The curses appear in the third portion (Shlishi)which has been laid out so that reading begins and ends on a positive note, to sweeten the pill. In conclusion in Ch 26 verse 42, Hashem proclaims that despite all, even when we are in the land of our enemies he will not rejected us, and will remember the covenant (Brit Avot) .  R Baruch Halevi Epstein explains that there are two types of rejection, permanent or temporary. Permanent rejection is when you don’t like something, or perhaps allergic to it (like me and Broccoli). Temporary rejection is when you are fed up with something or someone at the moment, but you get over it, and Hashem is telling us that he will never abandon us.

R Meir Simcha of Dvinsk  (1843-1926) in the Meshach Chochma takes a long and detailed look at how the Jewish people have survived in the Diaspora. He explains that we have survived through the constant renewal of the Covenant Hashem made with our Forefathers (Brit Avot). Yakov, was the first exile, and created a protective mechanism, as the Midrash tell us – “we did not change our clothes and we did not change our language.” R Meir Simcha explains that all through the ages our Rabbis and Sages constantly created barriers between us and the gentiles, so as to keep our unique identity. He warns of this loss of identity and uses the amazing phrase “you will think Berlin is Jerusalem”.   In a fascinating parallel the Chatam Sofer ((1762-1838) was against the Austrian Emperor’s decree giving the Jews equal rights.

I was recently reading an interview with Philip Roth, the American novelist and this reminded me of his recurring dilemma of Jewish and American identity. In one of his books “The Plot against America” he creates a scenario where Charles Lindbergh, a known anti-Semite, becomes US President and persecution of the Jews begins. We remain different for better and for worse, and in the words of Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks the world needs to appreciate “The Dignity of Difference”.

In the times of the Talmud, the farmers had to pay a land and property tax (arnona) to the Roman Rulers. The Romans were initially sympathetic to Shmita, but as the Roman Empire began to disintegrate, the local Governers became greedy, and it became almost impossible for the farmers to pay, as they could not make a living from their land in the seventh year. In The Talmud Sanhedrin 26a we are told that R Yanai allowed the farmers to sow during the Shmita, despite the biblical prohibition. R Yanai’s decree would appear to be controversial, to say the least, but the Tosefot commentary explains that there was a real danger here (Pikuach Nefesh).

Later on in the Parsha we find a prohibition of charging interest on a loan, which is a wonderful concept, but the financial world does not seem to accept this principle. Over the generations, we changed from an agricultural nation to a scattered people, often only making a living through finance. The Rabbis created a special form of contract called a “Heter Iska” where the parties became partners in a loan which carried interest. I remember clearly the contract being displayed in the Head Office of Bank Mizrahi when I worked there. R Baruch Halevi explains that in our many years of Diaspora we were only able to survive as a nation through our financial skills as we did not have our land.

Now, these two halachic examples should not be misunderstood, that the Rabbinic authorities can change things as they wish. However I think it shows that within each generation the sages were able to understand the troubles of the Jewish people. Hashem gave us the Torah and with it the great gift of the land of Israel to look after, when we are oppressed in our land or we did not have our homeland, the sages took this into account. Now we are a nation with our homeland we need to return as close as we can to the Torah.

Today unfortunately our good friend Marion Baum died, after a tough illness, and was buried here in Netanya. Marion and Derek Baum came to Netanya just a few years ago with that love for the return to our homeland and the people. Let’s dedicate these thoughts to her memory – our thoughts are with the family.

The issue takes on an interesting slant in the Talmud in the discussion of the priestly blessing (duchaning). In Tractate Megila 24b the Mishna relates that a disabled priest or one who had woad on his hands should not bless the congregation, because the congregation will look at him and be distracted. The Talmud then qualifies this with several instances where disabilities were permitted. For example R Yonatan said a priest blind in one eye should not bless the congregation, but there was such a priest in his neighbourhood who did bless the congregation. So the Talmud concludes that if the locals are accustomed to the disabled person, he may bless them. The issue here is clearly one of attitude to the disabled within society, and where the local community accepts the disabled they became fully part of the community.

The Shulchan Aruch discusses the priestly blessings and begins by prohibiting the performing of the blessing (duchaning) by a disabled priest. However this is immediately followed in the next section, that if the local custom is that the priests cover themselves with a Tallit (which is the way we do it nowdays) there is no problem. The Magen Avraham comments on this, in surprise, in that he does not see any problem as it is the custom that the Congregation do not look at the priests.

