בס״ד לֶ ְך ־ לְ ָך LECH LECHA

In loving memory of Harav Yitzchak Yoel ben Shlomo Halevi

Volume 34 | #3 “So Lot raised his eyes and saw the entire plain of the 31 October 2020 Jordan that it was well watered everywhere… 13 (Mar)Cheshvan 5781 like the garden of God” (Bereishit 13:10) Shabbat ends: 5.24pm Sheffield 5.29pm Glasgow 5.33pm Edinburgh 5.29pm Birmingham 5.29pm Southport 5.35pm 5.27pm

Please look regularly at the social media and websites of the US, Tribe and your community for ongoing updates relating to Coronavirus as well as educational programming and community support. You do not need to sign into Facebook to access the US Facebook page. The US Coronavirus Helpline is on 020 8343 5696. May God bless us and the INSIDE: whole world. You Are Where You Need to Be by Daniel Walker

Artscroll - p54 - p1133 Being Part of the Journey Hertz - p45 by Rabbi Shlomo Odze Haftarah - p60 Soncino - p60 Sefer Shofetim Haftarah - p82

Daf Hashavua by Pnina Savery Sidra breakdown You Are לֶ ְך ־ לְ ָך Lech Lecha Where You 3rd Sidra in: ּבְרֵאׁשִ ית Bereishit Need to Be by Rabbi Daniel Walker, By Numbers: Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation

126 verses Lech Lecha begins the travel to another land where: 1,686 words story of Avraham (known “I will make you into a great nation, as Avram at this time), and I will bless you, and I will make 6,336 letters with God commanding your name great, and you shall be a him: blessing” (ibid 12:2). “Go forth from your Avraham was seventy-five years Headlines: land, from your birthplace and from of age. He had already spent many your father's house, to the land that I decades devoted to his personal in will show you” (Bereishit 12:1). service of God and had already the Land Avraham is instructed to leave endured two immense tests of his behind everything that is familiar and faith. Together with his wife Sarah

In loving memory of Chaya Rachel bat Moshe Ben-tzion

Sidra Summary

1st Aliya () – Bereishit 12:1-13 God appears to Avraham (at this stage still called Avram), telling him to leave his United Synagogue Daf Hashavua homeland, Charan (), and travel to a land “that God would show him”, Produced by US Living & Learning where he would flourish and father a great nation. Avraham takes his wife Sarah (at together with the Rabbinical Council of this stage still called Sarai), his nephew Lot and his entire household. They arrive in the United Synagogue Cana’an. Avraham travels throughout the Land. Famine strikes and they are forced to Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis go down to in order to survive. Afraid of being killed if the Egyptians discover Editorial and Production Team: that Sarah is his wife, Avraham asks her to say she is his sister. Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, Rabbi Michael Laitner, Rebbetzen Nechama Davis, 2nd Aliya () – 12:14-13:4 Joanna Rose Pharaoh’s officers take Sarah away to their master’s house. They give Avraham www.theus.org.uk copious gifts as ‘payment’. God strikes Pharaoh with a plague. Suspecting that Sarah ©United Synagogue 2020 may in fact be Avraham’s wife, Pharaoh confronts Avraham and then orders him and To sponsor Daf Hashavua please Sarah to leave. They travel back to Cana’an with Lot. contact Danielle Fox on 020 8343 6261, or [email protected] 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 13:5-13:18 If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email Arguments break out between the shepherds of Avraham and Lot. Avraham suggests [email protected] (then known as Sarai), he had also Like Avraham, we material possessions and God-given successfully spread his belief in the talents and abilities, should be One God to those around him. all have a unique and harnessed to serve God; indeed, we Yet despite these tremendous personal role to play have only been granted them for this achievements, Avraham had not purpose. yet really begun his true purpose in in the Divine plan Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn life. His unique role was to become of Lubavitch (1860–1920) further Avraham – Av Hamon Goyim – the Our Sages say, “Let all your deeds explained that, just as Avraham’s father of many nations and the be for the sake of Heaven” (Avot 2:17, destiny could only be fulfilled in Eretz progenitor of the Jewish people p. 534 in the green siddur). Yisrael, so too all of us can only (Bereishit 17:4). The commentators explain that this fulfil our soul’s destiny in specific None of this could happen until he means engaging with the mundane geographic locations, where we can left Charan and travelled to the land aspects of life with the sole intention use the resources available to us that would come to be called Eretz of enabling and enhancing one’s in the service of God. He therefore Yisrael. fulfilment of the Mitzvot. For example, shapes circumstances so that we are The rabbinic teachings in eating, drinking, and sleeping in order literally in the right place at the right the Tanchuma on Lech to maintain a healthy body and time to fulfil our purpose. Lecha tell us that “Maaseh Avot mind capable of performing In these difficult times, Siman le’Banim” – the deeds and Mitzvot. If one lives this message is experiences of our forefathers life in this way, particularly foreshadow the experiences of the every physical important. future generations of their children, act can be the Jewish people. The story of sanctified Avraham is the story of us all. and be Like Avraham, we all have a unique considered and personal role to play in the Divine an act of plan, a role that cannot be fulfilled by service of God. (See anyone else. This, of course, primarily Rambam’s , De’ot means studying Torah and fulfilling the 3:2-3). Mitzvot, but it is not limited to that. It follows, therefore, that our

