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Home , Adon Olam, Aryeh Levin (diplomat), Daniel Auster, Hanoch Teller, Moshe Lion, Nechama Leibowitz

THE UK COMMUNITY SHABBATON @ HOME THE EDITION Welcome Back!

It has been seven weeks since we last got together nationally for a UK Community Shabbaton at Home. Unfortunately, our shul buildings remain closed, but shul communities are well and truly open! I have been inspired by the stories up and down the country of how and communities have responded to the crisis. Part of that response has been connecting to and uplifting members and this is what the UK Community Shabbaton at Home aims to do!

Once again thank you to our team made up of Michael Laitner of the United , Rabbi Daniel Fine of Stanmore and Canons Park United Synagogue and David Reuben, our Director of Programmes, who together have devised the UK Community Shabbaton at Home – Jerusalem edition which is a project of Mizrachi UK and the United Synagogue. Huge thanks to them as well as to Richard Verber from the United Synagogue who has helped with all the IT and Gemma Denby from Mizrachi UK for liaising with all the communities.

Like last time, tens of thousands of homes all across the UK are joining together both with their communities in spirit as well as nationally to celebrate in your homes. However, the difference this time is that we are also celebrating Yom Yerushalayim 2020, the 53rd anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.

We will be launching at 6:30pm with a special concert for Yom Yerushalayim featuring some of the UK’s favourite names in music as well as addresses from the Chief Rabbi and the Israeli Ambassador.

Once again a total of over 60 communities across the country are participating in this Shabbaton at home, sending the project into well over 30,000 homes.

You hopefully have printed out both the schedule and the Shabbat pack which contains readings, quizzes, inspirational ideas and Divrei about the magical city of Jerusalem to guide you through Shabbat. We have also attached further reading materials and a special ‘kids corner’ for the ‘younger’ ones among us. Once again we want to make the 25 hours of Shabbat as enjoyable and inspirational as possible, linking everyone together, so that no Jew should feel in spiritual isolation. Each of the meals is themed to link to a different aspect of Jerusalem as well as ideas on how we can take Jerusalem into our homes and lives.

This Shabbat, we once again join into one enormous community, united in purpose and spirit.

Shabbat Shalom, Chag Sameach and have a wonderful Yom Yerushalayim and Shabbat at home!

Rabbi Andrew Shaw CEO Mizrachi UK

Page 1 Shabbat 23rd May THE UK COMMUNITY 09:15 — Shul at Home • A brief guide to the structure of the Shabbat morning service • Jerusalem in our prayers SHABBATON @ HOME • (pg 16-32, pg 322-402): omit , Barchu and repetition of • Mishnayot from sixth chapter of Pirkei Avot for discussion (pg 564) nd rd th • Parasha of the Week – Bamidbar (pg 568 Hertz, pg 726 ArtScroll) and 22 & 23 MAY 2020 | 29 IYAR 5780 Machar Chodesh (pg 948 Hertz, pg 1207 ArtScroll) פרשת במדבר | PARASHAT BAMIDBAR 11:00 — Kiddush Friday 22nd May 11:20 — Rabbi’s Sermon 18:15 — (Pg 170) 11:30 — (pg 434) 18:30 — Yom Yerushalayim celebration part I Eitan Freilich & Chazan Yossi Muller 11:55 — Adon Olam — Pre Shabbat Message from Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis 12:00 — Pre Lunch Learning – The origins of Jerusalem — Yom Yerushalayim celebration part II Alby Chait & Eli Tamir 13:00 — Shabbat Lunch – The Chesed of Jerusalem — Yom Yerushalayim message from HE Ambassador Mark Regev • Chesed Quiz • Jerusalem Chesed Personalities – Rabbi Aryeh Levin z’tl & Henny Machlis z’tl — Yom Yerushalayim celebration part III Jonny Turgel • Thoughts to Ponder – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks • A story of Chesed/Dvar Torah by Prof. Nechama Leibowitz z’tl 19:10 — Kabbalat Shabbat (pg 256) and ideas with Chazan Avromi and Rochelle Freilich • Jerusalem in your home – Chesed

19:40 — Dvar Torah from Rabbi Daniel Friedman 15:00 — Shabbat Menucha – Shabbat relaxation

19:45 — Candle lighting (p254) (note that one may light candles as late as 20:41 but once you 18:30 — Shabbat afternoon learning – Jerusalem rooted in the past and looking to the future have lit candles you have accepted Shabbat - please do not light before 19:17) 19:40 — Mincha (pg 476) Jerusalem in our prayers • שבת שלום 20:00 — Seudah Shlishit – The Tefilla of Jerusalem 19:50 — Boi V’Shalom/ Mizmor Shir and for Shabbat (pg 270) • Jerusalem in your home – Tefilla 20:00 — Kiddush (Pg 314) • We never forget Jerusalem – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks • Jerusalem Trivia Quiz Followed by — Friday Night Dinner – The Torah of Jerusalem • Jerusalem in our prayers – Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook z’tl • Friday Night Quiz – Lockdown– Then and Now • A concluding message – The Shabbaton @ Home Team • Jerusalem Personalities – Rabbi z’tl שבוע טוב Jerusalem in your home – Torah • • Thoughts to ponder – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks • Dvar Torah by Rabbi Doron Perez 21:58 — Maariv (pg 202)

21:30 — – Grace after meals (Pg 756) 22:10 — with Rabbi Andrew Shaw and Rabbi Marc Levene

