T’rumah - 28 February 2009, 4 Adar 5769
February 28, 2009 by karyn
T’rumah
Exodus 25:1 – 27:19
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 604 - 611
Revised Edition, pages 545 – 552
Haftarah T’rumah
1 Kings 5:26 – 6:13
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 717 – 718
Revised Edition, pages 559 – 560
Saturday 28 February 2009, Shabbat Adar 4, 5769
From Bryan Conyer, Deputy Principal Jewish Life, Emanuel School, Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
The first emotion mentioned in the Torah is that of loneliness, and we are commanded that “it is not good for man to be alone” (Bereishit/ Genesis 2:18). With such a start, it is no surprise that Judaism prefers living within community over being solitary. This week’s parasha, Terumah, reminds us that community, in and of itself, is also inadequate, unless is has a certain quality to it
The parashah is all about building a physical expression of such a community, through the building of the mishkan – the dwelling place: This quality is expressed in the opening line, one which every shul treasurer dreams of saying and getting a positive response: “Tell the Israelite people to bring me gifts; you shall accept gifts for me from every person whose hearts so moves him.” (Shemot/ Exodus 25:2). In this case, the leaders had to instruct the people to stop, because the response was so abundant. It is the quintessential moment when what we have as an individual is never as profound as when we are able to share it with others, while accepting what others have to offer in return.
One of my favourite stories is sometimes called “Stone Soup”. The story begins with a colourful traveller arriving at a small village (shtetl). He announces that he has brought with him a stone, so magical, that it always creates a lavish meal for a whole village. In these drought stricken times, where poverty is more the norm than lavish meals, a sceptical groups of hungry villagers always warmly greet him as they are also enticed by his challenge. The man begins his challenge by explaining the tools that are first required: just a simple cauldron, half-filled with water, placed upon a hot fire. One villager runs to get her cauldron, the other his wooden sticks for fire and the third brings jugs of water. The traveller then explains that this meal only works if the freshest carrots are included, followed by potatoes, squashes, and as many other ingredients as he could imagine. With each requirement, so another villager runs to his home or her fields to ensure that they give the traveller no excuses for failing this dubious challenge. As the cauldron fills, and the water with its ingredients slowly begins to bubble, the traveller demands everyone’s silent attention. Slowly, he takes a shiny stone from his pocket and places it in the cauldron. With five minutes of staring at it as it falls to the bottom and then is sent spiralling back upwards with the boiling ingredients, he announces that the soup is ready. Needless to say, the soup is as grand a meal as this village had tasted since its last wedding celebration.
We all know that the villagers had all those same ingredients before the traveller arrived. His stone merely served as the incentive to pool their resources, however meek or wondrous they imagined them to be. Each of the Israelites, as they wondered through that wilderness after leaving Egypt, held onto some possessions. It was only when each was willing to risk offering what they had, to be shared with others, that the desired quality of community was achieved. The parshah sums it up: “Let them build me a sanctuary so I can dwell amongst them” (Exodus/ Shemot 25.8). When we risk offering what we have, and then give to others, we create the quality of community imagined by Torah – one where the glue between us is heartfelt giving, and the treasure we receive in return is knowing that Godliness lives within and between each of us.
Ken Yehi Ratzon – may this be God’s will
UPJ Gathering of Presidents to be held in Melbourne in May
February 27, 2009 by Steve
| May 20, 2009 2:00 pm | to | May 24, 2009 2:00 pm |
The next meeting of the Presidents of the UPJ affiliated congregations of Australia, New Zealand and Asia will take place in Melbourne from Thursday 21 - Sunday 24 May.
Emanuel School seeks new Principal
February 26, 2009 by Steve
Following an outstanding term as Principal of Emanuel School Dr. Bruce Carter AM has announced his retirement. The school has, therefore, commenced an extensive search to find the best possible replacement.
The following advertisement was placed in the Australian Jewish News 27 February 2009. Please bring it to the attention of any outstanding educator that you may be aware of.
