בס״ד ׁשְ מֹות SHEMOT In loving memory of Rabbi Dr Irving Jacobs, Harav Yitzchak ben Shlomo zt"l, former principal of ’ College, rabbi of the Neveh Shalom community in Wembley, teacher and mentor for many rabbis and others

Volume 34 | #13 “Moshe saw and behold! the bush was burning in 9 January 2021 the fire but the bush was not consumed” 25 Tevet 5781 (Shemot 3:2) Mevarechim Rosh Chodesh Shevat is on Thursday Shabbat ends: London 5.05pm Sheffield 5.09pm Glasgow 5.08pm Edinburgh 5.02pm Birmingham 5.09pm Southport 5.15pm Jerusalem 5.30pm

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. It's All in the Name by Rabbi Benjy Rickman

Artscroll - p292 - p1146 Judaism and Music, Part 3 Hertz - p206 by Rabbi David Lister Haftarah - p225 Soncino - p319 Football and the Month of Shevat Haftarah - p345

Daf Hashavua by Rabbi Ben Kurzer Sidra breakdown It's All in ׁשְ מֹות Shemot 1st Sidra in: the Name ׁשְ מֹות by Rabbi Benjy Rickman, Head of Kodesh at King David Shemot High School and Assistant Rabbi at the Holy Law South Broughton, Manchester By Numbers: 124 verses The opening verse of different from what we might have the Book of Shemot originally considered. 1,763 words reminds us that Ve'eileh, the ones [the sons the Bnei Yisrael of Yaakov] mentioned here were 6,762 letters (Israelites) have migrated to Egypt. deserving to be mentioned [again] A discerning reader will be clued with their names. The reason is Headlines: into these events from last week’s that each one of them possessed reading. The obvious questions sufficient individuality to give The start of are: Why does the Torah repeat meaning to his name. They were information that we already know? all an inspiration to their children the slavery; Why does the Torah again state the as not one of them abandoned his introduction to names of the eleven sons of Yaakov family tradition. However, after the (Jacob) who came down to Egypt death of that generation even the Moses with their father? relatively righteous ones among Rabbi Ovadia Seforno (1475- them did not rate so highly in the 1550), in his commentary to our eyes of God or people so that the verse, provides the following Torah deemed it necessary to tell us nuanced perspective, perhaps their names.

Sidra Summary United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by US Living & Learning 1st Aliya (Kohen) – Shemot 1:1-17 together with the Rabbinical Council of The Torah names the sons of Yaakov who came down to Egypt. Yosef’s death is the United Synagogue recorded again. His brothers also die. The nation increases in number. A new Pharaoh Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis comes to power, who subjects the nation to hard labour. Yet the more they are Editorial and Production Team: afflicted, the more they increase. The Egyptians intensify the labour. Pharaoh instructs Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, Rabbi Michael Laitner, the Hebrew midwives to kill new-born Hebrew males. They refuse, instead giving the Rebbetzen Nechama Davis, babies food and drink (see Rashi’s commentary). Joanna Rose Point to Consider: What miraculous birth-rate is hinted to in verse 1:7? (see Rashi) Available also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 1:18-2:10 To sponsor Daf Hashavua please Pharaoh commands the Egyptians to drown all new-born males in the River Nile. contact Danielle Fox on 020 8343 6261, Moshe is born. After hiding him for three months, his mother Yocheved places him or [email protected] in a basket in the reeds at the riverbank. Pharaoh’s daughter retrieves the basket and If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email identifies the baby as a Hebrew infant. Moshe’s sister Miriam, watching from afar, [email protected] offers to get a Hebrew nurse. Pharaoh’s daughter agrees; Miriam brings Yocheved, The repetition brings to our a text to attention what was lost when that those in the generation died. Their greatness same house was not because they were the instead of getting up to find them! children of Yaakov; this is not When Yaakov blessed his about ‘yichus’ or ancestry. This children before he family was great because each died he focused on a child had discovered their own unique characteristic greatness. This perspective helps of each child. This us to understand how the Egyptians deathbed scene in could turn on the Bnei Yisrael Bereishit (ch. 49) with no obvious reason for doing is viewed by the so. The difference in behaviour rabbinic teachings between the generations supported in the Midrash as a Pharaoh’s claim that this new triumphant moment for generation could not be trusted and Yaakov as a father. All must be dealt with harshly. his children testified to Calling somebody by name is belief in God. more than signalling that you want Some of us have spent tend to their needs. Our names are them. There is something special significant time with close family really code for the mission we are when we hear our name being members during the past few called upon to play. Enjoy hearing called, especially by those nearest months. It is quite conceivable your name and reflecting on the and dearest to us. that we tired of hearing our names person you must become; one that In today’s world it is possible being called as we rushed again to will make the Jewish people proud. to go for days without speaking to anyone, simply by replacing verbal communication with text. We When Yaakov blessed his children may even seek to avoid conflict by sending a written message rather before he died he focused on a than speaking. For some people, it has become de rigueur to send unique characteristic of each child.

