בס״ד ּמִ ׁשְ ּפָ טִ י ם MISHPATIM In loving memory of Devorah bat Avraham z”l Volume 34 | #18 “If you see the donkey of your enemy crouching under its 13 February 2021 burden, would you refrain from helping him? – you shall 1 Adar 5781 surely help with him” Rosh Chodesh Adar (Shemot 23:5) Parashat Shekalim Shabbat ends: London 6.00pm Sheffield 6.07pm Glasgow 6.12pm Edinburgh 6.08pm Birmingham 6.05pm Southport 6.13pm Jerusalem 5.59pm 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 whole world. 1st Sefer Torah: Mishpatim (1 – 6) Artscroll p416 Hertz p306 INSIDE: Soncino p471 2nd Sefer Torah: Rosh Twin Tablets Chodesh (7th aliyah) by Rabbi Jeremy Conway Artscroll p890 Hertz p695 Soncino p944 Rashi and Onkelos in Print by Rabbi Nicky Goldmeier 3rd Sefer Torah: Maftir (Shekalim) Artscroll p484 Judaism and Music, part 7 Hertz p352 Soncino p540 The Music of the Future by Rabbi David Lister Haftarah (Shekalim) Artscroll p1213 Hertz p993 The Book of Judges Soncino p1191 Daf Hashavua by Pnina Savery Sidra breakdown Twin Tablets ּמִ ׁשְ ּפָ טִ י ם Mishpatim by Rabbi Jeremy Conway, Director of KLBD (Kashrut) and Eruvim for the London Beth Din 6th Sidra in: Last week’s parasha Torah to the Jewish people, and brought us to the what does he teach them? Not climax of the Exodus mystical secrets of the cosmos. Not ׁשְ מֹות from Egypt - the Giving Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh – Holy Holy Shemot of the Torah. Holy. The 10 Commandments really are He teaches them: By Numbers: the most extraordinary collection Employment law - How to treat of principles. They begin with the your servants. To pay your workers 118 verses most sublime, “I am the Lord Your on time. Not to mistreat them. God…, You should have no other Health and Safety Legislation 1,462 words gods besides Me” (Shemot 20:2-3), - Cover up a hole you dig in the and finish with the most prosaic, street. Build a fence around your 5,313 letters the most mundane, “The ox and flat roof. the donkey of your neighbour you Human Rights - Reparation of Headlines: shall not covet” (ibid. 20:14). Of damages, responsibility for your course, the mitzvot do not end property and your animals; make Civil laws, with the 10 Commandments; there sure they do not run around goring are 613! Straight after the 10 or causing damage. Yom Tov, Commandments the law-giving In other words, be good citizens Revelation continues in our parasha, “And and good human beings; care for these are the statutes that you shall your fellow man and be responsible place before them” (ibid. 21:1). towards the community. Then the It is a remarkable thing; Moshe Torah sums up: “Ve’anshei kodesh comes down the mountain to teach tiheyun li” - AND THEN you’ll be Sidra Summary 1st Aliya (Kohen) – Shemot 21:1-19 United Synagogue Daf Hashavua The sidrah contains many mitzvot, of which a selection has been included here. It Produced by US Living & Learning starts with the laws of a Jewish servant. He is to work for six years, after which he together with the Rabbinical Council of can go free. Alternatively, he can decide to stay on as a servant forever. the United Synagogue Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 21:20-22:3 Editorial and Production Team: The penalties for physically injuring others are listed. An ox that gores a person to Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, Rabbi Michael Laitner, death is stoned. One may not dig pits in the public domain. Stealing an animal and Rebbetzen Nechama Davis, then selling or slaughtering it incurs an extra penalty. Joanna Rose Point to Consider: Why is there no death penalty for a person who kills a thief in Available also via email US website self-defence? (see Rashi to 22:1) www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua please 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 22:4-26 contact Danielle Fox on 020 8343 6261, The laws governing guardians and borrowers of objects are listed – the level of or [email protected] responsibility for losing or damaging the object varies according to the nature of the If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email contract. Special emphasis is placed on not mistreating a widow or an orphan. It is [email protected] forbidden to take interest when lending money to the poor. people of holiness (ibid. 22:30). In fact, there are 145 words in the They could easily have been tagged Kedusha, holiness, is not first five commandments and only on the end of the first luach! dependent only on mitzvot Bein 26 words in the second five. I did Rashi (1040-1105) comments on Twin Tablets Adam