18 March 2017 20 5777 ends 6.57pm 6.35pm

Volume 29 No. 25 Ki Tisa Parashat Parah Artscroll p.484 p.838 p.1216 Hertz p.352 Maftir p.652 Haftarah p.999 Soncino p.540 Maftir p.898 Haftarah p.1194

In memory of Etta bat Yisrael

Ki Tisa by Yoram Raanan. Printed with permission of the artist. www.yoramraanan.com

“The entire people removed the rings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aharon. He took it from their hands and bound it up in cloth, and fashioned it into a molten calf. They said, 1 ‘This is your god, , which brought you up from the land of Egypt’” ( 32:3-4). Sidrah Summary: Ki Tisa

1st Aliya () – Shemot 30:11-31:17 and requests that Israel retain a special status, God instructs Moshe to take a . Instead of distinct from other nations. God agrees to both counting people, each man over 20 will give a half requests (). coin towards the construction of the Mishkan 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 33:17-23 (); the figure will be calculated based on Moshe asks God to show him a vision of His divine the money collected. majesty. God responds that no mortal can see a ‘full God instructs Moshe to make a washing view’, but He will show Moshe as much as possible. laver (kiyor) for the Kohanim. Moshe is to make the 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 34:1-9 anointing oil, containing select spices, to anoint God instructs Moshe to carve a new set of Tablets, Aharon, his sons, and the vessels of the Mishkan. containing the same words as the first set. Moshe God tells Moshe to make incense, from specific ascends with the new Tablets, as spices, to be offered twice a day. God designates commanded. God now appears to Moshe and Betzalel to supervise the construction of the Mishkan teaches him the 13 Attributes of Mercy. Moshe and tells Moshe to reinstruct the people about appeals to God to endow Israel with His full keeping Shabbat. guidance and protection. Point to Consider – what is the link between the 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 34:10-26 construction of the Mishkan and keeping Shabbat? God declares to Moshe that he is making a (31:13 – see Rashi’s commentary) with the people. After entering the , Question – who was appointed to assist Betzalel? they must not follow the idolatrous ways of the (31:6) Answer on bottom of page 6. Ca’ananite nations. The of coming to the 2nd Aliya () – 31:18-33:11 Temple with an offering for the three festivals According to Rashi, the narrative goes back in time, (Pesach, and Succot) is restated, as well as to the aftermath of the giving of the . Moshe the mitzvah to redeem a first-born male child (pidyon has been on Mount Sinai for 40 days. The people ha’ben) and not to mix meat and milk together. calculate that Moshe is late returning. Fearing that 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 34:27-35 Moshe is dead, they decide to make a new ‘god’. Moshe descends with the new tablets, his face They fashion and worship a (see Rashi). radiating with light. He has to cover his face with a God informs Moshe of events and threatens to wipe mask when speaking to the people. out the nation. Moshe pleads with God to relent, Maftir recalling His promises to the forefathers. God The special reading for parashat Parah is taken from accepts his pleas. Moshe descends the mountain. the beginning of parashat ( 19:1- When he sees the calf, he throws down and breaks 22), in which God instructed Moshe and Aharon how the two stone tablets of testimony (luchot ha’edut). to purify someone who had come into contact with Moshe burns the calf and instructs the tribe of Levi a human corpse. This involved slaughtering an to kill the sinners. He re-ascends the mountain to ask unblemished (parah adumah) and mixing God to forgive the nation. God responds that He will its ashes with water. no longer lead the people through the desert directly, Haftarah but will send an instead. The prophet Yechezkel () admonishes the 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 33:12-16 nation for worshipping idols and desecrating His Unprepared to accept God’s response, Moshe Name. However, God will purify us, giving us a ‘new appeals to God to directly ‘accompany’ the nation heart’ and returning us to the Land.

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

2 Solutions in the Sidrah: The Lesson of Waterloo by Rabbi Yoni Birnbaum, Hadley Wood Jewish Community

The victory of the Duke of describe what occurred: “When the people saw Wellington over the armies that Moshe was delayed in coming down from of Napoleon Bonaparte on the mountain, the people gathered against Sunday 18 June 1815 is Aharon, and they said to him: ‘Come! Make us celebrated as one of the gods that will go before us, because this man greatest moments in British Moshe, who brought us up from the land of military history. Though Egypt, we do not know what has become of perhaps apocryphal, some him’” (Shemot 32:1). contemporary accounts describe the decisive moment as occurring in the final stages of the The , quoted by Rashi (d. 1105), battle, thanks to a brilliant tactical move by describes how the people made a miscalculation Wellington. As Napoleon’s Guards rode over the of the timing given to them by Moshe. He had told top of a ridge, they were astonished to see only them that he would return from Mount Sinai at the a small group of Wellington’s forces in the field end of 40 days. They counted from the evening below them, including the Duke himself. Yet as of his departure, when in fact they should have Napoleon’s troops advanced triumphantly, counted from the time of his actual ascent i.e. the Wellington shouted, “Up, Guards and at them!” following morning. At that moment of confusion, At that moment, as if by magic, a mass of the (angel of death) showed, “a semblance soldiers rose in perfect formation from the long of darkness and confusion”, leading the people grass in which they had been hiding. Charging to conclude that Moshe had died. This led to their Napoleon’s soldiers, their ferocious attack took subsequent, panicked request for a golden calf their opponents completely by surprise, turning to act as their new ‘leader’. the tide of the battle in Wellington’s favour.

