9 October 2019 10 Tishrei 5780 Ha’azinu 12 October 2019 13 Tishrei 5780 Yom Kippur ends London 7.07pm 6.51pm ends London 7.01pm Jerusalem 6.47pm

Volume 32 No. 3 Yom Kippur & Ha’azinu

Ha’azinu: Artscroll p.1100 | p.1205 Hertz p.896 | Haftarah p.904 Soncino p.1159 | Haftarah p.1170

In loving memory of Bayla Bat Gershon

“For on this day he shall provide atonement for you to purify you; from all your sins before God shall you be purified” ( 16:30).

1 Sidrah Summary: Yom Kippur & Ha’azinu

Yom Kippur Morning another’s spouse. Adhering to the laws about From the first Sefer , we read the beginning of forbidden relationships is a critical factor in the parashat Acharei Mot. This details the Yom Kippur nation’s well-being in its Land. service of the Gadol (High Priest), including Haftarah () his once-a-year entry into the Holy of Holies and the Yonah (Jonah), a Jewish prophet, is told to go to the offerings he brought for himself, his family and the non-Jewish city of Nineveh to encourage its citizens nation. to repent. Yonah refuses, instead boarding a ship This service included taking two goats on behalf of bound for Tarshish. Yet, in a violent storm, the ship the nation. Lots were drawn on the goats, to seems about to break up. Realising that his own determine which one would be offered as a sin- rebellion has caused this danger, Yonah asks the offering and which one would be sent away into the sailors to throw him overboard. A big fish swallows desert hills outside Jerusalem, where it plunged to him. After three days of suffering inside the fish, its death. The ( 6:8) states that a strip Yonah prays to God, Who instructs the fish to spit of crimson cloth would be tied to the gate of the Yonah onto dry land. God reinstructs Yonah to go Temple. When the goat had reached the desert, if to Nineveh. Yonah goes, warning the people of the nation's sins had been forgiven, the strip would Nineveh of the need to repent. They fast and repent, turn white. yet when God forgives them, Yonah is distressed. Another feature of the Kohen Gadol’s special Yom God responds to Yonah’s reaction by teaching him Kippur service was that he did not wear any of the a lesson in compassion. golden garments that he wore during his normal service. Question: What did the sailors do immediately Maftir is read from the second , from the after throwing Yonah overboard? (1:15) Answer on section of parashat Pinchas which details the extra bottom of page 10. offerings brought on Yom Kippur. Ha’azinu is read on the Shabbat after Yom Kippur The first six are the Song of Ha’azinu, which Point to Consider: Why does the Torah stress that aliyot the laws of the Yom Kippur service were given “after starts with Moshe calling on heaven and earth to the death of two of Aharon’s sons”? (see Rashi to witness the warning that the nation will rebel after 17:1) entering the Land of Israel, forsaking devotion to Haftarah God for the pursuit of material possessions. This will The prophet Yeshaya (Isaiah ch. 57) states that lead to terrible consequences. Ha’azinu would then whilst God never ignores wrongdoing, the door to be read to the people, to remind them of the cause (repentance) always remains open. of their woes. The Song ends with God’s promise to tHeoswhuevva er, has to be sincere; fasting and avenge those nations who would attack the . In affliction caterrsyh luitvtlae merit if one continues to mistreat the seventh , God tells Moshe to view the aliyah other people. Land from the mountains of Moab and reminds him Yeshaya encourages not just keeping the laws of that he will not enter the Land because he hit the Shabbat, but also experiencing its joyous rock (see Bemidbar 20:12-13). atmosphere, which can allow us to reach our Haftarah greatest spiritual potential. The Book of Shmuel records the beautiful Song of Yom Kippur Afternoon (Mincha) King David, who poetically relates the various We read the last part of parashat Acharei Mot, struggles he faced, and how God always protected concentrating on the laws of forbidden and saved him. God’s kindness allowed David to relationships, such as with close relatives, or with rise from peril to a position of respect and power.

