Yom Kippur & Ha azinu

Transcription

1 Volume 31 No. 3 Yom Kippur & Ha azinu Yom Kippur 19 September Tishrei 5779 Ha azinu 22 September Tishrei 5779 Yom Kippur ends London 7.53pm Jerusalem 7.16pm Shabbat ends London 7.46pm Jerusalem 7.12pm Artscroll p.1100 Haftarah p.1205 Hertz p.896 Haftarah p.904 Soncino p.1159 Haftarah p.1170 In loving memory of Bayla Bat Gershon God designated a large fish to swallow Yonah, and Yonah remained in the fish s innards for three days and three nights (Yonah 2:1). The Book of Yonah (Jonah) is read during the mincha service on Yom Kippur. 1

2 Sidrah Summary: Yom Kippur and Ha azinu Yom Kippur Morning From the first Sefer Torah, we read the beginning of parashat Acharei Mot. This details the Yom Kippur service of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest), including his once-a-year entry into the Holy of Holies and the offerings he brought for himself, his family and the nation. This service included taking two goats on behalf of the nation. Lots were drawn on the goats, to determine which one would would be offered as a sin-offering and which would be sent away into the desert hills outside Jerusalem where it plunged to its death. The Mishna (Yoma 6:8) states that a strip of crimson cloth would be tied to the gate of the Temple. When the goat had reached the desert, if the nation's sins had been forgiven, the strip would turn white. Another feature of the Kohen Gadol s special Yom Kippur service was that he did not wear any of the golden garments that he wore during his normal service. Point to Consider: Why did the Kohen Gadol wear only white garments on Yom Kippur? Maftir is read from the second Sefer Torah, from the section of parashat Pinchas which details the extra offerings brought on Yom Kippur. Haftarah The prophet Yeshaya (Isaiah chapter 57) states that whilst God never ignores wrongdoing, the door to teshuva (repentance) always remains open. However, teshuva has to be sincere; fasting and affliction carry little merit if one continues to mistreat other people. Yeshaya encourages not just keeping the laws of Shabbat, but also experiencing its joyous atmosphere, which can allow us to reach our greatest spiritual potential. Yom Kippur Afternoon (Mincha) We read the last part of parashat Acharei Mot, concentrating on the laws of forbidden relationships, such as with close relatives, or with another s spouse. The nation s well-being in the Land is dependent upon keeping these laws. Haftarah (Mincha) Yonah (Jonah), a Jewish prophet, is told to go to the non-jewish city of Nineveh to encourage its citizens to repent. Yonah refuses, instead boarding a ship bound for Tarshish. Yet, in a violent storm, the ship seemed about to break up. Realising that his own rebellion caused this danger, Yonah asks the sailors to throw him overboard. A big fish swallows him. After three days of suffering inside the fish, Yonah prays to God, Who instructs the fish to spit Yonah onto dry land. God reinstructs Yonah to go to Nineveh. Yonah goes, warning the people of Nineveh of the need to repent. They fast and repent, yet when God forgives them, Yonah is distressed. God eventually comes to Yonah, teaching him a lesson in compassion (see p.3 article). Ha azinu is read on the Shabbat after Yom Kippur The first six aliyot are the Song of Ha azinu, which starts with Moshe calling on heaven and earth to witness the warning that, despite God s nurturing of Israel in its youth, the nation will rebel after entering the Land of Israel, forsaking devotion to God for the pursuit of material possessions. This will lead to terrible consequences. Ha azinu should then be read to the people, to remind them of the cause of their woes. The Song ends with God s promise to avenge those nations who would attack the Jews. In the seventh aliyah, God tells Moshe to view the Land from the mountains of Moab and reminds him that he will not enter the Land because he hit the rock (see Bemidbar 20:12-13). Question: By what name is the nation referred to in verse 32:15? Answer on bottom of page 6. Haftarah The Book of Shmuel records the beautiful Song of David. King David poetically relates the various struggles he faced, and how God always protected and saved him. God s kindness allowed David to rise from peril to a position of respect and power. United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue Editor: Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Editorial Team: Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, Michael Laitner, Sharon Radley Available also via US website United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Gila Howard on , or ghoward@theus.org.uk If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please rabbigross@theus.org.uk 2

