Va'era Vol.27 No.14:Layout 1

utrt vacug s; Volume 27 VA’ERA No. 14 SHABBAT MEVARCHIM Daf Hashavua 17 January 2015 • 26 Tevet 5775 Shabbat ends in London at 5.16 pm Artscroll p.318 • Hertz p.233 • Soncino p.351 Rosh Chodesh Shevat is on Wednesday To honour the 10th yahrzeit of Rev Alex Ginsburg by his loving grandchildren Avi, Elisheva, Aaron, Naomi, Harry, Felicity, Beatrice and Alex Journeys with The Book of Judges (Shofetim) Chapters 6-8 the Prophets: by Rabbi Dr Moshe Freedman, Northwood United Synagogue Part 14 Summary: After the death of Devorah, a Pesach (Vayikra 23:9). Whereas other meal reversion to idolatry triggered a period of offerings are offered by an individual (ibid Midianite oppression. Gidon (Gideon) was 2:1), the omer is a communal offering. appointed to combat both the physical threat Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (d. 1926) and the spiritual corruption. elucidates the symbolism of the dream – Midian could not be defeated by individuals A Deeper Look: In an act reminiscent of but only by a people joined together as one Avraham, Gidon smashed his own father’s unified community. idols together with those belonging to other Jewish families. Gidon then needed to raise After a miraculous victory, using an army an army to fight the hostile that initially constituted only 300 nations of Midian and Amalek. men, Gidon executed the Midianite Yet for a Jewish army to be kings. He removed “the crescents effective, its collective heart that were on the necks of their must be as strong and true as its camels” (Shofetim 8:21). After sword. G-d told Gidon to bring gathering other jewellery, Gidon prospective recruits to drink from fashioned a replica of the breast- a watering hole and to separate plate (ephod) worn by the High those who lapped the water with Priest and hung it in the city. their hands from those who kneeled to drink. Rabbi Moshe Alshich (d. 1593) explains that Rashi (d. 1105) explains that those who the ephod specifically atoned for the sin of kneeled were used to doing so for idol idol worship. Gidon hoped to inspire the worship, rendering them unsuitable to fight. people to abandon the worship of foreign Gidon heard someone relating a dream that deities and instead to worship G-d. Yet after barley bread was roasting in the Midianite his death, through a turn of tragic irony camp. Rashi notes that the barley bread the very symbol fashioned to inspire the symbolised a type of mincha (meal) offering people against idolatry became an object of (called the omer) which was made from worship, triggering another cycle of idolatry barley and offered on the second day of and suffering. The Five Expressions by Rabbi Yaakov Grunewald of Redemption South London United Synagogue The sidrah begins with G-d's response to become aware that a great Moshe’s complaint that his mission to miracle was happening Pharaoh had failed. G-d reassured him and around them. included in the speech five separate In the third stage, the promises, which our Rabbis identify as the redemption started. Seeing five stages of the redemption from Egypt the Egyptians, their oppressors, suffering, (Shemot 6:6-8). These promises have become the Israelites were now beginning to well known; at the Pesach Seder, we drink understand that they were being elevated to four cups of wine in order to represent them. a completely new spiritual status. The fifth cup is known as Elijah’s Cup which we fill after the meal but do not drink. The fourth stage marked the moment when the Israelites were embraced by G-d. The five expressions are: I shall They became aware that they had take you out, I shall save you, I been redeemed in order to become shall redeem you, I shall take you the Almighty’s special nation, with a and I shall bring you. unique mission. These expressions are not The fifth expression, “I shall bring you synonymous. They describe specific to the land”, is different from the first stages of the liberation of the four. The first four describe events that Israelites, a gradual process. The happened fairly quickly, paving the Israelites needed time to adjust to way to the next stage. In contrast, the the new situation. Indeed, there were fifth expression describes a historical still some moments when their faith in process that is ongoing. We are still being G-d and Moshe was riddled with doubt. brought back to our Land. Whilst we have In the first step of the liberation, the seen the tremendous ingathering of the Almighty took the Israelites out of the exiles and reunification of our people from all suffering. The taskmasters