LaMakom – between a an experiment to see what the two the verse in Shir Hashirim (the Song person and God: Tefillin, Tzitzit, Tablets would look like with the of Songs, 4:5) “The two luchot are Kashrut, Davening... It is equally commandments written out in full: like two fawns, twins of a gazelle”. dependent on mitzvot Bein Adam These two aspects of Torah LeChavero –between a person and have to be like a pair of identical his fellow: Chesed, thoughtfulness, twins, alike, equally vital and caring… important. One without the other is This is reflected in another imbalanced. fascinating thing we learn in our The true tzaddik lives a life which parasha: “And God said to Moshe, is carefully balanced, giving equal ‘Come up to me… and I will give weight to Bein Adam LaMakom you the Tablets’” (ibid. 24:12). Why One takes 19 lines, the other 6. and Bein Adam LeChavero, to were there two Tablets? Couldn’t Or perhaps the second five were his relationship with God and his they all have been written on one engraved in a much larger font size! relationship with other people. stone? Having two Tablets, one for Two tablets. Both equally Bein Adam LaMakom and one for important. Bein Adam LeChavero, emphasises the equality between the two, that … be good citizens both are equally critical. I find this point most intriguing. and good human In the depiction of the Tablets of beings; care for your Stone we have at the front of many fellow man and be shuls, we usually display the Tablets Either way, the Bein Adam with 10 words on each – the first LeChavero five certainly didn’t need responsible towards two words of each commandment. a whole separate luach (tablet). the community. In loving memory of Shmuel Nissim ben Yaacov z”l of those nations. 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 22:26-23:5 The narrative now switches back to three days before the The mitzvah of pidyon haben (redemption of the first born) is giving of the Torah (Rashi). Moshe builds 12 altars at the foot repeated. It is forbidden to eat an animal which died without of Mount Sinai, one for each tribe, on which offerings are shechita (kosher slaughter). One must not favour the destitute brought. Moshe sprinkles the blood of the offerings on in court. A stray ox or donkey should be returned to its owner. the people, who famously proclaim “we will do and we will listen” (na’aseh ve’nishma). Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu and 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 23:6-19 70 elders see a very pure ‘vision’ of God. Moshe remains on A judge has to avoid showing favour or taking bribes. For six Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights. years the land is worked; in the seventh year (shemittah) it is prohibited to work the land. The three pilgrim festivals – 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – (Bemidbar 28:9-15) Pesach, Shavuot and Succot – are listed. There is a mitzvah to The reading for Shabbat Rosh Chodesh is taken from bring one’s first fruits (bikurim) to the Temple. It is prohibited to parashat Pinchas and details the additional Shabbat cook meat and milk together. and Rosh Chodesh offerings in the Temple. 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 23:20-24:18 Maftir (Shemot 30:11-16) God says that He will send an angel to guide the nation in The special reading for Shekalim is from the beginning of their conquest of the Land, helping them to destroy the host parashat Ki Tisa (Shemot chapter 30), instructing the Israelites nations. They are warned not to emulate the idolatrous ways to bring a compulsory annual half-shekel contribution for Rashi and Onkelos in Print by Rabbi Nicky Goldmeier, Rabbi at Staines and District Synagogue, Education Consultant and Tribe Scribe Editor On 6th Adar 5781 (18th convert to Judaism, Onkelos wrote This story highlights Onkelos’ February 2021), it will his Aramaic translation to the Torah utter dedication and love of be 539 years since the in approximately 110 CE. Ezra the Judaism. In just a few meteoric very first edition of the Scribe, who had led many Jews words of sincerity and truth, he had Chumash with the commentary of back to Israel to rebuild the Temple conveyed the essence of Judaism Rashi and the translation of ‘Targum after the Babylonian exile, had to his would-be captors. Onkelos’ (the Aramaic translation of translated the Torah into Aramaic. Fast forward to the 11th Century the Torah) was published and printed Unfortunately, this translation was and we meet Rabbi Shlomo in Bologna, Italy by Joseph ben lost and so Onkelos’ work was much Yitzchaki.