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TAZRIA 5784
Longing For Redemption
Rabbi Andrew Shaw Chief Executive, Mizrachi UK
We live in dif cult times.
As well as a rise in antisemitism across the western world, we now have the spectre of a war with Iran seemingly imminent We still haven’t defeated Hamas, the hostages have not been returned and the world seems to be turning against Israel.
Not the sort of backdrop for the month of Geulah – the month of Redemption
As Chazal teach us:
In Nissan they were redeemed, in Nissan they will be redeemed (Rosh Hashanah 11a).
I nd myself on Shabbat HaChodesh in Glasgow I am here to speak to the community on their Israel Shabbat. Glasgow is special to me; this is where my grandmother ed to from Nazi Germany in 1938. This is where my mother was born and spent her rst decade. This is the place that gave a home to my family – and I will always be grateful.
Though I am sure that when my grandma arrived here in the winter of 1938, she would never have dreamed that her grandson, a Rabbi, would be speaking to the Glasgow
Jewish community about the State of Israel, a vibrant democracy of almost 7 million Jews, in the heart of the Middle East.
In 1938 the walls were closing in on European Jewry and those in the mandate of Palestine. We were about to go through hell, and who would of ever thought or dreamed that we would be where we are today.
Similarly with the Jewish people in Egypt.
After two hundred and ten years in Egypt, and one hundred and sixteen years of slavery, the Israelites were close to abandoning all hope They were slaves, their fathers were slaves, and their grandfathers were slaves. Would those famous, longed for words –
םכתא םיק א דקפי – And God will surely redeem you from here, which Yosef swore on his deathbed (Bereishit 50:25), ever, at last, come to fruition?
Just like today, it seemed that the chances were slim, their hope was remote, their pain was great.
So, in order to understand our current realities, we need to understand what Geulah means.
Rav Soloveitchik teaches, “Genuine geulah, genuine redemption, always comes suddenly and unexpectedly, at a time when people are ready to give up hope. Sometimes historical situations keep deteriorating; people pray and cry, begging for mercy – but there is no answer to their prayer, only silence. At that moment, when the crises reaches its maximum and threatens the very existence of the community, when people begin to give up, the geulah suddenly comes and takes them out of the land of af iction. It comes in the middle of the night and knocks on the door when no one expects it, when everybody is sceptical about it, when everybody laughs off the possibility of redemption. This is what happened in Egypt; הדבﬠה־ןמלארשׂי־ינב וּחנאיּו
– the children of Israel sighed from the labour, and they cried out, םתﬠושׁ
– and their cry ascended to God from the labour (Shemot 2:23). God did not answer at that moment, and the people had no knowledge that God saw and God knew (2:25) When the crisis reached its climax, and the Jewish people were on the verge of complete assimilation and disappearance, Moshe came. ”
So, as we usher in the month of Nissan, we see the global situation and we may worry. However, we must believe that this is the month of Nissim, of miracles. We can marvel at how far we have come as a nation and realise that despite the seeming darkness, there is much light for our nation to celebrate
That will be the focus of my addresses to the Glasgow community.
01/08/2024, 14:16
for ParashatTazria
That needs to be the focus of the Jewish people as we enter Nissan with the current crisis.
That Hashem is looking after his people and Geulah is on the way
May we merit the Geulah Sheleimah – the full redemption, speedily, soon and in our days.
Shabbat Shalom
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