Board of Progressive Jewish Education assists ACT community
February 26, 2009 by Steve
The above article in the AJN of 27 February 2009 reports that the Board of Progressive Jewish Education (NSW) has signed an agreement with the ACT Jewish Community to provide resources and financial assistance for the community cheder in 2009.
Brisbane Progressive Jewish Congregation celebrates its second birthday
February 24, 2009 by Steve
On Sunday 15 February Brisbane Progressive Jewish Congregation (BPJC) celebrated its second birthday with a party including a birthday cake and balloons, and a clown for the children. Guest speaker was Steve Denenberg, Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) Executive Director, who conveyed the UPJ President and Executive’s Mazeltov and good wishes. Steve referred to the growth of Progressive Judaism around the world and the exciting challenges ahead for the Australasian region.
BPJC President Tony Leverton thanked him and noted that, as the UPJ’s newest member, BPJC was also the fastest growing congregation in Australia. The occasion was also marked by the presentation of Foundation Membership certificates and the announcement by BPJC Board Secretary, Scott Leonard, of a Building Fund for a new shul and associated facilities. The Fund received substantial pledges from members and supporters present, and will spur BPJC’s search for permanent premises.”
Steve Denenberg presenting a Foundation Membership certificate to the Manne family, at Brisbane Progressive Jewish Congregation’s second birthday party
Nothing but Nets kits almost ready!
February 23, 2009 by Nicky
Stay tuned for the Nothing But Nets kits which should be arriving at your congregations soon!
In the meantime - see Bill Gates opening a jar of mosquitoes at a TED Conference, highlighting the flight of malaria sufferers
>
and read about Rabbi Marla Feldman’s trip to Kenya as she accompanied a UN plane “dropping” malaria nets into refugee camps.
Mishpatim - 21 February 2009, 27 Shevat 5769
February 21, 2009 by karyn
Mishpatim
Exodus 21:1 – 24:18
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 566 - 592
Revised Edition, pages 513 – 525
Parshat Shekalim
Exodus 30:11-16
The Torah: A modern Commentary page 632
Revised Edition 584
Haftarah Shekalim
2 Kings 12 5 — 16
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 1647 – 1648
Revised Edition, pages 1451 – 1452
Saturday 21 February 2009, Shabbat Shevat 27 5769
From Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio, Emanuel Synagogue, Woollahra, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
In this week’s parasha we continue the story of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai and hear an exposition of a large number of the 613 commandments. I have been thinking a lot recently about what that experience must have been like for the Israelites. A number of years ago, I was doing a course and we were asked to write a description of a place in nature. One of the other students described the desert. She talked of death, rotting carcasses and battles for survival. Everyone around the table nodded at her description saying how accurate it was. But I was shocked. Her desert is not the one I know, not the one in which I imagine God giving us the Torah. I imagine a vast, beautiful place with soft shifting sands and an endless, impossibly blue sky. A place filled with awesome, breathtaking beauty, energy, life and wonder. So who is right? And if it is not me, then why would God choose to give the Torah in such a location?
A while ago, there was a television show called “Outback Jack” It was a reality-tv show centred around Jack, the quintessential Aussie bloke who wrestles crocodiles and uses words like “sweetheart” and “girl” to describe the beautiful American princesses who have been dropped into the outback to woo him. Now I would not be brave enough to call these women “girls,” but Outback Jack did that and more as he tried to decide who would be his bride. As part of the show, the contestants spent some time in the desert of the outback and as I watched them swatting away flies, struggling with the heat and the harsh conditions, I thought that maybe that was more like what the Israelites endured. That perhaps the woman in the class was right and the desert is not a vast, hauntingly beautiful place but rather it is a place to be confronted, it is a place of cruelty and harshness. It is tough to survive in the desert. I watched the soldiers in Iraq on a documentary trying to cope with the oppressive heat and the incessant dust and grime. They were unused to the climate and the conditions and they struggled. But Outback Jack did not struggle. He knew how to deal with the desert and he knew where to find incredible beauty and awesomeness of the environment and he was able to move the girls beyond their discomfort, to see what incredible gifts the desert can offer. And maybe that is the lesson of the desert and God’s decision.
