are held to a believed that India should be higher moral and religious imperative, a world in about 4,375 miles west of Spain and that he had which we are beholden to an Omnipotent God discovered an island off the East Asian coast. So Who demands constantly higher standards of us. he called the island the West Indies and its inhabitants Indians. Columbus stuck to this belief Moshe’s vital lesson was that in the study of for the rest of his life. Torah, as with some of the greatest discoveries of all time, success is often reserved for those A few years after Columbus died, a less well- who are able to think beyond their own initial known Italian explorer named Amerigo Vespucci frame of reference. Yuval Noah Harari observes also visited the New World. But unlike Columbus, in his best-selling book, Sapiens (2014), that Vespucci subsequently wrote two papers arguing there is something remarkable in the fact that a that Europe and India were in fact some 12,000 quarter of the world’s land mass was named miles apart and that the ‘West Indies’ were in after a little-known Italian man, whose sole claim fact part of an entirely new continent. In 1507 to fame was simply to ask the open-minded the respected German cartographer Martin question, ‘perhaps there is a new continent out Waldseemüller produced an updated world map, there after all…?’ showing these new lands for the first time, not as part of Asia, but as a new continent. Rather than naming them Columbo, he named them America, after Amerigo Vespucci.

This little-known story of how America got its name is important not only because it belongs to a country that plays a central role in world affairs. It also reveals the difference between someone (i.e. Columbus) who could not think beyond their mistaken first premises, and another person (i.e Vespucci) who was able to go beyond the ‘givens’.

In one of the most stirring lines of Moshe’s parting words to the Jewish people, he exhorts them to internalise the fact that the Torah is fully accessible. It is neither “in the heavens” nor is it “across the sea” (Devarim 30:13). Accessibility can be interpreted in a literal sense; anyone can access the wisdom of the Torah. Close up of the Martin Waldseemüller map Yet it can also be understood as referring to the showing South America and the word mindset required in order to develop one’s "AMERICA", 1507

In memory of Yocheved bat Berl Dov 3 Bein Adam Lechaveiro Part 14: Tzedaka: Some Background by Rabbi Daniel Fine, Community Rabbi, Stanmore & Canons Park United Synagogue

Jews have historically excelled Chafetz Chaim (Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, d. 1933) in philanthropy. Whether in his introduction to his work on the Laws of individual donations to Charitable Giving (Ahavat Chesed) lists all the projects, consistent financial episodes of kindness in the Torah. packages of support, or general upkeep of communal With these principles in mind, we can understand funds, we have a sensitivity that acts of kindness are not simply 'feel-good' to utilising our money and acts which help others. They tap into our very resources to support important causes. In our identity, as forged by the avot, and they emulate introduction to the mitzvah of tzedakah (charity), it the prime trait of our Creator. is interesting to ponder the reasons for this excellence. The more a commodity is used in a society, the more it is linguistically differentiated: there will be Sefer Bereishit is replete with the impressive different words for its different varieties. There are stories of the avot (patriachs) and the imahot many different words for 'snow' in Arctic societies, (matriarchs). However, Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer as snow is such a dominant feature of everyday Dessler (d. 1953) notes that the avot were life. It is said that the (democractic) West has many not simply role models who performed actions more words for varieties of blue than red, whilst which continue to inspire us. The avot actually the (formerly communist) East has more words for established our national makeup. Actions which shades of red than blue. Indeed, given that we they performed became entrenched in our excel in doing acts of kindness, it is appropriate national consciousness. We excel in doing acts of that Judaism has different words for giving, kindness, such as charity and hospitality, because different types of giving and various different laws Avraham made this his focus. We have the which relate to giving, as we shall discuss in the courage to sacrifice our comforts for our values forthcoming weeks. because this is what Yitzchak did at the Akeidah. We have an innate connection to prayer and Torah We end this introduction with noting that we study because Ya’akov excelled in these areas. pray at the end of our Shacharit Amidah (standing prayer – see green siddur, p. 94) that we are not On a deeper level, giving is a prime Divine trait. just looking to perform acts of kindness (chesed); God is infinite. As such, He needs nobody and is rather we are looking for ahavat chesed – to love not affected by anyone's actions. He did not kindness, as this is one of our life's main callings. create the world in order to benefit personally. Instead, as the Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato d. 1746) writes, He created the world in order to bestow kindness on its inhabitants. God is ultimately good, and as Luzatto writes: “the definition of goodness is to share of that good with others”. God therefore created this world in order to allow us to earn (Divine) goodness via creating a relationship with Him.

As the (Sotah 14a) puts it: “the Torah begins and ends with acts of kindness”; it begins with God clothing Adam and Eve and ends with God Himself attending to the burial of Moshe. The

In memory of Reuven ben Yehuda Leivish 4 Parallel Thinking Part 34: Judaism and Psychology by Rabbi Dr Moshe Freedman, New West End United Synagogue

