Bnei Akiva Israel Week This week is Bnei Akiva Israel Week! There will be many events across the UK showing our support for Israel in the good times as well as the bad. Below are some of the events coming throughout the week. Sunday 9th May: Stuart Polak, Director of Conservative Friends of Israel, will be speaking at LSJS on the topic of „Prospects for Israel following the General Election‟. Starts 19:30. Monday 10th May: Rafi Nassi, Jewish Agency Aliyah Shaliach, will be speaking at London Limmud. Chavrutot start at 19:30 with talk at 20:30. Birmingham Limmud will take place at 18:00 with Israeli-themed learning. Tuesday 11th May: Festive Yom Yerushalayim tefilla at both the London and Manchester Batim. London – starts at 18:45 and is followed by schwarma tasting with newspaper critic Josh Cohen. Manchester – starts at 20:00 including free dinner and a talk by Rabbi Kanterovitz. Wednesday 12th May: Festive Yom Yerushalayim tefilla at the London Bayit starting at 8:00 followed by breakfast. Later there will be a Yom Yerushalayim Party for the whole community at Edgware Adath, 265 Hale Lane, Edgware. Doors open at 18:30. Event features tefilla, live music, Israeli dinner and a talk by Rav Cobi Ebraimoff, Deputy Head of Independent Jewish Day School. Please e-mail [email protected] to reserve your place. There will be a small charge for food. Shabbat 14th/15th May: Israeli-style Minyan at Hendon United Synagogue starting at 19:30 followed by Bogrim‟s meal at Rav Ilan‟s home. Bogrim‟s lunch in the Manchester Bayit on Shabbat. Also, watch out for Bnei Akiva sponsored Israeli kiddushim in a youth service near you. Come to LSD on Shabbat afternoon… Edgware: For Years 10-13 in Edgware Adath. Manchester: For Years 9-13 in the Bayit. Pinner: For Years 6-13 in Pinner Shul. 85 Days Until Machane! Manchester Bayit Minyan Times Mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat 19:00 Shacharit 9:30 Mincha 15:30 Ma‟ariv 21:52 Parashat Behar-Bechukotai 5770 Volume 16 Issue 30 Shabbat Lashem Joni Kleiman, Hachsharat Torani One of the main focuses of Parashat Behar is the laws pertaining to Shmitta, not working the land every seventh year: ’ ‫כי תבאו אל הארץ אשר אני נתן לכם ושבתה הארץ שבת לה‬ (Vayikra 25:2). A question arises from the phrasing of the pasuk. Why does it need to say ’ ‫שבת לה‬, it is a Shabbat for Hashem? Aren‟t all mitzvot intended to be for Hashem? There are a few answers to this question. Firstly, it says ’ ‫ שבת לה‬to show that leaving the land fallow is not just a good piece of farming advice, but rather as we see from the fact that the Torah mentions rewards and punishments, it is a mitzvah intended for the sanctification of Hashem, much like the seventh day of the week, Shabbat. The Kli Yakar also expounds upon this particular part of the verse. He says that the reason is so that we do not become arrogant and feel that it is agricultural power that has produced such a great crop but rather remember that Hashem gave us the land and that only He holds the power to produce a good or poor crop. Additionally it is to show the special quality of the land. There have been many instances where bountiful crops have been grown in Israel in places where it would seem impossible for anything to grow. The Torah is emphasising how this is not the world working in its natural way but rather it is Hashem giving the Land of Israel a unique power. The seventh year holds further significance. In Gemara Megilla (18a) it says that the beginning of the geula will start in the seventh year, further showing the importance of the shmitta year in Judaism. Furthermore Parashat Behar falls in the middle of the period in which we celebrate Yom Ha‟atzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim. Just as we remember Hashem with regards to the miracles He performs for agriculture so too we thank Hashem on these days. We show recognition of the miracles that occurred in setting up and maintaining the state of Israel and that allow us to live in this land full of holiness, beauty and Burgers Bar. Sponsored by Jessica & Sam Caplan on the occasion of Jessica’s birthday. If you would like to sponsor an issue, please email [email protected] after Shabbat! If there is no Eruv in your area, please do not carry this daf home on Shabbat. Also, please do not fold, tear, burn or tie this daf in a knot. London Manchester 20:19 20:34 21:31 21:52 Deep Roots Rav Shmuel Eliyahu Biography ‫יתי ַא ְב ָר ָהם ֶאזְ כֹר וְ ָה ָא ֶרץ ֶאזְ כֹר‬ ִּ ‫יתי יִּ ְצ ָחק וְ ַאף ֶאת ְב ִּר‬ ִּ ‫יתי יַ ֲעקוֹ ב וְ ַאף ֶאת ְב ִּר‬ ִּ ‫וְ זָ כַ ְר ִּתי ֶאת ְב ִּר‬ However, since this pasuk is part of davening on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and is mentioned in a positive form in order to awaken Hashem‟s memory and therefore His mercy, it