Will be featured Live on Facebook and YouTube pages of Mizrachi UK and United Synagogue Pg Pages to be found in the Green Page 2 Page 2 Page 3 כי מציון תצא תורה ודבר ה׳ מירושלים | FRIDAY NIGHT Friday Night Dinner | The Torah of Jerusalem According to Rabbi Hirsch, Shabbat intrinsically LOCKDOWN QUIZ, THEN & NOW CURRENT ISSUES Jerusalem in our Prayers changes our perspective from the mundane LECHA DODI aspects of the week to an almost intangible The years 67CE - 70CE must have felt very long 1. What for you has been the hardest thing This evocative song, written by Rabbi Shlomo perspective, broader than our ‘regular’ daily lives. for the besieged citizens of Jerusalem as the about the lockdown? Halevi Alkabetz of , (1500-1580) is Consider, for example, many of our ancestors Roman noose tightened around the city. Supplies 2. What for you has been the most familiar across the Jewish world as we usher in who came to the UK or other countries as dwindled and divisions came to the fore as the city beneficial thing about the lockdown? Shabbat. The first eight stanzas of Lecha Dodi refugees and scrapped around to make a living in descended into its own painful form of lockdown. 3. What lessons have you learnt about life mirror the eight chapters of Tehilim (Psalms) unfamiliar territory. Yet when it came to Shabbat, Access to or from the city was strictly controlled, during the lockdown? recited before and after it during Kabbalat Shabbat their homes were transformed, even amidst great This sad situation culminated on 9 Av (Tisha B’Av) 4. What do you think you will endeavour to prayers. Each stanza and psalm correspond to poverty, by the special atmosphere of Shabbat 70CE with the destruction of Jerusalem and the change after we resume ‘normal’ life? one day of the week, whilst the final two psalms along with the preparations and extra effort which . correspond to Shabbat. The final stanza welcomes they put into that day. THEN AND NOW in Shabbat. Lecha Dodi thus stands as an uplifting Understanding the perilous situation, the futility of centrepiece of that transition between weekday This is the link of Shabbat to messianic redemption, the internecine warfare raging in Jerusalem and 5. What was the world population – and Shabbat through the Kabbalat Shabbat a time when we will collectively be lifted from our a possible existential threat to the Jewish people, then and now prayers, ending with welcoming the presence of ‘regular’ daily lives to a compelling, spiritual task the renowned Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai 6. What is the highest building – Shabbat. of perfecting the world. furtively escaped from Jerusalem. As recorded then and now in the (Gittin 56), Rabban Yochanan 7. What was the currency of Rome – Lecha Dodi, in several stanzas which draw on the In analysing the references to Jerusalem in ben Zakkai was blessed by God to successfully then and now Biblical prophecies of Isaiah, refers to Jerusalem in Lecha Dodi, Rabbi Hirsch identifies that city as a intercede with the Roman authorities and 8. What was the language of Rome – the context of Messianic redemption. Jerusalem, physical demonstration of this link, a city that calls establish a new centre of Torah study in Yavneh, then and now for example, is described as a “sanctuary of the to us, challenges us to build a better world. That far from Jerusalem. Rabban Yochanan ben 9. What was the religion of Rome – King (God), a royal city.” What is this profound call and challenge will not be satisfied until we Zakkai was taking a gamble, opposed by some of then and now connection between Shabbat, messianic arrive at the Messianic redemption. In modern his contemporaries. From Yavneh, unimaginable 10. What was the currency of Jerusalem – redemption and Jerusalem? Jerusalem, we have been blessed by God to start at the time to the Romans, the rabbinic sages then and now that task; yet much still remains to do, even as started to rebuild Judaism from the catastrophic 11. What was the language of Jerusalem – A compelling answer is provided by the great we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim. Perhaps when losses of that time. then and now Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) of we fully appreciate the links between Shabbat, 12. What was the capital city of Jerusalem – Frankfurt am Main, in his commentary on the messianic redemption and Jerusalem, then we Today, just under 2000 years later, we celebrate then and now siddur. will answer the call and challenge of that city. and thank God for 53 years since our return to A MESSAGE FROM RABBI FINE FOR BEFORE KIDDUSH Jerusalem. BONUS QUESTION – Find a link between your Let us start Shabbat with a question: escapism - is it good or bad? Obviously, there is a ‘Jewish answer’: Our celebrations are, sadly, unusual and muted, answers to Q1-4 and the answers to Q5-12 it depends! Last week a six year-old boy went missing and all-night police search parties laced with sadness at the circumstances of our were dispatched. Thankfully the next morning the boy was found – at home! He had fallen asleep lockdown. We also mourn those under his (fold-out) bed between mattresses. Engaging in escapism to distract us from our regular who fell in battles for Jerusalem. lives is often unhelpful – escapism is by nature temporary and when it is over, we are once again back into our normal lives. The discussion questions below challenge you to consider Even if we may need a pick-up every now and again, escapism is not a long-term solution. However, differences between the situation sometimes we can benefit from escaping our normal lives to gain a different vantage point. If successful, in 70CE and today. When we then re-enter our lives refreshed. In many ways Covid19 has put on hold venues of superficial discussing them, also imagine escapismShabbat is ‘kosher’ escapism of the highest form. We welcome in this day which radiates that you were in the shoes of profound spiritual perspectives, encouraging us to re-enter our daily lives as improved people. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai in 70CE and how the world might For this Shabbaton, we ‘journey’ to Jerusalem, not for escapism, but to apply Jerusalem’s themes and have looked had his fateful move values to our lives as expressed through this Shabbat. Much like the Bnei Brak six-year old, you may to Yavneh not materialised.

discover that values you are searching for might be

right there in the Jewish home. Jerusalem Jerusalem, 12) Hebrew Hebrew, 11) Shekel Shekel, 10) Catholicism Mithraism,

6) Pyramids of Giza - 147m, Burg Khalifa - 828m 7) Aureus, Euro 8) Latin & Greek, Italian 9) 9) Italian Greek, & Latin 8) Euro Aureus, 7) 828m - Khalifa Burg 147m, - Giza of Pyramids 6)

Answers 5) 200 million, 7.8 billion 7.8 million, 200 5) Shabbat Shalom! 5-12... of Page 4 Page 4 Page 5 Jerusalem Torah Personalities agreement between Israel and Egypt regarding Jerusalem in your home - Torah the Sinai Desert. As Shabbat approached, Avner, PARASHAT BAMIDBAR Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (1910 - 1995) who was deeply involved in the negotiations, felt 1. There are more Jewish people learning IN A NUTSHELL If you enter the historic Gr’a Synagogue complex that there was no need to continue the process Torah in Jerusalem today than ever before. The central theme of the Book of Bamidbar is the in Jerusalem’s Shaarei Chesed neighbourhood, into Shabbat with the risk of possible violation of Hundreds of UK students spend a year or more second stage of the Israelites’ journey. They have turn right and look towards the front of the room, Shabbat. He prepared to leave. Yitzchak Rabin, learning there. Find a Sem or Yeshiva that speaks travelled far from Egypt, but are still far from their you will see a simple, brass plaque. This plaque, then Israel’s Prime Minister, forcefully disagreed, to you and subscribe to their Divrei Torah or go on future homeland. They must also evolve from mounted in 1995, modestly records who used to wanting both Avner’s knowledge of both English their website – or even (one day soon hopefully) slaves into a free people. sit in that place. and the negotiations, but could not stop Avner pay a visit! from leaving. This week’s parasha and next week’s parsha are The person in question was born and lived in 2. Discover a Jerusalem Torah personality about the preparations for that journey. The first Jerusalem, had no official rabbinic position, never The next afternoon, soon before the end of whose life story inspires you. There are many step is to take a census (to count the people). To left Israel and had spent most of his working life Shabbat, Avner saw Rabbi Auerbach after Mincha biographies as well as websites where you can inherit their land, the Israelites will have to fight as a at Yeshivat Kol Torah in the prayers and described what had happened learn more. battles. So the men who will form the Israelite Bayit Vegan neighbourhood. Yet remarkably, the previous day. Rabbi Auerbach then asked army need to be counted up. The Levites are approximately 300,000 people packed the streets whether Avner thought he had all the necessary 3. Buy a book for your home which connects counted separately because it is their job to serve of Jerusalem to pay tribute to his funeral cortege. information to have made the decision to leave. you to the Torah of Jerusalem. There are many in the Mishkan, and not to fight. This person was Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. Avner understood this as a gentle comment that about the Bet Hamikdash, the lives of the kings, Rabbi Auerbach’s life and accomplishments made perhaps he should not have left. Hastening back rabbis and prophets that lived there over the The layout of the camp is also described. It is him, despite his tremendous modesty, one of the to the Prime Minister’s Office as Shabbat finished, centuries or simply a book written by many of the to be in a square shape with the Mishkan in the great rabbinic figures and Jerusalemites of his Avner found an emergency cabinet session in recent and current scholars of Jerusalem – the list centre. Three tribes are to set up their tents and time. motion, led by a furious Rabin. The is thankfully huge! banners on each side, while the Levites form an USA had blamed an impasse in the inner square. The order in which the tribes camp Rabbi Auerbach’s scholarship, negotiations on Israel, imposing an will also be the order in which they travel. empathy and piety meant that he was arms embargo and reassessment of approached by many , including the US/Israel relationships which was The duties of the priestly family of Kehat (Moses, those from different backgrounds, to have very serious consequences. Aaron, and Miriam’s family) – are now explained. for advice; he accepted the heavy Avner related that, retroactively, he They will carry the holiest objects, the Ark, the responsibilities of being a posek, a never knew if his original decision had Menorah, Altars, curtains, and holy vessels used senior halachic decisor. Although been correct or what the outcome in the sacrificial service, when the Israelites are he was born into and grew up in would have been had he stayed that on the move. They must to be particularly careful old-world atmosphere of early 20th Friday. with these special objects. century Jerusalem, Rabbi Auerbach displayed a formidable knowledge of Rabbi Hanoch Teller, who wrote And QUESTION TO PONDER: the modern world. From Jerusalem His Word, a biography Why do you think the Torah gives us so many of Rabbi Auerbach, shared an anecdote about a details about life in the midbar (the desert)? He became the senior halachic advisor to Shaarei local shop in Shaarei Chesed which was run by a Tzedek hospital, wrote ground-breaking works widowed lady. At dawn, deliveries in crates were addressing questions of electricity and Shabbat, deposited some distance from the shop. The was the guiding force behind the most significant lady struggled to get the crates inside, until one modern work on the laws of Shabbat (Shemirat morning when, to her surprise and delight, the Shabbat Kehilchata) and addressed a myriad of crates appeared by the shop entrance. This went Featured in Covenant topics in his work Minchat Shlomo. Stories abound on for several days, after which the lady decided and Conversation - about Rabbi Auerbach. We will share two here. to rise early to thank the delivery drivers. Family Edtion — Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Yehuda Avner, (1928-2015) the Manchester-born To her amazement, the drivers that morning Israeli diplomat whose fascinating memoirs, The deposited the crates in the usual place and drove Prime Ministers, provide an insider’s view to some off! At that moment, Rabbi Auerbach appeared on of the great events in Israel’s history, used to pray his way to shul. He quickly lifted the crates to the at the Gr’a Synagogue with Rabbi Auerbach. ship entrance and then continued on his way, as Avner related a dilemma he faced one Friday in he had done for the previous few days. 1975 during tense negotiations led by American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about an interim

