Monthly Archives: November 2015

Jeremy’s Notes

Next service: Vayetze

There are several parshiot about Abraham and about his grandson Jacob, but Isaac’s life is dealt with mainly in one, i.e. Tol’dot. Of course, he appears in the previous parsha of Chayay Sarah and in subesequent ones,  but it seems almost as a secondary character, someone to whom things happen, rather than as someone shaping his own fate. Even in Tol’dot, there are things done to him, while he remains rather helpless. Under Rebecca’s guidance, Jacob deceives him into thinking that he is Esau and so gains the blessing which was meant by his father for his older brother. Many years earlier, in Va-yeira, Issac took part in one of the most pivotal stories of the Torah, namely the Akidah, but again his is a passive, though potentially tragic, role. He is the victim, in no way the perpetrator.

Yet there is one episode, or narrative thread, in which Isaac does play an active part. Like his father before him, he experiences famine and goes to the Philistine king, another Abimelech, for possible help.  He also  pretends that his wife is his sister and, as happened to Abraham years before, is reproached but then offered royal protection for him and his family. And like his father before him, Isaac prospers, has problems with his neighbours over land and water, but manages to resolve them and to live in peace. All through these trials, he is true to God, and God blesses him. Finally, despite having been fooled by his younger son and his own wife, Isaac blesses Jacob again, this time freely, and sends him to Padan Aram to seek a wife from his uncle Laban’s family.

It is with Jacob’s journey to his uncle’s house that Vayetze begins. Early on in the journey, he has the first of his great dreams, that of the angels descending from and ascending to heaven, and God blesses him and, through him, us and, through us, all the families of the earth. What a blessing and what a responsibility are carried in a few lines. Jacob reaches his uncle’s house, meets his uncle’s two daughters and falls in love with Rachel and not with Leah, from which much will flow, but this is enough for now. The best way to read and hear more is to come this Shabbat to the service which will take place from 10.30. Adam Feldman will lead and enlighten us.

Elkan's View

Elkan’s view from Cape Town

ELKAN’S VIEW FROM CAPE TOWN 9TH November 2015

South African Jewry is unique in world Jewish history. Some of the early Jewish settlers became Boers, spoke Afrikaans, and fought against the British during the Boer War despite the very strong anti-Semitic views of Pres Kruger.

The majority of Jews however immigrated at the end of the 19th century mainly from the Kovno district of Lithuania. Almost all stayed for several nights in the Jews Temporary Shelter at the expense of the Union Castle shipping line. In order to reclaim their lodging fees, the Shelter kept very detailed records which have proved an invaluable source for historians.

In 1880 there were about 4,000 Jews in South Africa, and 40,000 by 1914. Jews were integrated in South African society, although the pro-Nazi views of some Afrikaners made life difficult in the 1930’s. Financially the community did very well in a variety of businesses, especially ostrich feathers in the early days!

South African Jews were always very strongly Zionist. The community maintained warm relations with the National party government after the Second World War, and contacts between South Africa and Israel were extremely cordial until fairly recently. Many South Africans made Aliyah and particularly settled in Ra’anana, occasionally known as “Ra’ananafontein”!

The oldest synagogue is the Garden Synagogue in Cape Town where I look forward to davening this Shabbat. Founded in 1841 it is regarded as the mother congregation of South African Jewry.

The community in Johannesburg is also a very strong and has had a series of important rabbis. JH Hertz ministered there during the Boer War and was expelled by President Kruger for his pro-British sympathies. Many of us remember Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris with great affection, and the whole “Shabbat UK” program and its worldwide variations is the brainchild of the current Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein.

Among notable South African Jews are Abba Eban and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, while Jan Christian Smuts the South African political leader was a major supporter of the Balfour Declaration and the State of Israel – I remember my father taking me as a small boy to hear Smuts speak at a Zionist meeting in London.

 

Elkan's View

Elkan’s View From Netanya

ELKAN’S VIEW FROM NETANYA 4TH November 2015

One of the things that really moves me is the way that Jewish communities in the Diaspora, at Pesach and Sukkot, pray for the needs of agriculture in the Holy Land.

Water in Israel is a constant preoccupation. For at least half the year there is no rain of any significance, there is rarely sufficient snow in the winter to swell the streams in the spring, and the rivers are few and far between. Water remains a concern, although Israel now produces almost half its water by desalination and is a world leader in the use of “grey water” recycled but not suitable for drinking or cooking purposes.

Praying for rain remains part of the liturgy but sometimes our prayers are answered too literally. Last Sunday week began quite bright in Netanya but about 9:30 AM the sky suddenly went as dark as night. I went to the front of my flat, which overlooks the Mediterranean, and closed all the windows. A few minutes later the whole building was enveloped in a rain and hail storm of tropical intensity, the windows were simply no defence at all, and my flat was severely flooded. This is not bad for the sixth floor.

We got off lightly. There were no significant electrical cuts in Netanya but Ra’anana, north-east of Tel Aviv, was completely without electricity from Sunday morning until late on Monday, and even beyond. Even mobile phones stopped working, a calamity of world shattering importance in Israeli society!

One of my friends saw his garden furniture take to the air and fly away, he knows not where. That was from a balcony on the ninth floor of Sea Opera, and there are undoubtedly worse stories that could be told. The press has been full of complaints that Israel is not prepared for such tropical storms which are beginning to happen more frequently. Certainly the electrical supply needs to be secure, and some surplus water should be stored.

But the greatest miracle of all is that nobody appears to have been hurt anywhere in the country!