3 Seal us... by Rabbi Lister, David Lister, Edgware United Synagogue The intensity of Ne ilah, at the end of Yom Kippur, can be legendary. It is an hour when 40 days of spiritual effort come together and... and what? The change in the liturgy tells us. Seal us in the book of life. Seal us for sustenance, for healing, for forgiveness. At Neilah, God moves from writing our judgement to sealing us into His book. What does this mean? In his commentary on Bereishit 1:26, Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (d.1888) points out that the Hebrew word Adam (the first human) is linked to the Hebrew chatam which means a seal. Humans were to be God s seal on the world. Just as a signature on a document attributes it to the person who signs it, so people were supposed to be the creatures attesting to the fact that the universe was made not by the blind clash of elemental forces, but by God. As we say in the Amidah for Neilah: You distinguished humans from the beginning, and recognised [people] as worthy of standing before You. Indeed the Midrash states that such was the spiritual grandeur which Adam fleetingly brought into the world, that the angels mistook him for God. Even we, millennia later, can see a tiny trace of this Godliness in ourselves. Out of all the teeming life on our planet, out of all the trillions of stars and planets that make up the cosmos, only human beings can make a principled decision based on right and wrong. and exploitation rather than dazzling spiritual greatness. But we can change. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (known as the Ramchal, d. 1746) writes that at Neilah we can regain the spirituality of Adam and Eve when they were still unsullied by sin, reclaiming the honour of serving as God s seal on the universe. This is no mean feat. We have to forsake not only our own misdemeanours, but also any hint of the deep stains that millennia of human brutality, stupidity, greed and indifference might have left on us. We have to find within ourselves the speck of pure goodness from God Himself and develop it, such that it envelops us totally. All within the tiny window of one hour at Neilah. Now perhaps we can understand the change in the liturgy at Neilah. God will seal us in His book of life if He can but it is up to us to become His seal, so that we have a place in His book. Neilah poses this mighty challenge to us. We are tired, we are hungry; we have done so much already. But it is precisely at this time that we have the opportunity to rediscover the glory of our own humanity, to spread God s radiance in His world, and to claim our right to be sealed in the book of life. Sadly, we have slipped since those heady moments in the Garden Eden. Our mark on the world nowadays may well be pollution In memory of Moshe ben Avraham Zarach 3

4 The Importance of Perspective by Michelle Bauernfreund, Ma ayan Programme Director Operations Manager, Office of the Chief Rabbi During the mincha service on Yom Kippur, we read Sefer Yonah (the Book of Jonah). The core message of the story is about the power of teshuva (repentance), but there are other key lessons to learn. In the text of the story, the word ra, meaning evil, is used a number of times in different contexts. The varying usages demonstrate that God, Yonah and other characters have different, sometimes opposite, perspectives on the situation at hand. At the beginning of the story, God describes the actions of the people of Nineveh as evil (1:2). Eventually, towards the end of the story, when Yonah accepts his mission and the people repent, God changes his use of the word evil, using it instead to describe the punishment that He will no longer unleash on the people, having forgiven their sins (3:10). Yonah is unhappy about this and uses this same word to describe the people s former actions (4:2). He is so unhappy, in fact, that he leaves the city and asks to die. Perhaps this is why Yonah was sent on his journey. God wanted to teach him that his conception of morality had become distorted. He had become fixated on the evil of the crime to the extent that he was mistakenly overlooking the tragedy of the resulting punishment, the death of many human beings. Unlike Yonah, we are not sent on direct missions by God. Nevertheless, through the laws and stories of our Torah and the traditions of our faith, we have knowledge and understanding of a system of good and evil that exists. It is not uncommon to become involved in a situation, whether at work, in our communal involvement or in our personal lives, where we lose perspective. We can get caught up in the details of the situation, fixating on one short term issue with a single-mindedness that overlooks the consequences of our actions. In these situations, we must try to remember to focus on the bigger picture of what is right and wrong, and what we are actually trying to achieve. It is important to take the time to refocus on our goals and keep them at the forefront of our minds. Yom Kippur is an ideal opportunity to do so. On another occasion, earlier in the story, the sailors on the ship use the word evil to describe the storm that threatens their ship, whereas Yonah chooses to call it a storm, seeing it as a natural phenomenon instead (1:8,12). Throughout the story, Yonah seems to have a subjective view of what is good and what is evil. He sees particular deeds or actions as evil and consequently worthy of punishment, and is unable to change his view once embroiled in a situation. He lacks the perspective that would enable him to understand that a bigger picture exists. In memory of Yaakov Yehoshua ben Ephraim Hirsch 4

