All posts by Jeremy

Jeremy’s Notes

Shabbat Chol Ha-mo’ed Pesach

On the news this morning, I listened to an item on money laundering and the corruption of oligarchs from a country somewhere to the east of here. Clearly, these oligarchs have not read Deuteronomy 10: 12-19 where it says, “He is the great, mighty and awesome God, who does not give special consideration or take bribes.” Perhaps they have read this, but, to them, it is just words. We will read them this Shabbat, when the normal cycle of Torah readings is interrupted for Pesach. We will also read Exodus 13: 3-10. How appropriate that, during this festival of remembering, we go back to consider again the laws of Pesach and how we are instructed, in the future, to tell the story. How appropriate, too, that we go forward to remember the journey we have made through the generations, and now through the desert, always with God’s love. God loved our ancestors and “chose you, their descendants, from among all nations, just as the situation is today.” What do we do in return? Only “remain in awe of God your Lord, so that you will follow all his paths and love Him, serving your God your Lord with all your heart and all your soul.”

The Torah reading finishes with another, oh most significant reminder to show love toward the foreigner, since we were foreigners in the land of Egypt, and have been again many times since.

Come and celebrate the fifth day of Pesach together, starting at 10.30.  Harvey Kurzfield will make the past present.

Since it is still Pesach, please bear this in mind when deciding what to bring for the kiddush lunch. Given our varied traditions, food containing kitniyot is fine, but, equally, given our respect for other traditions, please make it clear if what you bring does contain it.

News

The day after the night before

March ended and April began for Kehillat Kernow on a spiritual, social and culinary high. Friday 31st brought down from remotest London David and Hannah Jacobs. David led a joyful Shabbat evening service, followed by a delicious meal with many tastes prepared to perfection by Estelle Moses.

On Saturday morning, David led the service, together with Pat Lipert, who gamely stood in at the last moment for Liz Berg, who sadly had to return home due to feeling very unwell. The service was followed by kiddush, and kiddush was followed by a most interesting exploration and discussion of Pesach, chaired by David and Hannah. We looked at a variety of haggadot and noted how these were influenced by the historical and cultural context in which they had been produced. We then focussed on the four sons or, in some modern haggadot, four children and their four questions. Some most imaginative representations of these have been produced and working out, for some of them, which of the children are which is itself a challenging question.

It is always good to be stimulated by the particular focus that different individuals bring to old topic and questions, and stimulated we were.

Jeremy’s Notes

Vayikra

Last week there was a double parashiyot, namely Va-yakhel and P’kudei. In Ya-yakhel, the instructions given to Moses earlier on the building of the Tabernacle, the Ark and the other furniture, furnishings and devices to be used both as a place of sacrifice and an amazing mobile home for the presence of God begin to become a reality. What a wonderful transformation we have here after the dreadful sin of the golden calf and our earlier complaints and fears. Moses ask for offerings of skins, wool, fine linen, gold, silver and precious stones with which to build and weave the furniture and furnishings. He asks for volunteers to craft and form everything as it should be, and he is overwhelmed by the contributions and by the volunteers. So much is given that the architects and builders have to ask the people to stop bringing things. Sometimes one’s family can bring sorrow and pain, but here they bring joy.

What a wonderful ending to Shemot, the book of names and the story of the Exodus. “God’s glory filled the Tabernacle” and the people are ready to move on, as move they must. The journey will be difficult and sometimes painful. There will be backsliding and rebellion. Yet, slowly, we will grow in strength and, with God’s help, make ourselves ready. Chazak, chazak, v’nitzchazeik.

And so we come to Vayikra. God calls to Moses, speaking to him from the Communion Tent, and proceeds to instruct him in the intricate rituals of sacrifice. There are many kinds of offering, some freely made by any member of the community, peace and sin offerings, one for the High Priest, one for the King (though there is not yet a King to sin) those for the community and those for commoners. There is far too much for me to recount here. However, this week we will have a shabbat service that will be even more special than usual. We are lucky to have David and Hannah Jacobs visiting us, and David will be leading the service, together with our very own Liz Berg.

After kiddush, David Jacobs will  lead a discussion. The topic will be Pesach and the Haggadah .

Don’t miss our most excellent day: Shabbat service, kiddush and discussion all rolled up in one super package.

News

COMMUNAL SEDER

Spring is coming and, with it, one of the most wonderful festivals of the Jewish year: Pesach. It is fitting that, at the same time as the world around us begins again to burst into growth, we celebrate the throwing off of the bonds of slavery. We clean our houses, looking for chametz and, in the process, sweep away the dust and crumbs at the back of drawers and cupboards, the grey cobwebs in the corners of our kitchens. Pesach is also a time to look inside our hearts and perhaps clear away a few dusty habits and modes of thought grown stiff with complacency. And it is a time to celebrate together the great gift of freedom and the coming together of the people of Israel in a shared covenant with God.

The first night of Pesach this year will be on Monday 10 April and Kehillat Kernow will be celebrating it in grand style. There will be the traditional story, given new life by the ever fresh reading of our Honorary Life President Harvey Kurzfield, the traditional seder plate, and a wonderful buffet lovingly cooked and prepared by some of the talented chefs of the community.

Our seder is a wonderful occasion for both children and adults. If you are visiting Cornwall during Pesach and wish to attend the seder, please contact Anne Hearle on  01736 731686 for details.

News

Ki Tissa

Please note that service reminders aim to build a bridge between the last Saturday service two weeks before and the one being announced. They will therefore often focus on the previous parshah rather than on the one in the title.

Moses is not mentioned in Tetzaveh, nor God in the Megillah, which we read for Purim, and which, this year, fell immediately after Shabbat. Is this for the same reasons? In the former, Aaron, the older brother takes centre stage. In the latter, Ester does. Are Moses and God absent? In a way they are and in a way they aren’t. Moses listens to God’s instructions for making the priestly vestments so that Aaron and his sons will be sanctified, giving honour to them, to the tribes of Israel and, of course, to God. Had Moses been made of another mettle, he might have wanted to be the High Priest himself. Had God wanted humanity to be puppets, He might have arranged everything hands on. As it is, Moses is happy to stand back and allow others into the limelight,  but he is still there doing his job. Similarly, God allows courage and virtue to emerge in the human heart, but He is still there, weaving a delicate, living web of possibilities. For a more scholarly discussion of these themes, see Rabbi Jonathan Sachs: ‘Who is Honoured?’ – Covenant & Conversation: Tetzaveh 5777 and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis: ‘D’var Torah: Purim’.

Now Ki Tissa begins with instructions for a census, a ‘lifting of the heads’ and continues with more instructions for the building of the sacred space of the Tabernacle. Moses is absent from the camp, so the people, thinking themselves bereft of leader and of God, go to pieces. When discussing Terumah, Pat Lipert talked of the parallels between the creation of the sacred space and that of the just, social space. Both require order, direction and assumed responsibility. Without these disciplines, a people unused to organising itself creates that which is grotesque and absurd. Guided by God and Moses, they can craft the most beautiful Holy of Holies. Guided by nothing but fear and desire, they spew out a golden calf.

Fortunately, their sinful mistake is forgiven. They are given a second chance. More laws follow, and the divine glory rests on Moses, so that, when he descends, some of it is still visible to the people.

Come and be counted, lift up your heads this Shabbat at our nexr service, starting 10.30. Adam Feldman will forge insight and joyful song, and no golden calf will raise its hollow head.