Beha’alotcha

• Laws of the Menorah are given
• The Levites are installed into their service of Hashem
• Those impure at the time of Pesach are given another chance to celebrate the festival on "Pesach Sheni".
• The people journey from Mount Sinai and complain about the absence of real food
• Moses shares his prophecy with 70 elders
• Miriam slanders Moses and becomes leprous

The Birth of a Baby

Following the birth of a child the mother should recite Birkat Hagomel that is usually recited after an illness or other potentially life-threatening situations. Ideally, this berachah should be said in the presence of a minyan, but if this is not feasible it may be recited in the presence of just one other person. [The Mishnah Berurah suggests that ten people, but not necessarily men, should be present for Birkat Hagomel, but R’ Moshe Feinstein indicated that this is not an absolute requirement and this is also the implication of the rubrics in the Singer’s Prayer Book. Interestingly, many halachists note that in lots of communities women do not recite this berachah at all.]

Parents also recite a further celebratory berachah upon the safe birth of a child. According to the Mishnah Berurah, Hatov V’hametiv should be said upon the birth of a son, whilst Shehecheyanu should be said upon the birth of a daughter. However, several contemporary Rabbis (including the Chief Rabbi) have penned compelling arguments advocating the recitation of Hatov V’hametiv in all instances.

A daughter should be formally named on the first Shabbat following her birth when there is a crowd of people in Shul (Minchat Yitzchak), though it is also acceptable to name her at a midweek service. When choosing a name for a child, parents should be aware of the importance of selecting a traditionally Jewish name. According to the Midrash, one of the reasons why the Israelites were deemed worthy of being redeemed from Egypt was because they demonstrated their loyalty to their heritage by retaining Jewish names.

SIDRA INSIGHTS
by Rabbanit Esther Livingstone, Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue

There are two particularly well known verses in this week’s Sidra: "Vayehi Binsoa Ha- Aron...." and "Shuva Hashem..." "When the Ark went forth, Moses said: Arise O G-d, and let Your enemies be scattered and Your foes flee before You ... When it came to rest he said: Return, O G-d, the myriads and thousands of Israel". (Bemidbar 10:35-36)

These words are so universally familiar because we say them at least four times a week upon removing the Torah from the Aron HaKodesh (10:35), and upon returning it (10:36). Unusually, in the actual Torah scroll these two verses are preceded and followed by two inverted "nuns" resembling brackets. Because of this, the Talmud (Shabbat ll5b) regards these verses as a separate book indicating that there must be a unique message contained therein.

In terms of the context in which Moses originally uttered these words, it is clear that they had a highly practical purpose. During the forty years sojourn in the wilderness, the Jews encamped and decamped guided by the Clouds of Glory. When these clouds, representing the Divine presence, descended upon the Mishkan, this signalled that it was time to make camp and bring the Holy Ark to rest. When the clouds ascended this was the signal to break camp, and begin moving the Ark forward. The two verses each served as an announcement of one of these events.

But what of the actual meaning of the words? According to some commentaries, these verses comprise something of a "tefilat haderech" prayer for the great journey of life itself. Rabbi S.R. Hirsch comments that, as Jews, we are seen by the world as the representatives of Divine Law. Accordingly, those whose values and aspirations are antithetical to the Torah have often sought to restrict and persecute us. In this vein, the Sifrei contends that the enemies of Israel are synonymous with the enemies of Hashem, and are so described in the above mentioned verses. Thus, before every journey into the dangerous and unknown wilderness of life, Moses pleaded then, as we continue to do, that Hashem should scatter our enemies, and those that hate Him should flee - in order that they do us no physical harm nor deflect us from our spiritual mission.

"Shuva Hashem", incanted by Moses when the Ark came to rest, comprises a second and entirely different request. This verse has two alternative translations. The first is "Return, O G-d, to the myriads and thousands of Israel." In this version, the plea is that we should merit "Shechinat Hashem", G-d continued presence in our lives. The second translation is, "Bring back, O G-d, the myriads and thousands of Israel." Here the plea is that, after every journey of life, the Almighty should return each and every one of Israel’s numbers in peace and safety to their proper place, with no one missing or harmed.

While both versions are acceptable, they differ on whether "Shuva" is to be understood as an intransitive verb (return) or a transitive verb (bring back) - with very different results. But whichever way one appreciates their meaning, these verses are not only beautiful requests in their own right but also timeless invocations - every bit as worthy of being recited today as they were four millennia ago.

