h,ru vacug s; Volume 28 No. 17 YITRO Daf Hashavua

30 January 2016 • 20 Shevat 5776 ends in London at 5.36pm Artscroll p.394 • Hertz p.288 • Soncino p.445 Solutions in The Righteous the Sidrah by Yoni Birnbaum, Hadley Wood Jewish Community

Perhaps the most inspirational however possible, advising Moshe work authored by the late to create an organised judicial Sir Martin Gilbert, of blessed system (Shemot 18:14-26). memory, is The Righteous. Pub- Balak, on the other hand, saw lished in 2002, it documents the the Jewish nation approach his work of those precious indivi- border and panicked. “We must duals, Christian, Muslim or of no destroy them lest they consume faith at all, who risked their us all!”, he exclaimed (Bemidbar own lives to save during 22:6). He hired the Bilam . to curse the Jewish people. Yet These were people who made the Bilam failed spectacularly, lead- most remarkable of choices in the ing to the eventual downfall of most difficult of circumstances; both of them. people who exercised their power to choose Both of these individuals were outsiders to courage over fear and hope over despair. the Jewish story. Each had a choice how to After recounting from Egypt, react to the events they had witnessed. the contains two sidrot named after Yet whereas Balak chose to sow fear and people who were not members of the Jewish hatred, Yitro sowed love and friendship. nation. This week’s sidrah, Yitro, is named On the final page of The Righteous, Sir Martin after the father-in-law of Moshe; Balak (in Gilbert writes: the Book of Bemidbar) is named after the King of Moav. Yet the reactions of these two “The story of the Righteous is not only a story individuals to the miraculous story of the of the many successful individual acts of Jewish people’s deliverance from Egypt and courage and rescue; it is also a pointer journey towards the Promised Land could to what human beings are capable of not have been more different. doing – for the good – when the challenge is greatest and the dangers most pressing. Yitro came to greet the Jewish people. He valued the contribution they could make Each of the 19,000 and more known stories to the world, despite the fact that they must lead each of us to ask, ‘Could I have were radically different to himself and his acted like this, in the circumstances; would former worldview. He saw the ‘Other’ – those I have tried to, would I have wanted to?’“ different to him – not as a threat but as an One can only hope that the answer would opportunity. He resolved to help them be ‘yes’. The Special Ten by Rabbi Garry Wayland Assistant, Youth and Young Families Rabbi, Woodside Park United

The is one of the Torah’s Torah and the mitzvot; they most famous passages, known well beyond correspond to State- Jewish circles (Shemot 20:2-14). The mitzvot ments of Creation, by which all detailed in the Ten Commandments are of of Creation was brought into immense significance, including belief in G-d, existence”. keeping Shabbat, and the prohibition of idolatry and which are core elements of . The Ramban ( d. Nevertheless, we approach all 613 mitzvot with 1270), however, says that the Ten equal gravitas; as Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Commandments served a different function. Fathers 2:1) adjures us: “Be as careful observing The Jewish people, through the Exodus and a light as a serious one”. Many of the Sinai, went from being a loose proto-nation, mitzvot listed in the Ten bound by their experiences as Commandments are repeated slaves and their common elsewhere – murder was al- ancestry, to a “holy people and a ready listed as forbidden by kingdom of priests” (Shemot the Noachide Laws (Bereishit 19:6). To do so, they underwent 9), the Jewish People had a process of conversion, the already been informed about details of which are para- Shabbat prior to Sinai (Shemot digmatic of all conversions. A 15:25) and many later verses convert must undergo circum- deal with idolatry (see Devarim cision, immersion in a , 12:2-3). If so, what is the and, in Temple Times, offer a unique significance of these Rabbi Yehudah Alter of Gur sacrifice; the Jews did all of Ten, such that they were such an essential these things at Sinai. A critical part of the Sinaitic Theophany that formed the part of conversion is also accepting the yoke core of our with G-d? of the Commandments, and, in the final stages of conversion, converts are ‘informed about (d.1105) writes that the Ten Com- the fundamentals of the faith, some of the light mandments were chosen for their wider and serious mitzvot’. At Sinai, G-d informed significance. They were not only individually the Jewish people, at the moment of their important, but these Ten collectively represent conversion, through the Ten Commandments, all 613 commandments. He reports that Rav about the fundamentals of Judaism, as well Sa’adiah Gaon (Baghdad d. 942) wrote a poem, as some of the various mitzvot. The Ramban recited on , in which he showed how understands that the Ten Commandments all 613 mitzvot flow from these Ten. This idea is served as the method through which the reflected in a which states that all the Children of Israel became truly Jewish. details of the other mitzvot were written ‘in the space between each of the [Ten] Statements’; As we read the Ten Commandments as part of they had a metaphysical significance that went this week’s Sidrah, we remember these two well beyond the written word. The Sefat Emet reasons: according to Rashi, they form the (Rabbi Yehudah Alter of Gur d. 1905) reflects root of all the Torah. According to the Ramban, Midrashic and Kabalistic traditions when he they served as the device through which the writes: “The Ten Commandments contain all the Nation became Jewish. Shabbat – an Island in Time; an Island in Avelut by Rabbi Z M Salasnik, Bushey & District United Synagogue

