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fh ,at fh vacug s; Volume 28 No. 21 KI TISA Daf Hashavua 27 February 2016 • 18 Adar I 5776 Shabbat ends in London at 6.24pm Artscroll p.484 • Hertz p.352 • Soncino p.540 Solutions in Inspecting the Internet the Sidrah by Rabbi Yoni Birnbaum, Hadley Wood Jewish Community An interesting survey conducted by the Pew the Kiyor (Laver), from which the Kohanim Research Centre in early 2015 examined the would wash their hands and feet every effect that people in emerging economies morning (Shemot 30:17-21). In next week’s around the world thought that use of the sidrah, we are told that it was constructed Internet was having on their lives. An average from polished copper mirrors that had of 64% of respondents in the 32 countries previously been used by the Israelite women surveyed thought that the Internet to adorn themselves (ibid.38:8). was positive for education. Almost immediately following A majority also felt that it this passage, we read a was good for the economy. remarkably similar description However, when asked whether of the construction of the or not the Internet was having Golden Calf. Here, the men a positive influence on moral- rushed to donate their golden ity, 42% replied in the negative, jewellery in order to create with only 29% saying it was the image. Again, we find positive. Only 36% felt that something ostensibly mun- the impact of the Internet on dane being utilised, in this politics was positive. case body ornaments. How- The results of this survey ever, in contrast to the Kiyor, highlight the fact that modern on this occasion it was used technology has undoubtedly for a wholly impure purpose, brought significant positive in order to create an idol. benefits to the lives of people around Perhaps one reason why these two stories the world. Yet it has also brought new are placed in such close proximity to each challenges. The Internet can have both a other is to teach that everything in this world positive and a negative impact, depending can be utilised for a lofty, spiritual and entirely on the use to which it is put. positive purpose – or equally for the exact Closely juxtaposed to the primary theme of opposite. Like the mixed results of the this week’s sidrah, the episode of the Pew survey into the positive and negative Golden Calf, is the final item that Moshe was effects of increased Internet usage, it all commanded to construct for the Tabernacle, depends on the use that we make of it. A Lifetime’s Work by Rabbi Pinchas Hackenbroch Woodside Park United Synagogue We are a nation that, spiritually, has had “a maidservant was able to many lows as well as highs over the course perceive the Divine on a level of the millennia. Yet perhaps the most tra- that even the prophet Ezekiel gic and incomprehensible episode in Jewish was unable to grasp.” history was the chet ha’egel, the sin of the Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz Golden Calf, especially when we bear in (d. 1979), the head of the Mir mind the context within which it occurred. Yeshiva, asks a fascinating question: Israel had only recently emerged from the if indeed a maidservant was capable of servitude of Egypt and had witnessed the such lofty understanding, why is she still miraculous ten plagues. They had seen referred to as a maidservant and not a first-hand one of the greatest spectacles prophetess? He answers that revelations in mankind’s history in the splitting of and wonders do not create prophets. the Sea of Reeds. The nation A person may experience a reached its zenith in experi- lofty vision of the Divine, encing Divine revelation at yet remain the same person. Mount Sinai when they heard Their knowledge and aware- the Ten Command ments and ness may not necessarily G-d Himself proclaimed “I am result in a transformation the Lord your G-d who took of their persona. Genuine you out of the land of Egypt” prophets reached their sta- (Shemot 20:2). ture through a lengthy and With G-d’s presence so clearly felt, how arduous process of character development could they so quickly turn aside and worship and self-perfection. The ability to have a Golden Calf, proclaiming it to be “the god divine visions was a manifestation and of Israel who brought you up out of Egypt”? climax of their efforts and therefore it (ibid.32:8) became an integral part of their personality. Rashi (d. 1105) attempts to mitigate the With this in mind, we can appreciate why severity of the transgression by putting most the mixed multitude turned so quickly aside of the blame on the erev rav, the “mixed to idolatry following the monumental events multitude” who were Egyptian hangers-on they had