ב''ה

SERMON RESOURCE FOR SHLUCHIM

DISTRIBUTION DATE:

TH WEDNESDAY , MARCH 27 2019 – 20 ADAR 2 5779 PARSHAS SHMINI

SERMON TITLE: Making the Best of Everything

A PROJECT OF THE SHLUCHIM OFFICE

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Shmini Making the Best of Everything

Good Shabbos!

When World War II broke out, the government of England was worried that German and Austrian citizens on British soil could possibly be spies for Nazi Germany, thus posing a threat to the country that at the time was at war. And so, when other European countries joined Germany in war against England, it was decided to round up all men ages 16 through 60 with German or Austrian citizenship and exile them to other countries. Canada agreed to take some of them, but the majority of them were sent to far-off Australia.

And so in July of 1940, some 2,500 Austrian and German “enemy alien” men, including 2,000 Jews who had fled the Nazis (among them several who had escaped the death camps), were forced to board the HMT Dunera at the port of Liverpool. They were “suspected” of being Nazi sympathizers or worse, agents. Joining them were about 300 British soldiers and ultimately, a ship designed to carry 1,600 passengers ended up carrying nearly 3,000 souls. They didn’t know where they were headed, and many thought they were going to the United States.

Shipboard conditions were awful. The entire vessel only had ten restrooms, and the lines were so long that they had a special security detail to allow everyone to get a turn. Besides the fact that there was only one towel for every ten passengers and one soap bar for every 20, some men slept on the tables or on the floor.

If somebody had to answer the call of nature in the middle of the night, he would have to step on people to get there. Skin diseases were rampant.

But worst of all was the fact that the British soldiers assigned to the ship acted with frightful violence towards their passengers, almost like the Nazis themselves. Passengers were locked up all the time in the ships bowels, and were only allowed up on deck ten minutes a day to air out, and under heavy guard.

What’s more, the soldiers ransacked the passengers’ suitcases, stole anything of value from them and threw the rest into the sea, thus forcing the travelers to wear the same clothing throughout the long voyage.

Worst of all, passengers were beaten for any deviation from orders. Some were even taken up to the deck for individual beatings so that the other passengers shouldn’t see.

After 57 horrible days in that purgatory, the ship docked at Sydney, Australia. The first Australian to come aboard was a military doctor. When he saw the ship’s prevailing conditions, he was shaken. The Australian border patrol removed all the “prisoners” from the ship and put them on a train that carried them 740 kilometers to an internment camp some 30 kilometers from the

2 village of Shepparton. But fortunately, the Australians were humane to their “guests,” in complete contradistinction to the treatment they had received from the British.

Now the prisoners wrote letters to their families back in England, telling them everything that had happened on the ship. The result was a huge public outcry, to the point that one year later the ship’s British officers were brought before a military court and severely punished. Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself later said that the incident was “a deplorable and regrettable mistake.” The saga was later made into a television movie called “the Dunera Boys.”

Well, take a guess who was the first Jew to come and visit them in their internment camp in Australia—none other than a Chabad chasid named Moshe Feiglin.

Moshe Feiglin had arrived in Australia in 1912 with his five children. At first, they settled in Melbourne, but he very quickly came to the conclusion that the city’s very small and assimilated Jewish community was no place in which to raise Chasidic kids.

But then there came a suggestion from no less than the Australian government to set up a farming village. And so he and seven other families decided to move to the village of Shepparton and there set up a farm. The beginning was very tough, but they persevered and succeeded, with a lively spirit filling the atmosphere thanks to Rabbi Moshe Feiglin, who saw to it that a shul, mikvah and so on were built.

But the fact is, you can’t exactly form a minyan of ten men out of eight families. And so throughout the years, they always needed to exert themselves to find someone to help them complete their minyan. Moshe Feiglin was known in town as an upright, good-hearted man who would help anyone, and Jews and non-Jews alike respected him.

So when Moshe Feiglin heard that Jews from Europe had arrived and were now located not too far from him in an internment camp, he immediately hurried over. The moment the camp commander saw the distinguished face on the other side of the gate, he hurried to personally open it himself. Rabbi Feiglin immediately won his trust, becoming one of the few allowed to regularly visit the prisoners.

Rabbi Feiglin overheard one of the prisoners telling another in Yiddish, “What a strange country this far-flung Australia is, where a Jew can get such good treatment from a gentile!”

