it permissible to set a timer before Shabbos to The laws of Shabbos set the tone for this im- turn my television on and off? I can't see what mersion. We are allowed to pre-set a timer to the difference is. turn on the lights, because that will enhance Answer: our Shabbos. But we can't set a timer to turn My favourite show is also on Fridays at 7:30pm. on the TV, because that will destroy our Shab- And I never miss it. It's a hilarious reality show, bos. Watching television on Shabbos is choos- and my kids star in it. We call it "The Shabbos ing someone else's reality over your own. The

Table." show must go on. But the show must be

yours. The formula is pretty standard every week. We eat. We sing. We try to start a meaningful dis- Reality TV is an oxymoron, and fake news is a cussion. One of the kids makes a cheeky com- redundancy. If you want to get real, you need - ment. Everyone laughs. We change the subject. to get Shabbos. A guest starts talking politics. A heated argu- ment ensues. We change the subject. We share inspiring stories and the kids show off what Is this statement heresy? Does it deny the There are religious ideologies that frown upon Elderly Abe Cohen arrives at Shul for a wed- hand of G-d in our successes? I recall a con- they learnt at school. We eat more. We sing ding and he sees a Red BMW sports car driven medical intervention when someone is ill. They more. The kids fall asleep on the couch. We say versation with a self-proclaimed atheist who see it as a lack of faith in the great Healer of all by an old girlfriend of his. used the expression very cynically, suggest- grace after meals. Show's over. flesh. In fact, some years ago in our own commu- She is wearing unbelievably elegant and ex- ing that his considerable achievements were nity, there was a court case because a hospital That's the show you should never miss. When pensive clothing and jewellery and her hair is entirely his own and that G-d had nothing you tune in to your own family, when you gave a blood transfusion to a child who was criti- now blonde and she seems to have had plastic to do with it. cally ill, but it was against the wishes of the par- listen to the people around you, you'll find real surgery. I beg to differ. To my mind, “G-d helps ents who objected on the grounds of their reli- life dramas and sitcoms, soap operas and break- ing news flashes. This show is unrehearsed, He wondered how she could afford it all? So, those who help themselves” is a perfectly gious beliefs. Judaism, on the other hand, main- unscripted and messy. But it's real, and it's he stopped and asked about her circumstances. religious statement. What it means is abso- tains that while Hashem is indeed the Great Heal- She gestured and said “Read the number lutely consistent with traditional Jewish er, He chooses to work through the efforts of yours. And there are no ads. plate”. - GeTT 3 thinking. G-d does indeed help us to ac- trustworthy medical practitioners. This is what Shabbos is for, to connect to fami- complish things, but He requires us to help This week’s Parsha tells of Isaac taking Rebecca as ly and friends, to commune with people and G- ourselves first. If we just sit back and wait for d. Rather than following the lives of strangers his wife. And Isaac brought her to the tent of miracles to happen, we may be disappointed. Sarah his mother. Rashi, quoting the Midrash, on a screen, we give full attention to the real And Hashem your G-d will bless you in all explains this to mean more than the obvious. people who actually matter to us. Rather than that you do, (Deuteronomy 15, 18) makes it When she entered the tent, it was as if she was wasting our time on the passing fads of pop ¨ culture, we immerse in the eternal truths and very clear. Our blessings come from Ha- Sarah, Isaac’s mother. Because Sarah was of such ¨ shem, but we must do something about it saintly character, she was granted three special soulful wisdom of our own culture. ¨ too. He helps, but we must do. Of course, miracles. Her Shabbos candles burned the entire ¨ we believe in miracles - but we mustn’t rely week, her dough was particularly blessed and a ¨ on them. The combination of our own hard heavenly cloud attached to her tent. When Sarah ¨ work and efforts coupled with Hashem’s died, these blessings disappeared. When Rebecca blessing is the ideal road to success. arrived on the scene, they resumed immediately.

The classic case is the farmer. He can plough In fact, this was a clear sign to Isaac that Rebecca ¨ and plant, sow and shvitz from today until was indeed his soul mate and that the shidduch tomorrow but if the rains don’t come noth- was bashert. ---- ing will grow. Conversely, all the rains in Each of those three miracles, however, required the world will not cause anything to grow if some form of human input first. A candle and fire ¨ we haven’t planted first. After the farmer has had to be found, the dough had to be prepared done his work and the rains come from and a tent had to be pitched before G-d would above, there will be a plentiful crop. And it intervene and make those miracles happen. In ¨ is the same story whether we are farmers or other words, He does help us but we must help ¨ shopkeepers, professionals or artisans, em- ourselves first. ployers or employees. It’s a little like the fellow who would make a possession. chased by Abraham was eight beit kor, or ers in plastic bags. Their names on tags. fervent prayer to G-d every week that he Sixty years earlier, G‑d had told Abraham: “The 600,000 square cubits. A square cubit is the Is your name Moshe? Our unbearable anguish win the lottery. After many months and no entire land that you see, I will give to you and approximate area occupied by an upright hu- and rage demands justice. I hope you are jackpot in sight, he lost his faith and patience. man being. your descendants forever . . . Arise and traverse Moshe. In anguished disappointment, he vented his the land, in its length and in its breadth, for to The generation of Jews which left Egypt and frustration with the Almighty. “Oh, G-d! Is your name Ariel? We need the ferocious4r you I shall give it” (Genesis 13:15,17). But this received the Torah at Mount Sinai numbered strength of lions to protect our people. I hope For months I’ve been praying to you. Why was a promise concerning the future; the land was some 600,000 heads of households. Our sages haven’t you helped me win the lottery all you are Ariel. not yet his, and Abraham took care not to even tell us that the Jewish nation consists of this time?” Whereupon a heavenly voice allow his sheep to graze on Canaanite property. 600,000 souls, and that the soul of every Jew Is your name Barak? We need courageous war- was heard saying, “Because you haven’t The first part of the land of Israel to belong to the who ever lived is an offshoot of one of these riors to vanquish our enemies. I hope you are bought a ticket, dummy!” Barak. Jewish people in the actual and legal sense was 600,000 “general” souls. Thus the Torah con-