Unit ed S ynag ogue Daf Hashavua Pr oduc ed by US Living & Learning toge ther with the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue Edito r: Chaim Gr oss Edito r- in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Edito rial and Production Team: Ra bbi Daniel Sturgess, Rabbi Michael Laitner, J oanna Rose Available also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua ple ase contact Danielle Fox on 020 8343 6261 , o r [email protected] .uk If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email [email protected] .uk

2 The Evil Within by Rabbi David Lister, Edgware United Synagogue

"I thus drew steadily nearer Thus, says the Ramban, the goat for Azazel to the truth, by whose symbolised Eisav carrying off Yaakov’s sins. discovery I have been How could this be? doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not Perhaps the point is that on Yom Kippur we truly one, but truly two" receive the gift of spiritual clarity. We see that our (Robert Louis Stevenson, self-indulgence, our lust for power and our unruly neglect of God’s will are just ‘the Eisav The Strange Case of ). within us’. Robert Louis Stevenson was partially Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde correct that “man is truly two”: we have Eisav One of the most dramatic elements of the Yom within us all. But we can cast Eisav out, and we Kippur service in Temple times was the can cast out all our sins through this resolve to ceremony of the scapegoat. The High Priest repent and start a new life. would designate one goat for God and another for Azazel. The goat for God would be The Ramban explains further that Eisav’s blood slaughtered and its blood would be sprinkled lust is symbolised by the desolation of the towards the Holy of Holies. The goat for Azazel desert, because the greed and violence of Eisav was then taken out to the top of a high desert wreak desolation on civilisation. Azazel means mountain, whence it would be pushed to its the ‘hard, strong place’, because the world of death. Eisav admits no kindness and no reconciliation. The goat’s shocking and sudden destruction in The Torah tells us that the scapegoat carried the the desert teaches that Eisav and all he people’s sins off into the desert (Vayikra 16:22). represents will not triumph. So who or what was Azazel and how could sending a goat to its death make everything Nowadays we have no Temple and no goat for better? Azazel. But the Azazel lesson endures for all time, and the freedom to cleanse ourselves of The Ramban (Nachmanides 1194-1270) explains our inner Eisav and face down the ruin of our this cryptic ritual with reference to the twin own sin is something everyone can access every sons of Yitzchak: Eisav the bloodthirsty hunter year for twenty five blessed hours, the holy and and Yaakov, who is referred to in the Torah as an mighty day of Yom Kippur. “ ”, meaning an ‘innocent man’ (Bereishit 2i5s:h 27ta).m

Yaakov said of Eisav, “Surely my brother is an ” (ibid. 27:11). The simple meaning of the wisho rsdas’i r “ ” is ‘a hairy man’. Yet they can also be itsrha nssal’air ted as ‘a man like a goat’. The goat for Azazel, says the Ramban, symbolises Eisav.

There is also a hint to Yaakov in this Yom Kippur ritual. The goat for Azazel had to carry off “all their sins” (Vayikra 16:22). The Hebrew term used is “ ”, which can be translated to mean ‘thea vsoinso toafm [Yaakov] the innocent’.

In memory of Shmuel Nissim ben Yaacov 3 A Real Apology by Rabbi Pinchas Hackenbroch, Senior Rabbi, Woodside Park United Synagogue