Page 6 Page 7 DVAR TORAH We can address this challenge by integrating SHABBAT MORNING SHAVUOT & YOM YERUSHALAYIM Shavuot and Yom Yerushalayim. The Talmudic A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE More generally, our Shabbat prayers are also RABBI DORON PEREZ sages, based on the description of Jerusalem SHABBAT MORNING SERVICE laced with the ‘three historical Shabbatot’ – the as “a city that was joined together within itself” Throughout Jewish history, two mountains stand (culmination of the) creation of the world, the (Tehillim/Psalms 122:3), charge us to do so and out more than any others – Mount Sinai and the There are two major sources of prayer. The first is Giving of the Torah (which took place on Shabbat) make the Holy City one complete whole. . our fixed, daily prayers which are Biblical in origin, and the final redemption (described as ‘a period of as shown by great figures such as Avraham (e.g. a complete Shabbat’). These three find particular They teach that, “the joining of Jerusalem on They are so different. One is nestled in the heart Bereishit ch. 19 and 22) or Channah (Samuel, expression in the middle sections of the Friday High – the heavenly city – with the Jerusalem of a barren wilderness and the other – the Temple ch.1). These prayers remind us of our obligations night, Shacharit and Mincha Amidot respectively. below, must transform all of the Jewish people Mount – is at the epicentre of one of the world’s as Jews and give us words which we might into friends, through our commitment to the greatest cities – Jerusalem. otherwise lack. Some of these texts come directly When we ask for something in prayer, we Torah.” The Torah is one Torah, a complementary from the , such as the Shema and Tehillim automatically attest to five things: whole aimed at simultaneously synthesizing our One is in an arid desert far from human society (Psalms), whilst others were written by rabbinic relationship with God and with our fellow human and the other is at the core of a country and scholars throughout the ages. The second is 1. God exists beings. One without the other is incomplete. civilization. Sinai is where God’s holiness personal prayers and requests which flow from an We ought to have an equal commitment to both appeared intensely and temporarily. Jerusalem is individual’s heart, not as part of our fixed prayers. 2. God interacts with us the Written and the Oral Torah – to Biblical and the locus of the permanent resting place of God’s Thus, prayer combines the world of fixed prayers Talmudic study, to understanding both the broad Presence. Sinai is about the giving of the Torah, across the whole of the Jewish people with that of 3. God wants to fulfil our requests context and meaning of Jewish life as well as the Temple Mount is as its name describes. Sinai personalised, specific petition. the detailed implementation of Jewish Law. One represents destiny, the Temple Mount represents 4. God can fulfil our requests without the other creates divisiveness and tension. destination. Despite these differences, both The conceptual If we focus only on our relationship with God and mountains are remarkably linked in time. Yom and linear flow5. We have standing to speak to God. not with our fellow Jews and Yerushalayim occurs exactly of the Shabbat “Jerusalem as a concept people more broadly (or vice one week before Shavuot, morning service is versa), we miss the mark. the Yom Tov which celebrates challenges us to bring all as follows: Jerusalem in our Prayers the giving of Torah. disparate aspects together, If we only study Tanach (the We thank God TIKANTA SHABBAT united by the Torah.” Hebrew Bible) but not Talmud This link is emphasised by the after awakening or Jewish Law, (or vice versa), dual qualities related to the through the The Tikanta Shabbat paragraph in Mussaf we do not grasp the fullness of Jewish life. Torah and to Jerusalem. Both have two parts. The morning blessings. thematically combines the Divine instructions Inevitably, diversity becomes partial and divisive Torah has two distinct components, the Written The next section, regarding Shabbat and its accompanying Temple instead of harmonious. Jerusalem as a concept and the Oral Law. Jerusalem is simultaneously , offerings, with our request to have those offerings challenges us to bring all disparate aspects both a heavenly city and an earthly one, a which mainly restored. together, united by the Torah. physical and a spiritual reality. Even the Temple consists of Psalms, itself, the focus of God’s presence on earth, was attests to God’s Rabbi S.R. Hirsch (1808-1888), the famous rabbi During the Six-Day War, and through an physically divided between two tribes, Yehuda power, especially of Frankfurt am Main, explains this paragraph as extraordinary turn of events, a divided city was and Binyamin. Jerusalem is located geopolitically as it is expressed in teaching that in our pausing on Shabbat we show finally reunited. The spiritual fault lines and at the nexus between the western world and the nature and history. our belief that God is in control. The first letters of fissures which create contrast and conflict ought eastern orient, between conflicting world views. This is followed by each word in this paragraph are thus in reverse to be forged together to complement each other the Shema and its surrounding blessings, which Alef-Bet order, reflective of the unique ‘reverse’ and cultivate completeness. Both the Torah and Of course, the two components of the Torah focus on how God has used His power for us, way God fashioned the world. For humans can Jerusalem combine the earthly and the heavenly, and of Jerusalem are both one unified whole. particularly during the Exodus to redeem us. Only only create something from something, whilst the particular and the universal, the national and Correspondingly, both Shavuot and Yom after this are we properly prepared to call out to God was able to create the world ex nihilo, from the religious, the ethnic and the ethical, and the Yerushalayim present us with a challenge. How God via the Amidah, fulfilling the rabbinic dictum nothing. Only once we have asserted our belief in values of truth and peace. Indeed, the wholeness successfully do we integrate both components of juxtaposing redemption and prayer. Divine control, can we pray for the Temple and its of the Torah is inherently linked to the unity and of the Torah and the acceptance of Torah in our offerings to be restored, for God to redeem His holiness of Jerusalem. May we merit the ultimate daily lives? Jerusalem, the lodestar of spiritual life, Shabbat, like Rosh Chodesh and Yom Tov, has an world, filling it with goodness and clarity. expression of spiritual wholeness, uniting all could either be divided against itself or become additional Amida prayer, called Mussaf, which people in praise of God through the rebuilding of one glorious, unified spiritual and physical whole? replicates the extra, communal Shabbat offering the Temple, soon and speedily in our days. That Will the heavenly and earthly cities be locked which took place in the Temple offerings. It would be the ultimate union of Mount Sinai and in an endless conflict of irreconcilable truths or culminates with well-known prayers such as Anim the Temple Mount. will they become one eternal city of peace and and . completeness? Page 8 Page 9 Questions on the Mishnayot of this week MUSICAL INTERLUDE THE FIRST SHABBAT AFTER THE SIX-DAY Rabbi Goren related that given these WAR AND THE ‘FIRST’ YOM YERUSHALAYIM circumstances and the lack of time to formulate a Chapter 6 of Pirkei Avot (a later compilation Just before Adon Olam, we would like to give policy, the Kotel was only to be opened to people appended to the original five chapters of Pirkei you a song to sing (for a bit of fun) On 28 Iyar 5727, (Wednesday, 7 June 1967), the who received authorisation from the army that Avot) is read and studied on the Shabbat before third day of the Six-Day War, IDF paratroopers Shabbat. On this basis, he started to prepare for Shavuot, especially since it is also known as the (To the tune of “Do you hear the people sing”) of the reserve 55th brigade headed by Lt. Gen the first Shabbat services in years to take place chapter of ‘kinyan Torah’, acquiring Torah. With thanks to David Coleman Mordechai (“Motta”) Gur, took the Temple Mount at the Kotel. Despite the privations of wartime, from Jordanian Legionnaires. For the first time he managed to procure some cakes and drinks It fits well with the celebration on Shavuot of the in almost 2,000 years, there was Jewish control which he brought to an enclosed space close Revelation and giving of Torah at Mount Sinai. This All: Do you hear the people sing of this area, which also brought with it the to the Kotel before Shabbat started. He used chapter helps us to ‘acquire’ Torah by providing Singing a loud Adon Olam responsibilities of authority over this sacred place. these the next day for Kiddush at an appropriate approaches based on Talmudic