In loving memory of Chaya Rachel bat Moshe Ben-tzion

who looks after him until he is weaned. Moshe is then take off his shoes. God tells Moshe that He will rescue the brought up in Pharaoh’s house. nation and that Moshe should go to Pharaoh and instruct him to let the nation leave Egypt. 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 2:11-28 Moshe encounters an Egyptian striking a Hebrew; he kills 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 3:16-4:17 the Egyptian. Pharaoh hears of Moshe’s crime. Moshe God reassures Moshe that the elders of Israel will respond flees for his life, arriving in Midian, where he meets the to his call. Moshe is to request from Pharaoh that he let the daughters of Re’uel (also known as ) by a well. Moshe Hebrews out for three days, to bring offerings in the desert. marries Re’uel’s daughter Tziporah. They have a child, Pharaoh will refuse, after which God will smite Egypt with called Gershom. God hears the Hebrews in Egypt crying out plagues. God empowers Moshe with three signs to show because of their hard labour. the people – a staff that turns into a snake, his hand turning white with the appearance of leprosy and water taken from 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 3:1-15 the Nile turning to blood. Moshe is reluctant to take the Moshe, shepherding Yitro’s flock, arrives at the ‘Mountain leadership. God tells Moshe that his brother Aharon can be of God’. He encounters a fiery blaze in a bush, which is not his spokesman. consumed by the flames. God appears, instructing Moshe to Judaism and Music, Part 3: Cutting to the Chase by Rabbi David Lister, Edgware United Synagogue One of the common and Him. Mitzvot can be hard to Hebrew verbs for music fulfil. Torah is so deep and subtle has the verbal root that it can be difficult to understand, z-m-r. The verses of and the divine plan for ourselves, praise we recite in every morning our loved ones, our world, can be service between Baruch She’amar harder still to decipher. Life itself can and Yishtabach are called pesukei throw challenges, temptations and d’zimrah, and many of our Psalms distractions our way. are called mizmor. Many people sing All this is klipah, the barrier Mid-19th century American depiction of a watermelon. special songs of praise, called , between God and us which is not at their Shabbat table. just a hindrance, but the very thing collectivisation which precipitated There is more to this root than that makes our approach to Him so the Great Famine of 1932–33. Yet the meets the eye, and we can find out meaningful when we surmount the anthem’s rousing lyrics and tune were more about it in one of the Bible’s obstacles in our way. used to rally citizens to the Soviet most famous verses, from the Now we can understand the cause, despite the terrible tyranny and beautiful prophecy of Isaiah (2:4): deeper meaning of z-m-r. If we need bloodshed associated with it. They will beat their swords in to something reliable, invincible, to cut Likewise, anti-Jewish stereotypes ploughshares and their spears into through that klipah, we choose zimrah have been discerned in some of pruning hooks. – song. Wagner's operas, and it is theorised The Hebrew for pruning hooks is The metaphor of zimrah as a thing that Wagner incorporated these mazmerot. What does song have to do that cuts is truer than it first seems. figures to stoke hatred against Jews, with pruning? The Chasidic leader, Rav Nachman of whom he was known to dislike and According to Hebrew, the answer Breslav (1772-1810) cautions that not mistrust. The grandiose style and is: everything. all song or all music is spiritual. epic scale of Wagnerian music set Jewish mysticism explains that The ability to stir people’s hearts the tone for the huge Nazi territorial there is a spiritual reality known as can be exerted to degrade as much ambitions and colossal engineering klipah. This term is used for the peel as to inspire. If music is like a knife and architectural projects which Hitler, of a fruit and, like the peel of a fruit, that cuts through klipah, we must be an admirer of Wagner, set in train. klipah is both a hindrance and a careful, as with any knife, that we do This is not to say that music is necessity. not wield it in such a way that we cut judged entirely by its composer. When we eat a watermelon or a ourselves. Rav Nachman of Breslav says that pineapple, the peel gets in the way. Sadly, history is littered with music a sufficiently righteous and learned But the interior of the fruit is only so that has done harm. The Soviet person can redeem and elevate even juicy and fresh because of the peel national anthem, so much loved that music written by someone evil. But that preserves it. its melody has outlived the demise we must choose our zimrah moments Likewise, we Jews seek a route to of Russian Communism, took for and opportunities with care, and God, and we do not want anything in its opening line a famous quotation ensure that our taste in music leads us the way. But if access to Him is too from Stalin: Life has become better, not away from God but towards Him. easy, then our relationship requires comrades. We can be grateful that there is much no effort, and our closeness to Him This triumphant assertion came good that can be done with music, means too little. shortly after the five million deaths and it is our responsibility to realise So God puts klipah between us brought about by compulsory farm this potential as well as we can.