So even though it looked unfair to begin with, we have a fine example of the Talmudic sages understanding the congregation, and their acceptance of the unfortunate and society’s perception of who is disabled.  The need for accessibility for the disabled has become an important issue over the past few years and we have a good friend in Israel, Michael Cronin, who in addition to being a great engineer and nice guy, is a qualified Accessibility Consultant. Perhaps he will be called in as a consultant for the next Bet Hamikdash

He explains that the Talmud tells us that in Temple times the priestly duties were divided between the different families. Within a family, each priest had his specific day of temple work, and the rest of the family would be there as back up. The back up priests would learn Torah and fast. However they would not fast on Friday, in honour of Shabbat, and not on Sunday, as they might feel ill after eating well on Shabbat. So we can learn from this that fasting after eating well causes more discomfort.  So by eating well before Yom Kippur, we are truer to the commandment of afflicting ourselves.

By the way, for those living out of Israel, in addition to being a week behind us, you should be aware that the Shulchan Aruch mentions a custom that some pious people would fast for two days of Yom Kippur, just as with the other festivals. This is based on a story in the Talmud of Rava, in Babylon, who fasted for two days, as the new moon messengers had not yet arrived from Israel. However this custom was not adopted, because of health concerns.

Interestingly, there is a Mishna which tells us that the two most joyous festivals, in those days,  were the 15^th Av and Yom Kippur. The young girls of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white dresses (so that no poor girl would be embarrassed) and dance in the vineyards, in the search for a suitable husband. They would say, “boys! Do not look at how pretty we are, look at our family background”. The Mishna continues that Yom Kippur is a joyous day, as we received the second ten commandment tablets and King Solomon dedicated the Temple on that day. R Epstein in his commentary even calls it a Chag Leumi a National Holiday, but now we have Yom Ha’Azmaut.

R Shlomo Efraim Lunschitz in the Kli Yakar proposes that this is the punishment for being to “high and mighty”. Someone of this character will surely dress himself fancily to suit the part. He explains that the three types of leprosy, signify the three coverings of a person, his body, clothes and his house.  When Hashem wants to warn a person to mend his ways the order will be in reverse, first a warning with a plague on his house, then on his clothes and finally on his body.

R Shimshon Rafael Hirsch presents the stricken clothing as a more serious punishment than physical leprosy. With the bodily leprosy the priest can put the person out to solitary and he can be cured. When the garment, the stricken cloth must be destroyed.  He explains that the wearing of clothes presents a person’s character and the company he or she keeps. The plague on the clothing is a warning sign that he or she is keeping bad company.

Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, who was for a time the treasurer to the King of Portugal, is puzzled by the fact that the discussion of the clothing leprosy comes right in the middle of the bodily leprosy. He proposes that these two are closely knit together. Just as the Torah presents the Priest’s clothes as bringing an aura of holiness, so all of us should treat the way we dress with great care. In the words of Mark Twain “Clothes maketh the man.”

Today in Israel we are commemorating the Holocaust and I recently found a postcard written by my Aunt who died in the Holocaust. Menucha was my father’s younger sister and was brought up in Chechnowitz in Poland. We know that she later married and to someone called Koss and lived in Warsaw, and was probably was taken to Treblinka in 1943. Here is a link to a postcard she sent to my father (she is on the left) and you can see she writes in Hebrew.  It looks like she knew how to dress.

Just as this week’s Parsha is such a mystery and difficult to understand, so I find is the Holocaust!

The later part of Parshat Shemini discusses the kashrut of animals and in Ch11v13 is a list the birds. The Ramban notes that here, unlike the previous species, the Torah does not give us any signs such as the cloven hoofs or fins and scales, but just gives a list of birds. He explains that these are all birds of prey, and this is a full list of all such birds. Both he and the Rambam are of the opinion that the reason for these birds not being kosher, is that this nasty trait might be passed on to the person eating the animal.

R Baruch Halevi Epstein is not too keen on this explanation. He says that we see many non-Jews around us that eat these animals and they do not all seem to be bad people. By the way the Rambam in the Guide to the Perplexed mentions, in this context, the filthy habits of the pig. In particular he singles out the people of the land of “Frang” who used to keep pigs in their homes (with no disrespect to my good French friends).

