בס״ד ׁשֹֽ פְְטִ ים SHOFETIM

In loving memory of Harav Yitzchak Yoel ben Shlomo Halevi

Volume 34 | #43 “And who is the man who has planted a vineyard and not redeemed it? Let him go and return to his house, 14 August 2021 lest he die in the war and another man will redeem it” 6 Elul 5781 (Devarim 20:6) Shabbat ends: London 9.18pm Sheffield 9.36pm Glasgow 9.57pm Edinburgh 9.54pm Birmingham 9.28pm Southport 9.44pm Hull 9.34pm Jerusalem 8.03pm

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. To be a King - Jewish Style by Rabbi David Rose

Shofetim The Internet in Jewish Thought by Rabbi Moshe Freedman Artscroll p.1024 Hertz p.820 Soncino p.1078 Elul Reflections by Rebbetzen Vicki Belovski Haftarah Artscroll p.1199 Hertz p.835 Sefer Shmuel Soncino p.1094 by Pnina Savery Daf Hashavua Sidra breakdown - To be a King ׁשֹֽ פְְטִ ים Shofetim 5th Sidra in: Jewish Style ,by Rabbi David Rose ּדְְבָרִ ים Devarim Assistant Rabbi Mill Hill United Synagogue

By Numbers: We read in parashat tenth part of your grain…your male Shofetim about the and female slaves…and put them 97 verses obligation to appoint a to work for him’...(Samuel 1, 8:10-16 1,523words Jewish king after the paraphrased). Children of Israel enter This paints a very different picture 5,590 letters the Land of Israel. to the verses in our parasha which tell Yet we see that when the people of the limitations on a king and his ask for a king in the time of the obligations to others: Headlines: prophet Shmuel, about 350 years later, ‘He shall not keep many horses… he sought to dissuade them. He said: he shall not have many wives, lest his Jewish public and “This will be the practice of the heart go astray; nor shall he amass governmental law king who will rule over you…he will silver and gold to excess. When he take your sons and appoint them as is seated on his royal throne, he his charioteers and horsemen…he shall have a Torah scroll with him… will take your daughters as perfumers, so he will not act haughtily toward cooks, and bakers…. He will seize his fellows..’ (Devarim 17:16-20, your choice fields.. He will take a paraphrased)

In loving memory of Chaya Rachel bat Moshe Ben-tzion

United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Sidra Summary 1st Aliya (Kohen) – Devarim 16:18-17:13 Produced by US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of Judges and officers must be appointed in all cities (Rashi). Judges must the United Synagogue endeavour to avoid showing favour to any litigant. One may not erect (even) Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis a single stone for worship, even to worship God. It is forbidden to bring a Editorial and Production Team: blemished animal as an offering. Idol worship is subject to capital punishment. If Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, a halachic question or dispute cannot be resolved by local courts, the case should Rabbi Michael Laitner, be taken to the Kohanim in the Temple. Rebbetzen Nechama Davis, Joanna Rose 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 17:14-20 Available also via email US website When the nation comes into the Land, they have the right to request a king. www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue That king has to be appointed by God (through a prophet) and must be Jewish. To sponsor Daf Hashavua please The king must not return the people to Egypt in order for him to acquire horses contact Danielle Fox on 020 8343 6261, or [email protected] (where many were available and a symbol of prestige). He must also avoid having multiple wives and amassing too much wealth. He is obligated to have his own If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email Sefer Torah, from which he must read daily. [email protected] Why are these passages so All the service given and without respect for the king, he different? will not be empowered to serve us Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, former and honour due properly. The honour we give the king rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem, is what he uses to be able to serve us. explains that the Torah’s description to the king is not His ability to lead is derived from the depicts the ideal Jewish king. His true for him but for the authority of his office. role is to benefit the people, to act for So what is the underlying purpose them, not to receive from them. Every people. of having a Jewish king? law relating to the monarchy ensures Many relationships that we have the king does not become haughty. Shmuel’s warning to the people? and the emotions that are attached Maimonides writes that owning All the service given and honour to them are supposed to provide a anything beyond what he requires for due to the king is not for him but for context to understand our connection his duties is forbidden. the people. We need leadership, a with God. In the Song of Songs, for So how do we reconcile that with worthy representative of our people example, King Solomon describes the passionate love between a man and a woman to help us understand the yearning that we can feel towards God. The love a parent has for their child gives us an idea of the love that God has for us. So, too, the splendour of the Jewish king gives us a small insight into the majesty and power of God, the King of Kings. Our service of God is not for His benefit but ours. Similarly, taxes paid to the king are not intended for his use, but to benefit society as a whole. Having a (Jewish) king affords the people a unique opportunity to understand the majesty of the world that God has given us and the source of the wondrous bounty contained within it.

