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21 September 2019 21 5779 ends 7.48pm 7.14pm

Volume 31 No. 55 Artscroll p.1068 | p.1201 Hertz p.859 | Haftarah p.874 Soncino p117 | Haftarah p.1134

In loving memory of our first editor, Bernstein of blessed memory, Harav Yitzchak Yoel Ben Shlomo Halevi of Finchley Synagogue, whose 25th yarzeit is on 22 Elul

“All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you hearken to the voice of the Lord, your God: Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the of your womb, and the fruit of your ground…” ( 28:2-4).

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Sidrah Summary: Ki Tavo

1st Aliya () – Devarim 26:1-11 tribes are to stand on one mountain, six on the Once the nation has come into the Land of , other. The Levi’im will stand in between the there is a for a produce-grower to take mountains to call out the blessings and the curses, to which the people will respond the first of the new harvest and place them “Amen” in a basket, before bringing them to a Kohen in (). the Temple (the mitzvah of ). After the 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 28:6-69 Kohen takes the basket, thebikkurim person who has This aliya opens with further blessings. If we brought the fruit reads out a text which recalls follow God's will – our enemies will flee from the initial descent to Egypt, the and the us and other nations will be in awe of us. redemption. It concludes with an expression of The sidrah continues with the , the gratitude to God for the bounty of the Land (see passage of retribution (which istochacha recited in an p.3 article). undertone by the person reading from the 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 26:12-15 ). If we do not listen to God and do not At the end of every third and sixth year of the observe His mitzvot, the consequences will be seven year cycle, one has to make sure grave. Verse after verse warns of petrifying that all the shemitahtithes from the produce of the Land suffering, including illness, plague, blindness, from the previous years have been given to their children being taken captive, being at the mercy respective recipients. Once that has been of other peoples, and the nation becoming organised, a text known as is scattered over the Earth. said, which declares one’s carefulviduy commitmentma’aserot Question: What connection is made to the to the laws of tithing, followed by a prayer to God Exodus in the passage of retribution? (28:60. to bless the Land. Answer on pg.6. Point to Consider: In what part of our liturgy is the final part of the viduy ma’aserot also said? 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 29:1-8 (26:15) Moshe reminds the people of their wondrous Exodus from Egypt, their miraculous survival in 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 26:16-19 the desert for 40 years and their victories over Moshe encourages the people to keep the the mighty kings Sichon and . mitzvot and to view them every day as fresh and new (Rashi). This will elevate the nation to the Haftarah status of being holy and distinguished. Taken from the book of Yeshaya, this is the sixth of the ‘seven haftarot of consolation’ read after 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 27:1-10 Tisha B’. The relates a vision of the Moshe tells the people that on the day they cross nations of the world coming to and the , they should take stones, coat them recognising God. Violence and pain will become with plaster and inscribe upon them the words memories of the past – “never again shall your of the Torah. They should erect these stones on sun set, nor shall your moon be withdrawn; for Mount Eival, where they shall also build an God will be an eternal light”. These verses are and bring peace-offerings. included in the Memorial Prayer recited at cemeteries and houses. 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 27:11-28:5 shiva After the nation enters the Land, they will come to and Mount Eival. Six of the

United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue Editor: Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Editorial and Production Team: Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, Rabbi Michael Laitner, Joanna Rose Available also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Danielle Fox on 020 8343 6261, or [email protected] If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email [email protected]

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Different Destinies by Rabbi Rafi Goodwin, Assistant Rabbi, Chigwell & Hainault United Synagogue

In Temple times, someone that reason, the owners took them back from the who grew one of the specific Kohen and returned home with them. fruits which the Torah mentions that the Land is Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1813, the blessed with - , figs, founder of Chabad Chasidut) comments that in , or our own lives, the “choice ” represent dates - was commanded by our , and the basket in which they are the Torah to select some of placed represents the soul’s receptacle – our the ripened first fruits, put them in a basket, body and physical lives. Our goal is that our bring them to the Temple and present them to (the choice fruit) be transported and a Kohen. This annual gift of the first fruits known elevated, to become a “gift to the Holy Temple”, as , expressed the idea that our material attained through a life of service to God. possessionsbikkurim are not an end in themselves, but exist to serve a higher, spiritual purpose. We aim to ensure that our body, the basket, is a fitting receptacle; that we use all of our limbs The Torah makes a specific point of emphasising to do mitzvot, such that the body becomes that were to be brought in a basket secondary and nullified to the soul, like the (Devarim 26:2). The , a foundational text simple straw baskets, helping the soul in its of Jewish law, discusses what happened to the mission to fully connect to God. While it is basket. Did it remain with the Kohen, together important to enjoy and appreciate the material with the fruit, or did the farmer take it back aspects of life, this should not become a home? The Mishnah answers that this depended distraction and an end in itself, like the gold on the identity of the owner: “The rich would and silver vessels which were not nullified to bring their first fruits in baskets of silver and gold, the fruits. while the poor would bring them in baskets woven of stripped palm leaves or straw”. The rich kept their baskets, while the poorer people were This article is based on an article by Rabbi Yanki told to leave theirs with the Kohen (Bikkurim 3:8). Tauber from Chabad.org, itself based on an essay How are we to understand this law? from Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi.