In the list of birds is the stork that is called in Hebrew the “chasida” which is the Hebrew word for kindness. Rashi tells us that it has this name, as the stork is kind and shares her food with her friends. R Epstein finds this interesting as this seems to be a kind trait, even though it is a bird of prey. However he notes that perhaps similar to the raven, also not kosher, she only shares with her little clan, but not with others. He adds, that he has found in zoological books that the stork is a faithful bird and when it returns to Europe in the spring from migration in Africa, it returns to the same nest and remains with the same mate.

Many commentators are unsure whether the “chasida” is the stork that we know of today. Nevertheless, I have read that the Ethiopian Jews gave special honour to the stork as the messenger to Jerusalem. The children would sing a special song – chasida, chasida send our greetings to Jerusalem, as they saw the storks flying north in the spring.  Perhaps cousin Shalva Weil can enlighten us on this.

The Stork may have a place of honour, but in our house the ravens do not. They pick pecans from a tree near us and drop them on our roof to crack them open leaving a real mess. So they maybe smart but I wish they would clear up the mess.

R Baruch Halevi Epstein notes that this is puzzling, what is wrong with discussing the redemption from Egypt beforehand, why the emphasis on specifically on the Seder night. The simple answer is that it would make sense that a child will ask when presented with these unusual happenings on Seder night. R Epstein also notes that the Hagada took this quote from the Mechilta where is actually adds “are in front of us on the table”

But he goes deeper and ties this to a quote from the Talmud Berachot 7b “Greater is the practice of the Torah than the learning”. This quote seems strange as we know that learning Torah is regarded as equivalent to all the other commandments put together.  R Epstein explains that what the Talmud and the Hagada are telling us is that the highest level of learning Torah is to learn for the sake of the practical keeping of Mitzvot, what is called in Hebrew “Halalcha Lema’ase.” This is the essence of Torah and the answer to the silent son is to keep him interested in the practice of Judaism.

A few verses after that in the Torah in verse 14 we find the basis for the simple son’s question in the context of the redemption of the firstborn “and when your son asks you the next day, what is this?” R Ephraim Lunschitz in the Kli Yakar has an excellent, but lengthy, discussion of the four sons,and explains the significance of the question being asked not on the same day, but on the following day.  This is a son who is already interested and will initiate a discussion on the next day and not just on the Seder night.

I ventured to Bnei Brak this week, that bastion of holiness, which even gets a mention in the Hagada. I was there to visit someone and whilst waiting asked several of the teenage sons if they would perhaps enlighten me with something new (a chidush) from the Hagada, and they sadly told me they had been too busy to get to it. On my way out of Bnei Brak I gave a lift to a serious looking Yeshiva boy, and sadly he gave me the same answer. I now understand that in Beni Brak they take the saying literally and only discuss the redemption from Egypt on the Seder night, and not from Rosh Chodesh.

Michael Bennett – I remember as a child my mother repairing the shul hat of rabbi Medalie when he was in Leeds. This was a kind of octagenal structure on the top. I remember eying this structure with awe and my grandmother was also impressed. She had a kind of crush on Rabbi Medalie who was for some time an unmarried charismatic figure in Leeds. Last year we were in Paris, and in one of the shuls the dress for the wardens was something from the time of the French revolution. So synagogue dress does to some extent have a relation to local conditions and history. – Michael Bennett

Frank Taylor - I’m almost sure the Chazzan (Chainowitz) at the Yeshurun in Jerusalem wears one and that Chazzan Stern definitely wore on for Selichot in the Allenby St shule. I’m sure he wears whenever he davens, as do many other chazanim. So where do you think that comes from?

Velvel Weisz - My late father had been a Chazan in the East of London in the 1940-1950’s first of all in Duke’s place where he replaced Koussovitzky and then in Nelson Street. He told me that just after having been appointed the REVEREND he found himself obliged to wear a “DOG’s COLLAR”. One day ,shortly after receiving his post and collar he was approached by a young sheigets who asked him “ Father will you help me cross the road please?”.  He never wore it again. But the big black Chazan’s hat and gown ,he always wore for dovening.  – Velvel Weisz

Rabbi Eddie Jackson told me that according to the bylaws of the United Synagogue the Rabbi should be in his seat in full regalia ten minutes before the beginning of prayers even on weekdays.