In memory of Yisrael Shmuel ben Yirmaya Yehoshuah Operation Ali Baba (also known as Operation Ezra and Nechemia), Part 2 by Rabbi Gideon Sylvester, The US’s Israel Rabbi Seventy years ago, from 1950 into 1951, many Jews were secretly brought from Arab lands to the nascent State of Israel. In this second of a two-part series, Rabbi Sylvest- er provides some background and details about this extraordinary operation.

In the first article, Even Rabbi an ultimatum; if the Jews did not we learned that in the leave immediately, they would 1940s, the ancient Jew- Kadoorie, the Chief not have another opportunity. ish community of Iraq Rabbi of Iraq… Plans for Operation Ezra and faced increasing perse- Nechemia to rescue these Jews cution, with mass arrests and show rejected the initial were hastily drawn up. The operation trials. Emigration might have been had initially been called Operation a solution, but the Iraqi Jews found Zionist overtures Ali Baba; the new name honoured themselves in limbo. By the late for fear that these Ezra and Nechemia, the Biblical 1940s, the Iraqi government vacillat- leaders who led the Jewish people ed between two policies: refusing to would endanger the from the Babylonian exile to Israel. let Jews leave or expelling them and Jewish community. A new, fictitious airline was created confiscating their property. Mean- called Near East Air Transport, as a while, the nascent Jewish State Iraq who recognised this growing cover for Israel’s involvement and the was hardly ready to absorb them as threat, rejected the initial Zionist airlifts began. To the dismay of the new immigrants, even after the Ar- overtures for fear that these would Iraqi government, which had wanted mistice Agreements of 1949 with its endanger the Jewish community. to keep its Jews whilst remaining neighbours, because it was already On 8 April 1950, bombs exploded hostile to Israel, every month tens taking Jewish refugees from Poland near a Jewish café in Baghdad, of thousands of Jews signed up to and Romania, whose opportunities followed by further bombings leave. By the end of the process, the to leave depended on the fluctuating targeting other Jewish institutions. ancient Jewish community of Iraq policies of their Communist regimes. Allegations were also made that a had shrunk from 100,000 to 6,000. Zionist activity was illegal in Iraq, Zionist underground movement was Settling down in Israel was not but from 1942, Zionist emissaries storing weapons in Iraq and Jews simple. The newly created State of disguised as British officers had were arrested. Life was becoming Israel was still struggling to absorb smuggled themselves into the unbearable and the Zionist organisa- refugees from the Holocaust as well country. They did not find a very tions began registering Iraqi Jews for as others from Communist states and receptive audience. A British CID aliya. This intensified the challenge several other Arab lands. Jobs and report from 1944 shows that the for Israel of immigrant absorption. homes were in short supply, so new Iraqi Jewish community was largely Israel was not yet ready to receive arrivals had to live in the Ma’abarot – indifferent to the idea of aliya. Some Iraqi Jewry, but Jews kept flooding shanty town transit camps. For those prosperous Jewish merchants were into Baghdad in expectation of flights living in tents, the “Land of Milk and contemptuous of the Zionist drive which had not yet been arranged. Honey” felt more like the land of mud for agricultural labourers to reclaim The pressure to bring the Jews and dirt. It was a tough transition. the Land of Israel. They were also to Israel kept growing to the extent But it worked. The descendants unfazed by the growing antisemi- that the Iraqi government became of those Iraqi Jews are now fully tism across the Arab world. Even embarrassed by the chaos being integrated into Israel and many hold Rabbi Kadoorie, the Chief Rabbi of caused. The government delivered leading positions in Israeli society. Football and the Month of Shevat by Rabbi Ben Kurzer, Pinner United Synagogue