teachings about It is the music of a people distance from the Kotel’s sacred space. the values and benefits which we can acquire Who all know they’ll soon be gone The then Israeli Defence Minister, Moshe Dayan, by engaging in Torah study for its own sake as To the Kiddush in the Hall issued the following statement: “This morning, Rabbi Goren was very concerned to safeguard a mitzvah, rather than for any other reasons. The Where they will fill their empty tums the liberated Jerusalem. the sanctity of the area and of Shabbat, especially opening Mishna introduces this topic. It is as if they won’t see food till tomorrow We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of given the enormous, global interest in Jerusalem comes Israel. We have returned to the holiest of our holy and since no eruv existed at that time to link The discussion questions below, relating to places, never to part from it again. To our Arab the old and new parts of the city. He appointed selected mishnayot, are designed to help you neighbors we extend, also at this hour—and with officers to prevent access to Har Habayit and to consider the lessons of this chapter. Rabbi The Barmitzvah was fantastic added emphasis at this hour—our hand in peace. stop the press taking photographs. Mishna 3 Shul moaner 1 But he only did Maftir And to our Christian and Muslim fellow citizens, 1. What does this Mishna teach us about treating Shul moaner 2 The decorum was disgraceful we solemnly promise full religious freedom and That Shabbat, as the war ended, Israel others with respect? Shul moaner 3 And I could hardly hear rights. We did not come to Jerusalem for the sake simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief, sung Chair And they sat in my seat so of other peoples’ holy places, and not to interfere praises of thanks to God and also mourned those 2. Why is King David, one of our greatest that I had to sit in the rear with the adherents of other faiths, but in order to who had fallen. On the Wednesday of that week, monarchs, cited as an example of how to act safeguard its entirety, and to live there together Rabbi Goren had recited memorial prayers. On with respect to others? What values does this with others, in unity.” (7 June 1967). Shabbat, Rabbi Goren recited at the Kotel teach us All Do you hear the people sing and the famous verses from Yeshayahu (Isaiah) Mishna 5 Singing a loud Adon Olam On that momentous day, there was little opportunity chapter 10 talking of Messianic times, and read in 1. Why would the Mishna need to teach that It is the music of a people for thinking practically about Har Habayit (the some communities on Yom Ha’atzmaut and in the a person studying Torah should not seek Who all know they’ll soon be gone Temple Mount) and the Kotel. Although Israel had Diaspora on the last day of Pesach. honour? Surely that is obvious?! Consider the Home from shul for Shabbat lunch achieved, with God’s help, staggering success benefits and consequences of your answers. Hope we don’t get soaked in the rain and deliverance from the mortal threats ranged It was a Shabbat like none other. Then we will work all week and come against her only days earlier, fighting still raged 2. If this chapter is about learning Torah, back to shul again on Friday 9 June, day five of the war. why does the Mishna teach that our actions (mitzvot) should exceed our learning? What As Shabbat approached on Friday 9 June, the is of greater significance, study or actions, All Do you hear the people sing of Jerusalem remained under military especially since you have to study to know In lockdown from their home rather than civilian administration. The work to what to do? It is the music of a people ensure safety from mines and snipers was still in Mishna 9 Who all know they’re not alone progress. 1. Read the story of Rabbi Yose ben Kisma. Even though we’re not in shul What is his priority in choosing a place to live? Our ‘ruach’ we will maintain In his fascinating autobiography, With Strength Why? And we pray that soon we’ll be back in and Might (Maggid Books, 2016) the then Chief our shul’s again Rabbi of the Israel Defence Forces, Rabbi Shlomo 2. How does this Mishna teach us about the Goren (1917-1994), shared his recollections of that impact of learning Torah on giving our best to B’ezrat Hashem! Shabbat. the world around us every day? The Kotel Plaza was not a wide open space as it 3. Where did King David, whose teaching in is today. There was only a narrow area available Tehillim (Psalms) are quoted here, live for next to the Kotel. Access to Har Habayit, and most of his reign and what should that place certainly prayer on it, was not an option to be represent? exercised at that time, due to both Jewish law and political considerations. People walking to the Kotel after the Six-Day War Page 10 Page 10 Page 11 RABBI’S SERMON and our homeland, yet we simultaneously ask for Pre Lunch Learning Jerusalem - until I have entered Yerushalayim JEWISH CHUTZPAH Jerusalem to be rebuilt and more. THE ORIGINS OF JERUSALEM shel mata – the earthly Jerusalem.” Is there really RABBI DANIEL FINE a Heavenly Yerushalayim? Yes, as it [Psalm 122] This is a function of the spiritual. Our yearning for Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook (1865- states: “Jerusalem, built as a city joined together”. I was poring over my law casebooks for an needs can often ruin our appreciation for what 1935) in his writings distinguishes between two The idea proposed by Rabbi Yochanan is that upcoming university exam, when a word jumped we already have. If I want the car or house that ideals: Segula, an innate treasured uniqueness; to possess Yerushalayim shel Mata we must be out at me. This was not something I was expecting the neighbours have, I often do not enjoy what and bechira, a practical expression of being worthy of it. The verse cited in the Gemara notes the to find in any law book. The word? ‘Chutzpah.’ I I currently have. Yet spiritually our yearning for chosen. Rav Kook illustrates this distinction in need to unify the cities. The earthly Yerushalayim was convinced that that ‘chutzpah’ was a Jewish- more does not foster discontent in what we have terms of the Jewish people, who always constitute must reflect the ideals of the heavenly one. Israeli invention – that we have the monopoly on already achieved. Thus, in our current, awful a treasured uniqueness (segula), but are only chutzpah! After all, it is the chutzpah of the Israeli Covid climate can we simultaneously appreciate actually chosen (bechira) at a later point. What is the meaning of ‘Yerushalayim’? start-ups and technology companies that helps the ‘small’ things in life, even just being able to them to gain such renown. The IDF has used interact with others. Yet we ask for more – not just It is clear that Yerushalayim possesses a unique Source 4 – Bereshit 14:18 chutzpah for decades. In the Battle for for health, but for the whole situation to improve. nature, an inner segula from the dawn of time, And Malki-Tzedek, King of Shalem, took out bread in 1948, a group of Jews removed the exhaust but the bechira of Yerushalayim only materialises and wine, and he was a priest to the Most High. pipes from their vehicles and placed oil drums at With this in mind, we can better appreciate the after a third factor, derisha – a seeking out of the top of the hill, causing the enemy to retreat massive strides that Jerusalem has made. In 1867, Yerushalayim by the Jewish people. The duality of Yerushalayim is also expressed when they heard the sunrise rumbling, assuming Mark Twain wrote of his journey to Jerusalem: in the city’s name. The word ‘Yerushalayim’ it was American Sherman tanks. In the Battle of “No landscape exists that is more tiresome to How is this expressed in the Torah? bridges its two parts Yireh (it will see) and Shalem Bet Shean that year, IDF soldiers made twenty the eye than that which bound the approaches (complete). Avraham identified Yerushalayim as fake canons around the city from wagon wheels to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is mournful, dreary and Source 1 – Devarim 12:5 Yireh during the Akeida (the binding of Yitzchak) and metal pipes. The only used the two actual lifeless. I would not desire to live there.” How far For in the place that the Lord your God will choose while Malkitzedek (often identified as Shem) saw mortars they had available, but this was enough to Jerusalem has come since then! To house the from all of your tribes, to place His name there, it as Shalem. Here again we note that the two convince their adversaries to surrender. In 1956, seat of Israeli democracy, to visit the holy Kotel, to you should seek out his dwelling and come there. names of Yerushalayim seem to express its earthly Israeli forces painted an old ship and put huge study Torah in Jerusalem, to walk its streets as a essence as well as its heavenly one. Malkitzedek papier-mâché missiles on the deck, to which the proud Jew, to revel in its atmosphere of sanctity. Yerushalayim, specifically the Makom HaMikdash brings food and drink, a practical interpersonal Egyptians surrendered. After all, our sources explain that Jerusalem, as (the place of the Temple) was the spiritual source act of kindness, while identifying his location as the holy epicentre of Israel, waits for its nation of the creation of the world. It also encapsulated that of Shalem. Yet there is another key expression of Jewish to blossom. Even though we appreciate this, we as the idea of the two aspects of Yerushalayim chutzpah, as highlighted in the following also ask for more. We ask for a Jerusalem of the – the heavenly and the earthly – both of which What can we learn for Yom Yerushalayim in our conversation with one of my children. future, where peace will reign, where we will truly must be unified to truly appreciate Yerushalayim’s times? be a light upon the nations, a time when the full beauty. ‘Daddy, I want more chocolate.’ sanctity of Jerusalem will be restored with the Source 5 – Bereshit, 22:14 ‘But you just had a piece of chocolate, aren’t you arrival of Mashiach. What is the link between the spiritual and the And Avraham called that place “God will see appreciative of that?’ physical aspects of Jerusalem, as expressed in (Hashem yir’eh),” concerning which it is said to ‘I do appreciate what you gave me, Daddy, but I Is it chutzpah to ask for such a thing? Yes, it the Talmud? this day, “God will make Himself seen upon the want more.’ probably is. mountain (be-har Hashem yera’eh).” Source 2 – Masechet Yoma 54b The quintessential Jewish chutzpah is to be But chutzpah is in our blood, after all. God created the world as a human child is created. The Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, able to appreciate Just as the navel is placed at the centre of the 1194-1270) points out that this is a reference to what we have whilst human body, so too God created the world from Yerushalayim, which is to be a city of Tzedek, simultaneously asking the “even shetiya” (the foundation stone), before justice and righteousness. Avraham who notices for more. As Jews, we the ark in the Beit Hamikdash (Temple), from the uniqueness of this city, HaMakom (the place), are tasked with the which the world was founded. And God created sees it as Yireh, a unique mountain which will spiritually-refined task the Beit HaMikdash above in the Heavens, and eventually become Har Ha Bayit, the Temple of turning to God in the Beit HaMikdash below on the land, each in Mount. He notes the heavenly essence of the city. prayer and saying that line with the other. we both appreciate The name Yerushalayim combines both Yireh everything You [God] How did our Sages understand this in terms of and Shalem. Only a unification of both elements give us, we are asking Jerusalem in heaven and Jerusalem on earth? can bring us back to a Beit HaMikdash on Har for more. And every Habayit. On this the 53rd anniversary of our return time we bensch (recite Source 3 – Masechet Taanit 5a to Yerushalayim, we hope and pray that soon we Grace after meals) we Rabbi Yochanan said: God said: “I will not may merit to experience the full redemption of thank God for the food enter Yerushalyim shel maala – the heavenly our people and in Jerusalem in particular. Page 13 Jerusalem Chesed Personalities during the week too, for those who needed a אין ירושלים נפדה אלא בצדקה | Shabbat Lunch | The Chesed of Jerusalem roof over their head. Some would even sleep in A CITY BUILT TOGETHER THROUGH JERUSALEM CHESED QUIZ 7. One Family is an organisation that was the family’s van if there were no spaces on the founded, with sadness, to assist victims of terror. BRINGING TOGETHER couches. THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF HENNY Disclaimer: we were not able to include every In what year was it founded? Jerusalem-based charity in our quiz – there is 8. The Har Nof sefarim (Jewish books) library MACHLIS (1958-2015) Stories abound about Henny Machlis and the only so much room! lends books to yeshivot for free. How many books continuing impact of her chesed, recorded in does it have? Constructed relatively recently in 1972, the several books and many articles. Good luck getting any of these correct! It’s just 9. How many Holocaust survivors did Meir northern Jerusalem suburb of Maalot Dafna, with amazing to see the Chesed in Jerusalem. Panim poverty-relief recently deliver flowers to? no obvious physical links to the city’s Biblical or Sara Yoheved Rigler, in her biography of Henny 10. How many people are served each day at subsequent history, is an unlikely candidate for a Machlis, “Emunah with love and chicken soup: 1. What is the emergency response time of Hineini’s Soup Kitchen? tourist’s sightseeing list. Yet in a small apartment the Brooklyn-born girl who became a Jerusalem United Hatzalah in Jerusalem? 11. How many vehicles does Magen David there, two people who came on Aliya from legend” (and featured on aish.com), suggests 2. How many volunteers does Yad Sarah Adom have? America in 1979, produced a most remarkable why Henny Machlis became so great: “the only have in lending out medical equipment? 12. How many families does Keren Hatzadik expression of the famous description derived difference between Henny Machlis and the rest 3. How many square feet is Shalva’s new assist via providing food, heaters, helping find from Tehillim (Psalms 122) that Jerusalem is ‘a city of us is the voice that asserts, ‘I’ve done enough. campus for the disabled? jobs? built through bringing together’. I don’t have to do more.’ Henny never hearkened 4. In 2019 how many poverty-stricken people 13. How many soldiers does the Lone Soldiers to that voice. She kept on going and giving and were helped by Yad Eliezer? Centre help, on average each year? These two people were the late Henny Machlis, loving and inspiring.” 5. Currently in Kiryat Moshe, in what year was 14. The Chasdei Yaela gemach on King George of blessed memory, together her husband the Jewish Institute for the Blind founded? Street lends out wedding gowns for brides who Rabbi Mordechai Machlis and their children who The Machlis apartment in Maalot Dafna might 6. How many mothers has EFRAT helped cannot afford to purchase a new dress. How many continue to embody a quite inspirational exemplar not make it onto a sightseeing list but remains an support in their pregnancies and new-births since wedding dresses do they have? of chesed. abiding example of how Jerusalem is a ‘city built their founding in 1977? together through bringing together.’ Chesed, altruistic loving-kindness, known Jerusalem Chesed Personalities more fully as gemilut chasadim, is one the “three things on which the world stands”, as taught in Pirkei Avot (1:2). References RABBI ARYEH LEVIN (1885-1969) Indeed, according to our traditions and teachings, to chesed appear frequently in our daily BY SIVAN RAHAV MEIR the world exists thanks to 36 Tzadikim, Lamed-Vav prayers, such as in our praise of God at hidden Tzadikim, who are in every generation. the start of the Amida for the chesed he There are many stories about him, but I chose Rabbi Aryeh, it seemed to me, must surely one performs for us. Each morning, at the start one about us. Over fifty years ago, Rabbi Aryeh of them. of our prayers, we recite the Mishna (Peah Levin passed away, the man who was called “The 1:1) which teaches that acts of chesed have Jerusalemite Tzadik” (righteous person), “The Instead, he simply smiled and replied with one no fixed measure. Prisoners’ Rabbi″ and was a one-man chesed word: ‘Sometimes’. What a true, wonderful answer. operation. He actually told me then that this is not a life time From this we learn that by when performing job or position, but a changing one. The world chesed, we are both emulating God and We can write a lot about the warm, wise attention exists thanks to the that there is no limit to chesed. One of that he knew how to give to everyone, from Lamed-Vav tzadikim, the finest ways to perform such chesed is the Prime Minister to the street beggar. He also and every time you to bring people together by helping them managed to give hope to the prisoners in prison, get out of yourself and with what they need. to sick people in bad condition, and actually to do something worthy, everyone who came into contact with him. But something good, you That is exactly what happened in the small here is a story of a totally different kind that the are considered to be Machlis apartment in Maalot Dafna each author Chaim Be’er, who teaches at Ben-Gurion one of them, and then Shabbat, as Rabbi Machlis arrived home University of the Negev, once related: you give your place to with guests after praying at the Kotel. Each someone else after you Shabbat, well over 200 (yes 200!) guests “Once, when I was a child in Jerusalem, I could who does something in need of a warm Jewish experience, friendship not restrain myself and asked him: ‘Is it true that worthy.″ and company of others, or even just a meal for you are one of the Lamed-Vav (36) Tzadikim?