that they part ways. Lot chooses to live in the immoral city 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 15:7-17:6 of Sedom. God appears to Avraham and promises that his Wary of future sins, Avraham asks for a hint as to how his offspring, who will be countless, shall inherit the Land. offspring will merit to inherit and to keep the Land (see the Ramban’s commentary). God instructs Avraham to 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 14:1-14:20 cut up several animals, indicating that the future Temple A breaks out among nine kings. The king of Sedom is offerings will protect the nation. Birds of prey descend on defeated and Lot is taken captive. This prompts Avraham the carcasses. Avraham falls into a deep sleep. God tells to mobilise his small force, which miraculously defeats the him that his offspring will be enslaved in a foreign land victorious kings and rescues Lot. for 400 years. Sarah, still childless, tells Avraham to take her maidservant, Hagar, as a second wife. Hagar becomes Point to Consider: Who came to tell Avraham that Lot pregnant and is disrespectful to Sarah, who sends her had been taken captive? (see to 14:13) away. An angel appears to Hagar in the desert, telling her to subjugate herself to Sarah. Hagar gives birth to 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 14:21-15:6 Yishmael. Avraham refuses the King of Sedom’s offer to keep the spoils of the war. Avraham relays his pain to God at 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 17:7-17:27 being childless. God tells him that his offspring will be God instructs Avraham in the of brit milah. God countless, like the stars. says that Sarah will have a , Yitzchak. Avraham circumcises both himself and Yishmael. Being Part of the Journey By Rabbi Shlomo Odze, US Community Development Manager

