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Ekev Vol.26 No.47:Layout 1 gec vacug s; Volume 26 No. 47 EKEV Daf Hashavua 16 August 2014 • 20 Av 5774 Shabbat ends in London at 9.13pm Artscroll p.980 • Hertz p.780 • Soncino p.1032 Judaism and Commerce on the Internet Modernity Rabbi Garry Wayland, Assistant, Youth and Young Families Rabbi, Part 10: Woodside Park United Synagogue It is almost essential for any kind of com- itself is not the purchase though. In such cases, mercial enterprise to have an online presence. no purchase actually takes place on Shabbat, Last week, we discussed issues relating to and so websites can sometimes arrange for maintaining websites. This week we will look at actual transactions to be avoided on Shabbat. actual commerce on the Internet. Can a What about a website that sells downloads? website remain open to take orders? Can you One central point in this question came up in set automatic bidding on EBay for an auction a case addressed by Dayan Yitzchak Weiss that finishes on Shabbat? What about selling (d. 1989), who was asked about Jewish-owned non-tangible products, such as music, that vending machines on Shabbat. He permitted can be downloaded when purchased? these, with several caveats. These include Needless to say, there are many facets to that the machines were in a public these questions, and each case needs place and that the items were not sold to be examined on its own merits by a specifically for Jewish purchasers. Rabbinic authority. For our purposes, He also permitted the money earned in a general sense, several principles on Shabbat through the principle underlie these questions: of ‘havla’ah’ – viewing Shabbat There is a Rabbinic prohibition earnings as being ‘absorbed’ into against trading on Shabbat, which is costs incurred during the week, proscribed out of a concern that one such as maintenance. These may come to write down transactions (which is principles could perhaps also forbidden Biblically) and as part of a wider provide a basis for allowing mandate to make Shabbat distinct and holy. It these websites to remain open. is also forbidden to gain monetary benefit from These arguments apply only to websites that any work done on one’s behalf on Shabbat. are aimed at the general public. Websites Part of the question about Internet trans- whose customers are generally Jewish have the actions revolves around knowing precisely how additional issue of ‘lifnei iver’, assisting another such transactions take place. Purchasing online in transgressing, in addition to the prohibition is often not the equivalent of paying in a shop, of trading on Shabbat. Therefore websites as items may only be charged for when the in Israel (for example) face a serious problem if item is due for dispatch, even though they were they are providing a platform for other Jews ordered earlier. A successful bid on EBay to break Shabbat by visiting and purchasing on creates a contract to purchase the item; this their websites. Identifying ‘the Mitzvah’ by Rabbi Dr Harvey Belovski Golders Green United Synagogue The Book of Devarim, Moshe’s valedictory verses previous to ours warn speech, contains many reminders about loyalty against coveting “… the silver to G-d and to the Torah. Moshe’s audience lived and the gold upon [the idols] in a miraculous cocoon in which enemies were and taking them for your- vanquished and food fell from the sky, yet they selves, lest you entrap now had to wrest the Land from its inhabitants, yourselves, for it is an resist the lure of its indigenous religions and abomination to the Lord navigate the complexities of its rain-dependent your G-d”. (Devarim 7:25) agriculture. The transition would be arduous and As such, the ‘mitzvah’ of our verse not without its disappointments. refers not to the entire corpus of mitzvot, but One such reminder appears near the start of our specifically to the prohibition against coveting. sidrah: The Chizkuni justifies this reading with reference “The entire mitzvah I am to the subsequent verses, prescribing you today you which demand that we must safeguard and remember the vicissitudes perform, in order that you of our 40-year journey will live and flourish and through the desert to the come to inherit the Land Land, during which G-d which the Lord promised to your ancestor”. cared for our needs with manna and self- (Devarim 8:1) laundering clothes (Devarim 8:2-4). As the Chizkuni observes: The identity of the ‘mitzvah’ (singular) is unclear. Cryptically, Rashi (d. 1105) interprets it according “If your desires encourage you to long for the to its straightforward meaning (ke’peshuto in silver and gold upon [the idols], trust in your Hebrew). The super-commentaries assume that Creator and remember the entire journey Rashi means either ‘the whole Torah’ or the along which He led you, when you had no need ‘entire corpus of commandments’. Read either for silver and gold”. way, according to Rashi, success in the Land