In his book , Simon noted that in the well-known story, Yosef’s Wiesenthal Surnefcloawlles r being brothers sold him into slavery, a crime which summoned from his work should have been punishable by death. This did detail in a concentration not happen and the Prefect decided to execute camp to the bedside of a the in their place. dying Nazi, Karl Seidl. Tormented by the crimes he Yet we know that Yosef, towards the end of had committed, Seidl told his life, reconciled with his brothers in Egypt. Wiesenthal that he was seeking "a Jew's The great 14th century Spanish commentator forgiveness” for his past. In particular, Seidl Rabenu Bachye (1255-1340) offers a critical remained harrowed by his involvement in insight. He notes that the text does say that setting fire to a house full of 300 Jews. He told Yosef reassured the brothers, but it does not Wiesenthal how he watched as the Jews say that he actually forgave them (Bereishit leapt out of windows to escape the burning 50:19-21). Indeed, the brothers did not seek building, whereupon he and his fellow Nazis forgiveness. Rather, they wanted to draw a line gunned them down. and move on. Asking for forgiveness would have involved accepting responsibility, which they Wiesenthal’s response to Seidl’s plea for were reluctant to do. The evil Prefect felt that the forgiveness was to turn his back and leave ‘case’ was still not closed. the room in silence. However, he writes that he remained continuously troubled about the Today, sincere apologies, both on an institutional limits and possibilities of forgiveness. and individual level, may be avoided by some for fear of negative repercussions and possible legal Must we, should we, can we always forgive consequences. The general advice such people the repentant criminal, no matter how heinous espouse is to “never apologise, never explain”. the crime? Can we forgive a person for crimes committed against others? What do we owe However, at the heart of the process of the victims? Wiesenthal wrestled with his (repentance) is acceptance of our tleiasbhiulivtya , silence that day, and it haunted him for the which enables us to face up to our fallibility, rest of his life. which in turn enables genuine apology. Such an apology, said directly and with earnest One of the most moving narratives in the intent to the person we have wronged, Yom Kippur service is the account of the enables genuine forgiveness to be granted, , the heartrending narrative leading to the healing of fractured relationships. describing in graphic detail the deaths of ten Rabbis who lived under Roman persecution Merely expressing regret for an outcome of our and were ultimately tortured to death. actions is insufficient and will not achieve the healing that we seek of the broken relationships. This is the centre piece in the section of the service, when we seek forgiveness and This takes us back to the dilemma faced by reflect on our past misdeeds, and one is left Simon Wiesenthal and thousands of other wondering on what pretext these ten righteous survivors, perhaps helping us to appreciate men were killed in such a horrific way. the difficult decision which Wiesenthal had to make. The Midrash (rabbinic teachings) tells us that the Roman Prefect of Jerusalem at that time

In memory of David Yochanan ben Moshe 4 Yom Kippur and Reaching Beyond Ourselves by Anna Coleman, US Jewish Living Events Manager and Tribe Israel Team

“He [ , first Nineveh and speak with the people there. Yonah century C E ] used to say: ‘It is teaches us the importance of accepting head-on not your duty to finish the the responsibility of the challenges that we face, work, but neither are you at and not running away from them, however liberty to neglect it’” (Pirkei daunting they may seem. Avot 2:20, green p.534) This past summer, Tribe took 16 teenagers to When we look at the world, Rwanda on a social responsibility trip, to meet, we see many challenges which may seem interact and volunteer with youth at risk. insurmountable. As Jews living in the UK in 2019, The group stayed at the Agahozo Shalom Youth it would be easy to look at these challenges and Village, which was modelled after Yemin Orde, say: “there’s nothing I can do about them, so an Israeli Youth Village set up to care for orphans I won't even try”. However, in his teaching cited after the Holocaust. Agahozo-Shalom is a place above, Rabbi Tarfon declares that we have a where “tears are dried” and vulnerable youth can responsibility to tackle even those problems we “live in peace”. may not fully solve. Over the ten-day trip, our Tribe teens were Yet which issues should we address? Perhaps immersed in Rwandan culture, from waking up at we should worry about our own individual 6.30 in the morning to take part in the village run challenges before helping others, or perhaps just (where over 600 students, teachers and staff our own communities, or even just the Jewish run around the village) to kitchen duties, library people. On Yom Kippur afternoon, we read service and running educational games. Sefer Yonah (the book of Jonah), which touches on this dilemma. Tribe participants observed Shabbat, organised services, prepared their own kosher food and Yonah initially attempted to evade God’s had study sessions with Rabbi Dov and instructions to go to the corrupt non-Jewish city Rebbetzen Freda Kaplan, showing how it is of Nineveh, perhaps the greatest city in the world possible to live the practicalities of Jewish life at the time, and deliver words of rebuke. Some even when so far away from a Jewish centre, commentators suggest that Yonah felt that the whilst positively contributing to the locality punishments planned for Nineveh were deserved where they were staying. and it was this that lay behind his evasion. Seeing the impact that our Tribe participants had God, however, had commanded otherwise and on the students at Agahozo-Shalom, we saw when Yonah eventually reached Nineveh, he was first-hand the realisation of the lessons from the immediately successful in convincing the city’s Book of Yonah about reaching beyond ourselves. leadership to change its ways. Yonah's words in We did not finish the work, but at least, as Rabbi Nineveh were short yet powerful, showing the Tarfon taught us, we have not neglected to try. impact even the simplest of messages can have. We should not think that just by doing a small action or saying a few words that we cannot make a difference – something that might be small to us may have bigger meaning or impact on others.

