Candle Welcome to the DAT ! Lighting (earliest) 6:54p – (latest) 8:07p July 18, 2020 - 26 5780 Bara Loewenthal and Nathan Rabinovitch, Co- Presidents 9:12p

We invite men and women to sign up for our minyan at The Jewish Experience . For those D’var With Jonathan Sacks unable to make it, we encourage everyone to There are moments when Divine Providence touches you on the shoulder join us for our virtual daily davening and and makes you see a certain truth with blazing clarity. Let me share with you such a moment that happened to me this morning. learning opportunities. For technical reasons, I have to write my essays for the Covenant & All davening times are published on our Conversation series many weeks in advance. I had come to Matot-Masei, website. and had decided to write about the cities of refuge, but I wasn’t sure which To join us virtually, download the ZOOM app to aspect to focus on. Suddenly, overwhelmingly, I felt an instinct to write your computer or phone. The computer log in is: about one very unusual law. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/94819261580? The cities were set aside for the protection of those found guilty of manslaughter, that is, of killing someone accidentally without malice pwd=MXpoOExuVlRubFltZmN5ZGlFQlVaZz09 aforethought. Because of the then universal practice of blood vengeance, Meeting ID:948 1926 1580 that protection was necessary. Password: dm613 The purpose of the cities was to make sure that someone judged innocent of murder was safe from being killed. As Shoftim puts it: “And he shall flee Virtual Shabbat Davening Times: to one of these cities and live” (Deut. 19:5). This apparently simple concept was given a remarkable interpretation by the : FRIDAY The Sages taught: If a student was exiled, his teacher was Mincha: 7:10 pm exiled with him, as it is said: “(And he shall flee to one of these Derasha by Rabbi Gitler: 7:20 pm cities) and live,” meaning do the things for him that will enable him to live. Kabbalat Shabbat: 7:35 pm As Rambam explains: “Life without study is like death for scholars who seek (Shema should be recited after 9:12 pm) wisdom.” In , study is life itself, and study without a teacher is impossible. Teachers give us more than knowledge; they give us life. Note that this is not an aggadic passage, a moralising text not meant to be taken SHABBAT literally. It is a halachic ruling, codified as such. Teachers are like parents Parasha (Artscroll Chumash): only more so. Parents give us physical life; teachers give us spiritual Page 901 /: Page 1193 life. Physical life is mortal, transient. Spiritual life is eternal. Therefore, we owe our teacher our life in its deepest sense. (Shema should be recited before 9:26 am) I had just written the text above when the phone went. It was my brother in to tell me that my teacher, Rabbi Nachum Eliezer TJE Shabbat Davening Times: Rabinovitch, zecher tzaddik livracha, had just died. Only rarely in this “world of concealment” do we feel the touch of Providence, but this was FRIDAY: unmistakable. For me, and I suspect everyone who had the privilege of Shacharit: 6:20 am studying with him, he was the greatest teacher of our generation. Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Maariv: 6:40 pm He was a master posek, as those who have read his Responsa will know. He knew the entire , Bavli, Yerushalmi, Halachah (Continued on Page 2) SHABBAT: Shacharit: 8:00 am Virtual and In Person Weekly Schedule Mincha: 8:00 pm SHACHARIT MINCHA/MAARIV Maariv: 9:12 pm Sunday: 8:00 am Sunday-Friday: 6:35 pm

Kiddush this week is sponsored by Mark and Monday, Thursday: 6:30 am Sarah Raphaely in honor of Bara Loewenthal and Nathan Rabinovitch, wishing them Tuesday: 6:35 am much hatzlacha! (Individually packaged chips and dips by JD Wednesday: 6:20 am ( ) kosher catering!) Friday: 6:20 am

DAT Minyan is a dynamic and friendly Modern Orthodox congregation for all ages and dedicated to meaningful personal spiritual development, community growth, youth involvement, Torah education, and Religious . DAT Minyan - 560 S. Monaco Pkwy., Denver, CO 80224 - 720-941-0479 - www.datminyan.org D’VAR TORAH (continued)

