Shabbat Shalom

Greetings All, David here,

Well I'm back after a break. Much to review, but Shabbat dawns.I therefore wish everyone a Shabbat Shalom and a good Shabbos.

Dov

Si observo el Shabat, Dios me protegerá.
Es una señal eterna entre Él y yo.

Está prohibido cargar objetos
emprender viajes, o hablar de
asuntos corrientes, de asuntos
comerciales y de temas del reino.
Sólo meditaré en la Torá de Dios,
que me dará sabiduría.

Releeré la Torá de Dios que
me hará más sabio.
En ella encontraré paz para mi alma.
Así como para la primera generación
mi santo Dios hizo un milagro,
otorgándoles pan doble, así mismo
duplicará mi comida cada viernes.

Dios dictó una ley religiosa que
prescribe la presentación del Pan
de Proposición.
Por eso, está prohibido torturarse,
según los sabios, excepto en el
Día del Perdón (Yom Kippur).

Es un día que impone respeto,
un día para deleitarse, de pan y
buen vino, de carne y pescado.
Los que estén alegres ese día
conseguirán la alegría.
Porque es un día en el que Dios
me llena de felicidad.

If I observe the Shabat, God will protect me
It is an eternal sign between Him and me.

It is forbidden to carry objects
undertake journeys or talk of everyday events,
commercial affairs and even things of the kingdom.
I will only meditate on the Torah of God,
which will give me wisdom.

I will re-read the Torah of God which will make me wiser.
In it I will find peace for my soul.
Just as for the first generation my holy God performed
a miracle, giving them double bread,
in the same way He will duplicate my food every Friday.

God gave us a religious law which prescribes
the presentation of the Bread of Proposition.
That is why its is forbidden to torture oneself
according to the wise men, except on the Day of
Atonement (Yom Kippur).

It is a day which demands respect,
a day to take delight,
in bread and good wine, in meat and fish.
Those who are happy on that day will find happiness
because it is a day when God fills me with happiness.



Abraham ibn Ezra
(Rabbi Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra/Abenezra)
(Tudela, 1092 / Calahorra, 1167)

Small but significant

Hi All,

It's me, Hannah! 

Following the large demonstration on Saturday by the pro-Palestinian side, which such novel placards as'Israel: hitler would be proud' & the second weekend of pro-Palestinian &Jew hate fuelled violence in France. This is a picture from a peaceful counter pro-Israeli demo yesterday, attended by both Jews and Christians :

We might not be as large as the Islamic community, but our voice has a right to be heard and our voice stands with Israel & her people, right now, despite the upsurge in Anti-Semitism. As that placard says the loyalty and commitment of British Jews to Britain & her Queen has never been in doubt. We have contributed so much to British life, despite being a tiny minority.Our contributions have been positive and we have lived here as a group since 1658, maintaining our religion, whilst also integrating into wider society. 

Here is a link to of  British Jews who have significantly contributed to society.  You will note that when it comes to science , politics, writing &entertaining, these have their own pages, given the lists are so large.  All this from a minority which has never been more than 1% of the total British population!

Which is why, now more than ever, I am proud to describe myself as a Jew and a British  Jew of the Sephardim  in particular. 

G-d Save the Queen  !

G-d defend Israel ! 

This weeks Shabbos thread

Hi All,

As usual this is the thread where people can share their thoughts of the week, leave prayers or discuss whatever they want, including the week's Torah portion. 

I guess this weeks special prayers need to be particularly for the current situation in Gaza; to pray for the safety of our brothers and sisters in  Israel, be they in the IDF or the families of the IDF or the population generally, who are  hold up in bunkers to protect themselves from terrorist rocket attacks. May we pray for peace and no more loss of lives on both sides and may our prayers be received in mercy by Hakodosh Boroch Hu, and help usher in days of peace and security; may we look forward to the coming of the Messiah & the time in which war and suffering will be things of the past. 