Aviva, my wife remembers that the whereas her father had a plain bib,   (click for photo) the Chazan had a lace bib. Also Rev Gold z”l was fortunate enough to have a well known Milliner Mitzi Lorenz who made his hat especially for him.

Rabbi Shalom Zaiden – With regards to the Rabbinical canonicals of the United Synagogue they were introduced to the United Synagogue, and people like Rothschild,Hertz, Adler the Cousinhood etc.because they wanted their ministers to look more like the Anglican clergy. If you look at the old Singer’s Prayer book it is the same size and colour as the Anglican prayer book and both have blue covers. There was a very strong movement at the time (2nd half of the19th century to integrate with the English.community). One can see the East End of London shteibels  fighting the West End United Synagogue shuls.
Now I know that you will ask what about Rav Hirsch and the answer is that is what the German ministers wore
and in Germany/Switzerland today they still wear that garb. In fact the ERG (the Zurich equivalent of Munks)
the Chazan still wears that hat.
There was a huge fight (of which I was part in the 1970′s 1980′s) not to wear these clothes and today really in England
the only one who still does is the Chief Rabbi and his are navy blue not black.

R Shimson Raphael Hirsh, the dominant Rabbinical figure of 19^th Century Germany, discusses in depth the priestly and sacrificial texts of Shemot and Vayikra looking for messages for his generation. Here the Torah stresses that the sacrifices themselves were brought and offered by Beni Yisrael only during the daytime. He sees that as a reminder that we must live our lives in enlightenment and in the open. Hashem wants us to blend our daily work and our holy commitments with pride during the daylight. During the daylight hours the ordinary man can bring his sacrifice in partnership with the priest, and as part and parcel of his daily life. At night the priest continues his dedicated work and keeps the flame of the Torah alive for tomorrow. He saw this as the partnership between his congregants carrying on their daily lives as proud Jews and his never ending work as a communal leader.

R Hirsch believed in the concept of “Torah im Derech Eretz” a phrase taken from the Ethics of the Fathers 2.2 which is translated in the Koren Siddur as “it is good to combine Torah with a worldly occupation.” He expanded this to the concept that there is no contradiction between modern life and Judaism and one can live as an orthodox Jew in the modern world. Judaism did not have to be modernized as was then being preached by the emerging Reform movement.

The Biblical concept of a day is of one that starts in the evening and is followed by the morning and the daylight hours. The sacrificial order in the Torah is unusual beginning in the morning and ending at night. This is the way we publish our Siddur, which starts with morning prayers, the prayers being in place of the sacrifices.

Returning to R Hirsh, I think he introduced the special Rabbinical garments, taken on by Anglo Jewry with what was called canonicals and the clerical collar. My wife found a wonderful photo of an Anglo Jewry Rabbis Conference from perhaps the late 1940’s, with many of the Rabbi’s wearing  their clerical collar.

R Baruch Halevi Epstein points to a story in Talmud Berachot 5b. R Elazar was not well and R Yochanan went to visit him and found R Elazar crying. R Yochanan told him to stop crying – if it is because you have not spent enough time studying Torah, we have learned from the sacrifices “whether you give a little or a lot it is the intention that counts”. The Talmud here and in several other places presents studying Torah as the equivalent of sacrifices. R Epstein notes that this is probably the same R Elazar as mentioned in Talmud Eruvin 54b that got so involved in his learning that he often forgot to deal with his business or where he had left his coat.

Most interestingly, the Talmud indicates that R Elazar was a working man, just as R Baruch Halevi Epstein who worked as a bookkeeper. Learning Torah was R Elazar’s way of being close to Hashem but he still earned his keep. The Ktav VeKabalah notes that a sweet smelling aroma only lasts for a limited time. Hashem is telling us that he enjoys the sometimes brief moment that we dedicate in offering a sacrifice or learn Torah. However, Hashem is aware that we have to get on with life and earn our daily bread.

I was travelling this week and returned home yesterday, just in time to be at my 6 year old grandson Ron’s receiving Siddur ceremony. Of course it was “schlepping nachas”. At the end of the ceremony there was a slide presentation where each child had put his or her wish. Most asked for Messiah to come, one or two asked to be footballers and then came Ron’s slide. He wished that his Grandfather would be back in time for the ceremony. That was the sweet aroma of the week.