Rabbi Sacks (Continued from Page 1) and Aggadah, biblical commentaries, philosophy, codes and responsa. His creativity, halachic and aggadic, knew no bounds. He was a master of almost every secular discipline, especially the sciences. He had been a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and had written a book about probability and statistical inference. His supreme passion was the Rambam in all his guises, particularly the , to which he devoted some fifty years of his life to writing the multi-volume commentary Yad Peshutah. By the time I came to study with the Rav, I had already studied at Cambridge and Oxford with some of the greatest intellects of the time, among them Sir Roger Scruton and Sir Bernard Williams. Rabbi Rabinovitch was more demanding than either of them. Only when I became his student did I learn the true meaning of intellectual rigour, shetihyu amelim ba-Torah, “labouring” in the Torah. To survive his scrutiny, you had to do three things: first to read everything ever written on the subject; second to analyse it with complete lucidity, searching for omek ha-peshat, the deep plain sense; and third, to think independently and critically. I remember writing an essay for him in which I quoted one of the most famous of nineteenth century Talmudic scholars. He read what I had written, then turned to me and said, “But you didn’t criticise what he wrote!” He thought that in this case the scholar had not given the correct interpretation, and I should have seen and said this. For him, intellectual honesty and independence of mind were inseparable from the quest for truth which is what Talmud Torah must always be. Some of the most important lessons I learned from him were almost accidental. I remember on one occasion his car was being serviced, so I had the privilege of driving him home. It was a hot day, and at a busy junction in Hampstead, my car broke down and would not start up again. Unfazed, Rabbi Rabinovitch said to me, “Let’s use the time to learn Torah.” He then proceeded to give me a shiur on Rambam’s Hilchot Shemittah ve-Yovel. Around us, cars were hooting their horns. We were holding up traffic and a considerable queue had developed. The Rav remained completely calm, came to the end of his exposition, turned to me and said, “Now turn the key.” I turned the key, the car started, and we went on our way. On another occasion, I told him about my problem getting to sleep. I had become an insomniac. He said to me, enthusiastically, “Could you teach me how to do that?” He quoted the Rambam who ruled that one acquires most of one’s wisdom at night, based on the Talmudic statement that the night was created for study. He and the late Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l were the Gedolei ha-Dor, the leaders and role models of their generation. They were very different, one scientific, the other artistic, one direct, the other oblique, one bold, the other cautious, but they were giants, intellectually, morally and spiritually. Happy the generation that is blessed by people like these. It is hard to convey what having a teacher like Rabbi Rabinovitch meant. He knew, for example, that I had to learn fast because I was coming to the rabbinate late, after a career in academic philosophy. What he did was very bold. He explained to me that the fastest and best way of learning anything is to teach it. So the day I entered ’ College as a student, I also entered it as a lecturer. How many people would have had that idea and taken that risk? He also understood how lonely it could be if you lived by the principles of intellectual integrity and independence. Early on, he said to me, “Don’t be surprised if only six people in the world understand what you are trying to do.” When I asked him whether I should accept the position of Chief Rabbi, he said, in his laconic way: “Why not? After all, maybe you can teach some Torah.” He himself, in his early thirties, had been offered the job of Chief Rabbi of Johannesburg, but turned it down on the grounds that he refused to live in an apartheid state. He told me how he was visited in Toronto by Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz who had held the Johannesburg position until then. Looking at the Rav’s modest home and thinking of his more palatial accommodation in South Africa, he said, “You turned down that for this?” But the Rav would never compromise his integrity and never cared for material things. In the end, he found great happiness in the 37 years he served as head of in Maale Adumim. The had been founded six years earlier by Rabbi Haim Sabato and Yitzhak Sheilat. It is said that when Rabbi Sabato heard the Rav give a shiur, he immediately asked him to become the Rosh Yeshiva. It is hard to describe the pride with which he spoke to me about his students, all of whom served in the Defence Force. Likewise it is hard to describe the awe in which his students held him. Not everyone in the Jewish world knew his greatness, but everyone who studied with him did. I believe that Judaism made an extraordinarily wise decision when it made teachers its heroes and lifelong education its passion. We don’t worship power or wealth. These things have their place, but not at the top of the hierarchy of values. Power forces us. Wealth induces us. But teachers develop us. They open us to the wisdom of the ages, helping us to see the world more clearly, think more deeply, argue more cogently and decide more wisely. “Let the reverence for your teacher be like the reverence for Heaven,” said the Sages. In other words: if you want to come close to Heaven, don’t search for kings, priests, saints or even prophets. They may be great, but a fine teacher helps you to become great, and that is a different thing altogether. I was blessed by having one of the greatest teachers of our generation. The best advice I can give anyone is: find a teacher, then make yourself a disciple. Shabbat Shalom

Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service. DAT MINYAN NEWS, EVENTS AND MILESTONES

Community Announcements  We wish condolences to Eve Rabinovitz and the entire Rabinovitz family on the passing of her father, Haym Lionel Rabinovitz, on July 14th. May the Rabinovitz family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Yerushalayim.  The Parkoff family invites women in the community to a drive-by bridal shower for Zavi Parkoff this Sunday, July 19th, from 3-5 pm, at 7304 E. Cedar Ave. Contact Chaya Parkoff for more details!  New Classes for Women! See our calendar and Facebook page for new weekly shiurim by Ellyn Hutt and Liora Wittlin.  SHAWL: Rachel Rabinovitch will teach about Bnot Tzelafchad this Shabbat afternoon from 7-8 pm. The shiur will be at 151 S Olive St , outdoors. Please enter into the backyard through the driveway. Masks and social distancing required. Sign up sheet HERE .  Daily and Shabbat Minyan will continue to take place at The Jewish Experience. The sign up sheet can be found Here, and further updates will be send out in emails during the week.  See page 6 for more information on the laws of .  Consider volunteering to lein on Shabbat! The sign-up website is www.datminyan.org/laining. Please contact KIDS NEWS

Our thanks to Mor Shapiro for creating our new weekly Kid-Friendly Parasha Newsletter, which includes a Parasha summary, questions, game and a Dvar Torah from one of our DAT Minyan kids.

If you are a DAT Minyan Kid who would like to write a Dvar Torah, please email Mor at [email protected].

To read this week’s edition, go to: https://images.shulcloud.com/395/uploads/Documents/Kids-Parsha/MatotMassei.pdf

DAT Minyan acknowledges the following milestones* of our members this Shabbat and in the coming week: David Andorsky, Maya Friedman, Julie Geller, Ellie Loewenthal, Shanna Miller, Jay Shoenberger, Alyssa Silberman, Wendy Slamowitz, Aaron Tiktin

Herschel Brown– July 20 (28 Tammuz) *These details were obtained from the DAT Minyan database, which contains information provided by our members when they joined. We apologize for any omissions or errors. For changes, please log on to your account and update the information as needed, or contact the office at 720-941-0479.

THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING FUTURE GENERATIONS WITH YOUR GENEROSITY You can add your name to this list with a legacy gift to the DAT We would like to thank our Legacy Society donors for investing in our Minyan. To arrange for your gift or for more information about our future by naming the DAT Minyan with a gift in their will, trust, Legacy Society program, please contact any of the following retirement account or life insurance policy. Our Legacy Society Committee Members: Sarah Raphaely and Steve Weiser. includes:

Rob Allen Nathan and Rachel Rabinovitch

anonymous Mark and Sarah Raphaely Marc and Melanie Avner Harley and Sara Rotbart

Graeme and Irit Bean Stuart Senkfor and Leslie Stewart Myndie Brown Michael Stutzer

Steve and Ellyn Hutt Steve and Lori Weiser

Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service. MORE DAT MINYAN NEWS AND EVENTS

This Day in - July 18/ 26 Tammuz

Have interesting Jewish trivia or fun facts? Email them to [email protected] to be featured in a weekly newsletter!

 1759: The Frankist sect was created by Jacob Frank, who claimed to be the reincarnation of the false Messiah Shabbetai Zvi. In the mid-1700’s, he sought to create a new religion that would incorporate both Judaism and Christianity in Poland. The bishop of Lvov arranged for a debate between the Frankists and three prominent Jewish leaders: Rav Israel of Mezhibuzh (the Baal Shem Tov), Rav Chaim Rappaport, and Rav Yitzchak Dovber Margulies. The four-day debate ended with a resounding victory for the , and the date was instituted as a day of rejoicing.  1897: “Women Here and There” published an article that included a description of a club named after Louisa Mae Alcott. The club, located in Boston, was started by Jewish women to provide educational and cultural programs for young Jewish girls including concerts, workshops and talks on various subjects.  1937: Birth date of Jewish American chemist Roald Hoffman, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1981.