is Finally, the Seforno (Rabbi Ovadiah ben Ya’akov contingent on the Israelites’ commitment to d. 1550) observes that idolaters: observing the entire Torah. Indeed, in his Arabic Tafsir, Rabbi Sa’adia Ga’on (d. 942) translates the “…hope to achieve through their worship singular ‘mitzvah’ into the plural – ‘mitzvot’. temporal success in three areas: longevity, Perhaps (as is the case with some collective children and resources”. nouns, especially when describing a huge Recognising that the Israelites might be enticed number of discrete items) the singular ‘mitzvah’ into joining the Canaanite idolaters in their is also used as the plural. Another example of attempts to realise these primal needs, Moshe such a collective noun is the Rabbinic usage of assures the Israelites that observance of the the word ‘Mishnah’ to refer to the entire corpus mitzvot, rather than idolatry, would enable of Oral Law, each fragment of which is itself them to attain them all: “In order that you called a ‘Mishnah’. will live” refers to longevity. “And flourish” refers Clearly addressing the same issue, the Chizkuni to numerous children. “And come to inherit” (Rabbi Chezekiah ben Manoach c.13th century) refers to wealth and honour through inheriting offers a novel alternative. He observes that the the Land. A Century since Reverend Michael Adler (1868-1944) WWI Rabbi Z M Salasnik, Bushey and District United Synagogue The centenary of the start of the First World War with the special food that was awaiting is an appropriate if sombre time to recall Rev. distribution! Michael Adler, Chaplain to the British Armed Forces and one of the most accomplished In the first month of the War, Michael Adler ministers of his time. wrote a Soldiers’ Prayer Book, which Chief Rabbi Hertz (who visited France in June 1915) later The first minister to serve as Chaplain was enlarged. Francis Lyon Cohen (1862-1934), minister of the Borough Synagogue, who held this position from As the conflict continued, more chaplains were 1892 to 1904. He received semicha (Rabbinic required, and Rev. Vivian Simmons of West ordination) and moved to Sydney, Australia, London (Reform) Synagogue and Rev. Arthur where he served as head of the Beth Din, at Barnett (d. 1961), later minister of the which point Michael Adler, minister of the independent Orthodox Western Synagogue were Central Synagogue (and former minister of called up. About a dozen others, both ministers Hammersmith Synagogue) succeeded him. and chazanim, followed. The most famous of them was the future Chief Chaplain and Chief Initially, the responsibilities were part-time and Rabbi, Israel Brodie. Mark Gollop exchanged his included an annual Chanukah pulpit in Southend & Westcliff for military service, which Rabbi the Gallipoli Campaign, later Cohen had pioneered. By 1915, becoming Rabbi of Hampstead, with many young Jews a Dayan at the London Beth Din volunteering for the services and Chief Chaplain to the Forces. ahead of conscription, Michael One of the chaplains attached Adler realised that chaplaincy to the Egyptian Expeditionary had to become full-time and Force was my great-uncle-in-law, that he should be based in Yitzchak Frankenthal. In July France. The Chaplain General, 1918, Michael Adler returned John Taylor Smith (1860-1938) home unwell, his place as senior suggested that instead of the chaplain in France being taken by usual Christian chaplain’s badge, Arthur Barnett. Rev Adler should wear a Magen David. It was not long before In 1922, Michael Adler edited the Michael Adler decided that the Reverend Michael Adler British Jewry Book of Honour, Magen David would be the symbol on the graves which recorded the names and regiments of the of Jewish soldiers who died in action. approximately 50,000 Jews who served in the British and other armies of the Empire and Initially working as the lone Jewish Chaplain on Dominions, as well as containing a number of the Western Front, he enlisted the support of articles. He also wrote on the Jews of Medieval Jewish communities in Paris, Havre, Rouen, England. Versailles and Boulogne. With financial support from Anglo-Jewry, he arranged that the suppliers Rev Adler’s chaplaincy article in the British Jewry of matzah for French Jewish soldiers should also Book of Honour and US Living & Learning’s supply 1,200 British Jewish soldiers. It did not booklet commemorating the 100th anniversary happen, and three months after Pesach 1915, he of the outbreak of World War One are available received a letter asking what was to be done at www.theus.org.uk/100yearsago. Milk and Honey by Rabbi Geoffrey L Shisler, New West End United Synagogue The words of one of Israel’s most well-known In his book ‘Hamikra V’Hamesorah’, Rabbi folk songs comes from a verse in this week’s Reuven Margolis offers a novel interpretation, sidrah: ‘Eretz zavat chalav u’dvash’ (Devarim and he finds a number of sources to support 26:9).
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