Volume 29No. 1

בס״ד

Rosh Hashanah ends

3 October 2016 • 1 Tishrei 5777

נָה Rosh Hashanahֹראׁש ַהָשּׁSacks Koren ArtscrollRoutledgeBirnbaum

Day 1

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Day 2

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In loving memory of Susi and Freddie Bradfield Sara Gitel bat Mordechai Menachem ז״ל and Yaacov ben Zvi ז״ל

London 7.18pmJerusalem 6.56pm

Cover art: Israeli Stamp, circa 2010 © Arkady Mazor

4 October 2016Torah Readings

1

SUMMARY OF TORAH READINGS

First Day Rosh Hashanah

The Torah reading is divided into five aliyot, taken from a section of parashat Vayera (Bereishit 21). Avraham’s wife Sarah is 90 years old and childless. On Rosh Hashanah, God had ‘remembered’ her. Our reading begins with the subsequent birth of Yitzchak. Sarah sees the potential negative effect that Avraham’s wayward first son, Yishmael, could have on Yitzchak. She tells Avraham to send away Yishmael and his mother Hagar. God tells the reluctant Avraham to do as Sarah had requested. Hagar and Yishmael are travelling in the desert and Yishmael is dying of thirst. An angel appears, telling Hagar that a great nation will come from Yishmael. A well of water miraculously appears.

Haftarah First Day

The first two chapters of the Book of Shmuel (Samuel) relate the moving story of his birth (see p.3). Elkanah had two wives, Channah and Peninah. Peninah was blessed with many children, but Channah was childless. Every year, the family would make the journey to the Tabernacle in Shilo. One year, Eli the Kohen spots Channah by the Tabernacle courtyard. She is praying fervently for a child. Eli mistakenly thinks Channah is drunk. After confronting her, Channah corrects Eli, explaining the reason for her prayers. Eli promises Channah that God will answer her. After returning home with Elkanah, Channah conceives and gives birth to Shmuel. Channah recites a beautiful song, praising God’s ability to reverse fortunes.

Question: What led Eli to think that Channah was drunk? Answer: bottom of page 6

Second Day Rosh Hashanah

The reading is from the end of parashat Vayera (Bereishit 22) and depicts Akeidat Yitzchak (the Binding of Yitzchak). Avraham, who is well over 100 years old, is told by God to take his son Yitzchak to Mount Moriah and bring him as an offering. Having previously been told by God that Yitzchak would be his heir and having always encouraged Avraham’s acts of compassion and kindness, this Divine instruction defied logic. Nevertheless Avraham obeys, showing that his devotion to God is not conditional on his logical understanding. As Avraham raises the knife, an angel appears, telling him not to touch Yitzchak, presenting a ram to be offered instead. Avraham is praised for his faith.

Haftarah Second Day

The prophet Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) was not only a voice of warning and grief. He was also a prophet of hope, evident throughout the haftarah, which contains the moving depiction of Rachel, the ‘mother of Israel’, crying from her grave for her exiled children. God comforts her that eventually the Jews will return, with a line which is often sung in synagogues across Israel when welcoming people who have made aliyah: “and (her) children will return to their own borders”.

Point to Consider: What is the connection between this haftarah and Rosh Hashanah?

United Synagogue Daf HashavuahProduced by the US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of the United SynagogueEditor: Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Editorial Team: Ilana Epstein, Michael Laitner, Sharon RadleyAvailable also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United SynagogueTo sponsor Daf Hashavuah please contact Loraine Young on 020 8343 5653, or lyoung@theus.org.ukIf you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavuah please email rabbigross@theus.org.uk

Registered Charity no. 242552 2

“Yom Hakippurim” literally means “Day of Atonements.” Why does the Torah use the plural form (Vayikra 23:28)?

It may simply be a reference to the two categories of sin:

Bein Adam LaMakom – sins one has committed solely against God and Bein Adam Lechavero – sins we have committed against our fellows. On Yom Kippur we are required to ‘settle our accounts’ with both the Almighty and our fellow human beings.

However, an alternative understanding can be derived from the well-known Talmudic passage (Rosh Hashanah 32b), which relates, in the name of Rabbi Abahu, that during the High Holydays “The King is sitting on His throne of judgement and Sifrei Hachayim ve’Sifrei Hameitim - the Books of Life and of Death - are open before Him”, as He determines our fate for the coming year.

A third understanding is that of Rabbi Chaim of Velozhin (d. 1821) who translated this Talmudic text differently. Sifrei Hachayim ve’Sifrei Hameitim can equally mean ‘the Books of the Living and the Dead’, indicating that over the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe), God brings the souls of those who have previously passed away and judges them yet again. This explains why, in some traditions, immediately before the confession on Yom Kippur, we say “aval anachnu va’avoteinu chatanu” – ‘but we and our ancestors have sinned’, recognising that our ancestors are also judged every year on this day.

What sense can be made of this teaching? How can those who have passed away still face judgement each year - what could possibly have changed?

