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BO
4th Shevat 5772 ~ 28th January 2012
Rabbi Dr Jeremy Collick
How many plagues does it take for God to
convince Pharaoh to free the Israelites from Egypt?
If you answered ten, then I’m sorry to say,
you’re wrong! It only took one plague, the last one, the one we
refer to as Makat Bechorot, or the Death of the First Born in
Egypt. The others were an annoyance and a warning. In themselves
they were never meant to force the Egyptians to free the
Israelite slaves.
In the end, they pale in comparison with the
death of Pharaoh’s son and all the first born in Egypt. It was
the last plague and the last plague alone, which broke the will
of Pharaoh and forced him to allow the Israelites to leave
Egypt, But God seems to have known this from the start so what
was the point of this elaborate game of cat and mouse that Moses
used to free the Israelites?
Moses seems to have begun with the end in
mind. The first nine plagues were merely an introduction to the
ultimate climax of this story.
Long before Pharaoh, the Egyptians understood
that they were doomed. The people tell their leader, “How long
shall this one be a snare to us… are you not yet aware that
Egypt is lost?”
Perhaps the plagues were meant to show
Pharaoh and all Egypt just how powerful God was. The plague’s
purpose was educational. They proved that the Egyptian gods were
powerless in the presence of Israel’s God.
But Davar Acher, another possibility is that
by following the story of the plagues to its climax, the Torah
teaches us that Makat Bechorot, the taking of lives, must always
be the final resort to which we turn and never the first attempt
to impose our will on others.
Certainly God could have convinced Pharaoh to
free the Israelites from Egypt by killing the children in Egypt
at the very beginning, but he chooses to give Egypt ever
opportunity to change its minds before resorting to violence.
From the very beginning, Moses warns Pharaoh
what is at stake: The other plagues are a warning to Pharaoh
that God can do what he has promised. All the other plagues are
delay tactics. As hard as his heart may have been, Pharaoh
always has a choice. He knows what’s coming.
We seem to live in an age where violence and
the use of force is the norm. The Torah says otherwise, don’t
resort to violence until you absolutely have to. Make every
effort to destroy evil through other means even if your foe
appears to be irrational and unreasonable.
So yes, God resorts to violence, but only as
a final decision when all else has failed. And even then we take
our wine cup at the Passover Seder and we remove a bit of the
sweet wine from it as we mention the ten plagues. Violence and
force, even when it’s necessary and inevitable, is a tragedy and
should never be celebrated.
The tenth plague is the last resort. We must
constantly pray that we are not forced to turn to it as means of
turning to it, even in defence.
Mipnay Darchei Shalom is a major principle of
Jewish law – doing as much as one can to ensure peace but if you
have the ultimate deterrent, one day, God seems to be saying,
you may have to be prepared to use it.
As my younger son Jacob celebrates his Bar
Mitzvah today may that day be very far from us.
Rabbi Dr Jeremy Collick is rabbi at Edgware
Masorti Synagogue
Mishnah Yomit from the
Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem
Berakhot, Chapter One, Mishnah Three
prepared by faculty member Dr. Joshua Kulp
Introduction
The Torah says that one should recite the
Shema “when you lie down and when you get up.” In our Mishnah,
Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel debate the meaning of this phrase.
Mishnah Three
-
Bet Shammai say: in the evening every man
should recline and recite [the Shema], and in the morning he
should stand, as it says, “And when you lie down and when
you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).
-
Bet Hillel say that every man should
recite in his own way, as it says, “And when you walk by the
way” (ibid). Why then is it said, “And when you lies down
and when you get up?” At the time when people lie down and
at the time when people rise up.
-
Rabbi Tarfon said: I was once walking by
the way and I reclined to recite the Shema according to the
words of Bet Shammai, and I incurred danger from robbers.
They said to him: you deserved to come to harm, because you
acted against the words of Bet Hillel.
Explanation
Section one: Bet Shammai reads the verse
quite literally. In the evening one must lie down and recite
the Shema and in the morning one must stand up and recite it.
Section two: In contrast, to Bet Hillel
these words refer to the time when people lie down and the time
when they rise up. The words “and when you walk by the way”
prove that the Torah does not really care what position a person
is when he recites the Shema.
Section three: Rabbi Tarfon, a sage who lived
after the destruction of the Temple, testifies that one time
while going on the way in the evening (probably riding on his
donkey), he went out of his way to lie down on the ground and he
almost incurred danger from robbers. The rabbis to whom he is
talking tell him that he deserved whatever trouble he got in for
going out of his way to act like Bet Shammai. The Halachah is
like Bet Hillel and a rabbi who acts against this Halachah is
endangering his own life.
VAERA
26th Tevet 5772 ~ 21st January 2012
Jessica Nyman
This week’s parsha
explores Moshe and Aaron beginning to ask Pharaoh to free the
enslaved Israelites, and with Pharaoh’s continuing refusal the
onset of the ten plagues, each followed by Pharaoh’s heart being
hardened and refusing to let them leave.