The desert takes time to know and understand; it is not always what it first appears. Initially, the women from America could not find the wonder because they were looking in the wrong places. There is life teeming in the desert but we have to look closely to see and know it. There is water in the desert, there is food, there is so much but you have to take time to feel the silence, to hear the whispers of the wind, to find the true desert. It is the same with life and our relationships with others. There is goodness and beauty in people but sometimes we do not take the time to know them and see that beauty. By giving the Torah in the desert God is saying to us; “look closely, take the time and really see one another for what we are.”
In these past weeks, since the bushfires ravaged so many homes and lives, we have seen the best that is in people. Amongst the tragedy and pain there have been so many stories of courage, compassion, community and love. People have reached out to one another, they have offered whatever they can to help, even those who have nothing left have shared with others who they see have an even greater need. At the moment we are seeing what people can do and be when we reach into our highest selves. At this time the beauty of humanity is there for us to see but when this wave of empathy and help goes we must not forget that it is always there, within the people around us, if only we take the time to look and notice.
That day in the desert when we heard the voice of God, we stood together, each one hearing in our own way the laws and rules about how we were to treat one another. And the desert made that possible, the desert gave us the key to open the gateway to the heavens. It could not have been any other place on earth. So I choose to think of the desert as an awesome place of wonder and beauty, a place which can teach us the lessons of humility, community, of looking beneath the surface to see one another as we really are, to judge and not harm one another but rather to look for the good and to see that we all share so much. May we always seek out the best in one another, and carry a little of the spirit of the desert with us.
Yitro - 14 February 2009, 20 Shevat 5769
February 14, 2009 by karyn
Yitro
Exodus 18:1 – 20:23
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 508 - 565
Revised Edition, pages 471 – 481
Haftarah Yitro
Isaiah 6:1 – 7:6 and 9:5 – 6
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 710 – 713
Revised Edition, pages 507 – 509
Saturday 14 February 2009, Shabbat Shevat 20 5769
From Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky, Beit Shalom Synagogue, Stepney, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
This week’s portion, Yitro, will instantly resonate with many as the parshah that centres on the giving of the ten commandments. But before the Jews arrive at that momentous occasion, we have a chapter dedicated to everyday life in the wilderness and to the crucial intervention of a man, Yitro. In modern terms, Yitro can lay claim to the title of first management consultant in recorded history. He finds his son-in-law Moses in quite a state: Moses is trying to act as sole judge and arbiter to hundreds of thousands of people. As a result, he must hear cases from early in the morning until night, and of course there is no way that he can possibly hear them all in that time. But what choice does he have? Moses is the one who has been accorded the mantle of leadership by God, so it would appear that he must bear the burden of looking after all manner of legal cases among his people.
Yitro of all people is uniquely positioned to point out to Moses that he is doing a disservice both to himself and to his people. Why Yitro? For two reasons: 1) he is a member of the family, and a trusted mentor to his son-in-law; but equally important is 2) he is not Jewish. Yitro is identified at the start of this week’s parsha as “Yitro, priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law” so that these connections are made very clear. The people Moses leads cannot instruct him; only someone from the outside can provide such blunt advice. Yitro dictates detailed instructions to Moses: that he set up an appellate court system so that minor cases are heard by a succession of judges. Only the most difficult cases will reach Moses, and he will be able to give them his complete attention. Moses is delighted to implement Yitro’s wise advice, which restores a level of sanity to his life.
For quite some time, I have been fascinated with the role non-Jews play in the Torah. I love that we begin our services with the words “Ma tovu ohalecha Ya’akov”—how goodly are your tents, O Jacob—which were first uttered by the non-Jew Balaam. Yitro, is another gentile who plays a crucial role in the life of the Jewish people.