The Pachad Yitzchak (Rabbi Yitzchak Lampranti d. 1756) explains that the consequences and implications of our deeds continue well beyond

our physical lives. Some of the waves of kindness and goodness we set in motion can take years or even generations before they bear fruit. Conversely, the destructive influences we have on others can create a negative, eternal domino-effect. Consequently, every year God brings the departed back before Him. The impact of their deeds on earth during the previous year are assessed and their level of spiritual pleasure in Heaven is updated accordingly.

In this spirit, the Darkei Moshe (Rabbi Moshe Isserles d. 1572) explains that the plural term “Kippurim” indicates that our holiest day of the year atones for both the living and the dead. It is, indeed, a “Day of Atonements” which transcends the boundaries of time.

At this time of year, we recognise the deep responsibility that each of us has to our forebears, who still benefit greatly when we perpetuate their memory with acts of righteousness and kindness. But, perhaps most importantly, we recognise the potentially infinite impact of our own actions for the generations to come. Every person wants to leave a lasting legacy in the world and the recipe for doing so is remarkably simple. Every moment we spend in the service of God creates positivity and timeless rewards, not only for ourselves in our own lifetimes, but for numerous others, for all time.

From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippurby Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis

In loving memory of Dr Ian Silverman, always in our thoughts. Rosalie, Lisa & Ruth. 3

The Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) suggests a curious etymology for the name given to the bulge at the front of a man’s throat. The term ‘Adam’s Apple’ originates “from the superstition that a

piece of the forbidden fruit which Adam ate stuck in his throat, and occasioned the swelling”. This myth proposes that we have a permanent physical reminder of Adam’s sin of eating, which took place at the beginning of Creation.

However, there is no basis to assume that the piece of fruit from the Tree of Knowledge was in any way an apple. The verse in Bereishit seems intentionally ambiguous about the specific identity of this tree: “But of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for on the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die” (Bereishit 2:17). The Talmud (Berachot 40a) actually suggests three possible identities, none of which are an apple tree. We can therefore conclude, Brewer’s Dictionary notwithstanding, that apples have no natural link to sin whatsoever.

This is somewhat of a relief, considering that apples are specifically designated on Rosh Hashanah as a siman tov, ‘a good sign’, of a sweet new year ahead. What is the symbolism of the apple? How does it reflect our perspective on Rosh Hashanah?

Perhaps an event which the Torah relates about two of our patriarchs can shed light on this. When Ya’akov approached his failing-sighted father Yitzchak, in his attempt to take the blessings away from his brother Esav, Yitzchak remarked: “Behold, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field, which God has blessed” (Bereishit 27:27). The Talmud (Ta’anit 29b) explains that this pleasant ‘fragrance’ was in fact the scent of an apple orchard. Yitzchak understood that this must symbolise a blessing from God.

Aware of the importance of these blessings, Ya’akov was on a mission. He understood that if events were left to take their natural course, his and his future descendants’ spiritually unique bond with God was in danger. He knew that if he were to fail in his charge, he would never actualise the potential within himself. He would never transition from Ya’akov to Yisrael, the name he was later given, which was an indication that he would receive the mantle from his father. This critical moment would dictate whether one day there would be an Am Yisrael, a Jewish nation. In this mission, he received a little nod from God, demonstrating approval as he pursued this holy task. This approval was shown through a scent, a beautiful fragrance of apples, to demonstrate that God was blessing the work of his hands and that his deed was meritorious.

This lesson helps to explain why we turn specifically to apples every year on the first night of Rosh Hashanah. They symbolise that we too, like Ya’akov our ancestor, are tasked with ensuring there will be an Am Yisrael, a thriving Jewish people, and that we must continue this work in the year ahead. We dip this fragrant fruit in honey and pray that our continued holy work should be full of goodness and sweetness.

Rosh Hashanah and Apples by Rabbi Elchonon Feldman, Belmont United Synagogue

לז”נ שלמה אליעזר פנחס בן שמואל 4

Our Rosh Hashanah liturgy was carefully constructed in order to focus our minds on the themes and ideas of the day and the year to come. On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, we read the haftarah from the first chapter of the

Book of Shmuel (Samuel). Why was this haftarah chosen? Was it specifically for the moving and evocative story of Channah’s personal prayer? Or are there additional features that make the story pertinent?

The Talmud (Bava Batra 14b) states that Shmuel himself wrote the Book of Shofetim (Judges) and the Book of Shmuel. Shmuel started his story by referring to his father Elkana as “Ish Echad”, meaning ‘a certain man’. This is a term we encounter elsewhere, in the stories of Noach, Lot and the destruction of the First Temple. The Midrash states that when God is considering wiping out a society, He looks for an “ish echad”, to deem it worthy of being saved. To Shmuel, his father was that person. Elkana is described by the Midrash as man who would look at people in the most favourable light and enable others to perform mitzvot (Tanna Devei Eliyahu Rabba 9).

Shmuel then details the town from which Elkana hailed, Ramata’im-Tzofim. Interestingly, this is the only mention of this town in the entire Tanach

(Bible). “Ramah” indicates a town built on an elevated area; “Tzofim” means watching and looking ahead, as opposed to looking back.