The world of football when our friends are speaking badly or how politely you speak to people can broadly be split about someone or maintaining our behind closed doors when everything between defence and standards in challenging situations. is going against you. attack. In the world Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is As we enter the new Hebrew of Torah, we have sur me’ra, avoid hard but it is rarely exciting. month of Shevat (Rosh Chodesh bad, and aseh tov, do good (Tehillim Attack/aseh tov gets all the is on Thursday this week), we are 34:15). There are certain similarities headlines. Fast-flowing football and told that the spring is on the way, between defence and sur magical goals are a lot of even though at this dark time of the me’ra on the one hand fun to watch. For any year we still seem to be in deep and attack and football fan, there is winter. In truth, we are being taught aseh tov on the nothing quite like to remember that for blossoms to other. Which of flowing attacking appear at Pesach time, much work these different football or needs to be done behind the scenes aspects is more watching great and that work begins in Shevat. The important? strikers score good that we do and that is visible Defence/ spectacular to all can simply crumble without the sur me’ra is the goals. Even foundations and work that goes on less glamourous when a team behind the scenes. side of the game. loses, it is some In short, although both are essen- It is about being solid consolation to have at tial, it is easy to fall into the trap and consistently holding least watched attacking, of seeking the glamour and glory out, sometimes against wave after exciting football. of attack/aseh tov and avoid the wave of attack and is generally much Aseh tov is no different – it dreary, dull discipline of defence/ less exciting. Defenders are rarely feels good to be part of a charity sur me’ra. the most expensive or sought-after fundraiser or join an uplifting Friday So as we continue to spend huge players, managers like Jose Mourin- night service, for example. The amounts of time behind closed doors, ho who focus on it are criticised and newspapers will report the large in our own homes, stand strong and teams known for their defending are crowds who showed up for your remember the words of Sir Alex referred to as boring. learning initiative but no one will Ferguson who won more than 40 Sur me’ra, the Torah’s injunction to ever hear about it if you withhold trophies as a football manager – distance oneself from bad, has many yourself from getting angry with the “attack wins you games, defence similarities. It is about holding back person whose phone keeps going off wins you titles.”

In memory of Yehuda ben Yaakov HaCohen

6th Aliya (Shishi) – 4:18-4:31 requests and increases the work load. The people complain to Moshe returns to Egypt from Midian. God tells Moshe to warn Moshe and Aharon. Moshe asks God why He sent him, if his Pharaoh that He will eventually kill the Egyptian firstborn intercession has only made life more difficult. if Pharaoh refuses Moshe’s requests (Rashi). Moshe fails to circumcise his new-born son Eliezer when they stop in Haftarah lodgings on the way; Tziporah does it instead. Aharon greets The prophet Yeshaya depicts how low the nation of Israel has Moshe, who relates God’s words to him. Aharon in turn relays stooped and bemoans the drunken arrogance of the tribe of these words to the people. Moshe performs the three signs. Ephraim and the other lost tribes. However, one day a great shofar will be blown and all those cast away in foreign lands 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 5:1-6:1 In memory of Malkawill batreturn Peretz to Jerusalem. Moshe and Aharon approach Pharaoh. Pharaoh refuses their בס״ד Presenting a special memorial programme to commemorate the shloshim of Rabbi Dr Irving Jacobs zt"l Rabbi of the Neveh Shalom Community David Ishag Synagogue Former principal of Jews College and Rabbi of the Sutton and District Synagogue Sunday 10 January, 6:00pm At 5:00pm, Arvit and Memorial Prayers from Neveh Shalom. See TheUS.tv link below for details.

Please join us for this special broadcast in memory of a master pedagogue, mentor and teacher of rabbis and thousands of others. Speakers to include the Chief Rabbi, Rabbonim, Adam Taub, colleagues and students.

Watch at www.TheUS.tv/rabbi-jacobs

Listen to recordings of Rabbi Jacobs' lectures at www.rabbiirvingjacobs.org