One reason I am particularly drawn to study non-Jewish characters in the Torah is that there are so many non-Jews in my life who play a sustaining role in our Jewish community. The reality is that many Jewish communities have non-Jews within them, as partners of Jews and as proud parents of Jewish children. Many of these are taking an active role to nurture a Jewish identity within their loved ones and to do what they can to allow Jewish life to flourish.
This is not an easy thing to do: these people are prepared to let go of beloved family traditions and teachings as they work to build a family committed to a Jewish life and a Jewish future. Yitro, a priest in a religion other than Judaism, is able to rejoice with Moses in the extraordinary blessings God has bestowed upon the Jewish people. So too Balaam, while remaining outside of Judaism, sees the Jews as most blessed among peoples. We are often in tension with the gentiles around us, but it is important to recognise and celebrate those allies who bring greater strength and blessing to the Jewish people.
Tu Bish’vat - 9 February 2009, 15 Shevat 5769
February 9, 2009 by karyn
Tu BiSh’vat
Tuesday 9 February 2009, 15 Shevat 5769
From Rabbi Stanton Zamek, United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong
Although it is the most minor of holidays, Tu B’Shvat is a monument to Jewish creativity. Its evolution demonstrates that Jews have always reshaped their tradition to meet new needs and reach for deeper insight.
As evidenced by the name of the observance, Tu B’Shvat’s beginnings could not be more mundane. “Tu” is simply the vocalization of a number– “Tet-Vav”– that is “15”. Shvat is just the name of the 11th month of the Jewish calendar. No one in the time of the Rabbis would have particularly looked forward to this day. It was simply the date that determined which “tithe year” the produce of your fruit trees were subject to. This was a necessary calculation perhaps, but not anything anyone would care to celebrate.
Later, Jews of the diaspora needed a way to reaffirm their connection to Eretz Yisrael in a visceral rather than theoretical way. This day, associated as it was with the spring growth of trees rooted in holy soil provided a sense of rootedness for the Jewish people as well. As distant as they might be from the Land, its goodness could be celebrated by reciting Psalms and eating its produce. Olives, pomegranates, and figs were good to eat, but as the anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss would say, they were also good to think. Eating them and the rest of the “seven species” associated with Biblical Israel was a way to contemplate and to taste the goodness of the Land of Milk and Honey.
In our day, when Eretz Yisrael is also Medinat Yisrael this link to the physical landscape is still critical. We do not love the idea of Jewish sovereignty in the abstract, but rather Jewish freedom in the rugged mountains, austere deserts, and lush valleys of this particular, precious spot on the globe. To nourish our bodies from its fruit is to remember a place that nourishes our souls like no other.
Thanks to the mystics of Tzfat, Tu B’Shvat has another more global dimension. For them the New Year of the Trees evoked the conduit through which divinity entered the world, conceptualized as a life giving tree. In order to celebrate and encourage the flow of blessing into this world, they devised a seder for Tu B’shvat modeled on the Pesach seder. While we may not entirely accept the theology of the Kabbalists who created it, the basic message of the Tu B’Shvat seder is a critical one for this wounded world.
It is the nature of the world to generously bestow on us the material blessings that make life possible and, through its grandeur, the intangible blessings that make life a wonder. Much damage has been done by forgetting that the world is a gift from HaShem which we ought to accept in gratitude and in awe. With the simple, but infinitely good things of the earth, the mystics’ Tu B’Shvat reminds us that we are sustained by the ordinary miracles of sun, rain, and soil; by forces we did not originate and cannot control. The truth of Tu B’Shvat is that God’s overflowing goodness fills and sustains the world. The proof of this is that we live.
Beshalach - 7 February 2009, 13 Shevat 5769
February 7, 2009 by karyn
Beshallach
Exodus 13:17 – 17:16
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 478 - 507
Revised Edition, pages 434 – 448
Haftarah Beshallach
Judges 4:4 — 5:31
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pages 703 – 709
Revised Edition, pages 462 – 467
Saturday 7 February 2009, Shabbat Shevat 13, 5769
Rabbi Richard Lampert, Emeritus Rabbi, North Shore Temple Emanuel, Chatswood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
When I was a child, during the Second World War, I remember a song being either taught or sung, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition” (These days I would probably sing “Praise God and pass the ammunition”, but, hey, that’s what was sung in those days!)
