Behar Bechukotai 5777

Sponsored in loving memory of Freda Rothburn z”l Freidl bat Moshe HaLevi z”l

Service Times

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Parshat Behar-Bechukotai

Shabbat Kabbalat Shabbat

19:00

(Candle Lighting)

19:30

Shacharit

09:00

Leining

10:00

Mincha & Seudah

21:05

Shabbat Ends

22:19

23 Iyar 5777 19 May 2017

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Page No.s Artscroll Gutnick Hertz

Leining

Haftarah

696 810 531

1179 1443 551

Weekday Shacharit

Mincha & Ma’ariv

Sun

09:00

19:30

Mon

07:00

19:30

Tues

07:00

19:30

Wed*

07:00

19:30

Thur

07:00

19:30

We can all appreciate that for our relation-

we lose sight of how Hashem views our

Fri**

06:45

19:30***

ships to grow, we must constantly invest

relationship.

19:40

effort into them. Meaningful friendships

Candle Lighting * Yom Yerushalayim ** Rosh Chodesh *** Mincha & Kabbalat Shabbat

input. Attention, appreciation, compromise

to all those who have Yahrzeit this week as follows 20 May 24 Iyar

Sun

21 May 25 Iyar

Tues

23 May 27 Iyar

Wed

24 May 28 Iyar

Thurs

Simon Margolis Ivor Lefton

Father Father

Barry Stewart Sheila Sheldon Trevor Duschenes Nicola Scorah Stephen Quinn

Sister Mother Wife Mother Father

and sacrifice are all significant contributors, and without them, the relationship will stagnate and atrophy. Sometimes, even if several areas of the relationship are failing, a relationship can be worth saving, as long as there is a general awareness that there is a relationship to be saved.

Freda Freedman Father Luis & Tracy Labaton Daughter Shirley Horwich Father

Our relationship with Hashem is no differ-

Luise Ross

several promises of rewards if we invest

25 May 29 Iyar

Aubrey Rothburn

Fri

Stephen Lentin Ella Lentin

26 May 1 Sivan

Making The Investment

and marriages do not just continue without

Chayim Arukim ‫שבת‬

Thought For The Week

Father Mother

ent. In this week’s parsha, Hashem makes in the relationship, through the learning of Torah and the performance of Mitzvot.

Kiddushim

Sister Daughter

However, the bulk of the parsha contains

approach to Hashem and His mitzvot as the cause of the punishments listed. This is because a relationship is only worth saving if both sides are invested in saving it. If a spouse takes a laissez-faire attitude to the things that need addressing, then something as small as a stray sock left on the floor, could lead to a nuclear meltdown!

If we could only understand the significance of the relationship that Hashem wishes to have with His People, and the pleasures which He is desperate to confer on us, then we would never allow ourselves to become apathetic and detached from our Judaism.

all the ‘curses’ that will befall the Jewish

20 May Clare & Mark Savinson

People if we do not invest in the relation-

27 May Unsponsored

for us to view our actions as directly leading

3 June Unsponsored

The Torah explicitly refers to our ‘casual’

ship. It is uncomfortable and disconcerting to pain and suffering, but that is because

Rabbi Nick Kett Shabbat Weather AM Showers 15o High 8o Overnight Low

Parsha

verview

First Aliyah - 18 verses The laws of Sh’mitah and Jubilee years are discussed. After 49 years a Jubilee year is proclaimed.

All slaves are set free and all lands revert to their original owners.

Business ethics are discussed.

Second Aliyah - 10 verses The sixth year’s harvest will produce enough to provide for three years. Land can only be leased until the Jubilee year. A person can “redeem” his land within two years of purchase, but pays the remaining value until the Jubilee year.

Third Aliyah - 10 verses These laws apply to fields and homes in un-walled cities. Homes in walled cities and the 48 Levite cities, are discussed. We must help our brethren to avoid financial ruin and dependence on others.

Charging interest on a loan is forbidden.

Fourth Aliyah - 26 verses Slaves must be treated respectfully. Redeeming a Jewish slave is discussed. Parshat Bechukotai promises incredible blessing if we diligently study Torah and observe the mitzvot, including plentiful food, peace in the land, and incredible military success.

Fifth Aliyah - 37 verses This section describes the terrifying punishments which will befall the Jews if they reject G-d’s mitzvot. The punishments include disease, enemy occupation, and exile.

G-d promises never to utterly forsake us even when we are in exile.

Sixth Aliyah - 15 verses Discusses pledges to the Temple coffers. A person can pledge the value of an individual, as well as animals and houses.

Seventh Aliyah - 19 verses Land can be endowed to the Temple, and redeemed. Firstborn livestock are sacrificed. Personal belongings can be given to the priests. The “Second Tithe” and the animal tithe are discussed.

Every tenth animal is sacrificed, and the meat consumed by its owners.

The portion of the ‘curses’ is read quieter than the rest of the parsha, since we feel so ashamed that we could deserve these punishments.

S L E W

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Delve into the deeper side of Judaism This week we take a look at the mitzvah of giving charity

Give and Take The Torah commands (Vayikra 25:35), “And if your brother becomes poor and his means fail him with you, you shall support him, even if he a convert or a righteous gentile (who fulfills the Seven Noachide Laws) so that he may live with you”.

This verse teaches that it is an obligation to extend financial aid to a fellow Jew or righteous non-Jew who needs a loan or charity. It is a mitzvah to lend or give him money for conducting business or some necessary transaction for which he lacks the means.