I wish it were that simple to win lotteries. the “Machpelah field and its cave” in the heart of tains 600,000 letters (counting the spaces be- The blood on Shabbat morning was supposed But the fact is that it is the same in all our Hebron, which Abraham purchased from Ephron tween letters), for each Jew possesses something to be covenantal not sacrilegious, sacramental endeavors. G-d helps those who help them- the Hittite. of the Torah. not sacrificial, sacred not unholy. The tears were selves. May we all do our part. Please G-d, As our sages point out, there are three parts of The same is true of the Land of Israel. Israel is supposed to be of boundless joy not bottomless He will do His. sorrow. The cries were supposed to be “mazel Israel over which the Jewish right of ownership is the eternal inheritance of the Jewish people, most powerfully established. Even one who de- equally the property of every individual Jew. tov” not the mourner’s kaddish. nies the divine promise quoted above—and reit- And so it has been from the very first moment Is your name Simcha? We need an end to sad- erated by G‑d tens of times throughout the Bi- of Jewish ownership of the Holy Land: the first ness by bringing joy into our world. I hope you

ble—cannot contest the Jewish right over plot of land obtained by the first Jew included a are Simcha. Sarah dies at age 127 and is buried in the the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, purchased by share for every Jewish soul. Machpeilah Cave in Hebron, which Abraham King David from Aravnah the Jebusite (as related Is your name Yaron? We need an end to purchases from Ephron the Hitite for 400 in the closing verses of II Samuel); the section mourning by bringing song into our lives . I shekels of silver. hope you are Yaron. of Shechem(Nablus) purchased by Jacob from the

Abraham's servant, Eliezer, is sent laden family of the Canaanite ruler Hamor (Genesis Dedicated to the baby who was to be named at Is your name Matan? We need the gift of chil- with gifts to Charan to find a wife for Isaac. 33:19); and the Machpelah field of Hebron, of the Tree of Life Synagogue on Shabbat morn- dren who will bring a better tomorrow. I hope

At the village well, Eliezer asks G-d for a sign: which we read: ing, October 27, 2018. you are Matan. when the maidens come to the well, he will And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, Little boy, what’s your name – do you have So little boy, what’s your name? Take them all ask for some water to drink; the woman who which he had named in the hearing of the sons of one? if you will. Take a thousand names. Be peace will offer to give his camels to drink as well, Heth, four hundred shekels of silver in negotiable and Comfort and Healing. Be Justice and Sweet baby, just eight days, what should we shall be the one destined for his master's son. currency . . . Strength and Courage. Be Joy and Song and a call you? Gift to the world. Be every good name and Rebecca, the daughter of Abraham's neph- Then Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave ew Bethuel, appears at the well and passes the of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, that is I have heard the sacred circumcision postponed every good thing. "test". Eliezer is invited to their home, where for jaundiced yellow, but never before for Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And, Sweet baby, take one more name if you he repeats the story of the day’s events. Re- bloodshed red. will – because I hope you will be blessed with a becca returns with Eliezer to the land of Ca- The Torah recounts the Ephron-Abraham sale in Is your name Shalom? We long for peace in long, blissful, beautiful and meaningful life… naan, where they encounter Isaac praying in great detail, including the sum of the purchase this troubled world. I hope you are Shalom. the field. Isaac marries Rebecca, loves her, and price—four hundred silver shekels. Based on this I hope you are Chaim. figure, the thirteenth-century sage Rabbi Is your name Nachum? Oh, how we need to is comforted over the loss of his mother. Yitzchak bar Yehudah (author of Paaneach Raza) be comforted in our grief. I hope you are Na- Abraham takes a new wife, Keturah (Hagar) makes an interesting calculation. According chum. and fathers six additional sons, but Isaac is to Leviticus 27:16, the value of land in biblical designated as his only heir. Abraham dies at Is your name Raphael? Our broken hearts and times was 50 silver shekels for a beit kor, or bleeding souls need healing. I hope you are age 175 and is buried beside Sarah by his two 75,000 square amot (cubits). Thus, the area pur- Question:

Raphael. eldest sons, Isaac and Ishmael. I am almost 100% committed to keep Shabbos

You should have been carried high into the this week in honour of the world wide Shabbos -- congregation on Shabbat morning - past from Project. There's just one issue. My favourite TV loving hands to loving hands - on a cushioned show screens Fridays 7:30pm. So I was think- - pillow to receive your Jewish name. Instead ing, if it's permissible to set a timer before Shab- In chapter 23 of Genesis, we read of the first tract in the Land of Israel to enter into Jewish your elders fell and were carried out on stretch- bos to turn the lights on and off, then why isn't