This parsha is a key
turning point in the direction of the lives of the Israelites
and the beginning of their transitional phase, although their
situation is technically no different at the end than the start.
But after 400 years of slavery, Moshe has emerged as an
unwilling and unconventional strong leader. In last week’s
parsha, it seemed to the Israelites that the actions of Moshe
and Aaron had worsened their situation. However, Vaera is
punctuated with a series of high points of hope. Several times,
Pharaoh seems to relent and begs Moshe to plead with God to
remove the plagues. Despite the continuous hardening his heart
again, this is certainly a step forwards and the Israelites can
imagine freedom and independent life in their own land for the
first time.
Vaera begins with God
stepping up his direct actions in bringing the Israelites out of
Egypt and cementing his relationship with Moshe. God says to
Moshe, “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai,
but I did not make Myself known to them by my name YHVH,” which
suggests that not giving them his real name was not revealing
his real self. We know that every word of God’s is meaningful,
as for example Creation itself began with spoken words taking
physical effect (“God said, ‘let there be light’, and there was
light”). Thus this is a statement of the importance of his
current relationship with Moshe, and shows his commitment and
support.
Moshe’s role with the
Israelites is a transitional role. He was not brought up a
slave, and he never arrives in the Land of Israel – his
responsibility is to get them out of Egypt and safely into the
Promised Land, like a parent figure bringing up children. As a
Student Fieldworker for MAROM [Masorti Young Adults Division], I
see the journey of the Israelites under the guidance of Moshe as
a metaphor for transitional stages we make in life. University
is a time of transition from childhood to adulthood. Not only
are students swamped with academic work, it is often the first
time that they are living away from home and have to take
responsibility for looking after themselves, their finances,
handling difficult interpersonal issues and navigating their
relationship to Judaism. Students are at a critical stage in
their lives when they have to learn to challenge themselves to
decide how to live their life – whilst they know they have a few
years left in the structure of education, the reality of adult
life is just around the corner.
Moshe’s confidence
starts as minimal due to his stutter, his leadership qualities
are nurtured with support from his special relationship with
God, and he is able to approach Pharaoh and challenge him. MAROM
believes in nurturing the confidence of young adults and aims to
build grassroots peer-led relational communities on campus,
developing student leadership to help the young community to be
able to take themselves confidently to the next stage of their
lives.
Jessica Nyman is the AMS Student Fieldworker
Mishnah Yomit from the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem
Berakhot, Chapter One, Mishnah Two - prepared by faculty member
Dr. Joshua Kulp
Introduction
Today’s Mishnah proceeds
to discuss when the morning Shema is recited. The Torah says
that it should be recited “when you get up,” so the debate in
our Mishnah is essentially over the meaning of this phrase.
Mishnah Two
From what time may one
recite the Shema in the morning?
1) From the time
that one can distinguish between blue and white.
a) Rabbi Eliezer
says: between blue and green.
2) And he must
finish it by sunrise.
a) Rabbi Joshua
says: until the third hour of the day, for such is the custom of
the children of kings, to rise at the third hour.
b) If one recites
the Shema later he loses nothing, like one who reads in the
Torah.
Explanation
Section one: Both
opinions in the Mishnah determine when one can recite the
morning Shema by whether it is light enough to distinguish
colours. This is probably connected to the wearing of Tzitzit in
the morning and the ability to recognize the colours of the
threads. The first opinion holds that one must be able to
distinguish between blue and white, the two colours in one’s
Tzitzit. Rabbi Eliezer holds that one must be able to
distinguish between blue and green. Green is close to the colour
of Tzitzit, so Rabbi Eliezer is saying that one must be able to
tell that the Tzitzit are blue and not green. This would require
more light than distinguishing between blue and white.
Section two: According
to the first opinion one must finish reciting the Shema by
sunrise. This is the time of day when most people would get up.
Rabbi Joshua holds that
“when you get up” doesn’t refer to when an average working
person rises, but to when the last people, the children of
kings who do not have to work, get up.
They rise at the third
hour of the day, meaning when one quarter of the day has passed.
Therefore, all of Israel has until this time to recite the Shema.
Rabbi Joshua adds that
after the third hour one who reads the Shema has not
transgressed. We might have thought that by reciting a prayer
which he was not obligated to recite he thereby recited God’s
name in vain. However, this is not so because the Shema is in
the Torah and reading the Torah and pronouncing God’s name is
not considered taking God’s name in vain. Nevertheless, one who
recites the Shema after the third hour has not fulfilled the
mitzvah of reciting the Shema.
