Candle Welcome to the DAT ! Lighting (earliest) 6:56p Pinchas (latest) 8:10p July 11, 2020 - 19 5780 Mark Raphaely, President 9:17p

We invite men and women in the community to D’var With Jonathan Sacks The coronavirus pandemic raised a series of deep moral and political issues. How sign up for our minyan at The Jewish far should governments go in seeking to prevent its spread? To what extent should Experience . For those unable to make it, we it restrict people’s movements at the cost of violating their civil liberties? How far should it go in imposing a clampdown of businesses at the cost of driving many of encourage everyone to join us for our virtual them bankrupt, rendering swathes of the population unemployed, building up a daily davening and learning opportunities. mountain of debt for the future and plunging the economy into the worst recession since the 1930s? These are just a few of the many heart-breaking All davening times are published on our dilemmas that the pandemic forced on governments and on us. website. Strikingly, almost every country adopted the same measures: social distancing and lockdown until the incidence of new cases had reached its peak (Sweden was the most conspicuous exception). Nations didn’t count the cost. Virtually unanimously, To join us virtually, download the ZOOM app to they placed the saving of life above all other considerations. The economy may your computer or phone. The computer log in is: suffer, but life is infinitely precious and saving it takes precedence over all else. This was a momentous victory for the value first articulated in the Torah in the https://us02web.zoom.us/j/94819261580? Noahide covenant: “He who sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He created man” (Gen. 9:6). This was the first pwd=MXpoOExuVlRubFltZmN5ZGlFQlVaZz09 declaration of the principle that human life is sacred. As the Sages put it, “Every life Meeting ID:948 1926 1580 is like a universe. Save a life and it is as if you have saved a universe.” Password: dm613 In the ancient world, economic considerations took precedence over life. Great building projects like the Tower of Babel and the Egyptian pyramids involved huge loss of life. Even in the 20th century, lives were sacrificed to economic ideology: between six and nine million under Stalin, and between 35 and 45 million under Virtual Shabbat Davening Times: Chinese communism. The fact that virtually all nations, in the face of the pandemic, chose life was a significant victory for the Torah’s ethic of the sanctity of life. That said, the former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption wrote a challenging FRIDAY article in which he argued that the world, or at least Britain, had got it wrong. It was overreacting. The cure may be worse than the disease. The lockdown Mincha: 7:10 pm amounted to subjecting the population to house arrest, causing great distress and Derasha by Rabbi Gitler: 7:20 pm giving the police unprecedented and dangerous powers. It represented “an interference with our lives and our personal autonomy that is intolerable in a free Kabbalat Shabbat: 7:35 pm society.” The economic impact would be devastating. “If all this is the price of saving human life, we have to ask whether it is worth paying.” (Shema should be recited after 9:17 pm) There are, he said, no absolute values in public policy. As proof he cited the fact that we allow cars, despite knowing that they are potentially lethal weapons, and that every year thousands of people will be killed or maimed by them. In public SHABBAT policy there are always multiple, conflicting considerations. There are no non-negotiable absolutes, not even the sanctity of life. Parasha: Page 877 /: Page 1192 It was a powerful and challenging piece. Are we wrong to think that life is indeed (Shema should be recited before 9:23 am) sacred? Might we be placing too high a value on life, imposing a huge economic burden on future generations? I am going to suggest, oddly enough, that there is a direct connection between this argument and the story of Pinchas. It is far from obvious, but it is fundamental. In Person Shabbat Davening Times: It lies in the difference – philosophical and halachic – between moral and political decisions. Recall the Pinchas story. The Israelites, having been saved by God from Bilam’s FRIDAY: (Continued on Page 2) Shacharit: 6:20 am Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Maariv: 6:40 pm Virtual and In Person Weekly Schedule

SHACHARIT MINCHA/MAARIV SHABBAT: Shacharit: 7:00 am Sunday: 8:00 am Sunday-Friday: 6:40 pm Mincha: 8:10 pm Monday, Thursday: 6:30 am Maariv: 9:20 pm Tuesday, Wednesday: 6:35 am Friday: 6:20 am