Like Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the The lesson of the French defeat at Waterloo is people suffered a surprise ‘attack’ by the Satan that the most vulnerable point in a battle can be at the eleventh hour. They had left Egypt in at the very moment when victory appears certain. triumph, crossed the sea, experienced the When defences are lowered, the opportunity is Revelation at Sinai, and were about to physically there for others to take advantage. receive the Torah itself from Moshe. Yet at that moment they were also at their most vulnerable This idea may provide a deeper understanding of to a crisis of faith. The disastrous events a Midrash which discusses the events that led to surrounding the golden calf therefore serve to the catastrophe of the golden calf. The Torah highlight the caution that is needed at the precise uses only one, somewhat cryptic, verse to moment in life that success appears certain.

‘Scotland for Ever!’ by Elizabeth Thompson

In memory of Meir ben Avraham 3 From Sin to Sanctuary by Rabbi Fine, Community Rabbi, Stanmore & Canons Park United Synagogue

Picture the unfortunate The Ramban ( d. 1270) disagrees scene. A devoted Jew has and says that the command to build the Mishkan gone travelling, and after a came before the sin of the golden calf. The few days loses his bearings Mishkan's purpose was to make the Mount Sinai and finds himself in a desert. experience permanent, to ground the Divine Unable to contact his friends revelation and express it daily. Therefore, and relatives, he is now according to the Ramban, the sidrot are in faced with the challenge of chronological order. returning to civilisation. One of the quandaries he faces is that he has lost track of which day The Shem Mi’shmuel writes that both of these Shabbat is. When should he make kiddush and views find expression on Shabbat. In the same refrain from doing forbidden acts of labour? way that the Mishkan provided sanctity in the realm of physical space, Shabbat provides Whilst this scenario may seem unlikely, the sanctity in the realm of time. Shabbat is both the ’s addressing of this issue is rich in final day of the previous and the first day practical halacha, and carries interesting spiritual of the coming week. It is therefore able to wipe underpinnings (Shabbat 69b). The Talmud in fact the slate clean, facilitating a new week, reflecting lists two views about what to do in this dilemma: Rashi’s corrective view of the Mishkan. Yet it is 1. the individual should first count six days and also able to build upon the previous week's then declare the seventh day Shabbat, thus achievements, reflecting the Ramban’s view that duplicating the order of events in the Creation of the Mishkan built upon the experience of Mount the world; or 2. keep Shabbat immediately and Sinai. then count six days afterwards, like Adam's (the first human) own experience, having being born These two elements are represented by the two on a Friday. views in the Talmud about how one should count Shabbat in the desert. The view that one should The Shem Mi’shmuel (Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain keep Shabbat immediately reflects the d.1926) sees something deeper here. After perspective that Shabbat corrects previous sins; relating the servitude and Exodus from Egypt, Shabbat corrected Adam’s sin, which he followed by the Revelation at Sinai, the rest of the committed on Friday. However, the other view, book of Shemot deals with the Mishkan (the that Shabbat should be kept after first counting sidrot of , Tetzavah, Ki Tisa contain the six days, emphasises Shabbat as the completion instructions, and report the of a week of productivity and creation. construction) and the sin of the golden calf (Ki Tisa). Yet there is a debate as to the historical order of events. Rashi (d. 1105) writes that the sin of the golden calf actually preceded the command to build the Mishkan. The Mishkan was designed to atone for this sin. Explaining Rashi’s view, Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno (d.1550) writes that had the people not sinned, they would have not needed a Mishkan, as their spiritual level would have been high enough – post-Sinai – for each person to individually house the Divine Presence.