The verse then lists five generations of Shmuel’s family, ending with an ancestor named Tzuf, once more derived from the word ‘to watch’. Shmuel is hinting at the importance of vision. This emphasis is not just found in the beginning of the Book of Shmuel. At the end of the preceding Book, Shofetim, the last verse relates that the situation in the Land of Israel was desperate: “In those days there was no king in Israel; a man would do whatever seemed proper in his own eyes” (Shoftim 21:25).

As we close the Book of Judges, we are closing the Book on those men who did whatever seemed proper within their own limited field of vision. As we open the Book of Shmuel, we are introduced to people who were watching the Land from a higher vantage point, allowing for a new, far-reaching view, people who were worthy of building society.

The offspring of Elkana, the “Ish Echad”, the descendant of men with vision, was Shmuel, who made Israel into a monarchy that we still celebrate and yearn for to this day. Shmuel is counted amongst the great leaders of Israel, referred to alongside Moshe and Aharon (Psalms/Tehilim 99).

This haftarah was selected for one of the most important days in the calendar, not just for Channah’s beautiful prayer, but also to stress the foresight of Shmuel’s forbears. As we enter a new year, we come once again to the beginning of our own personal stories. We have a new opportunity to look ahead with care, to form a vision in our minds of the coming year and to plan accordingly. We can strive to set up the year to be filled with hope and blessings, to build it not just for ourselves, but also for our families, communities, the Jewish people and the entire world.

Looking Ahead by Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein, Cockfosters & N Southgate United Synagogue; Head of Project Development, US Living & Learning

In loving memory of Yechiel Ya’akov and Eta Spitz 5

The Battle of Cable Street by Rabbi [Major] Reuben Livingstone LLM CF, Senior Jewish Chaplain to HM Armed Forces

In an extraordinary show of unity and defiance, the Jews of London’s East End, joined by many others from around the capital, built barricades from bits of wood and old mattresses and armed themselves with chair

legs and rotten vegetables. Children prepared marbles to roll underfoot, while women leaned out of windows, ready to empty pots over those marching past.

80 years ago, on October 4, 1936, the Battle of Cable Street saw ordinary Jews and non-Jews deal a blow against fascism, sending Oswald Mosley and his despicable Blackshirts packing from the predominantly Jewish area.

In 1936, Hitler’s Nazis were gathering strength to goose-step across Europe. In the UK, Sir Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists was also on the rise. Mosely, a former Labour minister, had transformed a rabble of anti-Semitic thugs into a personal militia, kitted out in Nazi-style black uniforms, peaked-caps and jackboots. Like Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy, he set about trying to stir up venomous hatred amongst Londoners against their Jewish neighbours. He planned to lead 7,000 fascists through the East End of London and compel the Metropolitan Police to provide an escort of over 10,000 officers to clear the road of anyone who would protest.

Mosley’s afternoon began with him saluting his ‘troops’ as he drove past them in his Bentley on Royal Mint Street, near the Whitechapel area. The march through Whitechapel and neighbouring Limehouse was intended as an intimidating show of strength, a fitting prelude to his marriage the following day to his second wife Diana, at Nazi Propaganda Chief Joseph Goebbels’ home in Berlin.

However, Mosley had not reckoned with the determined defiance of ordinary Londoners - of all stripes - who came out on to the streets in righteous anger. It is estimated that more than 300,000 people turned out, chanting the Spanish civil war anti-fascist slogan “no pasaran” – “they shall not pass”. After a series of running battles, Police Commissioner Sir Philip Game ordered Mosley to turn back or risk a bloodbath. For the

fascists it was utter humiliation and it marked the end of their racist aspirations. For the protesters, it was a sweet and deeply symbolic victory. A large mural in Cable Street commemorates this event.

This episode has a great deal to teach us on Rosh Hashanah. It inspires us to stand up proudly as Jews. It also underscores the extraordinary power of unity. When we stand shoulder to shoulder in mutual support, there is little that can overcome us. Indeed, the early Chassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (d. 1809), in discussing the Day of Judgement, emphasises that even if we are unworthy as individuals, when we clasp hands and join together, even the Almighty Himself has (so to speak) no choice but to wave us through!

Answer: her lips were moving, but her words were not audible

Oswald Mosley on the day of the‘Battle of the Cable Street’ 1936

In loving memory of Mordechai Avraham ben Nechemia 6

We hope you have enjoyed the new extended Daf Hashavuah. To sponsor forthcoming editions to celebrate a simcha or remember a loved one contact Loraine at lyoung@theus.org.uk or call 020 8343 5653

Volume 29No. 1

בס״ד

Rosh Hashanah Ends 3 October 2016 • 1 Tishrei 5777

נָה ֹראׁש ַהָשּׁRosh Hashanah Sacks Koren

ArtscrollRoutledgeBirnbaum

Day 1

473402117287

Day 2

733402216299

In loving memory of Susi and Freddie Bradfield

Sara Gitel bat Mordechai Menachem ז’ל and Yaacov ben Zvi ז’ל

London 7.18pm

Jerusalem 6.56pm

Cover art: Israeii Stamp, circa 2010 © Arkady Mazor

4 October 2016Torah Readings

1

7

In loving memory of Binyomin ben Dovid Yehuda