DAT Minyan is a dynamic and friendly Modern Orthodox congregation for all ages and dedicated to meaningful personal spiritual development, community growth, youth involvement, Torah education, and Religious . DAT Minyan - 560 S. Monaco Pkwy., Denver, CO 80224 - 720-941-0479 - www.datminyan.org D’VAR TORAH (continued)

Rabbi Sacks (Continued from Page 1)

curses, fell headlong into the trap he then set for them. They began consorting with Midianite women and were soon worshipping their gods. God’s anger burned. He ordered the death of the people’s leaders. A plague raged; 24,000 died. A leading Israelite, Zimri, brought a Midianite woman, Cozbi, and cohabited with her in full view of Moses and the people. It was the most brazen of acts. Pinchas took a spear and drove it through them both. They died, and the plague stopped. Was Pinchas a hero or a murderer? On the one hand, he saved countless lives: no more people died because of the plague. On the other hand, he could not have been certain of that in advance. To any onlooker, he might have seemed simply a man of violence, caught up in the lawlessness of the moment. The parsha of Balak ends with this terrible ambiguity unresolved. Only in our parsha do we hear the answer. God says: “Pinchas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the Priest, has turned back My anger from the Israelites by being zealous among them on My behalf, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My zeal. Therefore say: I am making with him My covenant of peace.” (Num. 25:11-12) God declared Pinchas a hero. He had saved the Israelites from destruction, showed the zeal that counterbalanced the people’s faithlessness, and as a reward, God made a personal covenant with him. Pinchas did a good deed. Halachah, however, dramatically circumscribes his act in multiple ways. First, it rules that if Zimri had turned and killedPinchas in self-defence, he would be declared innocent in a court of law. Second, it rules that if Pinchas had killed Zimri and Cozbi just before or after they were engaged in cohabitation, he would have been guilty of murder. Third, had Pinchas consulted a Bet Din and asked whether he was permitted to do what he was proposing to do, the answer would have been, No. This is one of the rare cases where we say Halachah ve -ein morin kein: “It is the law, but we do not make it known.” And there are many other conditions and reservations. The Torah resolves the ambiguity but halachah reinstates it. Legally speaking, Pinchas was on very thin ice. We can only understand this by way of a fundamental distinction between moral decisions and political decisions. Moral decisions are answers to the question, “What should I do?” Usually they are based on rules that may not be transgressed whatever the consequences. In , moral decisions are the province of halachah. Political decisions are answers to the question, “What should we do?” where the “we” means the nation as a whole. They tend to involve several conflicting considerations, and there is rarely a clear-cut solution. Usually the decision will be based on an evaluation of the likely consequences. In Judaism this sphere is known as mishpat melech (the legal domain of the king), or hilchot medinah (public policy regulations). Whereas halachah is timeless, public policy tends to be time-bound and situational (“a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build”). Were we in Pinchas’ position, asking, “Should I kill Zimri and Cozbi?” the moral answer is an unequivocal No. They may deserve to die; the whole nation may be eyewitnesses to their sin; but you cannot execute a death sentence without a duly constituted court of law, a trial, evidence and a judicial verdict. Killing without due process is murder. That is why the rules Halachah ve-ein morin kein: if Pinchas had asked a Bet Din whether he were permitted to act as he intended, he would be told, No. Halachah is based on non-negotiable oralm principle, and halachically you cannot commit murder even to save lives. But Pinchas was not acting on moral principle. He was making a political decision. There were thousands dying. The political leader, Moses, was in a highly compromised position. How could he condemn others for consorting with Midianite women when he himself hada Midianite wife? Pinchas saw that there was no one leading. The danger was immense. God’s anger, already intense, was about to explode. So he acted – not on moral principle but on political calculation, relying not on halachah but on what would later be known as mishpat melech. Better take two lives immediately, that would have been eventually sentenced to death by the court, to save thousands now. And he was right, as God later made clear. Now we can see exactly what was ambiguous about Pinchas’ act. He was a private individual. The question he would normally have asked was, “What shall I do?”, to which the answer is a moral one. But he acted as if he were a political leader asking, “What shall we do?” and deciding, based on consequences, that this would save many lives. Essentially, he acted as if he were Moses. He saved the day and the people. But imagine what would happen anywhere if an ordinary member of the public usurped the role of Head of State. Had God not endorsed Pinchas’ action, he would have had a very difficult time. The difference between moral and political decisions becomes very clear when it comes to decisions of life and death. The moral rule is: saving life takes precedence over all other mitzvot except three: incest, idolatry and murder. If a group is surrounded by gangsters who say, “Hand over one of you, or we will kill you all,” they must all be prepared to die rather than hand over one. Life is sacred and must not be sacrificed, whatever the consequences. That is morality; that is halachah. However, a king of Israel was permitted, with the consent of the , to wage a (non-defensive) war, even though many would die as a result.[10] He was permitted to execute a non-judicial death sentence against individuals on public policy grounds (le-takken ha-olam kefi mah she-ha-sha’ah tzerichah). In politics, as opposed to morality, the sanctity of life is a high value but not the only one. What matters are consequences. A ruler or government must act in the long-term interests of the people. That is why, though some will die as a result, gov- ernments are now gradually easing the lockdown provisions once the rate of infection falls, to relieve distress, ease the economic burden, and restore suspended civil liberties. We have moral duties as individuals, and we make political decisions as nations. The two are different. That is what the story of Pinchas is about. It also explains the tension in governments during the pandemic. We have a moral commitment to the sanctity of life, but we also have a political commitment, not just to life but also to “liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” What was beautiful about the global re- sponse to Covid-19 was that virtually every nation in the world put moral considerations ahead of political ones until the danger began to recede. I believe that there are moral and political decisions and they are different. But there is a great danger that the two may drift apart. Politics then becomes amoral, and eventually corrupt. That is why the institution of prophecy was born. Prophets hold politicians accountable to morality. When kings act for the long-term welfare of the nation, they are not criticised. When they act for their own benefit, they are. Likewise when they undermine the people’s moral and spiritual integrity. Salvation by zealot – the Pinchas case – is no solution. Politics must be as moral as possible if a nation is to flourish in the long run. Shabbat Shalom

Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service. DAT MINYAN NEWS, EVENTS AND MILESTONES

Community Announcements

 Save the date: This Sunday, July 12 from 10-11 am, we are having a drive-by procession paying tribute to Rabbi Friedman. Sign up HERE  New Classes for Women! See our calendar and Facebook page for new weekly shiurim by Ellyn Hutt and Liora Wittlin.  SHAWL (Shabbat Afternoon Women’s Learning) is back! Liora Wittlin will teach this week, Shabbat afternoon at 6:00 pm. In order to maintain social distancing, we will meet outside and limit the attendees. Please wear a mask. Shiur will be at 7055 East Bayaud Ave. Participants should sign up HERE to limit numbers.  Daily and Shabbat Minyan will continue to take place at The Jewish Experience. The sign up sheet can be found Here, and further updates will be send out in emails during the week.  This past Thursday began . See page 6 for more information on the laws of the Three Weeks.  Consider volunteering to lein on Shabbat! The sign-up website is www.datminyan.org/laining. Please contact Steve Hutt for questions and additional information.

DAT Minyan acknowledges the following milestones* of our members this Shabbat and in the coming week: David Friedman, Yoav Friedman, Charles Jacobs, Leora Joseph, Cheryl Miller, Aliza Miller, Jeremiah Rotbart, Erin Salehrabi, Zach Thorner, Corina Zazulia

Aaron Segall & Cheryl Miller– 17 years Joshua & Rachel Rubin– 15 years Stuart Senkfor & Leslie Stewart– 28 years

Leonid Sadkhin July 11 (19 Tammuz) Helen Rotbart, July 12 (20 Tammuz)

*These details were obtained from the DAT Minyan database, which contains information provided by our members when they joined. We apologize for any omissions or errors. For changes, please log on to your account and update the information as needed, or contact the office at 720-941-0479.

THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING FUTURE GENERATIONS WITH YOUR GENEROSITY You can add your name to this list with a legacy gift to the DAT We would like to thank our Legacy Society donors for investing in our Minyan. To arrange for your gift or for more information about our future by naming the DAT Minyan with a gift in their will, trust, Legacy Society program, please contact any of the following retirement account or life insurance policy. Our Legacy Society Committee Members: Sarah Raphaely and Steve Weiser. includes:

Rob Allen Nathan and Rachel Rabinovitch

anonymous Mark and Sarah Raphaely Marc and Melanie Avner Harley and Sara Rotbart

Graeme and Irit Bean Stuart Senkfor and Leslie Stewart Myndie Brown Michael Stutzer

Steve and Ellyn Hutt Steve and Lori Weiser

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This Day in - July 11/ 19 Tammuz

Have interesting Jewish trivia or fun facts? Email them to [email protected] to be featured in a weekly newsletter!

 1804: Vice President Aaron Burr and Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton fought a duel that ended in Hamilton's death. Hamilton was originally from the British colony of Nevis. Some scholars speculate that Hamilton’s mother may have converted to Judaism, and Hamilton attended a Jewish school in the island’s capital city. After finishing school he made his way to America where he would eventually become a favorite of George Washington and was one of the authors of the famous Federalist Papers.  1923: Albert Einstein, an Ashkenazi , delivers his Nobel Lecture in Gothenburg, Sweden.  1937: Jewish composer George Gershwin passed away. Born in 1898, Gershwin made musical history during his very short lifetime. Among his most famous productions was "Porgy and Bess" a classic whose music is still sung today.  2013: Eighty-six year old Reuven Helman, a Weightlifting Champion, hero of the 1948 War for Independence and follower of the Lubavitcher passed away today

As our congregation searches for its next Rabbi, we are fortunate to have a Rabbinic team that will be assisting our community this year:

Rabbi Marc Gitler: Pastoral Care and Smachot For Pastoral Care and Lifecycle events please contact Rabbi Gitler at [email protected]

Rabbi Dani Rockoff: Halachic Questions For Halachic questions for individuals or community matters, please contact Rabbi Rockoff at [email protected]

Minyan and Daf Yomi A Rabbi in the community will attend minyan Daily and on Shabbat to offer Divrei Torah and provide Rabbinic presence.

High Holidays: Rabbi Hillel Goldberg Rabbi Goldberg will serve as our Rabbi for Rosh Hashana and , and possibly as well.

Refuah Shelayma

Please include the following names in your prayers. May each be granted a Refuah Shelayma. Names are kept on the list until the next . Help us keep the list accurate by verifying the necessary details each month on the Cholim Document at https://goo.gl/aeyJG2.

Avraham Mordechai ben Chaya Leah Mendel Ila ben Frida Miriam Avram ben Golda Simma Michael ben Kay Bella bat Malka Michel ben Leah Eliyahu Chaim ha Cohen ben Sara Rifka Michoel Zisel ben Barbara Eliyahu Dovid ben Ita Sheiva Miriam Adina bat Sara Gershon ben Galina Mordechai ben Chaya Hannah Guy Chaim ben Rita Mordechai Yitzchak ben Sarah Leah bat Simcha Raphael Lior ben Miriam Levick Yitzchak ben Bracha Roshka bat Bryna Leya bat Sara Shmuel Aharon ben Jenny Malka bat Mazel Tov Yonatan Leib Volf HaLevi ben Altahenya Shulamit Mascha bat Rus Yonatan Zeev ben Netaa Mayer Benya ben Nechama Chaya Sarah Rivka bat Leah

The in our community have created a registry for those that are ill with COVID-19. The Denver Cholim Registry can be accessed at www.denvercholimregistry.weebly.com. Should you or someone you know need to be added to this registry, please contact your Rabbi. MORE DAT MINYAN NEWS AND EVENTS

Halachot of the Three Weeks, Nine Days, and Tisha B' By Rabbi Dani Rockoff, [email protected] The three week period beginning with the Fast of Asar B’Tammuz (July 9) and ending with the Fast of Tisha B’Av (July 30) is a time of mourning in the Jewish calendar. Historically, this period commemorates the sequence of events that began with the breaching of the walls of , and concluded with the destruction of the holy Temple. Though all three weeks are considered a period of mourning, the intensity of the mourning increases in stages as we approach Tisha B’Av.