Rabbi Lord Sacks points out that while Yonah was not the only prophet to speak to non-Jews, he was the only one to travel to a place such as

In memory of Harav Yisrael ben Eliyahu 5 Timeline: Yamim Noraim, 1939 by Rabbi Nicky Liss, Highgate Synagogue, Chair of RCUS

Eighty years ago, Jewish issued to households across the country. These communities across the were supplied along with instructions for UK prepared for Rosh people to carry their gas masks with them at all Hashanah and Yom Kippur. times until further notice. Rabbi Lew’s letter This was overshadowed addresses the governmental guidance, by the outbreak of World instructing members to carry their gas masks War Two on 3 September even in the absence of an , given the 1939, as well as the German potential threat to life should poiseorunv gas be used. invasion of Poland which had cut British Jews off from their Polish relatives. There are two items in the letter which I find particularly striking every time I read it. Firstly, On the next page we reproduce a fascinating Rabbi Lew’s towering faith in very difficult letter written a week later, on 10 September circumstances, which is a shining example 1939, by the late Rabbi Maurice Lew, of blessed to us all, and secondly, the cancellation of memory, who was one of my esteemed the Kol Nidrei service. One cannot but reflect predecessors as the rabbi of Highgate on other testing times in our history when Synagogue. Rabbi Lew was educated at we were also not able to gather together. Polish yeshivot and Jews’ College before he received (rabbinic ordination) in the semicha How lucky we are to live under very different Land of Israel. He served communities in the circumstances with the opportunities we UK and South Africa with distinction. are blessed with. Let us strengthen our communities, especially by praying together. This letter was written following consultation with colleagues and with the guidance of Chief We thank Rabbi Lew’s son, Professor Julian Rabbi Dr J.H. Hertz. It provides a fascinating Lew QC, for permission to reproduce this letter. insight into how our community faced those uncertain times.

The British public was all too aware of the terrifying, indiscriminate bombing of Poland by the Luftwaffe using Stuka dive bombers, which had already killed many Poles.

The UK government justifiably feared similar attacks and had published detailed guidance on how to react in the event of air raids, including blackouts, which made travel at night and communal gatherings at any time especially hazardous. This impacted on when it might be safe to hold communal and is reflected in the service times which Rabbi Lew set.