Psychology is the branch of American psychologist Daniel Goleman calls science which investigates ‘Emotional Intelligence’ – being in control of one’s the mind and human emotions and inclinations. behaviour. While ancient civilisations across the world Rabbi Yisroel Salanter (d. 1883) and his followers developed psychological aimed to bring character refinement into the theories, it was not until the foreground of Jewish practice through the Mussar 18th and 19th centuries that (discipline) movement. The Hebrew for ‘character academic psychology took off. At the same time, traits’ is middot. Literally that word means psychologists realised that an understanding ‘measurements’, because human character traits of the human psyche could help develop are neither good nor bad; it is how a particular psychological therapies to treat disorders of trait is expressed which is crucial. The virtue the mind. of courage expresses a balance between recklessness and cowardice. Self-respect Jewish philosophers have also sought to expresses a balance between narcissism and understand the interaction between the mind and self-deprecation. Each trait has something human behaviour. In Biblical and Rabbinic valuable to offer, provided it is expressed in a Hebrew, the word lev (bl) is often translated as balanced way. ‘heart’, as it is used in modern Hebrew. In fact, it is more accurately understood to refer to the mind. The same is true for emotions. American In the Shema (green siddur, p. 68) we assert that Psychotherapist Richard Schwartz developed a we should love God bechol levav’cha (Kbbl lkb – system of psychotherapy that recognises each Devarim 6:5), a plural usage, literally meaning ‘with emotional part as playing an important role. all our hearts’. The Talmudic sages understood One can only be in control when each emotion this to mean ‘with each of our inclinations’ i.e. both plays its part in a measured and composed way. good and bad (Berachot 54a). The most refined individuals ensure their core ‘self’ is in control of their emotions, which in turn These two inclinations are part of the psyche’s helps them to moderate their behaviour in the face apparatus used in making decisions and of external emotional threats. moderating emotions. The 11th century Spanish Rabbi, Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Pakuda explains in Some Jewish psychotherapists identify this ‘self’ his magnum opus, Chovot HaLevavot (‘Duties of as the neshamah, the core soul of a human being. the Mind’) that: “Man is made up of diverse By allowing it to keep entities and natures which are conflicting and our emotions in check, mutually antagonistic”. Our emotional drives often our behaviour can be conflict with our moral or spiritual convictions. elevated to supernatural Our soul is always yearning for Godliness whereas levels, so that in the face our body desires physical gratification. of emotional needs, desires and external In addition, each of our character traits weave stimuli, our responses together to make up the tapestry of our can be refined and personalities. This determines how we respond to virtuous. external emotional stimuli. Consequently, the virtue of personal character refinement is viewed as a fundamental part of Jewish practice. In works such as Mishlei (Book of Proverbs) and Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), we see examples of what

In memory of Dovid Ben Moshe Yitzchak 5 Insights into Jewish History Part 82: Judah the Maccabee by Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein, Cockfosters & N Southgate United Synagogue; Head of Project Development, US Living & Learning

What is in a name, Within three years of Mattityahu killing a Seleucid especially one as well- Greek general, and starting a nationwide known to us as Judah the movement, Judah had recaptured the Temple Maccabee? It is a name that from the Greeks and re-consecrated the Temple has resonated throughout to God. Our celebration of the Chanukah miracle the generations; we easily draws much of its origin from this particular event. recall it today, some 2000 However, even though the Hasmoneans had re- years after the owner of the conquered the Temple, the Accra Citadel located name lived. Although many people name their just below the Temple in the south of the city, children Judah or Yehuda, not many will name which was the stronghold of the Seleucid army their children ‘Maccabee’; and yet the name is and the home of many of the Hellenised of revered. What does it mean? Jerusalem, remained untouched; there were constant skirmishes with the Hasmoneans. The most popular translation is ‘hammer’, for Judah’s physical power was so great that he The Hasmoneans restored order to the Temple ‘hammered’ through the enemy. Another thought and the daily sacrifices were reinstituted. The is that the name Maccabee in Hebrew can be Greek Seleucids fought the war for Jerusalem and broken down into two words: memit chazakim, lost. Josephus (the Roman-Jewish first-century meaning ‘kills the strong’. historian) wrote that the Greek army in this particular battle consisted of 100,000 footmen, The next two suggestions are that Maccabee 20,000 horsemen, and 32 elephants. Once they (written in Hebrew as M-C-B-I or y-b-k-m) is an were all lost, it was time to reach some kind of acronym of two different sources. The first is peace agreement with the Jews. Mi Camocha Ba’elim Hashem, meaning ‘who is like you amongst the heavenly powers, God’, first However, Antiochus first had to establish a truce said by Moshe at the Song of the Sea ( between the Hellenised Jews of the Citadel and 15:11). The second is Matittyahu Cohen Ben the traditional Jews of the Temple. Josephus Yochanan, meaning Mattityahu the Priest son of wrote that as the Jews attempted to go up to the Yochanan. Matittyahu was Judah’s father’s name Temple to offer sacrifices, those in the Citadel and, as the leader of the brothers, he was given would throw rocks at them and attempt to bar his father’s name for posterity. their way. In the next article, we will discuss the fragile peace that was reached. The final suggestion is that during that time it was common to give people nicknames based on their physical appearance or something distinctive about them. For example, the Roman Judah Maccabee historian Pliny the Elder said that Julius Caesar depicted in an was so-called because he had been born by illustration for the what is known as Caesarean section. So too, 1553 French Judah’s head was apparently shaped like a volume – hammer with a square, jutting-out forehead. "Promptuarii Iconum The story of the Maccabees, and especially Insigniorum" our hero Judah, is a long one. The Maccabean

wars lasted with skirmishes for some 30 years,

but the most intense fighting was during the first water few years. draw who those and wood chop who those Answer:

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