stopped hitting four corners of the earth, we have not all them, but they remained slaves. They still had returned yet. Many Jews are still living in the to work very hard. For this reason, they could Diaspora. They are not ready to make their not really appreciate the full implications of home in Israel. That is why our Rabbis say the transformation. They were in a state of that the time has not yet come for the shock and disbelief. drinking of the fifth cup. We call it Elijah’s Cup, because when that great prophet comes In the second stage of the liberation, it began to announce the arrival of the Messiah, we to dawn upon the Israelites that the danger shall no longer merely fill up the fifth cup was passing. The hard work was coming to an with wine. We will then drink it as we ‘toast’ end. Feeling a new lease of life, they had our fuller return to the Land of Israel. 70 Days for Remember the Past to Build the Future 70 Years by Rabbi Nissan Wilson, Senior Rabbi, Redbridge United Synagogue We used to walk home from shul together from its antecedents, the 50 for 50 and 60 for every Friday night and I would attempt to 60 projects. Aside from obviously having more converse with him in Yiddish, his native essays, it is bigger in its ambition to reach as tongue from his childhood days in Poland. many as a million Jews. It is also broader in its Sometimes on these walks, Reb Baruch would scope of multimedia educational materials turn to me in a tone somewhere between and related events and programmes. Much of matter-of-fact and wistful and say: "Rebbe, the power of 70 for 70 lies in its positive we lost another one of our chevra this week." approach and upbeat message. This project is about empowering people to engage with By "our chevra" he meant his cohort of Jewish learning and take steps forward on survivors who constituted the '45 Aid Society’. their Jewish journey. For me, these few short words were a reminder that the survivors would However, 70 for 70 is also not be with us forever. It a prompt to pause and was a cue to savour our reflect that a whole time with them and listen lifetime has passed since closely to their the Holocaust. Over the testimonies. last two decades, many I recall attending a Holocaust memorial event survivors who had kept a life sentence of a few years ago. There seemed to be nothing memories bottled up inside have found the that I had not heard or seen before and the courage to lift the lid and tell their stories. presentation had failed to move me. Even They felt the imperative to pass on their video clips of survivors telling their personal testimonies to the next generation. stories did not stir me. Then, the voice-over We are the beneficiaries of that courage – we cut in with the words, "how long will they are the next generation. When our grand- still be alive to tell their stories". I felt myself children turn to us and say, "Saba and Savta suddenly overcome with emotion, my eyes (grandpa and grandma), did you really meet welling up with tears. someone who was in Auschwitz, did you see I share these recollections, not as a nostalgic the number on her arm?" it will be up to us reflection on the past, but as a statement of to faithfully relay the testimonies that we where we now stand in the continuum of have heard. Jewish history. We are on the threshold of a The 70 for 70 Project challenges us to generational change. This is the moment when "remember the past to build the future". we, the second and third generation, must By doing this we not only remember the accept that the responsibility for telling the victims of the Holocaust but also honour story of the Holocaust will soon fall to us. them by bringing the light of Torah and The 70 for 70 Project is different in many ways mitzvot into the world. An in-Depth Leeuwenhoek’s Halachic Legacy: Part 1 look at Kashrut by Rabbi Yehuda Spitz, KLBD Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (d. 1723) was not regarding microscopes arises when checking the developer of the first rudimentary food for insects which are forbidden to eat. microscope. However, he is the figure most If one cannot detect any sign of bugs in the closely associated with the microscope’s produce, but these may perhaps be visible mystique. He is credited with the discovery through magnification, is one allowed to of micro-organisms and is considered the eat the produce? greatest contributor towards making the This last question is not a new one; it was microscope an essential research and addressed hundreds of years ago.

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