The next time the Torah is removed or returned we would be well to ponder the wider meaning and significance of what we are requesting. Thus, perhaps, we might be inspired toward bringing these words into our lives and their meaning into reality.

RABBI NAFTALI TZVI YEHUDAH BERLIN
(THE NETZIV)
by Rabbi Dr Michael Harris, Hampstead Synagogue

Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin was born at Mir in 1817 and died in Warsaw in 1893. He is usually referred to as the ‘Netziv’, the acronym of his name. He was Rosh Yeshiva of the celebrated Volozhin Yeshiva for almost forty years until it was closed by the Russian government in 1892. The Volozhin yeshiva was the prototype for most contemporary Orthodox yeshivot, and under the Netziv’s leadership it became a spiritual centre for Russian Jewry as a whole.

In his yeshiva, the Netziv taught the entire Babylonian Talmud in the order of its arrangement, emphasising the plain meaning of the Talmudic text. He wrote a commentary on Sifrei (halachic midrash to the Books of Bamidbar and Devarim) entitled Emek HaNetziv, and a commentary on the Sheiltot of R. Ahai (one of the central works of the Geonic period) called Ha’amek She’elah.

The Netziv also emphasised the study of Chumash and Nach, and delivered a daily shiur in the yeshiva on the weekly Sidra, which was unusual in his day. The Netziv’s commentary on the Torah, Ha’amek Davar, remains very popular.

The Netziv’s concerns extended beyond the yeshiva to the general Jewish community and its needs, and he wrote many responsa to halachic queries arriving from all over the Jewish world. Some of his responsa are collected in his Meshiv Davar.

The Netziv’s sons were Rabbi Chaim Berlin and Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan.

A TO Z OF ISRAEL’S STREET NAMES
by Simon Goulden, Agency for Jewish Education

F -Frumkin Rabbi Aryeh Leib Frumkin was a scholar and early Zionist pioneer. Born in 1845 in Lithuania, he had already made his first trip to Palestine by 1871. He returned to Europe to serve as Rabbi of a town near Kovno, but his desire to settle in the Land of Israel was such that he once more travelled there in 1883, becoming one of the founders of the new settlement of Petach Tiqva. He left there in 1893 and came to London.

Finding no pulpit vacancies, he and his wife Sheina rented a pub off Commercial Road, but discovered that the licensing laws demanded that it stay open on Shabbat - abruptly ending this enterprise. The family decided that, having wide links with the large Jewish community in the East End, they would sell kosher wines. He bought a building site on the corner of Commercial Road and Cannon Street Road and the business, which imported wines from Palestine, ran for over a century. He left the business to his family and returned to Palestine at the age of 66, in 1911. His main contribution to Jewish scholarship was Toledot Chachmei Yerushalayim' (A history of the sages of Jerusalem), which contained valuable historical information from the Middle Ages and he edited 'Seder Rav Amram' (the ritual of Rav Amram). He died in 1916, but his connection to the Anglo Jewish Rabbinate remains strong.

Riddle of the Week
by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis

LAST WEEK'S QUESTIONS

Rev Michael Plaskow, Emeritus Chazan of Woodside Park Synagogue.

Prove: Gold, silver and copper stand for all the occasions on which the Torah is read during the year.

nswer

In Hebrew they are:

is for the weekly readings:

Shabbat	=	7	=
Thursday	=	5	=
Monday	=	2	=

& are for special days:

Kippur (Yom Kippur)	=
Succot	=
Pesach	=
Neirot (Chanukah)	=
Chodesh (Rosh Chodesh & Rosh Hashanah)	=
Shavuot, Simchat Torah & Shemini Atzeret	=
Taanit (all the Fasts)	=

EXTRA CHALLENGE set by Jonny Dickson of Edgware.

When do we "drag an ox, sanctify with silver, carve in the desert and send a firstborn"?

nswer

On Pesach - the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 490:5) gives this as an aide memoire to remembering the order of the different parshiyot we lein on each of the 8 days of Pesach, taken from initial words of the leining as follows:

1st day	"drag"
2nd day	"ox"
1st day Chol Hamoed	"sanctify"
2nd day Chol Hamoed	"silver"
3rd day Chol Hamoed	"carve"
4th day Chol Hamoed	"desert"
7th day	"send"
8th day	"firstborn"

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

Explain: Upside down today and inside out on Simchat Torah.

EXTRA CHALLENGE set by Dr J Jacobs of Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Which name of a person is given in one chapter of Bereishit three times as a female and six times as a male?

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