Among the prisoners, Rabbi Feiglin met many Jews who insisted on kosher food, even in such dire conditions, resulting in malnutrition. So Rabbi Feiglin approached the Jewish organizations in Melbourne and Sydney, and they responded by helping him provide kosher food, holy books, challah and wine for Shabbos, Haggados for Pesach and everything a Jew would need.

Camp officers trusted him to the extent that whenever any prisoner wasn’t feeling well, Rabbi Feiglin was granted permission to take him to Shepparton.

3 After much effort, Rabbi Feiglin succeeded in convincing the camp commander to give several young prisoners work permits, on the condition that he would employ them in his orchards.

A “hostel” had been built earlier in the courtyard of the Shepparton synagogue. But now, it came into good use. Rabbi Feiglin settled 20 young religious Jews in the hostel, having them work for him. But what was most important for him was the fact that they brought Shepparton’s small Jewish community to life. Suddenly they no longer needed to look for a tenth man for their Shabbos minyan—in fact, they now had a minyan every day, morning and night, along with Torah classes and so on!

For the local kids, it was simply a miracle—suddenly, now there were young people who knew how to daven and learn, etc.

In late 1941, when Japan entered the war, all the prisoners were released and given the option of returning to England or remaining in Australia. The majority returned to Great Britain. However, some 850 men stayed Down Under—and that group of 20 young men in the hostel chose to stay in Australia, where they eventually married local Jewish girls and built the Jewish community of Australia.

In retrospect, it became clear that those who had been exiled to Australia were not refugees but rather, agents of G-d Himself—sent to bring Judaism to the Jewish community of Australia that flourishes to this day.

And no less than the Rebbe himself defined Rabbi Moshe Feiglin, who had been the first to bring authentic Judaism to Australia, as “the Avraham Avinu of Australia.” (The Life of Rabbi Moshe Feiglin, pg. 153.)

And that brings us to this week’s Torah portion.

This week’s Parshah of Shmini begins by telling us about the dedication of the Mishkan, which was celebrated on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the first of the month of Nissan. After long months of construction and weeks of “trial,” in which they assembled and dissembled the Mishkan every day, the big day finally arrived—Mishkan Dedication Day, on which G-d Himself would His Presence among the Jewish Nation. And indeed, when the Nation witnessed how that fire came down from the sky, they rejoiced greatly, as the verse states, “And they sang praises, and fell upon their faces” (Vayikra 9:24). But then, at that very moment, a great tragedy occurred. Two of Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, the ones who were supposed to the leaders of the next generation, entered the Mishkan and offered up unauthorized incense—ending their lives right there inside the Mishkan.

But as a result of that tragedy, which came as a result of Aharon’s two sons wanting very much to get close to G-d, something positive emerged. The Torah here teaches us the right way for a Jew to get close to G-d—first, the Torah tells us, “Do not drink wine and beer” (Vayikra 10:9). This is the first place in the Torah we find a prohibition of alcohol consumption.

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What the Torah is saying here is a warning to the Kohanim, the priests, to not perform the Temple services while intoxicated.

Now, we’ve already learned in the Book of Bereishis what wine made Noach and Lot do. However, drinking wine is not absolutely banned in all forms—the statement against alcohol first appears in this Parshah here. As the Midrash tells us, “Why does it command regarding wine? For everyone who drinks wine, injuries and wounds, shame and humiliation come upon him and the Divine Spirit cries out, ‘Woe upon who; alas upon who? To he who injures for no reason… to those who tarry after wine” (Ecclesiastes 23; Midrash Ksav Yad). And as the Rebbe was accustomed to say in the name of the Previous Rebbe, “liquor is a disgusting thing.”

Now, that’s the negative aspect of it—the “sur meira,” the “veer from evil.”

But what’s more important is the “va’asei tov,” the “and do good”—the positive actions one can and should undertake so as to be holier, more spiritual. And that, the Torah details in the second half of our Parshah—the animals and beasts that we are permitted or forbidden to eat.

So the message of this week’s Parshah, my friends, is this: G-d comes to us and says, “If you want to be spiritual, the way to do so is not to try to get into the Holy of Holies.” It’s easy to be spiritual in shul—the trick is to be spiritual in day-to-day life outside of shul! The trick is to live in this real world of ours and still be spiritual—to bring G-d into the mix, to live a more spiritual life every day.

G-d doesn’t want martyrs. The trick is to be holy every day.

Good Shabbos!

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