The legal principle behind this facet of is the concept of , ‘nullification’. If abikkurim certain object exists solelybittul to serve another object, then the servient object has no role or identity aside from that purpose. They were therefore ‘nullified’, i.e. they became an inseparable part of the gift to the Kohen.

Not so the gold and silver vessels of the rich person’s . These expensive baskets were valuablebikkurim commodities in their own right, aside from the role they played in holding and transporting the fruits. Therefore, they were not considered to be an integral part of the fruits given to the Kohen; they were not ‘nullified’. For

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Defining Teshuva by Rebbetzen Lauren Levin, South Hampstead United Synagogue

Our High Holiday prayers meat and drink on the festival. However, are replete with descriptions eating and drinking are just the actions which of us returning to God, doing hopefully act as a catalyst to lift people’s . What does this spirits and make them happy. Only when true teshuvaentail? The English word joy is felt has one fulfilled the command to be ‘repentance’ stems from the happy on the festivals. medieval French word ‘ ’, which originally repentir So too : the confessional prayers denoted both regret and repentance, with no formulatedteshuva by the Rambam and codified into linguistic distinction between the two. Is teshuva Jewish law do not guarantee successful . no more than the feeling of deep regret for Rather, they kick-start the process, actingteshuva as a misconduct? Can we be commanded to ‘feel’ facilitator for introspection, remorse and resolve something? And if we are fortunate enough to for the future. ‘feel’ regret, will this suffice to change our conduct going forward? A different approach is suggested by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook (1865-1935). The Rambam ( 1135-1204) writes Rabbi Kook offers a three pronged approach to that is in fact a practical process, teshuva doing . The first basic level is ‘innate beyond just feelings: “If a person transgresses teshuva’. He argues that once an individual has any of the mitzvot of the Torah… when they developedteshuva their sense of self, they will innately repent, and return from their sin, they must self-correct certain behaviours. The second is confess before God, blessed be He… This refers ‘theological ’. As the ‘people of the to a verbal confession”. Book’, if we teshuvaopen the Tanach () and read any of the striking passages about This process is helpful in making a command , this will encourage us to start such a that seems esoteric more tangible. Yet it runs the journey.teshuva The third level, which can only be risk of becoming only a mechanical, achieved once the first two are in place, is verbal process.teshuva In addressing this, Rabbi Yosef ‘cognitive ’. It is driven by a clear vision Dov Soloveitchik (1903-93) considers the of the typeteshuva of lifestyle we are aiming for; any practical ramifications of the Rambam’s view. behaviour that does not fit in with this will be Rabbi Soloveitchik explains mitzvot as having modified accordingly. dual elements: there is an action and there is the fulfilment of the command. Sometimes the According to this, starts with self-belief. action and the fulfilment are achieved at the It then relies on connectingteshuva with our heritage same time. For example, on Succot there is a and past, and culminates with a clear vision of mitzvah to take the (the four our future. species). By lifting thearba’at species ha’minim i.e. doing the action, the mitzvah is fulfilled.

Then there are other commandments where the action does not guarantee that the mitzvah is totally fulfilled, but rather acts as a trigger to fulfilling the mitzvah. For example, when the Torah commands: “and you should be happy on your festival’ (Devarim 16:14), the Talmudic Sages explain this to mean that we should eat

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The History of : Part 6 – Karaites and their Influence by Rabbi Chaim Burman, US Rabbinic Fellow