The Three Weeks During the entire three week period (July 9- July 30): 1. Haircuts are not taken 2. Festive gatherings and parties are avoided 3. Festive music and dancing are avoided 4. New items, such as clothing, requiring a Shehchiyanu, are not worn

The Nine Days From Rosh Chodesh Av (July 22nd) through Tisha B’Av (July 30th): 1. Meat and wine are not consumed 2. Pleasurable bathing (including recreational swimming) is prohibited 3. Objects that bring joy (including clothing) and will be available after the “nine days” are not purchased 4. Construction and home decorating projects are not initiated 5. Outer garments are not laundered or pressed.

Meat and Wine Included in this prohibition are all foods containing meat or chicken. This restriction is suspended on Shabbat or at any other Seudat (such as a , etc.). At Havdalah, the wine should preferably be given to a minor; if, however, one is not available, then the person reciting Havdalah should drink the wine.

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Pleasurable Bathing/Swimming Swimming, bathing and showering for pleasure are prohibited. Instructional swim and bathing/ showering purely for cleanliness purposes are permitted. Because such bathing/showering should be done for cleanliness only, the coolest water tolerable should be used. Before going to the mikvah, women may bathe/shower in the normal manner. One may bathe/shower even in hot water before Shabbat.

Purchasing New Items This restriction applies only to ‘special’ items that bring the purchaser a certain measure of joy. If, during this period, such an item becomes available for a limited time at a substantially reduced cost, it may be purchased and used after Tisha B’Av.

Construction/Home Decorating Because of the excitement associated with such projects, construction, renovation or home decorating may not begin during the ‘nine days.’ If a hired contractor has already begun such a project, one should request that the work be suspended until after Tisha B’Av. If the contractor refuses or demands significant compensation for the idle days, the work may continue. If possible, one should attempt to suspend the project during the actual week of Tisha B’Av, and certainly on Tisha B’Av itself. Home repairs are permitted during the ‘nine days.’

Laundering and Pressing During the ‘nine days’, one may not wear freshly laundered or pressed outer garments (items not normally cleaned/ pressed after every use), nor may one launder, press or send clothes to the dry cleaners for use after Tisha B’Av. Because this restriction is based upon the pleasure that stems from a garment’s ‘freshly cleaned/pressed’ feel, clothing that has been worn for even a short time prior to the ‘nine days’ is permitted to be worn. One should make every effort to have available for the ‘nine days’ a wardrobe of garments that are clean but not freshly laundered or pressed; if, despite one’s best efforts, these garments become soiled, freshly laundered ones may be worn. Freshly laundered and pressed garments may be worn on Shabbat. The clothing of small children may be laundered during the ‘nine days.’

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Tisha B’Av The prohibitions of Tisha B’Av include the following: 1. Eating and drinking. Those who are pregnant, nursing or ill and concerned about fasting should contact Rabbi Rockoff for further discussion. 2. Washing any part of the body in hot or cold water (except upon arising in the morning, after using the facilities or if one’s hands become otherwise soiled) 3. Application of all cosmetics, lotions or ointments (except for medicinal purposes). 4. Wearing shoes (or sneakers) made wholly or partially of leather 5. Marital relations 6. Torah learning (except those areas appropriate to the mood of Tisha B’Av, i.e., the books of Iyov (Job) and Eikha (Lamentations), sections of the Bible and Talmud that discuss the destruction of the Temple, the laws of mourning, the laws of Tisha B’Av, etc. 7. Greeting a fellow (a nod of the head is most appropriate) 8. Engaging in any pleasurable/recreational activity that would divert one’s mind from the tragic nature of the day. 9. Preferably, one should refrain altogether from going to work on Tisha B’Av. Where this is impossible, one should refrain from business or professional activities until at least midday.

Children With the exception of not getting haircuts, the laws of the Three Weeks, Nine Days & Tisha B’Av are applicable only to children mature enough to understand the concept of mourning for the loss of the Temple (usually around age 7- 8, depending on the child). Because the pleasure of a small child’s haircut belongs primarily to the parents, haircuts are prohibited for children of any age. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Rabbi Rockoff.