3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 18:1:5 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 18:14-19:13 The tribe of Levi does not get a portion in the Land, unlike Moshe tells the people that they will have prophets who the other tribes. However, the Kohanim are to be given will guide them and convey God’s messages. A prophet’s parts of certain Temple offerings to eat. They are also to legitimacy will be tested by whether his prophecies receive the first tithe of the produce of fruits grown in the materialise or not. Moshe gives instructions regarding Land (terumah gedolah), as well as the first shearing of the establishment of three cities of refuge (in addition the flock (reishit haʼgez). to the three on the east bank of the Jordan River – see Devarim 4:41-43). These cities are to provide refuge for 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 18:6-13 a person who has killed accidentally and is fleeing from The Kohanim are to be split into different groups, who the relatives of the deceased. Instructions are given about will rotate performing duties in the Temple. The right to what constitutes ‘accidental’ and how the community eat designated parts of regular offerings is reserved for must endeavour to protect the accidental killer from those whichever group of Kohanim is serving in the Temple that who are pursuing him. In Messianic times, another three week (see Rashi). After coming into the Land, the nation cities will be added (Rashi). must avoid the ways of the Cana’anite nations, especially their various forms of witchcraft, divinations and sorcery. The Internet in Jewish Thought – Part Three by Rabbi Moshe Freedman, New West End United Synagogue The German city of McLuhan who coined the phrase ‘the and mitzvot, our souls will seek Frankfurt is renowned medium is the message’, arguing stimulation from other, less holy for hosting the world’s that in contradistinction to traditional places (Tzav v’Zirus 9). oldest bookfair, tracing print media, the medium of television We cannot bear to be bored. its origins to the 12th Century. restricts the capacity for intellectual Given Neil Postman’s concerns In the 1984 event, the American discussion and thought. This, regarding how political and societal media theorist and cultural critic, however, is only part of the problem. discourse has been affected by new Neil Postman participated in a Real life can be profoundly hard. technologies, it is clear to see why the discussion about George Orwell’s The humdrum of the daily routine internet and the devices that utilise book “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, set coupled with the emotional pain and it can be profoundly seductive and in that year, where citizens were physical exhaustion of simply living worryingly addictive. In the words of oppressed by state control. Postman can lead us to seek ways to escape. journalist Marie Winn’s eponymous argued that contemporary society is The entertainment we crave is at least 1977 book, television is a ‘plug-in better reflected by Aldous Huxley's in part a way to break out of the real drug’. When administered by a “Brave New World” whose public world we must live in, permitting us professional, drugs can be useful and was oppressed not by the State, but to travel to a fantasy world which we heal many ills; fantasy and escapism by their addiction to amusement and wish we could live in. Escapism is are emotional painkillers. But for all its entertainment. not inherently bad, but it is extremely tremendous advantages, the internet Postman, who shunned most addictive. has merely amplified the problem of forms of technology, subsequently Before he was murdered in the technological misuse and addiction. wrote one of his defining books Holocaust, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman This is what Rabbi Shapira meant entitled “Amusing Ourselves to Shapira (d. 1943) was the Grand by the soul craving stimulation, Death” in which he developed Rabbi of Piaseczno in Poland. In for better or for worse. All of us – Huxley’s theme, arguing that people his book Tzav v’Ziruz which was especially parents of young children medicate themselves into bliss translated and published as ‘To Heal need to find more healthy and through consuming the material the Soul’, Rabbi Shapira explains how holy ways to stimulate ourselves. produced by the entertainment every human soul craves stimulation The phenomenal advances in industry, including television news – whether good or bad. He explains telecommunications are here to serve and programming. He was strongly that if we fail to stimulate our souls us. But we must ensure that we influenced by his contemporary, through holy practices such as Torah are masters, not slaves, to the very the media commentator Marshall study and sincere devotion to prayer technology we created.