5 From Yom Kippur to Succot: The Joy of Repentance by Rabbi Garry Wayland, Living & Learning Educator One of the highlights of the Yom Kippur liturgy is the poem Ma areh Kohen, in the chazan s repetition of the Musaf prayers, which describes: how splendid was the High Priest as he came out of the Holy of Holies in peace, without harm. The service of the High Priest on Yom Kippur was absolutely critical to the nation, as well as being very physically taxing. Therefore, as reported by the Mishnah: they would escort him [the High Priest] home, and he would make a celebration for all of his friends when he left safely from the Sanctuary in peace (Yoma 7:4). Many of us may feel a sense of relief that we have made it through Yom Kippur. Fasting can be demanding and the prayers are lengthy and challenging; they ask fundamental, personal questions of us. Like the High Priest, we return home weak and tired but hopefully elevated. This sense of elevation, however, should not stop at knowing that we have survived another Yom Kippur and that we can rush home to eat and drink. Within a few days, we celebrate Succot the Festival of Joy, and many have the custom to start building their succah on the evening after Yom Kippur. The Festival of Repentance, Yom Kippur, and the Festival of Joy, Succot, are a mere four days apart; their proximity indicates that there is a fundamental connection between them. relief of moving away from the past, and of joy about the opportunity to rebuild oneself. On Yom Kippur, we work hard to let go of negativity from the past. On Succot, we physically experience the joy of having let that negativity go. We move from our fixed abodes to a temporary dwelling, the succah, which is fashioned from natural, unprocessed materials. We proudly march around shul with items picked from trees, with no man-made alterations the lulav, etrog, myrtle leaves and willow leaves. Experiencing the joy of letting go of that which physically ties us down, helps us to experience the joy of moving forwards spiritually. The joy of the High Holidays and Succot is therefore not great excitement, but a deeprooted, lasting sense of being connected to and at peace with one s inner essence and to God, as we hope to build and improve our lives. These days pose a lofty challenge, but they also present us with a valuable opportunity. May God give us the strength to utilise these days to their utmost. Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner (d. 1980) explains that Yom Kippur and Succot are linked because their key motifs repentance and joy are also linked. He quotes Rabbeinu Yonah (d. 1264) who writes that joy is an intrinsic part of repentance. Repentance is made up of several core components: abandoning sin, regret, confession, and commitment not to repeat the transgression in the future. However, it is not enough to feel the pain of regret. There must also be a sense of High Priest on Yom Kippur In memory of Mordechai Avraham ben Nechemia 5

6 Solutions in the Sidrah: Making Music with Whatever You Have Left by Rabbi Yoni Birnbaum, Hadley Wood Jewish Community The famous Jewish violinist, Itzhak Perlman, was stricken with polio as a child. He wears braces on both legs and walks with two crutches. Whenever he is due to play, Perlman labours slowly across the stage until he reaches his chair. A story is told about a particular performance of Perlman s one evening in New York. He had just finished the first few bars when one of the strings on his violin snapped. At that point, the concert could have been delayed whilst the string was replaced, but instead Perlman waited a moment, and then signalled to the conductor to pick up from where they had just left off. Perlman now had only three strings with which to play his soloist part. He was able to find some of the missing notes on adjoining strings, but where that wasn t possible, he had to rearrange the music on the spot, in his head, so that it all still held together. Remarkably, he played with passion and artistry, managing to spontaneously rearrange the entire symphony right through to the very end. Perhaps the story of how Itzhak Perlman continued to play that night in New York can help to answer this question. When Perlman finally rested his bow, the audience sat for a moment in stunned silence and then rose to their feet, cheering wildly. They knew they had been witness to an extraordinary display of human skill and ingenuity. Then Perlman raised his bow to signal for quiet. You know, he said, it is the artist s task to make beautiful music with whatever he has left. In composing this Song, Moshe was aware that the Jewish people had often fallen short during their years of wandering and would likely do so again. In the form of beautiful song, he sought to inspire them to make music with whatever they would have left even though their future story would likely contain further broken strings within its violin. Like Perlman, he believed that it was the very knowledge that even a broken history could create a bright future that would enable the people to one day succeed. Far from being depressing, therefore, his sobering words would help them realise that they could always turn things around if they wished. The Song of Ha azinu in this week s sidrah represents Moshe s final public address to the Jewish people. Surprisingly, however, several of its themes appear to be very pessimistic in terms of their prediction for the future, as outlined in last week s sidrah: After I bring them to the Land that flows with milk and honey.they will turn to other gods and serve them and mock Me and break My covenant. Then when many oppressive evils come upon them, this Song will testify against them as a witness (Devarim 30:20-21). Why did Moshe choose to leave the people with such an apparently downbeat message before he passed away? Answer: Yeshurun In memory of Tzemach ben Yisrael 6

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