prepared by Henny, would be entertained there.

10) 200 11) 1913 12) 1000 13) 7000 14) 200 14) 7000 13) 1000 12) 1913 11) 200 10) This chesed was not reserved for Shabbat; the

Answers 1) 90 Seconds 2) 7000 3) 200,000 4) 100,000 5) 1902 6) 75,000 7) 2000 8) 30,000 9) 500 500 9) 30,000 8) 2000 7) 75,000 6) 1902 5) 100,000 4) 200,000 3) 7000 2) Seconds 90 1) front door to the Machlis apartment was open Page 14 Page 15 things grow. Wilderness is a space between of the Land meant that she never left Israel in books such as Studies in the Weekly Parasha. PARASHAT BAMIDBAR: starting point and destination, the place where again. A master pedagogue, for decades she There are several biographies and books about THE CORE IDEA you need signposts and a sense of direction. All taught generations of students, both in person her study methods. You might even be fortunate three would therefore make good metaphors and through her famous gliyonot, study sheets enough to learn from one of her students. This The parsha of Bamidbar is generally read on the for the Torah. It warms. It energises. It satisfies which contained questions of textual analysis is how I learned more about Nechama Leibowitz, Shabbat before Shavuot, when we celebrate the spiritual thirst. It gives direction. Yet that is not the based on the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) as well since I became a student of that soldier who went giving of the Torah. The Rabbis, believing that approach taken by the Sages. What mattered to as rabbinic commentaries over the centuries. straight to her all those years ago. this is no coincidence, looked for a significant them is that all three elements are free. Because Students from all over, whether rabbis or connection in the parsha to Shavuot. the Torah is for everyone! people who had never had an opportunity for in-depth study, would send their answers on Finding the link is not easy. There is nothing in the QUESTIONS TO PONDER: postcards, which Nechama would mark and Jerusalem in your home - Chesed parsha about the giving of the Torah. Instead it is return. Generations of Jews learned Torah from about a census of the Israelites. Nor is its setting 1. What is surprising about the link the Rabbis this Jerusalemite teacher. a. Think about three people you know, what helpful. We are told at the beginning that the found between fire, water, the desert and the their needs are and how you can best help fulfil events about to be described took place in “the Torah? Nechama lived the rabbinic dictum ‘to raise up those needs wilderness of Sinai,” whereas when the Torah many students’ (Pirkei Avot 1:1), encouraging speaks about the giving of the Torah, it talks 2. In what way is the Torah her students to actively listen, participate in his b. The Rambam (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon about “Mount Sinai.” The “wilderness of Sinai” is free for everyone? classes and eventually be able to teach others. – Maimonides – 1135-1204), in his laws of charity, a general desert area. Mount Sinai is a specific A profoundly religious person in both deed and lists eight levels of fulfilling this mitzvah. They are mountain within that region. creed, she believed in the integrity of our texts, listed below and form a ladder for us to climb in Featured in Covenant rather than what we might wish them to say. our observance of this mitzvah: The Sages did, nonetheless, make a connection, and Conversation — and it is a surprising one: Rabbi Lord Jonathan If you have a Chumash with Rashi’s commentary, 1. The highest level is providing a present Sacks you too can start to become a student of or a loan, entering into partnership with him, or “And God spoke to Moses in the Sinai wilderness.” Nechama! Here is an example. finding him work, such that the poor person no (Bamidbar 1:1) The Sages realised through this longer needs to ask; that the Torah was given through three things: A STORY OF TORAH & CHESED When studying Rashi, Nechama famously asked fire, water, and wilderness. How do we know it PROF. NECHAMA LEIBOWITZ (1905-1997) students to consider what was ‘bothering’ Rashi 2. A lower [level] than this is one who gives was given through fire? From the verse in Shemot when he wrote a particular commentary. charity to the poor without knowing to whom he 19:18: “Mount Sinai was all in smoke as God had Late one Thursday night in the mid-1970s at the gave and without the poor person knowing from come down upon it in fire.” How do we know it Refidim military base in the Sinai Desert, a young Look at the first commentary Rashi provides whom he received. A level close to this is giving was given through water? As it says in Judges Israeli soldier, later to become a rosh , head of on the Book of Bamidbar which starts with to a charity fund; 5:4, “The heavens and the clouds dripped water a centre for rabbinic studies, was suddenly given a census. What do you think was ‘bothering’ [at Sinai].” How do we know it was given through leave for the upcoming Shabbat. He managed Rashi, the question(s) he needed to answer by 3. A lower level than that is an instance when wilderness? [As it says above,] “And God spoke to squeeze onto a military transport going north, his commentary? the giver knows to whom he is giving, but the poor to Moses in the Sinai Wilderness.” And why was arriving in Jerusalem mid-morning after a couple person does not know from whom he received; the Torah given through these three things? Just of stops. This unexpected leave was particularly Here are some clues: as [fire, water, and wilderness] are free to all the precious. What would the soldier do with it? 4. A lower level than that is an instance when inhabitants of the world, so too are the words of He went straight to a packed, two-room flat in 1. Consider what circumstances might the poor person knows from whom he took, but Torah free to them, as it says in Isaiah 55:1, “Oh, the Romema neighbourhood, where a sprightly, mandate a census, especially given both the the donor does not know to whom he gave; all who are thirsty, come for water... even if you Latvian-born professor, who modestly described previous experiences of Bnei Yisrael after the have no money.” (Bamidbar Rabbah 1:7) herself as a morah, teacher, was delivering her Exodus and on their journeys to Israel; 5. A lower level than that is giving [the poor weekly shiur on parashat hashavua, the weekly 2. What is the context of this counting? person] in his hand before he asks; The Midrash takes three words associated with . Where were Bnei Yisrael at the time and where Sinai – fire (that was blazing on the mountain just were they expecting to travel to? 6. A lower level than that is giving him after before the revelation), water (based on a phrase That morah was Nechama Leibowitz. She 3. Why do governments conduct a census? he asks; in the Song of Devorah) and wilderness (as at the welcomed the soldier, making sure he was fed and 4. Why do people count their belongings beginning of our parsha, and also in Shemot), and watered, before continuing her class. Nechama and what message does that give? 7. A lower level than this is giving him less it explains that “they are free to all the inhabitants recieved the Israel Prize Laureate for Education in 5. Having discussed the questions above, than what is appropriate, but with a pleasant of the world.” 1956 and was appointed to a professorship at Tel why do you think the English name for the Book countenance; Aviv University in 1968. of Bamidbar is Numbers? This is not the connection most of us would make. 8 A lower level than that is giving him with Fire is associated with heat, warmth, energy. Water Raised in Latvia and Germany, Nechama moved You can still learn from and about Nechama sadness. is associated with quenching thirst and making to Jerusalem in 1930. Her deeply religious love Leibowitz. Her gilyonot are available online and Page 16 Page 17 רד”ק: עומדות היו. כי העולים ראשונים היו עומדים Jews express their thoughts and our collective :בשערים ומצפים הבאים אחריהם SHABBAT AFTERNOON memory; it reminds us too that the redemption of SHABBAT AFTERNOON LEARNING the Jewish people is not complete. Radak: “they were standing”, since the first people JERUSALEM: ROOTED IN THE PAST & LOOKING TO THE FUTURE to ascend [to the Temple] were standing at the The first view brought by R’Ibn Ezra understands gates, looking expectantly for those coming after Please read Psalm 122 (Pg.510 in green siddur) Kimchi (Radak 1160-1235) and Rabbi Avraham Ibn this psalm as one for its times, for people that them. Ezra (1092-1167) in their commentary to verse 1: King David knew and who would be involved in This is one of the most famous Psalms about the building of the First Temple. A message for today רד”ק Jerusalem and the Temple, most likely sung on והמזמור הזה מאמר בני הגלות, ומרוב תאוותם לבנין בית .the way to visiting the Temple What is common to all of these views, is that this Every psalm speaks to Jews across the ages. In המקדש יזכרו עלות ישראל לרגלים, וידברו על לשון האבות psalm links Jerusalem of the past, the present contemporary times, “they” referred to above are .