In memory of Harav Yisrael ben Eliyahu z"l

6th Aliya (Shishi) – 19:14-20:9 however mighty they may seem. Before battle commences, One must not tamper with someone else’s land boundary. a Kohen is to encourage the people, reminding them that Court cases are determined by the testimony of a minimum God is protecting them. Certain people are sent home from of two witnesses. The laws of conspiring witnesses (edim the battlefield before war commences (see p.3 article). zomemim) are detailed, in which a second set of witnesses accuses the first set of having been unqualified to give their 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 20:10-21:9 testimony, since they could not have been at the scene of Before the nation goes to war, it must offer its enemy the the incident, due to their being elsewhere (Rashi). When opportunity to make peace. However, in the initial conquest the nation goes out to war, they must not fear the enemy, of the Land from the Cana’anite nations, their cities and Elul Reflections by Rebbetzen Vicki Belovski, Golders Green United Synagogue

Whenever Rosh Chodesh many commentators interpret it as a Elul, the start of the as we begin Elul there parable for the relationship between month prior to Rosh is a tangible sense of God and the Jewish people. Hashana falls in the But there is another verse, earlier secular calendar, even if it is the anticipation for the in Shir Hashirim, which is the middle of the summer holidays like Yamim Noraim (High reflection of this: “Dodi li, v’ani lo… this year, it brings a special feel with My Beloved is mine and I am His” it. Someone once said to me, “I can Holy Days). (2:16), which perhaps encapsulates smell Elul in the air,” and I know what the Elul relationship better, although they mean. Whether it is thoughts of new tablets of stone, upon which He without the cute acronym. We are honey cake and Yomtov get-togethers, would engrave the Commandments. told that during the month of Elul, the spine-chilling sound of the shofar Moshe went up the mountain for God, as it were, makes the effort to presaging the awe we feel on Rosh the third time on Rosh Chodesh reach out to us, to make Himself more Hashanah, or getting up early to recite Elul, returning 40 days later, on Yom easily accessible, in order to give us selichot (prayers of repentance), as Kippur, with the second set of Ten the opportunity to reconnect. This is we begin Elul there is a tangible sense Commandments. So we can see that often expressed as “The King is in of anticipation for the Yamim Noraim this period, from a very early stage of the field”, a reference to a parable (High Holy Days). development of the Jewish people, originally told by Rabbi Schneur We can trace this back to the Torah, was perceived as a time for renewing Zalman of Liadi (1745-1813), the soon after the Exodus from Egypt, our close relationship with God. founder of Chabad, who related the where we find that the 40-day period This relationship is frequently story of a king who normally resides in of the month of Elul plus the first ten epitomised during Elul with the first a palace, inaccessible to the common days of Tishrei, taking us through Rosh part of a verse from Shir Hashirim people, behind layers of servants, Hashanah, the Ten Days of Penitence (Song of Songs, 6:3): “Ani l’dodi, bureaucrats and court etiquette. and up to Yom Kippur, are seen as a v’dodi li… I am my Beloved’s and my However, sometimes the king significant single unit. Following the Beloved is mine…” The first letters goes out to the fields, and then he sin of the Golden Calf, when Moshe of these words in the original Hebrew welcomes everyone equally, however smashed the first set of tablets spell out Elul, hence the connection humble or awkward. Rabbi Schneur containing the Ten Commandments, and the regular appearance on Zalman explains that during Elul, God he ascended Mount Sinai for a second wedding invitations at this time of is “in the field”, eagerly awaiting our time, to plead for forgiveness. God year. Although Shir Hashirim is written approach. “Dodi li, v’ani lo…” agreed and told Moshe to carve two as a love poem between two people, To be continued…

