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s; vacug s; cnscr Volume 27 No. 32 BEMIDBAR Daf Hashavua 23 May 2015 • 5 Sivan 5775 Shabbat ends and Yom Tov begins in London at 9.58 pm Artscroll p.726 • Hertz p.567 • Soncino p.792 Shavuot is on Sunday and Monday. Candle-lighting for the second night is at 9.59pm and ends on Monday at 10.01pm Journeys with The Book of Shmuel (Samuel I) Chapter 15 the Prophets: by Rabbi Dr Moshe Freedman, New West End United Synagogue Part 28 Summary: Shmuel (Samuel) relayed G-d’s 16th century commentator Rabbi Shmuel commandment to Shaul (Saul) to destroy the Laniado explains this: the night before his nation of Amalek. Shaul raised an army to execution, Agag fathered a child who fight Amalek and was on the brink of victory continued the seed of Amalek. when he captured and spared In the story of Esther, the their king, Agag. He also saved Megillah notes that Mordechai some of the enemy’s choicest and Esther were from the tribe flock to offer as a sacrifice to of Benjamin and were direct G-d to thank Him for victory. descendants of King Shaul However, G-d was angry and himself, who came from the related to Shmuel through a Kish family (compare Shmuel I prophecy that He regretted 9:1-2 and Esther 2:5). The making Shaul the king. His Talmud (Megillah 12b) notes instruction had been to destroy that Mordechai is also referred the entire Amalekite nation, to as “Yehudi” – from the tribe not to save their king or to of Yehuda – yet explains that offer their sheep and bulls. this is because Mordechai’s Shmuel berated Shaul for not mother was from the tribe of listening to G-d’s word. He told Yehuda. His father, however, Shaul that, measure for measure, just as Shaul was a Benjaminite. had rejected G-d, so too G-d had now rejected him as king. Shmuel executed Agag before Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Edels, known as the returning home to Ramah, while Shaul Maharsha (d. 1632) explains that one of the returned home to Givat Shaul. reasons Mordechai’s lineage is referred to in the Megillah is that his actions in helping to A Deeper Look: The narrative implies that, destroy Haman, the descendant of Agag, had Shaul killed King Agag, the Amalekites rectified the sin committed by his ancestor would have been destroyed and his mission Shaul. completed. The Talmud (Megillah 13a) notes that due to Agag being captured and held Nevertheless, Shaul’s downfall had begun and alive, he became the ancestor of Haman. The the start of the Davidic dynasty was imminent. Making ourselves Count by Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence Finchley United Synagogue The Hebrew name of the Book of the Torah divided in two. The first part that we start today, Bemidbar, means ‘in the (Bemidbar 1) specifically wilderness’. The book spans the 40 years that counted adult males of the Children of Israel spent journeying in the fighting strength. It was desert, from receiving the Torah at Sinai until important to know the coming to the threshold of the Promised Land. size of the nation’s An entire generation was held back from forces. The second part completing the journey into Israel as a result (ibid 3:14) was a counting of the of the episode of the 12 Spies, which we will Levites from the age of one month read in a few weeks. upwards. As each Levite family was assessed, they were appointed to a defined role in the The English name for this book, ‘Numbers’, Mishkan (Tabernacle). relates to the census that was taken in this week’s sidrah at the beginning of the 40 years Throughout the census, the word that is used (Bemidbar 1). It also relates for number is pikud, meaning to a subsequent count ‘designation’. Each per- towards the end of the son counted was not 40 years (ibid. 26). just an anonymous Elsewhere, the Torah entity making up part establishes that a of a greater whole. census had to be Rather, each person handled in a specific way. was an individual with a Every individual would con- specific responsibility. tribute exactly a half shekel and the count G-d’s instruction shows us that the Jewish would be derived from the total sum (Shemot world should not be reckoned by the bulk of 24:1). We were not to just count heads or its bodies. Each of us has a purpose. Our bodies. Why not? strength comes from the contribution of each A head count depersonalises. It lumps us individual. Our collective strength comes from together as a herd. However, the very act of what we make of our lives and what we give giving makes us ‘count’. Even today, when of ourselves. checking whether we have a minyan present In world population totals, the Jewish com- in shul, we are careful not to directly count munity barely registers. We