שהיו בזמן הבית On the third day of the Six-Day War, the Israel and the future. the paratroopers who entered the Old City in 1967. Defence Forces captured the Old City of We, especially the generation that has grown Jerusalem. That afternoon, as the shelling of Radak: This psalm was [also] recited by Jews Our feet were standing (verse 2) up, not knowing a time without a State of Israel Jerusalem lessened, some people emerged in exile, to express their great yearning for the and access to the Kotel, have the opportunity to from the bomb shelters in which they had sought rebuilding of the Temple to that they would Who would recite this? Do you think Radak is be “those coming after them”. That, perhaps, is refuge. Tuning into the radio for news about the remember how the Jewish people streamed referring to the building of the Temple, later times amongst our tasks and challenge to ponder as we war, the programme was to Jerusalem on Pesach, or both? Why were the radio presenter’s words so celebrate this 53rd Yom Yerushalayim. interrupted by a news flash. Shavuot and Succot. They prescient? Consider the explanation of the Radak used the language of their and its implications for our times post 1967. His voice trembling, the ancestors from Temple presenter announced the times. capture of the Old City, SHABBAT MINCHA Jerusalem in our Prayers אבן עזרא including Har Habayit and אמר רבי משה כי זה השיר אמרו .the Kotel דוד שיאמר עם הזמירות בבית השם בעת שיבנה הבית ... ויש For a moment, there was SHABBAT MINCHA אומרים על הבית השלישי כל .silence. The country waited אחד מישראל אומרים שמחתי What would the presenter An oddity of Shabbat Mincha is that there is no :באומרים הם עולי רגלים say? What should one say at overt reference to Jerusalem in the Shabbat such a moment? Suddenly, specific parts of the Amidah, even though a major the words of Psalm 122 R’Ibn Ezra: Rabbi Moshe theme of Shabbat mincha amida is our redemption flowed across the airwaves, (another commentator) said: to come, in which Jerusalem plays a central role “…our feet stood within your this is the song which King as we learned on Friday night regarding Lecha gates, Jerusalem…” It felt, David composed to be said Dodi. as many listening including at the time of the building of the Tanach teacher Rabbi the Temple…another view Perhaps this is due to the understanding is that Elchanan Samet, must have says that this Psalm was Shabbat Mincha refers to a perfect world, where reflected that this psalm written in anticipation of the acceptance of God and unity prevail. Jerusalem was written for that moment, Third Temple, when all the needs no specific mention according to this even though it was originally recited so many Jewish people would rejoice saying it as they suggestion, since its role as a redeemed city is hundreds of years previously. Below are some ascended to the Temple. to proudly reflect the acceptance of God and the brief ideas to consider for Yom Yerushalayim, from role of the Jewish people in accepting this. the beginning of this psalm. As is well known, King David did not build the Temple. Instead, his son King Shlomo (Solomon) This Mincha we begin the Sedra of Naso, which not had that honour. Yet King David’s desire for a Studies in this Psalm only is the longest Parasha in the Torah but also place he would never see was so great that it contains the longest chapter in the Torah which moved him to anticipate it. A psalm ascribed to King David: verse 1 details the gifts of the princes for the Mishkan – the portable Tabernacle in the desert. This would Why is this psalm ascribed to King David? Does According to Radak, and the second view given eventually be brought to Jerusalem and housed this strike you as unusual? Who else in history by R’Ibn Ezra, King David provided words for in the Bet HaMikdash built by King Solomon. might have said it? millions of other Jews throughout the centuries who could never even consider the possibility Consider the answers provided by Rabbi David of visiting Jerusalem. This psalm helped those Page 18 Page 19 JERUSALEM TRIVIA QUIZ שאלו של֣ום ירושלם ישליו אהביך| Seuda Shlishit | The Tefilla of Jerusalem 9. When was Jerusalem declared the capital of 1. Jerusalem is situated in the Biblical portion of the modern State of Israel, and by whom? singing one song. Jerusalem in your home - Tefilla which of the 12 Tribes? 10. Where was the original seat of government? I. What are the three most impactful prayers Whenever Jews remembered Jerusalem 2. What other tribe’s portion included the Beit that you have said? When did you say them? Why something good came of it. Whenever they forgot HaMikdash? Why did they merit this distinction? 11. All branches of the government are in were they so impactful? Jerusalem, bad things happen. Jerusalem, except two. Which are they? So long as Jews remembered Jerusalem, we 3. Who built the current walls around Jerusalem? II. Our Rabbis tell us that the Shabbat prayers knew we were still on a journey, one in which the 12. There have been 10 mayors in Jerusalem contain three themes: the creation of the world, Jewish people has been on ever since the first 4. Approximately how many square kilometers is since the State was established. How many can the giving of the Torah and the Messianic era. See syllables of recorded time: “Lech lecha m’artzech the Old City? you name? if you can spot prayers that relate to each one in u’mimoladecha u’mibeit avicha,” (“Leave your the siddur. land, your birthplace and your father’s house”). 5. Who destroyed the First and Second Temples? 13. What are the four quarters of the Old City of That is what every one of those people in Yemin Jerusalem? III. You are at the Kotel but only have one minute Moshe that afternoon had done. Never has a city 6. After the destruction of the Second Temple, to pray. What prayer(s) would you say? What had such power over a people’s imagination. Jews were allowed to enter Jerusalem on only 14. What are the names of the eight gates that would you pray about? Explain why. one day of the year. What was that day? lead into the Old City? Never did God love a people more and never were a people more loyal than our ancestors who ‘WE NEVER FORGET JERUSALEM’ 7. What were the first seven neighborhoods built 15. How many , churches and endured 20 centuries of exile and persecution RABBI JONATHAN SACKS outside the walls of the Old City? are in Jerusalem? so that their children or grandchildren or great- (Rabbi Sacks shares three moments in Jerusalem grandchildren could come home to Jerusalem, Ir 8. Between 1948 and 1967, what was the crossing 16. How many times is “Jerusalem” mentioned in that changed his life. This extract describes the hakodesh (the holy city), the home of the Jewish point between East and ? Tenach? third. For the full article, please go to rabbisacks. heart. org/we-never-forget-jerusalem) When we visit Jerusalem today and see a place of …In early 1991. Having come to Israel prior such beauty it takes your breath away. Jerusalem to becoming Chief Rabbi, Elaine and I found is the place where all the prayers of all the Jews ourselves in the middle of the First Gulf War. across all the centuries and from all the continents Towards the end of the war, one late Shabbat meet and take flight on their way to heaven. It is afternoon we were staying in Yemin Moshe when the place where you feel brushed by the wings of we heard beautiful music coming from one of the the Shechina. houses a few doors away. We went to see what was happening and found a group of Romanian We have had the privilege to be born in a Jews – a choir – who had just made aliya that generation that has seen Jerusalem reunited and week. Soon it seemed as though all the residents rebuilt. We have seen the Jewish people come of Yemin Moshe had been drawn to the sound, home. people who had come to Jerusalem from all four corners of the world: America, Canada, Australia, Today God is calling on us all to be Guardians of South Africa, Eastern Europe and Arab lands. Zion. Never has this been more important. We must all stand up for the one home our people