In this week’s sidra we The instruction to Avraham our forefather, and are told about the first instruction – “Go forth therefore to each of us today, is to always be from your land and from growing and developing in our Jewish life. your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you” as a nation is also hinted to in the continuously be walking along this (Bereishit 12:1) - given to the first Jew, instruction itself. God uses the term journey throughout our lives. Avraham. With this we begin learning “lech” meaning to go. A Jew must Similarly we are all able to grow in about our purpose as a Jewish people. always remember that, whenever our Torah knowledge and study, and This instruction is the start of a and wherever we find ourselves, therefore should always aim to do so. journey, not just for Avraham, but for our purpose is “lech” to go, to be We are blessed today with more the Jewish people as a whole. Two continuously moving and growing opportunities than ever before to travel central and fundamental purposes of along our Jewish journey. Just as along these journeys. Even with all the the Jewish people’s existence and of life and time do not stand still so too challenges during the current times, creation in general are contained in we never stand still. We are either we have once again proven our ability the instruction, namely acquirement moving forwards or backwards, up or to change with the times and continue of the Land of and the giving of down. The instruction to Avraham our along the journey started centuries ago the Torah. forefather, and therefore to each of by Avraham. May we merit to see its In order to make it dear in us today, is to always be growing and completion in our days. Avraham’s eyes and to give him reward developing in our Jewish life. for every command (Rashi ad loc.), “the All of us are able to follow in the land that I will show you” is only later footsteps of our forefathers on each revealed to him as the . of these journeys. For those who are This is an ongoing journey to this day. fortunate, as I have recently been, it The instruction to Avraham go to the is by making Aliyah. For others, it is Land of Israel was also the beginning the support of Israel of a journey to the giving of the Torah financially, ( Avodah Zara 9a). Here too, through although the event of the giving of advocacy or the Torah itself happened at Sinai, our any other way you Torah journey continues to this day. are able. We should all The ongoing nature of both of strive to these essential parts of our existence In memory of Yehuda ben Yaakov HaCohen

Haftarah The Biblical Yeshaya reassures Israel that even and does not forget them; He remains in charge of when they are downtrodden, God does not tire of them Creation and we remain His chosen people. In this abridged extract from, ‘If Only My People…Zionism in my life’, Chief Rabbi Lord Jakobovits z’l (1921-99) continues his description of the aftermath of his ground-breaking visit to the Soviet Union in 1975. We thank the Jakobovits family for permission to reproduce this material, which was published in 1984. Soviet Jewry and Israel – First Taste of International Controversy – Part 4 by Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits z’l

Returning safely Jewish activists were never expressly the ‘spirit of Helsinki’ and all that, to London after approved or disapproved. Yet they the Russians were prepared to this extraordinary were indispensable… face severe hardships by cancelling experience, I was never There were nagging pressures massive credit and trade agreements quite the same again; to do more sight-seeing and pay rather than to be seen to surrender the scars and the inspiration have more theatre visits, and efforts to to Western pressures in a glare of been with me ever since. I presented shunt me off to Leningrad or Kiev publicity. my first impressions at a packed for the weekend to prevent me from public meeting in London’s largest addressing the six-hundred-strong IN MY ARTICLE FOR THE TIMES, I synagogue, starting with the words: ‘I congregation in Moscow on the INCLUDED A DIRECT REFERENCE TO feel I have been to another planet and Sabbath and the seminars on the THE KEY ROLE OF ISRAEL: found a vast scene of utter desolation, following two days. With some And if the Soviet authorities which Jewishly speaking looks like persistence, the ‘unavailable’ time, would recognise, as I repeatedly the scorched surface of the .’ the ‘unattainable’ train reservations, told them, that the desire to live Echoing this theme, a newspaper or the ‘lost tickets’ to bring me back a fuller Jewish life in Israel, after reported: ‘The gathering that greeted from Leningrad, turned up. In the end, praying for the return to Zion for two the Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits the official car at my disposal brought thousand years, is not a betrayal, a at St John’s Synagogue on his me to the very homes of the activists I détente may eventually include some return from the Soviet Union was not wished to visit! accommodation with the Jewish unlike the excitement that greeted people which has shared with the the astronauts on their return from BUT I ALSO INCLUDED SOME Soviet peoples so much suffering the first trip to the moon.’ I began EARLY, THOUGH STILL CAUTIOUS and sacrifice in the struggle against to analyse some of my findings, only APPRAISALS, AS I CONTINUED fascism, and which now sees in Soviet a few of which I felt I could then FURTHER DOWN IN THE ARTICLE: policy such a grim threat to its very share openly with the public in the There are, of course, subtle existence, and to human rights in numerous reports, interviews and changes in Russian attitudes and general. articles in which I was invited to responses to world opinion. One need communicate my impressions and only contrast the earlier success in ALL I COULD STATE ON THE VISIT’S assessments. I agonised over my securing the emigration of 120,000 LONG-TERM AIMS WAS: reactions to the trip no less than I had with the failure of the Jackson Only time will tell whether some done over agreeing to it. Amendment to maintain, let alone to success also attended the wider increase (as had been agreed with objectives of exploring and securing IN PART, MY ACCOUNTS WERE the American Administration before ways to remove the grievances which PURELY FACTUAL, SUCH AS THE the deal was leaked) the rate of have caused such worldwide concern OPENING OF MY OBSERVER ARTICLE: emigration, now reduced to a bare and agitation, among Jews and non- My stipulations about meetings with trickle. Notwithstanding détente, Jews alike.