In memory of Harav Yitzchak Yoel ben Shlomo Halevi z"l

inhabitants must be destroyed (Rashi). If a corpse is found Haftarah between two cities and it is unclear who is responsible for Taken from the book of Yeshaya, this is the third of the the death, the elders of the city nearest to the location of seven ‘haftarot of consolation’ read after Tisha B’Av. the corpse must take a heifer and behead it in a valley, after Yeshaya tells the people that they may have suffered which the Kohanim shall ask God for atonement on behalf of punishment, but they can ‘awaken’ themselves and emerge the elders (Rashi). from their captivity. God is constantly ready to redeem the nation if they turn to Him. Point to Consider: Why were the elders of the nearest city considered responsible for the death? (see Rashi to 21:7) Sefer Shmuel (the Book of Samuel) Chapter 4: National Disaster in Battle by Pnina Savery, US Jewish Living Educator and Participant in the Chief Rabbi’s Ma’ayan Programme

In chapter 3, Shmuel it, he has no choice but to tell Eli of the was to inspire them to keep the received a tragic death of his sons and the capture of Torah’s laws. They would merit God’s prophecy. In chapter 4 the Ark. On hearing about the capture protection. we see its realisation. of the Ark, Eli falls backwards off his Previously, the Ark had been taken The Philistines wage chair, breaks his neck and dies. into battle with victorious results, for war on Israel and 4000 men are lost The chapter ends with Pinchas’ example at the battle of Jericho (see in the battle. Returning dismayed wife giving birth to a son and dying Yehoshua Chapter 6). However, there to their bases, the elders of Israel in childbirth. She calls the child “Ei Yehoshua was a great leader who advise taking the Ark of the Covenant chavod” which means “no honour” reminded the people of the difference with them to the next battle. They because the honour of God has been between the Ark and God. He stated, believe this will ensure that “God will taken away from Israel. It is of note “Shout, for the Lord has given you the be among us and save us from their that both Eli and his daughter-in-law city” (Yehoshua 6:16). Contrastingly, in enemy” (1 Shmuel 4:3). are more distressed by the capture of our chapter the spiritual leadership of The Philistine enemy fear the the Ark than the death of Chofni and Eli and his sons is lacking; there is no presence of the Ark and fight even Pinchas or the loss of 34,000 soldiers. one to remind the Israelites that God harder as a result. In the ensuing is the true saviour. battle, the Israelites suffer a WHY DID THE ISRAELITES SUFFER The people make a similar mistake devastating blow: 30,000 men are SUCH A TRAGIC DEFEAT? towards the end of the First Temple killed, including the high priest Eli’s This is one of the worst defeats in period. The people believe that the sons Chofni and Pinchas. In addition, biblical warfare. The losses in battle Temple will save them from the the Ark of the Covenant is captured by that we saw in Sefer Shofetim were prophecies of destruction. Yirmiyahu the Philistines. This is the fulfilment of due to great sins committed by the (Jeremiah) reminds them that the the prophecy of Chapter 2, namely that Israelites. What is the sin here? The Temple is only a building; it is God both Eli’s sons would die on the same biblical commentator Malbim (1809- Himself Who has the power to save day (2 Shmuel 2:34). 1879) explains that the Israelites or destroy. More important is the A soldier from the battlefront comes were mistaken in their outlook. They sinful state of the people; without to give Eli the terrible news. Fearful believed that the presence of the Ark repentance there will be devastation. of his task, he hesitates and repeats alone would save them. However, Yirmiyahu even retells the story of himself. Despite his attempts to avoid the value of the Ark was that it the Philistine victory as a reminder to the people not to make the same mistake again (Yirmiyahu 7:12-14). On hearing about the capture of Unfortunately the people do not heed the message and Jerusalem is destroyed, just as Shilo, the final the Ark, Eli falls backwards off his location of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), was destroyed all those generations chair, breaks his neck and dies. before. In memory of Chaya Rachel bat Moshe Ben-tzion z"l The free on-demand video platform from the United Synagogue

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