Twenty-six centuries ago, the prophet Jeremiah has ever known and the one city our people has

said that a time would come when we would loved more than any other. We are all shagrirey 660 16. respectively. 75, and 160 1300, Approximately

not thank God for bringing us out of the land of medinat Yisrael (ambassadors for the State of 15. (blocked) Golden and Herod Dung, Zion, New, (Shechem), Lions, , 14. Armenian and

Egypt, but rather for bringing our people together Israel) and we must all make Israel’s case in a Christian Moslem, Jewish, 13. Lion. Moshe and Barkat Nir Lupoliansky, Uri Olmert, Ehud Kollek, Teddy

from all the lands of the earth. This, second world that sometimes fails to see the beauty we Ish-Shalom, Mordechai Agron, Gershon Kariv, Yitzhak Shragai, Zalman Shomo Auster, Daniel 12. LeZion.

exodus, Jeremiah described, would be even know is here. Let us all take on that task. With Rishon in Agriculture, of Ministry the and Aviv, Tel of “Kirya” the in located Defense, of Ministry The 11.

more miraculous than the first. We lived to see Hashem’s help, we will succeed and we pray may Aviv. Tel 10. Ben-Gurion. David Minister Prime by 1949, 5, Dec. 9. Gate. Mandelbaum The 8. Mamilla.

this day, when Jews from 103 countries speaking the world make its peace with Israel so that Israel Moshe, Yemin Tor, Abu Shiva, Nachalat Shearim, Meah Colony, German (1860); Sha’ananim Mishkenot

82 languages came to Israel to build not just their and Israel’s God can bring peace to the world. 7. destroyed). were Temples both (when Av of day 9th the B’Av, Tisha 6. second. the Rome Temple, first

lives but the Jewish homeland. After generations the destroyed Babylonia 5. kilometer! square one than Less 4. 1538. Magnificent, the Suleiman 3. Yosef.

it was Jerusalem that bought Jews together from of sale and abduction the in participate not did brothers the among alone He Binyamin. 2. Yehuda 1. all over the world as one people, in one voice, Answers Page 20 Page 21 As the story is told, that year, Samuel walked a A CITY BUILT TOGETHER all the tribes of Israel might have vied to capture Jerusalem in our Prayers significant distance from his residence to the UK SHABBATON @ HOME TEAM the city for their tribe alone. Instead of being RAV KOOK, VISCOUNT SAMUEL AND THE Churva for Shabbat morning services on Shabbat a city belonging to all of the Jewish people, as CHURVA SYNAGOGUE Nachamu, the Shabbat after Tisha B’Av. Amidst ‘I was born in Jerusalem but my mother happened Jerusalem became with all the nation streaming the great excitement at the first Jewish ruler of to be in Brisk at the time.’ to the Temple, it might have only belonged to one No first-time visit to the Jewish Quarter of the Old the for over 2000 years – and one tribe instead. City is complete before entering the enormous who would come to shul as well – many Jews and This statement is attributed to Menachem Begin, Churva, also known as ‘Hurva’, or ‘destroyed’ rabbis also attended that day, including Rav Kook. Prime Minister of Israel from 1977-1983. Pithily, it Throughout this Shabbat, we have celebrated Synagogue. Today situated right next to the emphasises that for a Jew, there is no place like how Jerusalem brings Jews together, particularly Ramban Synagogue, the first attempt in the early The Haftarah that Shabbat, from Isaiah chap. Jerusalem. through the Torah, chesed and tefilla which relate 18th century to construct a synagogue on that plot 40, famously starts ‘Nachamu, nachamu ami’, to it. We have done so through its values, as ended on tragedy, when non-Jewish creditors, (comfort, comfort My [God’s] people), describing Our connection to Jerusalem is perhaps our expressed by its people, our liturgy, its stories and furious at delays in repaying loans, burnt the how God would comfort and connect to the longest, most enduring connection to any place. our Torah. building and the Sifrei Torah inside. This sad Jewish people even after the destruction of the The sheva berachot (wedding blessings) recited episode gave the Churva its name. Temple. As Samuel read these words, the sense for bride and groom refer to Zion (Jerusalem) as These values of Jerusalem link us not only to the of history felt palpable. When Samuel concluded a mother and the Jewish people as the children. people we have read about, but also to other In the mid-19th century, another attempt was the blessings after the Haftarah, Rav Kook arose We mention Jerusalem multiple times in our daily Jews throughout our history. The Jews who made, this time with great success. The imposing, from his seat and repeated the phrase ‘al kiso lo prayers and face towards it during the Amida. celebrated with King Solomon as he dedicated awe-inspiring structure, visible yeishev zar’ (on his throne, no Jewish law even mandates that the décor of our the Temple (1 Kings, ch. 8), those weeping in exile from far and wide, became one stranger shall sit). Who is ‘his’ homes reflects the fact that the Temple is still not by Babylonian rivers (Psalm 137), Rabbi Yehuda of the most important buildings in this phrase? One explanation rebuilt. We must show hospitality just as nobody Halevi (c.1086-1141) as he wrote poems longing in Jerusalem, capturing the is that it refers to a Jewish ruler, ever lacked lodging for the night in Jerusalem, for Zion, prisoners of Zion in the imagination of many Jews in specifically from the House of as taught in Pirkei Avot (5:7). In short, our rabbis and every Jew throughout the ages who kept Jerusalem and even abroad. King David, from where Jewish made it difficult for Jerusalem to recede from our our connection and longing for this city so that monarchs must come. consciousness, wherever we would be in the we can, thank God, celebrate Yom Yerushalayim Yet this building too was not world. again. destined to endure. Further To the newly-arrived tragedy struck in and after commissioner, who could fulfil Given this, it should not surprise us that Jerusalem Across the centuries, Jerusalem is truly a city 1948. After the loss of the the Balfour Declaration, Rav is mentioned over 650 times in the Tanach, the built together, even by those whose mothers Jewish Quarter in the War Kook perhaps had a message. Hebrew Bible. Yet it should surprise us that all happened to be in Brisk or elsewhere. We never of Independence, the Churva, which, due to its This phrase, recited for around two millennia in of those mentions are in Neviim and Ketuvim, forgot the imperative to build Jerusalem; in return, height, served as an essential military position our prayers, reminded us of Jerusalem and the the second and third sections of the Tanach its values and holiness, especially as expressed for the Haganah defenders. After the defenders restoration ultimately of the House of King David. respectively; Jerusalem is not explicitly mentioned through Torah, chesed and tefilah have helped to finally surrendered, the synagogue was destroyed A window of opportunity seemed to be at hand. at all in the Torah! build us up. and defiled. What would happen to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel? One suggestion for this, offered by the great On behalf of the whole project team at Mizrachi Eventually, the Churva was rebuilt again, the work medieval scholar Rambam (Maimonides, 1135- UK and the United Synagogue, thank you for your completed in 2010. A destroyed synagogue We know that Jewish independence in the Land of 1204), is that if the location of our holiest city had participation in this Shabbaton. We wish you the thrives once more, a magnificent edifice, alive Israel would not be achieved until 1948 and not in been confirmed before King David’s reign, then blessings of Jerusalem and a joyous Shavuot. again, thank God, with the sound of prayer and Jerusalem until 1967. Yet that phrase, still recited study. each Shabbat after the reading of the Haftarah, is another example of the role of Jerusalem in our One of the most famous stories of the Churva prayers. In this case, it urges us to remember both involves Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak KaKohen Kook our history and our destiny as we think about the (‘Rav Kook’ 1165-1935), first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi prophetic messages of the Haftarah. of the Land of Israel, and Viscount Herbert Samuel, a prominent Liberal politician, originally from If you can visit the Churva Shul, I hope your Liverpool, and member of the historic New West prayers in that special Jerusalem location will be End Synagogue in London. Both Rav Kook and even more resonant. Herbert Samuel would have crossed paths during Rav Kook’s stay in London during World War One. In June 1920, Samuel arrived in Jerusalem as the High Commisioner under the terms of the British Mandate for . Page 22 Page 22 Page 23