The authorities also feared that the Luftwaffe would drop poison gas, such that by September 1939 millions of gas marks had already been Rabbi Maurice Lew

In memory of Rabbi Isaac Bernstein, Harav Yitzchak Yoel ben Shlomo Halevi 6 In memory of Rabbi Maurice Lew, Harav Avraham Moshe ben Harav Yisrael Yosef 7 The History of Yom Kippur Customs by Rabbi Daniel Roselaar, Alei Tzion United Synagogue

Every siddur and machzor before we take the Torah out of the Ark in the that is published reflects morning. This tradition is a Kabbalistic addition to a particular the rite, dating from the 16th century and (custom). As Jewsm inhhaavg e was therefore absent from the editions of the migrated over the course siddur and machzor of the the great medieval of time, combined with rabbis. the establishment of new communities and shuls, have been transferred, imported and The 13 Attributes of God’s Mercy punctuate smuinbhtlay gicm hanged. People tend to be strongly the other prayer services on Yom Kippur as well. influenced by what they have grown up with or The ( 17b) cites have become accustomed to, and are often Rabbi Yochanan’s anthropomorphic description of the Almighty wrapping Himself in a surprised to find that other communities do tallit certain things differently. and assuring Moshe that when the Jewish people sin in the future, if they recite these verses they will be guaranteed forgiveness. Of course this Some of the most prominent differences in is not a formula in itself and the intent of the find expression in the High Holyday passage is that these Divine attributes should smeirnvhicaegsim . The purpose of this article is to shed be recited at the conclusion of the repentance some light on some of those differences. process, to “remind” the Almighty of His kindnesses and that He should be forgiving.

A hundred notes are sounded with the on each day of Rosh Hashanah and many of us The Tur (Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher 1269-1340) might be perturbed if we went to a shul where cites the Gaonic practice from the 10th century less notes were blown. This practice can be that the the 13 Attributes of God’s Mercy should traced back to Rabbi Natan ben Yechiel of Rome be recited five times at each of the and (known as the Aruch, c. 1035 – 1106), who lived services, seven times at Musaf, six in the 11th century. It is associated with a times at Mincha and three times at Neila. Some Midrashic tradition that when the Canaanite other traditions maintained that they should be commander Sisera failed to return safely from recited seven times at each of the first four battle, his mother wept 100 times. Whilst this services and 13 times at Neila, as the day is tradition is almost universal nowadays – apart drawing to a close. from Sephardi communities where 101 blasts are blown – this was not always the case. Rashi’s grandson, Rabbeinu Tam (1100-1171), Most machzorim have the tradition of reciting the maintained that a total of 42 blasts was sufficient, “Hashem Hashem” verses four times at Kol Nidrei whilst other medieval authorities deemed it and eight times at Neila. Of particular interest to necessary to blow only 40 blasts in total. The the British-Jewish reader is the background maintenance of these traditions until relatively to their reduced appearance in the Routledge recently is evidenced by the rubrics in various machzor and the traditional British-Jewish British-Jewish machzorim printed in the 19th and prayer rite. In 1892 the representatives of various 20th centuries. congregations made representation to Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler for certain revisions and alterations to the order of services in their One characteristic of the Yom Kippur services is synagogues. The list of proposed changes was the repetition of many of the prayers. The 13 quite extensive, as well as being quite radical in Attributes of God’s mercy are sung three times some respects; the Chief Rabbi convened a

In memory of Rev Alan Greenbat OBE, Aharon ben Mordechai Halevi 8 committee to consider them. Amongst the the Kol Nidre passage be omitted, that an innovations that were authorised was to allow the alternative Torah passage replace the traditional 13 Attributes of God’s Mercy to be recited only Mincha reading, and that at the end of once at each service, with the intention that this the fast be altogether dispensed with. He did, would allow them to be recited with greater however, permit a children’s service to be held on devotion and less haste. Yom Kippur afternoon, with the proviso that no selichot be omitted in order to facilitate this! Another custom characteristic of British-Jewish communities is the to blow the shofar at the end of Yom Kipmpinuhr afog llowing the post-fast Maariv service, rather than at the end of Neila, as indicated by many machzorim. In actual fact, this point is the subject of a difference of opinion dating back several hundred years. In the 14th century, the Tur referenced both practices and opined that the correct minhag is to wait until after Maariv before blowing the shofar, since it indicates that the fast has concluded and that it is now permissible to eat. Chief Rabbi Adler was keen to recommend that this practice be adopted, though not particularly on any strong halachic grounds. In his words:

“It must be admitted that the arrangement that has hitherto obtained is of a most unsatisfactory character. In many synagogues the Maariv is read whilst the majority of the congregants are quitting the place of worship, or noisily preparing to do so. In those synagogues where the bulk of the congregants remain the prayer is read, I believe, as a rule, with unseemly haste”.