In memory of Tzipporah bat Yisrael 4 Parallel Thinking Part 18: The Multiverse by Rabbi Dr Moshe Freedman, New West End United Synagogue

As we go about our Lord Rees cites a metaphor given from the daily business, it is Canadian philosopher, John A. Leslie: “Suppose unlikely that we spend too you are facing a firing squad. Fifty marksmen much time contemplating take aim, but they all miss. If they hadn't all the seemingly minute missed, you wouldn't have survived to ponder probability of our very the matter. But you wouldn't just leave it at that - existence. Although our you'd still be baffled, and would seek some Universe and the Earth we further reason for your good fortune”. inhabit are constructed in such a way that makes life possible, it did not have to be that This good fortune is known as the Anthropic way.... principle, or colloquially as the ‘Goldilocks Paradox’. The English clergyman William Paley The Earth exists in what is known as the (d. 1805) popularised a similar argument (known ‘Goldilocks Zone’, a specific distance away from as the Teleological Argument) with his well- the sun which is not too hot or too cold, but is known analogy that just as the complex design of just right for allowing the existence of life. a watch implies a watchmaker who designed it, Moreover, it is not just the temperature that is just so too the complex nature of the Universe implies right. Earth itself has so many necessary a Designer who created it. ingredients for life; there is liquid water; it is a solid planet with a protective atmosphere; the Lord Rees acknowledges that some might large moon ensures climatic stability by conclude from the Goldilocks Paradox that only moderating changes in the Earth’s tilt; it has a a Divine Creator could have designed these solid inner iron core and a liquid outer core which constants to support the existence of life. This is produce the Earth’s magnetic field, which in turn essentially a modern reworking of Paley’s idea. helps to protect us from deadly solar radiation. We also have some helpful neighbours; large planets such as Jupiter help shield the Earth from Yet Lord Rees proposes another, scientific asteroids. explanation. Suppose that our Universe is merely one of billions, trillions or perhaps even an infinite number of universes that exist, and all of them Furthermore, the Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin contain different laws of physics. Our Universe Rees published a book in 1999 called ‘Just Six happens to be the one that supports life. This Numbers’. He lists six constant and fundamental ‘multiverse’ is a popular answer to the Goldilocks physical factors. The value of each factor is Paradox, but in next week’s article we will utterly decisive in determining the way our explore its veracity and its implication. Universe operates.

Lord Rees’ point is that if even just one of these constants was modified by the tiniest amount, the Universe would cease to exist in its current state and would become totally sterile. The fine tuning of these constants suggests that the Universe was not the result of a random occurrence, but was designed in such a way that supports the formation of life.

In memory of Avigail bat Meir 5 Insights into Jewish History Part 66: A Fight to Preserve Faith by Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein, Cockfosters & N Southgate United Synagogue; Head of Project Development, US Living & Learning

As the second century BCE Jason informed Antiochus that, if he would be dawned, power shifted appointed Kohen Gadol, he would not only between the southern collect 360 talents of from the Temple; he Ptolemaic kingdom and the would add 80 talents of silver from his own purse northern Seleucid kingdom. to pay the Seleucid kingdom. Jason went further, The inhabiting Judea offering a further bribe of 150 talents of silver in are described by , return for permission to build a gymnasium in the Roman Jewish first- Jerusalem. He asked that the Seleucids help century historian, as “nothing more than a small populate the gymnasium with their own youths. ship being tossed between the massive waves of crashing empires”. The invading Seleucids were An ancient Greek gymnasium was far removed welcomed open-armed by the Kohen Gadol and from today’s ‘local gym’ and would have been the , the representatives of traditional anathema to the practice of the Perushim. The in Judea. These people were known as word ‘gymnasium’ is actually derived from the the Perushim. They hoped that a new ruler would Greek word gymnós meaning ’naked’. The loosen the stranglehold of the tax collectors who gymnasium functioned as a training facility for had been appointed by the Ptolemies and that competitors in public games. It was also a place they would be ousted from power. This group of for socializing and engaging in intellectual tax collectors also represented a new kind of pursuits. Athletes competed nude, a practice Jew: one who rejected the laws and traditions of which was said to encourage aesthetic the Torah and embraced the other disciplines appreciation of the male body and to be a (science, wealth and physicality) that Hellenist tribute to the gods. This was the first time that culture promoted. a building in Jerusalem had been dedicated to the Greek gods. At first, the new rule was everything the Perushim could have hoped for. The Seleucid king The Jews of Judea found themselves in the Antiochus III the Great offered gifts to the Temple, position of having to fight to preserve their faith as well as a three-year dispensation from taxes en masse for the first time in history but for all inhabitants of Jerusalem. Yet the unfortunately not the last. Next week we will relationship soon soured. After Antiochus the discuss how one man’s pursuit of power put the Great’s son, Antiouchus IV Epiphanus took over very fibre of Judaism to the test. the monarchy, the tide began to change.

After Antiochus lost a decisive battle against the Romans in Egypt, the Perushim took the opportunity to oust the most recent Kohen Gadol, Menelous, a supporter of the Hellenist cause who, it turned out, was not actually a Kohen at all. The Perushim once more tried to regain control of the Temple and restore its services. Yet this only lasted until Antiochus received an offer from the next aspirant to the

seat of Kohen Gadol, Jason. Pompeii gymnasium Answer: Aholiav the son of Achisamach. of son the Aholiav Answer:

In memory of Tzemach ben Yisrael 6