are less than the people present. half of one percent. Consider, though, what Indeed, in the book of Shmuel (Samuel II 24:1), we have achieved and the impact that we King David mistakenly transgressed this have made on civilisation and values. principle. He tallied the people, perhaps the Sometimes numbers can mask what really wrong way, or without any clear reason. He matters. None of us should think of ourselves was punished for this (see Talmud Berachot as a mere statistic. Each of us is an individual 62b). and G-d, through His Torah, has charged us In the first census in Bemidbar, the nation was with responsibility. Each one of us matters. Shavuot: Sandy’s Devotion by Rabbi Elchonon Feldman, Belmont United Synagogue When it comes to Jewish-American sports to her: “I have been told all about what you heroes, the famous baseball pitcher Sandy have done for your mother-in-law since the Koufax comes to mind. In 1965 the first game death of your husband – how you left your of the World Series fell out on October 6, father and mother and your homeland and which was also Yom Kippur. In a legendary act came to live with a people you did not know of loyalty to his roots, Sandy refused to play. before.” (Ruth 2:11) In this selfless act of commitment, Sandy This appears strange. Initially Boaz became a Jewish-American icon, a model for commented on how Ruth helped take care of generations to come. Jews could look to his her mother-in-law Naomi, after the passing of lead in putting one’s Judaism before one’s self. Naomi’s son. Only afterwards did he mention Ruth’s supreme accomplishment of leaving her Imagine being in the same shul as Sandy house of royalty in Moab and becoming an Koufax during that Yom Kippur impoverished peasant in order to service. Obviously, the Rabbi follow the religion of her heart. would have made an honourable Why did Boaz give centre stage mention during his sermon of to an act of kindness over and Sandy’s self-sacrifice. However, above Ruth’s brave conversion? one imagines it did not sound like this: “Sandy, I would like to The Targum Yonatan ben Uziel, an publicly applaud you on your early commentary on the Torah, dedication to your ageing explains this. Boaz was not mother, whom you have gone just describing his personal out of your way to escort to admiration for Ruth, rather he synagogue today. Oh, and in was explaining Ruth’s merit to addition, I think it’s great that be the mother of the Davidic you didn’t play baseball today, Sandy Koufax dynasty and the messianic possibly forfeiting your entire professional lineage. The ability to sacrifice one’s self for career.” what is right may be an outstanding virtue, perhaps integral for royalty. However, simple Why am I convinced that the Rabbi did not personal kindness is the cornerstone of over-emphasise Sandy’s devotion to his Judaism. The Talmud tells us that there are mother and minimise skipping the big certain attributes which characterise and game? Although it is of course laudable to exemplify a Jew, the pinnacle of which is treat one’s parent with care, it just does chessed (kindness). Ruth deserved to be the not seem to register compared to Sandy’s mother of royalty not just due to her spiritual massive act of sacrifice. devotion, but because of her kindness. However, in Megillat Ruth, which we read over As we approach our own re-acceptance of the Shavuot, we learn a fascinating lesson. Boaz, a Torah on Shavuot, now is the time to reaffirm Jewish aristocrat, who married Ruth the our gemilut chasadim – our acts of love and convert, explained what exactly attracted him kindness towards our people and mankind. The Coca-Cola Controversy Part III by Rabbi Yehuda Spitz, KLBD In previous articles, we learned of account, as well as the halachic Rabbi Tuvia (Tobias) Geffen’s reasoning behind his actions. dilemma in the 1930s. His Later authorities agreed to daughter had discovered that Rabbi Geffen’s logic and there was a non-kosher wrote that a Rabbinic ingredient in the makeup of authority should not ap- Coke, but it was only present prove an item that contains in minute quantities. Although a nullified non-kosher ingre- the problematic ingredient was dient. This has since become the technically nullified, was he allowed to standard practice of reliable Kashrut agencies grant Coca-Cola his Rabbinic approval? worldwide. Compounding the issue was that the So the next time you partake of a nice, cool, Coca-Cola Company was putting this non- refreshing glass of Coke, perhaps think of kosher ingredient in the batch intentionally; Rabbi Tuvia Geffen, as well as all the ‘behind- it was part and parcel of the Coke that the-scenes kashrut issues’ that went into everyone knew and loved.