As our congregation searches for its next Rabbi, we are fortunate to have a Rabbinic team that will be assisting our community this year:

Rabbi Marc Gitler: Pastoral Care and Smachot For Pastoral Care and Lifecycle events please contact Rabbi Gitler at [email protected]

Rabbi Dani Rockoff: Halachic Questions For Halachic questions for individuals or community matters, please contact Rabbi Rockoff at [email protected]

Minyan and Daf Yomi A Rabbi in the community will attend minyan Daily and on Shabbat to offer Divrei Torah and provide Rabbinic presence.

High Holidays: Rabbi Hillel Goldberg Rabbi Goldberg will serve as our Rabbi for Rosh Hashana and , and possibly as well.

Refuah Shelayma

Please include the following names in your prayers. May each be granted a Refuah Shelayma. Names are kept on the list until the next Rosh Chodesh. Help us keep the list accurate by verifying the necessary details each month on the Cholim Document at https://goo.gl/aeyJG2.

Avraham Mordechai ben Chaya Leah Michael ben Kay Avram ben Golda Simma Michel ben Leah Bella bat Malka Michoel Zisel ben Barbara Eliyahu Chaim ha Cohen ben Sara Rifka Miriam Adina bat Sara Eliyahu Dovid ben Ita Sheiva Mordechai ben Chaya Hannah Gershon ben Galina Mordechai Yitzchak ben Sarah Guy Chaim ben Rita Raphael Lior ben Miriam Leah bat Simcha Roshka bat Bryna Levick Yitzchak ben Bracha Shmuel Aharon ben Jenny Leya bat Sara Yonatan Leib Volf HaLevi ben Altahenya Shulamit Malka bat Mazel Tov Yonatan Zeev ben Netaa Mascha bat Rus Chaya Sarah Rivka bat Leah Mayer Benya ben Nechama Yossef ben Dinah Mendel Ila ben Frida Miriam

The Rabbis in our community have created a registry for those that are ill with COVID-19. The Denver Cholim Registry can be accessed at www.denvercholimregistry.weebly.com. Should you or someone you know need to be added to this registry, please contact your Rabbi. VAYICHAN AHAVAS YISRAEL ACHDUS

We are partnering with Yeshivat Hakotel in the upcoming Vayichan Ahavas Yisrael Achdus program, along with other Denver and international institutions The Vayichan programs are unprecedented in that they bring together the world’s Chief Rabbis, Senior Roshei Yeshiva, leading Rabbonim and Women Educators from around the world and from different perspectives/hashkafot who share Torah on one platform. The next program will be on July 26- the Sunday before Tisha B’Av- and is aptly called Vayichan Ahavas Yisrael. The program also includes sessions with mental health professionals who advise on how to strengthen Ahavas Yisrael, tours given by tour guides of places in Israel connected to the Beit HaMikdash and the churban, as well as Parent-Child interviews (in the spirit of V’heishiv Leiv Avot Al Habanim) conducted by Dovid Lichtenstein. Please see the attached schedule flier and Vayichan.com for more details. We hope that this program helps increase Ahavat Yisrael in this special period when we mourn for the Beit HaMikdash destroyed because of Sinat Chinam. VAYICHAN AHAVAS YISRAEL ACHDTUS

VAYICHAN AHAVAS YISRAEL ACHDTUS

MORE DAT MINYAN NEWS AND EVENTS

Halachot of the Three Weeks, Nine Days, and Tisha B'av By Rabbi Dani Rockoff, [email protected] The three week period beginning with the Fast of Asar B’Tammuz (July 9) and ending with the Fast of Tisha B’Av (July 30) is a time of mourning in the Jewish calendar. Historically, this period commemorates the sequence of events that began with the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem, and concluded with the destruction of the holy Temple. Though all three weeks are considered a period of mourning, the intensity of the mourning increases in stages as we approach Tisha B’Av.