His solution was quite extreme. Not only did he cite the Tur in advocating that the should be delayed until after Maariv, he also advised that the Ark should remain open Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler throughout Maariv as if it were a continuation of Neila; that the service should be led by the same chazzan who led Neila and with the same “solemnity and impressiveness as the other Services of the day”; and that the recitation of the “ ” usually said at the end of Neila (the vSerhseems oot f and Shema Yis)r asheol, ulBda arluscoh b eS hmeomv ed to Hthaes ehnedm o Hf uM Haar’Eiv.lokim

Related and radical proposals that the Chief Rabbi rejected as being too far removed from traditional Orthodoxy were the suggestions that

In memory of Rev Alan Greenbat OBE, Aharon ben Mordechai Halevi 9 The Song of History – Ha’azinu by Rabbi Michael Laitner, US Jewish Living Division & Finchley Synagogue

One of the most significant The first section starts with the introductory verse, elements of the prayer which calls upon ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ to listen to experience is those familiar this song. We can suggest that ‘heaven’ and tunes that we ‘always’ sing ‘earth’ take us back to the initial reference to both the same way, every words in the first verse of the entire Torah: “In the Shabbat or Yom Tov. Even beginning God created the heavens and earth” those sung just once a (Bereishit 1:1). year, such as on Yom Kippur, have their special place and connect The creation of heaven and earth ultimately led, us with past generations. as described in Bereishit, to the creation of human beings who would then have the The music and the history which these tunes opportunity to choose what type of society they encompass provide a bridge from Yom Kippur would build. The Seforno concludes by indicating into the rest of the year, starting with parashat that ‘ ’ charges us to think back Ha’azinu, which we read this year just three days to thez eCcrheoart iyoenm stoot royl,a sm o that we remember God’s after Yom Kippur. Ha’azinu is referred to as a goodness in creating the human race. (song) by the Torah (Devarim 31:19) and Ha’aszhiinrau itself references history, through the phrase As we will soon start reading the Torah from “ ” (‘remember the days past’ zechor yemot olam… Bereishit again, perhaps the Rabbis wanted us to ibid. 32:7). read Ha’azinu now to appreciate the importance of the past as we start to read the Torah and the The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 31a) notes that start of history again. originally, part of the Song of Ha’azinu and the history therein was read every Shabbat morning A friend asked the late Israeli Rabbi Yehuda in the Temple to accompany the Musaf offering, Amital (1924-2010), Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat such that the entire passage was covered every Har Etzion for a message to take with him when six weeks. This might have been due to the leaving the yeshiva. The Rabbi suggested that important historical messages that Ha’azinu he take a ‘ ’, a tune, from the prayers at the contains. yeshiva to nciagrgruyn with him. As we move from Yom Kippur, I hope that the tunes and history of that After the destruction of the First Temple and the day, fortified by the song and history of Ha’azinu, transfer of communal worship to the synagogue, help us to move to a joyous Succot and a blessed that practice was discontinued. Instead, the fixed year ahead. calendar of weekly Torah readings that we have today was instituted, which always places Ha’azinu to be read either just before or just after Yom Kippur. This placement might offer a clue to a message which the Rabbis wanted us to connect to at this time of year.

To help us do so, the great Italian commentator Rabbi Ovadia Seforno (1475-1550), on our verse, also divides Ha’azinu into six sections. Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom, a contemporary American

scholar, has described these as a ‘roadmap of

d o G o t e c i f i r c a s a d e r e f f o y e h T : r e w s n human history’. A

In memory of Monty Richardson, Mordechai Avraham ben Nechemiah 10