To
subscribe go to
http://www.conservativeyeshiva.org/category/mishnah-yomit
VAYECHI
12th Tevet 5772 ~ 7th January 2012
Rabbi David Soetendorp
Sedrah
Va-Yechi contains the moving blessing by Jacob of his children
when he was preparing himself for his death. It was a very
personal blessing in which he offers them a prophecy of their
and their descendents’ future. At first Jacob directs his gaze
at Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh to bless them. Rabbi
Günter Plaut comments on Jacob’s blessing of these two
grandsons: ‘Jacob sees his life spread before him. He is aware
of the continued presence of God and acknowledges this with deep
feeling …He knows in this moment that his own complex life is
crowned with hope.’
As his
children are about to join him for their last meeting, he
reflects on his life so full of struggle and travel, which is
now coming to an end. He remembers his lonely night on the run
from Esau, his brother; Jacob deceptively stole his birthright
from their blind father.
That night
Jacob dreamt of a ladder reaching into heaven with angels
ascending and descending on it. And heard God’s voice comforting
him: ‘Do not fear Jacob I will protect you’.
Now Jacob
becomes aware that God kept His promise of protection of him
from youth to old age.
When Jacob
blesses Ephraim and Manasseh he says: ‘The God who has been my
shepherd from my birth to this day. The Angel who has redeemed
me from all harm, May He bless these boys and may through them
my name be remembered, and the name of my fathers’.
That
blessing became a traditional blessing with which Jewish parents
have continued to bless their children.
My parents
would bless us, their children with this blessing. During the
early years of their marriage my parents had been experiencing
the oppression of the Nazi occupation of Holland. Like Jacob
before them, they had come through many a lonely night surviving
to bring up their four children.
I am
writing this Reflections on my mother’s Yahrzeit, remembering
her passing away now nearly thirty years ago. On her last night
we, her children surrounded her in her bed. In the peace that
descended on us in my mother’s last moments together with her
children we shared that after a difficult life, so similar to
Jacob’s, our mother found strength in the presence of her
children standing around her.
‘Ha-Malach
Ha-Goel Otti Mi-Kol Rah Hoo Yevarech et Ha-Yeladim’; ‘God who
protected me from all harm; May He bless the children’. Thus
Jewish parents continue to bless their children.
Through
Jewish history we become aware that these words of faith and
redemption have been spoken by many Jewish parents in difficult,
even tragic, moments. Jacob’s blessing of his grandsons, full of
its promise of redemption and hope followed them and gave them
the support they needed to face up to their ordeals.
Rabbi David Soetendorp is visiting Rabbi to the Almere community
in the Netherlands
Torah Sparks
Rabbi Joseph Prouser
"And Jacob called his sons and said, 'Come together that I
may tell you what is to befall you in days to come.'"
(Genesis 49:1)
Derash: Study
-
"Jacob
called his sons and said to them, 'Cleanse yourselves of
impurity and I will reveal to you hidden secrets, and the
unknown future, the reward awaiting the righteous, and the
torment awaiting the evil, and the delights of paradise." (Targum
Yerushalmi)
-
"Until
Jacob, there was no illness. Jacob came and asked for mercy,
and illness came into being: Thus, a man grows ill before
his death, so that he might instruct his household."
(Talmud, Baba Metzia 87-A; Rashi, ad loc.)
-
"From the
day the heavens and earth were created, no man was ever
sick. Rather, one would be on the road or in the
marketplace, and would sneeze, and his soul would depart
through his nostrils. Until our Father Jacob came and asked
God for mercy in this regard: Lord of the Universe, do not
take my soul from me until I am able to instruct my sons and
the members of my household." (Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer, 52)
-
"Jacob
becomes conscious of approaching death, and communicates his
final wishes to his children. In speaking to define a
reality that he is about to leave, Jacob is unique among the
patriarchs. His is, in fact, the only deathbed scene in
Genesis, indeed in the whole Torah." (Avivah Gottlieb
Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire)
Questions for Discussion:
-
Jacob's
blessings, admonitions, and instructions from his deathbed
mark the beginning of the Jewish tradition of "ethical
wills." Recognizing the fact of our own mortality, what
values, goals, hopes, and guidance would we communicate to
our loved ones and, in particular, our children and
grandchildren? What is the most effective or meaningful way
to communicate our message?
-
Pirkei
Rabbi Eliezer describes Jacob's final illness as a welcome
and merciful opportunity to gain new perspective and to pass
on resulting wisdom. Is this a typical Jewish view of
adversity? Why was physical decline necessary for Jacob to
offer his "blessings?"
-
What is
the significance of the "sneeze" which is purported by the
Midrash to have marked departure of the soul? Does it
represent the fragility of life? Our inability indefinitely
to forestall death? What does Jacob do to modify or remedy
this dramatic expression of our transitory existence?
From:
United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism. More can be found on
their website:
http://www.uscj.org
To access 'Reflections' from
previous years
please click on the link below:
Reflections 2011
Reflections 2010
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Reflections 2006
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