In memory of Yisrael Shmuel ben Yirmaya Yehoshuah Sefer Shofetim (the Book of ) Chapter 3: The First Judges by Pnina Savery, US Jewish Living Educator

Chapter 3 begins with Ehud claims that God has asked a recap. Not only have him to deliver a message to Eglon and Just as the Jews not driven out requests a private audience. He then Yehoshua was the nations of the Land, draws his sword and stabs Eglon in but they have even married their the stomach. Eglon was overweight the natural daughters and served their gods. This and his belly envelops the sword, al- makes God angry and He allows them lowing Ehud to escape before anyone successor to to be persecuted by Aram Naharaim realises what he has done. Without for eight years (this nation lived in their king, the Moabites are vulnera- Moshe, Otniel the land situated at the north-east ble to attack and the Jewish people was the natural of modern-day Syria and northern defeat them. An 80-year period of Iraq). When this persecution becomes peace and tranquillity begins. successor to unbearable, the people cry out to God It is noteworthy that in this one and He sends them a shofet (), chapter, constituting just 31 verses, Yehoshua. Otniel ben Kenaz, who is the first 166 years are covered, 120 of which ancient midrashic work presents Otniel of the shofetim and whose success are calm and tranquil. Notwithstand- as Yehoshua’s successor. Based on the results in peace for 40 years. This is ing the cycle of sin and punishment, phrase "the rises and the sun sets" an example of the cycle we learnt the periods of chaos were actually a (Kohelet/ 1:5) our Sages about in Chapter 2. minority of the time. state that even before the sun sets on Following Otniel’s , the peo- one leader, it has already arisen on ple descend into idolatry once more. WHO WAS OTNIEL BEN KENAZ? another leader (Yalkut Shimoni 26). Just This time, it is Eglon, the Moabite Otniel was Calev’s younger brother. as Yehoshua was the natural successor king, who wages war and oppresses Calev and Yehoshua () bin Nun to Moshe, Otniel was the natural the Jewish people. He rules over were among the twelve spies who successor to Yehoshua. them for 18 years before God sends had been sent by Moshe to scout out Therefore, Otniel’s appointment as a new shofet, Ehud ben Gera. The the Land of Israel ( ch. 12). the first shofet reminds the people of text gives a detailed account of how However, Calev and Yehoshua were Yehoshua’s parting message: to serve the left-handed Ehud tricks his way the only ones who returned with a God faithfully and conquer the Land. into Eglon’s palace with his sword positive report (ibid ch. 13). Otniel Unfortunately, with his death, the strapped to his right side. Since is also mentioned earlier in Sefer people descend once more into sin. right-handed soldiers wear their Shofetim for successfully conquering Otniel’s influence on his own gener- swords on their left side, the guards the territory of Dvir from the Canaanite ation was profound, but he does not do not check his right side, as it does giants who lived there. As a result, manage to achieve a long-lasting im- not occur to them that Ehud might be he wins the hand of Calev’s daughter pact. Future generations will require left-handed. in (Shofetim 1:10-15). An their own leaders to guide them. SAVE THE DATE SAVE THE DATE SAVE THE DATE

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