seems more likely to view this pasuk as an island of hope within despair. According to this understanding we have a pasuk of nechama (comfort) „planted‟ into the curses. Surely the curses would have a stronger effect if we were not comforted in the middle of them. Why then is the nechama mentioned here? I once heard about a man who was removed from his home during the Disengagement. He was sure of himself that he would be strong as he always was in life and that he would not become emotional as the army came in to their settlement. And yet he found himself weeping strongly. To this he said: „when you uproot a tree, the deep roots are revealed, which we would not have recognised otherwise‟. So too here, when Hashem smites us with all the horrific curses which are mentioned in the parasha, our deep and well-rooted bond with Hashem is then revealed. It is then that we may realise that regardless of our deeds and their rewards or punishments, we as a people are strongly connected to Hashem. We have a bond that goes as far back as the nation does and it is this bond that began in the times of Avraham and Sarah which has always been there. Both at the good moments in our history and at the bad as well, this bond will forever accompany us as a nation. Many people have asked for the full source of the Chatam Sofer mentioned in the edition of Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim: "‫ בד"ה "אתרוג הכושי‬.‫ בחידושיו לתלמוד על מסכת סוכה בדף לו‬,‫החת"ם סופר‬ ‫ואספת דגנך אלא בא "י ורוב ישראל‬ ‫ רבי ישמעאל נמי לא אמר מקרא‬:‫נלע"ד‬ ‫"י ולהוציא פירותיה‬ ‫ שהעבודה בקרקע גופה מצוה משום יישוב א‬, ‫שרויין‬ - ‫ ובועז זורה גורן השעורים הלילה‬. ‫ועל זה ציותה התורה ואספת דגנך‬. ‫הקדושים‬ ‫הכא נמי לא‬, ‫ לא אניח תפילין מפני שאני עוסק בתורה‬: ‫ וכאילו תאמר‬. ‫משום מצוה‬ ‫ואפשר אפילו שארי אומניות שיש‬. ‫ לא אאסוף דגני מפני עסק התורה‬:‫יאמר‬ ‫אבל כשאנו מפוזרים בעוונותינו הרבים בין‬. ‫בהם ישוב העולם הכל בכלל מצוה‬ ,‫אומות העולם וכל שמרבה העולם יישוב מוסיף עבודת ה ' חורבן מודה ר "י לרשב "י‬ ‫ועל זה אנו סומכים על ר ' נהוראי במתני ' סוף קידושין מניח אני כל אומ ניות שבעולם‬ .‫ היינו בח"ל וכנ"ל‬- ‫ואיני מלמד בני אלא תורה‬ Find out what leading Religious Zionist Rabbis think! The parasha begins with nine pesukim of reward if we choose to obey Hashem. After, there is an extended elaboration of curses if we choose not to. The pasuk above is quoted within these pesukim of curses. How is Hashem remembering the covenant of the fathers and the land a bad thing? Some commentators have explained that this is indeed expressing a problem. It would be one thing if a nation sins, but for the nation that descended from Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, which has such a strong bond with the holy land of Israel – it is far worse. AN INTERVIEW WITH… PEIROT HA’ILAN A weekly thought from Rav Ilan Goldman I will remember My covenant with Yaakov and also My covenant with Yitzchak; I will also remember My covenant with Avraham and I will remember the land. (Vayikra 26:42). Rav Shmuel Eliyahu is the Chief Rabbi of Tsfat and the son of former Sephardi Chief Rabbi, Mordechai Eliyahu. Like his father, he is one of the leading figures in Religious Zionism today. He is active in outreach, particularly in setting up „garinim‟, groups of religious families living in secular areas that help to bridge the gap in society and give a positive impression of Judaism. What is the future of Religious Zionism in Israel? “There are many mitzvot in the Torah. Some of the mitzvot are like the trunk of the tree and some are like branches; some are like leaves and some are like flowers, all making up the „Etz Chaim‟, the tree of life we call Torah. The mitzvot regarded by Chazal as equal to the whole of Torah are like the trunk, such as the command to love one‟s neighbour as oneself. The Religious Zionist society strives to keep the whole of Torah with all its details from the roots to the trunk and the branches and naturally to the leaves and flowers. We need all of Am Yisrael and all of Eretz Yisrael to reach the whole of Torah therefore every different part of the nation contributes to the bigger picture. The Religious Zionist community contributes to the trunk for they emphasise the Land and the mitzvot of the Land, which are emphasised many times in the Torah.” What is the role for Bnei Akiva in the UK? “The true foundation of Am Yisrael is mainly in Eretz Yisrael. As a nation we need to bring a blessing to the entire world as we have done in the past. World history has developed from the culture of Am Yisrael. Bnei Akiva needs to educate its chanichim for Aliyah, for the building of the nation, for hagshama (actualising the ideology) and for bringing Am Yisrael to its role of being a light unto the nations, fulfilling the blessing that Hashem gave Avraham.”