witnessed. They were essentially that had joined the Israelite nation prior to idolaters who had lived through miraculous its departure from Egypt. Yet the question is events which had left no lasting impression. equally valid concerning the erev rav. Did In our high-tech generation, where the they not also experience the miraculous buzz word is “instant” and the focus is on events at the Sea of Reeds and Mount Sinai? the here and now, the lesson of the erev rav The key to understanding this issue can be is a timely reminder of the correct outlook found in the words of our Sages describing and approach we should adopt. One’s the miraculous events surrounding the character development and spiritual growth splitting of the sea. The Midrash states that are a gradual process – a lifetime’s work. Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook in London: Part 3 by Rabbi Z M Salasnik, Bushey & District United Synagogue Perhaps one of the ironies of Rav Kook’s life is Rabbi in raising funds for sending matzot that he was a man of peace, looking to to soldiers and to Russian Jewish prisoners discover good in every Jew, finding holiness of war in Germany. These two leading Rabbis even in the mundane; and yet few Rabbinic respected each other and were willing to leaders were subject to so much controversy work together. and misunderstanding, to hostility as well as This did not mean that they were always in to adulation. agreement. Although Rav Kook engaged His appointment at the Machzike Hadath with ‘the Judeans’, the Jewish soldiers who Synagogue in the East End of London from had served in British units in Egypt and 1916 to 1919 brought peace to that Palestine, being a Kohen himself, he felt that community. The previous decades had been Kohanim should be exempt from combat controversial, with disputes between Chief service, in order not to compromise their Rabbi Hermann Adler and the shul over Kohanic status. Generally speaking, a Kohen matters relating to shechita and kashrut. In is not allowed to come into contact with 1911, Chief Rabbi Adler died. In the dead. The issue of drafting 1912, Rabbi Aba Werner, the first Kohanim was a matter of Rabbi of Machzike Hadath, had considerable controversy during died. In 1913, Rabbi Dr Joseph Hertz World War One, in which the became Chief Rabbi. Coming from Chief Rabbi and Rav Kook South Africa and America, he had were on opposite sides of the not been part of any previous argument. internal communal disputes in Lon- Former Machzike Hadath Synagogue don. In 1914, the First World War One book Rav Kook produced commenced and any difficult history was during his time in London was Reish Millin, now secondary to the war effort. To help a discussion of the Hebrew alphabet, gram- matters further, Rav Kook, also new to London, mar and punctuation from a kabbalistic arrived in 1916 to lead Machzikei Hadath. perspective. Rav Kook was presented with a request to Rav Kook travelled to different parts of the allow rice on Pesach. The Ashkenazic custom country to encourage Jewish education, is not to eat rice, as it is considered kitniyot including to Leeds and Liverpool, in support of (legumes). Yet as rice is not actual chametz their yeshivot. and the war had caused shortages, there In his spare time, he toured London. He visited were voices lobbying for a temporary the National Gallery, and waxed lyrical about permission to eat it over Pesach. Chief Rabbi Rembrandt. His paintings reminded Rav Kook Hertz consulted with Rav Kook, who of the light which G-d had reserved for recommended involving the wider group the righteous in the Messianic era, but of Rabbis within the country in the decision. allowed a few great men to perceive it now Eventually, they decided not to permit it. (see Rashi to Bereishit 1:4). For him, Rav Kook joined the Chief Rabbi and other Rembrandt was one of these men, and the Rabbis in a proposed London printing of the light in his pictures was the very light that Talmud. After the War, he joined the Chief was originally created by G-d Almighty. Insights into A Bittersweet Return Jewish History by Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein, Cockfosters & N Southgate Part 24 United Synagogue; US Living & Learning Educator The Talmud (Megillah 12a) relates a and the Men of the Great Assembly. hypothetical conversation between G-d Yet by and large, the majority of those and the coming Messiah. G-d informed who returned were people whose ancestry the Messiah that if it were not for King and Jewish status were questionable. Cyrus’s decree, there would be no need for a Messiah. On the face of it, this This mixed group of people were led back to conversation seems strange.