It may be hard to believe, The first Karaites were loose groupings of sects but for centuries a group that merged elements from and Islam. of has existed who It took the movement two centuries until it was never light consolidated by the great-grandson of Anan (even before Shabbat) since (whose name was also Anan). Although this they consider doing so a dissident movement was an aberration from the (prohibited activity). traditional mainstream community, Karaites and Somemelacha even refuse to cut “Rabbanites”, as they came to be called, lived their with a knife on Shabbat, for the side by side in many communities and same reason. Although they have “synagogues”, sometimes intermarried, especially in Egypt. their services resemble Muslim prayer, with Wary of this coexistence and frequent contact, prostration on the floor and consisting almost some of the greatest Jewish philosophers, such exclusively of chanting . These Jews, who as Rav Saadia Gaon (882-942) and Rabbi Yehuda have always been a very small minority, are Halevi (c. 1075-1141), wrote classic works of called Karaites and have had an important philosophy, such as and influence on the development of Jewish respectivelyEmunot (as covered Vedeot in previousSefer philosophy. articlesHakuzari in this series), as a way of clarifying the parameters of authentic rabbinic Judaism. The origins of the Karaite movement are shrouded in mystery, but the general consensus The Karaites spread across the Middle East, is that the Karaites go back to Anan ben David, through Europe and to Russia. At the turn of the an ambitious Jew who lived in 8th century 20th century, there were only 13,000 Karaites Babylon. According to one version of events, worldwide. Yet their community has enjoyed a Anan was convinced that he was about to renaissance in Israel, where it now numbers be appointed to the office of exilarch, a around 40,000. Contemporary rabbinic opinion is hereditary position of political power over the divided about whether they are considered autonomously-governed Jewish community Jewish. This issue has been discussed and ruled living under Arabic Abbasid rule. Although upon by famous rabbinic authorities, such as the Anan was well educated and the next in line, the previous Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi appointed his younger and less learned Ovadiah Yosef (1920-2013). brother, Chananiyah, because of his humility and piety. Addressing the Karaite claim that the was of recent origin, Rabbi Yehuda Halevi had a Inflamed with jealousy, Anan established a sect simple but insightful counterargument. Written of his own, which denied the authority of the text without explanation is often undecipherable. rabbis in religious issues and rejected their Shabbat is certainly mentioned in the Torah, but interpretations of Jewish law. The Karaites when it writes that a person “should not leave rejected all rabbinic and Talmudic interpretations their place on seventh day” ( 27:29), how of the Torah and instead looked only to what are we to understand that? Does it mean that one could be deciphered from the literal written word should not leave the town? The country? One’s of the Torah. The word “Karaite” comes from the house? Maybe one is not allowed to get out of Hebrew ‘ ’, which is a term used to refer to bed! Therefore, when Moshe received the Torah, Biblical scripture;mikra their exclusive focus on the he must have been privy to the explanation and Tanach (Hebrew Bible) explains their unusual elucidation of its laws; God would surely explain practices and prayer services. clearly what He expected us to do. There must

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The History of Jewish Philosophy: Part 6 (continued from page 5)

have been some oral counterpart to the written The answer to this requires an understanding law. of an important principle in Jewish thought: commentary and interpretation are useful and A notable point is that there are actually certain legitimate tools of understanding Judaism, significant similarities between Karaite positions but only when they take note of the accepted and the opinions of great Talmudic authorities. hermeneutical frameworks and principles. Just as the Karaites interpreted verses to indicate Whatever the conclusions of the Sages of the that one may not light Shabbat candles before , they discussed and debated in a manner Shabbat since they will burn on Shabbat, the that was entirely consistent with the received opinion of Beit Shammai (even though the knowledge from previous generations. The halacha does not follow this view) is very similar Karaites, in contrast, interpreted in a way that (see Talmud Shabbat 18b). How could it be that was at odds with Jewish tradition, even if, on a position that was considered so antithetical to occasion, they came to similar conclusions. traditional Judaism was actually shared by great traditional Jewish thinkers?

An Introduction to South American Jewry Part 5: The Second Organized Jewish Community and Synagogue in Brazil by Dayan Elimelech Vanzetta, Rabbinical and Halachic Administrator for US Burial, Lecturer for US in the City

The phrase “ The synagogue still functions today as a place of ” appearsShaar in dignified prayer – evoking a feeling connected to parashatHashamaim , when its name – a testament to the disparate origins Yaakov woke up from his of Brazilian Jewry which does not trace its lineage dream and realised that simply back to the countries who ruled Brazil the holy place he had during colonial times. slept on was the “gate of the heavens” (Bereishit 28:17). is the name of a synagogueShaar in Belem, Hashamaim Brazil, founded in the 19th century by Moroccan Jewish immigrants. Its ornate building was most likely completed in 1824, possibly making it the first ever synagogue in the region.

Fascinatingly, it was decorated in blue and white (long before those became colours associated with the modern State of Israel) and features three Stars of David above its entrance. It displayed some grandeur in being built on two floors. Perhaps harking back to its Moroccan roots, the

marble bimah is round and elevated. Shaar Hashamaim Synagogue, Belem, Brazil Answer: The plagues which punished the Egyptians could be carried out against the the against out carried be could Egyptians the punished which plagues The Answer:

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