The Three Weeks During the entire three week period (July 9- July 30): 1. Haircuts are not taken 2. Festive gatherings and parties are avoided 3. Festive music and dancing are avoided 4. New items, such as clothing, requiring a Shehchiyanu, are not worn

The Nine Days From Rosh Chodesh Av (July 22nd) through Tisha B’Av (July 30th): 1. Meat and wine are not consumed 2. Pleasurable bathing (including recreational swimming) is prohibited 3. Objects that bring joy (including clothing) and will be available after the “nine days” are not purchased 4. Construction and home decorating projects are not initiated 5. Outer garments are not laundered or pressed.

Meat and Wine Included in this prohibition are all foods containing meat or chicken. This restriction is suspended on Shabbat or at any other Seudat (such as a , etc.). At Havdalah, the wine should preferably be given to a minor; if, however, one is not available, then the person reciting Havdalah should drink the wine.

MORE DAT MINYAN NEWS AND EVENTS

Pleasurable Bathing/Swimming Swimming, bathing and showering for pleasure are prohibited. Instructional swim and bathing/ showering purely for cleanliness purposes are permitted. Because such bathing/showering should be done for cleanliness only, the coolest water tolerable should be used. Before going to the mikvah, women may bathe/shower in the normal manner. One may bathe/shower even in hot water before Shabbat.

Purchasing New Items This restriction applies only to ‘special’ items that bring the purchaser a certain measure of joy. If, during this period, such an item becomes available for a limited time at a substantially reduced cost, it may be purchased and used after Tisha B’Av.

Construction/Home Decorating Because of the excitement associated with such projects, construction, renovation or home decorating may not begin during the ‘nine days.’ If a hired contractor has already begun such a project, one should request that the work be suspended until after Tisha B’Av. If the contractor refuses or demands significant compensation for the idle days, the work may continue. If possible, one should attempt to suspend the project during the actual week of Tisha B’Av, and certainly on Tisha B’Av itself. Home repairs are permitted during the ‘nine days.’

Laundering and Pressing During the ‘nine days’, one may not wear freshly laundered or pressed outer garments (items not normally cleaned/ pressed after every use), nor may one launder, press or send clothes to the dry cleaners for use after Tisha B’Av. Because this restriction is based upon the pleasure that stems from a garment’s ‘freshly cleaned/pressed’ feel, clothing that has been worn for even a short time prior to the ‘nine days’ is permitted to be worn. One should make every effort to have available for the ‘nine days’ a wardrobe of garments that are clean but not freshly laundered or pressed; if, despite one’s best efforts, these garments become soiled, freshly laundered ones may be worn. Freshly laundered and pressed garments may be worn on Shabbat. The clothing of small children may be laundered during the ‘nine days.’

MORE DAT MINYAN NEWS AND EVENTS

Tisha B’Av The prohibitions of Tisha B’Av include the following: 1. Eating and drinking. Those who are pregnant, nursing or ill and concerned about fasting should contact Rabbi Rockoff for further discussion. 2. Washing any part of the body in hot or cold water (except upon arising in the morning, after using the facilities or if one’s hands become otherwise soiled) 3. Application of all cosmetics, lotions or ointments (except for medicinal purposes). 4. Wearing shoes (or sneakers) made wholly or partially of leather 5. Marital relations 6. Torah learning (except those areas appropriate to the mood of Tisha B’Av, i.e., the books of Iyov (Job) and Eikha (Lamentations), sections of the Bible and Talmud that discuss the destruction of the Temple, the laws of mourning, the laws of Tisha B’Av, etc. 7. Greeting a fellow (a nod of the head is most appropriate) 8. Engaging in any pleasurable/recreational activity that would divert one’s mind from the tragic nature of the day. 9. Preferably, one should refrain altogether from going to work on Tisha B’Av. Where this is impossible, one should refrain from business or professional activities until at least midday.

Children With the exception of not getting haircuts, the laws of the Three Weeks, Nine Days & Tisha B’Av are applicable only to children mature enough to understand the concept of mourning for the loss of the Temple (usually around age 7- 8, depending on the child). Because the pleasure of a small child’s haircut belongs primarily to the parents, haircuts are prohibited for children of any age. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Rabbi Rockoff.