It was a song sung during the First World War, the Great War – the War to End All Wars – or so it was thought and hoped for at the time. My, haven’t we learnt! More about this song later.
Our portion this week, entitled B’shallach, from the first significant word in the portion, tells of what happened to the Israelite people immediately following the traumatic events of the leil shimurim, the Night of Watching, when the first-born of the Egyptians were slain and the Israelites gained, for the first time in 400 years, their physical freedom from Egyptian slavery.
Who and what were these Israelites? They were an undisciplined mob, supposedly descended from Jacob and his sons, who had no idea whence they were going or what they were going to do. They were only too happy to be free of the taskmaster’s lash and the heavy back-breaking work imposed upon them by Pharaoh and his men.
(By the way – contrary to some popular belief, their work did not include building the pyramids. These were built around about 2500 BCE, at least 700 – 800 years before Jacob, Joseph et al ever got near the place! What the Israelites were building for Pharaoh were store-cities called Pithom and Raamses. You might be able to blame the Jews for many things, but you can’t blame us for the pyramids!)
So here were the Israelites, free at last, but too untrustworthy to inherit the delights of the Promised Land at this stage of their history – and so God decides not to let them take the short cut, straight up the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea which way would have led them but a few days journey to Canaan and which, by the way, would have led them straight into a first Gaza confrontation!
Instead God decided that they should follow the Inland Route, to experience life in the wilderness in order to give them a chance to ‘toughen up” for the job ahead.
And so our ancestors set off, cheerfully singing ‘Havah Nagilah” or whatever joyous Hebrew song was popular at the time (although after 400 years, it probably was a song sung in the Egyptian language!).
Suddenly, as they reach the shore of the Red Sea (or Reed Sea, as it should be called) they look back, and lo and behold, they see the dust raised by the pursuing Egyptian army. Pharaoh, notwithstanding his grief at the loss of his first-born child, is most reluctant to permit an effective labour force to escape, and so he has set off in pursuit to round them, corral them and force them to return to servitude.
The Israelites panic at the sight of the pursuing Egyptian army, and for the first time in their march to freedom, but not the last, they turn upon Moses, berate him and say “This is what we told you in Egypt when you nagged us to leave. We should have stayed there and continue to serve the Egyptians.” And Moses says to them, “God will fight for you!”
At this point God says to Moses, “Mah titz’chak eilai – dabel el b’nei yisrael vayisa’u” “Why cry out to me? Speak to the Israelites and let them go forward!”
And it is at this point that I am always reminded of that WWI song, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.” I am convinced that the words of the song should be “Praise the Lord – BUT pass the ammunition”. It’s all very well to fall to our knees and pray and exhort God to help us – but we must do for ourselves – we must pass our ammunition, we must prepare for the coming battle. Oh, if we find ourselves strengthened by a prayer or two, by all means praise God – but don’t take your eyes off the prize – the prize being our own survival! Let us ensure that there is a continual flow of ammunition to ensure that survival.
The State of Israel today finds herself beset by the so-called United Nations and by popular opinion around the world. She faces implacable foes in Hamas, Hezbollah and Ahmedinajad in Iran who are all sworn to her destruction (and, in many cases, ours!). It is of no practical value for Israel and her population and us to fall to their and our knees and beseech God to do something to save her. She knows that she has to “Pass the ammunition” if she is to survive – and if the ammunition and her strategies and tactics lead her to strike a pre-emptive preventive blow against the threat of nuclear extinction, then so be it.
“Mah titz’chak eilai – daber el b’nei yisrael vayisa’u” said God to Moses. “Why cry out to me? Speak to the Children of Israel that they do some thing positive and move forward themselves. What was good advice some 3,200 years ago is equally cogent today. Go Israel!
Upcoming Events