Shabbat is not the weekend; it is actually or in the 12 months of mourning, Shabbat is the centre of the week. It is the day when a different day. It was the day during the everything changes. We partner G-d in (a week later) that we took off our torn ceasing from creation. clothes, we wore our leather shoes and we sat in normal seats. During the weekdays of Shabbat is particularly striking in the way it the 12 months, I am not occupying my overrides aninut – the time between the normal seat at the front of the synagogue. death of an immediate relative and their In contrast, on Shabbat, I sit at the front of funeral. My father, Rabbi Eli Salasnik z”l the shul, albeit in the seat on the opposite recently passed away, just over an hour side of the Ark, a seat in which I occasionally before Shabbat. Immediately, we were sat in before my mourning, parallel with onenim, not allowed to eat the seat that was regularly meat, drink wine, pray or be mine. counted in a or to perform any other mitzvot, Our understanding is other than those apper- that just as Shabbat is taining to the burial. different from the rest An hour later, Shabbat of the week for the entered. We recited Kid- mourner, so it is dif- dush and drank wine. ferent for the departed. We ate meat. In the Since no person is per- morning and afternoon fect, the soul receives its of Shabbat, we went to the nearest purification (however this is to be under- and recited Yatom stood in the eternal and non-material (Mourners’ Kaddish) for the first time in our world) in the first year. However, Shabbat lives. (There is a difference of opinion provides a break for the souls in the between Rabbinic authorities about the eternal world; traditionally we delay recital of kaddish on Shabbat prior to the slightly the termination of Shabbat in funeral. One view is that kaddish is not said order to give extra time for their souls to until after the funeral. The other view, which enjoy that break. we followed, is that kaddish is not said prior to the funeral because the mourners are One may wonder how Shabbat is deter- onenim. However, as on Shabbat, there is no mined in Heaven. Is it 24 or 25 hours? aninut, Kaddish is said.) Or perhaps it is almost 48 hours, relating to every place where Shabbat is observed Then Shabbat finished. We did not recite in the globe? Whatever the answer, just Ma’ariv or , hearing the latter as for the departed, Shabbat provides a instead from one of my sons. change; the mourner too identifies by For an avel, a mourner, whether during shiva muting his/her mourning during Shabbat. Insights into The Death of Nebuchadnezzar by Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein, Cockfosters & N Southgate Part 20 United Synagogue; US Living & Learning Educator

Daniel had become one of Nebuchadnezzar’s remained imprisoned. After his father’s death, trusted advisors during the ruler’s 45 year the advisors begged Amel-Marduk to take tenure and was thrust into a further position up his rightful position, which he refused until of power due to his ability to interpret he was shown proof of his father’s death. dreams. Nebuchadnezzar woke up from one The advisors proceeded to exhume the of his dreams frightened, having seen himself body, which they then repeatedly stabbed. in the dream living like a farm animal, eating Amel-Marduk became a peaceful king for grass from the field and having lost the ability the next 23 years. to reason. He asked Daniel for an interpretation. Daniel told him HIs first royal decree was to release his that he would soon be fellow inmate Yechonya, the king of Judea descending into an animal-like who had been imprisoned 10 years prior to existence and that the only the destruction of the Temple. Yechonya way to prevent the demise of had been allowed conjugal visits while his mental health was to give in jail and he had fathered a tzedaka (charity). son called Shaltiel, meaning “I have asked G-d”. Shal- Nebuchadnezzar opened up his tiel’s son was Zerubavel, who store houses and for a year gave would eventually lead the charity to those who needed it most, the people back to Judea. recently-exiled Jews. As the year progressed, he grew resentful and stopped giving the The next king of Babylon was Belshazzar. He charity, as his mental health had shown no was perhaps the son of Nebuchadnezzar’s deterioration. The storerooms were closed to daughter, though the line of succession is the public. Nebuchadnezzar immediately historically unclear. Belshazzar would be the started acting like an animal and had to be last king of Babylon and his actions would removed from the throne. He remained in this doom his kingdom to its ultimate fate. state for seven years. During this interim Decades previously, while Nebuchadnezzar period, his son Amel-Marduk ruled in his had been busy destroying and place. After seven years, Nebuchadnezzar building the famed Hanging Gardens of emerged from his state and found his son Babylon, trouble had been brewing in the sitting on his throne. He immediately threw south of the Empire. The Persians and his son in jail. the Medes were jointly working their way north and were gearing up for an ultimate Until Nebuchadnezzar’s death, his son showdown with the Babylonians.

United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue, together with US Living & Learning Editor: Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor in Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Available also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Richard Marcus on 020 8343 5685, or [email protected] If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email [email protected]