The Torah emphasises that we should put him back on his feet before he is reduced to bankruptcy and has to accept charity.

If a donkey begins to stumble under its burden, one man possesses sufficient strength to adjust the load on its back or remove some of it so that it is able to walk further. Once the donkey has collapsed, though, even five ablebodied men cannot pull it to its feet.

Similarly, we should help someone as soon as his

means begin to fail him and not delay until he is bankrupt.

Although the explicit mitzvah to give tzedakah to the needy is mentioned in Parshat Re’eh, the Midrash elaborates upon the topic here too: It is an art to give charity wisely, without embarrassing the receiver. Whenever Rabbeinu Yonah heard that a wealthy man had lost all his money but was When giving charity, the pauper gives his benefactor more than benefactor gives the pauper. ashamed to ask for charity, he used to visit him in his house and tell him, “I have good newsfor you! I heard that you became heir to the fortune of someone who lives overseas. Meanwhile, please accept a little loan from me! You can pay me back as soon as you take possession of the money.”

Whenever the borrower reestablished himself and came to pay his debt, Rabbeinu Yonah would tell him to keep it as a gift.

There was a chamber in the Beit Hamikdash called ‘The Chamber of Secret Gifts’. G-d fearing Jews donated money there, and poor people anonymously received it and were able to live from it.

When Rabbi Elazar noticed a pauper walking behind him, he purposely dropped some money, giving him the impression that he had dropped it by accident. The pauper would pick it up and try to return it, but Rabbi Elazar would refuse to take it back.

When giving charity, the pauper gives his benefactor more than the benefactor gives the pauper. While the donor merely spends material wealth, he receives in return an inestimable wealth of spiritual merits which far surpass what he gave away.

Moreover, we are told that by giving tzedakah, a person can be saved from harsh judgement in Gehinnom.

Based on ‘The Midrash Says’

by Rabbi M. Weiss

If you would like to share your words of wisdom, please submit your article of no more than 500 words to nick@hale-community.org.uk

Parsha Stats Behar & Bechukotai are the 32nd and 33rd of 54 sedras 9th and 10th of 10 in Vayikra Written on 230 lines in a Torah 135 verses 1750 words 6809 letters

Did You Know HALE & DISTRICT WALKERS

This week’s parsha mentions 36 of the 613 mitzvot in total.

14 are positive mitzvot, and 22 are prohibitions.

For Men & Women

Come and join us for an hour’s holistic workout!

We’re out and about most weekdays.

Walk with a Talk 1. Explore Listed Buildings around the area 2. The Bollin - Past & Present 3. Health & Wellbeing Dates and Speakers to be announced after places have been filled.

Please contact Gillian Cohen on 07785 270 044 for further informatoin.

Tip #29 Jump In

TEFILLAH TIPS

Last week, we began talking about the blessings on the Torah that we say every day before learning and praying.

Whenever a blessing is recited for a mitzvah, the mitzvah must be performed immediately. So what should one do if they do not plan to learn immediately after saying the blessing? Ordinarily, this would create a situation where we are violating the commandment of not saying Hashem’s name in vain!

The Rabbis accommodated for this by inserting selections from the Oral and Written Torah, so that we ensure that some learning, however formulaic takes place, immediately after the blessing is said. This includes the Priestly blessing, and a passage from the Talmud which declares that the reward for Torah study is equal to the rewards for other mitzvot combined.

Hashem would miraculously provide enough crops in the sixth year to cover the seventh, and into the eighth, until the new crops would grow.

However, in a Jubilee year, the sixth year would yield enough food to last into the ninth year, since Years 49 and 50 were both treated as shemitah years.

Even though the book of Vayikra is the smallest of the five, it contains the greatest number of mitzvot (247).

Since Parshat Bechukotai contains the portion of the curses, it is always read just before Shavuot, in order that these messages are fresh in our mind when we come to celebrating the receiving of the Torah.

Just For Fun Question: How do we know all the Jews had headaches at Mount Sinai?

Answer: Because Moses gave them two tablets!

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KING AHEAD SHAVUOT

In The Spotlight Joshua Savinson & Susie Cohen

EDUCATION

This Shabbat, we celebrate Joshua’s aufruf and forthcoming marriage to Susie, in Caesaria, Israel, shortly after Shavuot.

Susie grew up near to Joshua’s grandparents in Hendon, but their paths only crossed recently, when they met at a Chabad house whilst travelling in the Far East. Susie, 25, works as an interior designer, and Joshua, 27, runs his own digital content website, They hope to settle in West Hampstead together.

Although most of their friends and family will be celebrating with them in Israel, several relatives from London, and even Germany, will spend Shabbat in Hale.

We welcome Susie’s parents, Judy & Vivian Cohen, as well as Joshua’s grandparents Esther Savinson and Gunter Susskind, although sadly, Ellen Ruth Susskind is unable to join from London.

We also remember Mark’s father, Richard, who passed away last year.

We wish Joshua and Susie every success in their future together, and we thank Clare and Mark for their hospitality.

Mazaltov

Joshua Savinson on the occasion of his aufruf and forthcoming marriage to Susie Cohen.

If you would like to sponsor an edition of ‘Something For Everyone’, in honour of a simcha or for a yahrzeit, or for any reason, please contact the Shule office on 0161 980 8846 or admin@hale-community.org.uk

Clare & Mark Savinson on the occasion of Joshua & Susie’s forthcoming marriage.