Here in the UK,  we need to pray over the current debate in the House of Lords over the assisted dying bill; may their Lordships be guided by G-d to vote against this horrendous piece of legislation and may we continue to worship the G-d of life. 

Some Tehillim (Psalms)  which I hope will help people:

• Chapter 6
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 83
• Chapter 91 
• Chapter 130
• Chapter 142

I'll leave you with this thought :

Understanding Sephardi Judaism

Hi All,

A few non-Jews have asked me about the difference between Sephardi Judaism and Aszkenazi Judaism. By way of response, I want to share this excellent lecture at the University of Maryland,  by Rabbi Joshua Maroof; an American Sephardi Rabbi. He pretty much sums up my feelings on Judaism. I would highly recommend that people spend the full hour listening to this lecture, which gives a good intro into Sephardi Judaism . 

The key points are : 

• Sephardi Judaism is 'universal' & 'big picture' in its ethos, in so much as we are immersed in secular as well as religious studies, including science, poetry, literature and philosophy, to the extent that our historical Rabbis are well known outside of the Jewish world, pace the example that historically both Chrisitan and Arab scholars are familiar with and quote Moses Maimonides among others.

• Sephardi Judaism is 'Bible based', in so much as the root of our outlook is more Hebrew Bible than Talmud. 

• We therefore see the law as a means to an end, not an end in itself 

• We are often seen as being more 'liberal' or 'reform' by Aszkenazi Orthodox, because studying the Hebrew Bible , rather than the Talmud.  is the emphasis of Aszkenazi Reform  and because we seek to be conservative in not adding more and more to Jewish law, without a good reason

• This emphasis on the Hebrew Bible is reflected in our more 'lively' and 'joyful' liturgy 

• We are not rigid in our world view

• We seek to make Jewish law easier to understand and this is why so many famous Sephardi Rabbis provided 'codifications' of Jewish law.

Contemporary issues (toward the end) :

• Conversion- Sephardi see this as a willingness to join the Jewish nation, rather than being a set of dogmas that one must instantly follow or have your conversion revoked . There is an interesting discussion toward the end about this in Israel (he compares what Haredi are doing now as being like a Catholic conversion! Hi Happy Jack!).

• Women's issues- 

• The Rabbi argues if it were not for Sephardi Rabbis, women in Israel would NOT have the right to vote  & be in positions of leadership (ironic because we are small 'c' conservatives and traditional)

• Women singing in front of men, which caused issues in Israel. Sephardi note that in the Hebrew Bible women sung for King David and the interpretation of women singing in front of men is against 'sexual' songs (the Rabbi mentions Britney Spears as an example!)

• Sephardi have no problem in principle of women being Posek or Rabbis

Brilliant conclusions of Judaism toward the last 12- 15 minutes. 

Shabbat Shalom!

Shabbat UK

Much to my delight the Chief Rabbi has launched a new initiative which is called 'ShabbatUK' :

"At its core, ShabbatUK is about harnessing all the goodness and uniqueness of a traditional, authentic Shabbat and inviting Jews around the country to celebrate it in a way they never have before. Shabbat is a central part of what it is to be Jewish. It plays a crucial role in Jewish identity with its powerfully uplifting and transformative qualities...Some will keep Shabbat, perhaps for the first time, others will participate in the numerous communal events taking place. Many will find ways to bring Shabbat into their homes, whether by lighting Friday night candles, blessing their children or by inviting others into their home to share the Shabbat experience. The possibilities are endless. Synagogues, Jewish schools and other Jewish organisations are planning a series of events to mark ShabbatUK. This is an incredible opportunity to join with fellow Jews around the world, inspired by the South African Shabbos Project, to experience life, for just one day, disconnected from the daily grind and engage with Shabbat in a meaningful way."

This is good because it finally recognises that whilst the Jewish faith is no a missionary one (although anyone who wishes to sincerely convert is and should be welcome to do so), for those of us who are observant, we should and do need to reach out to those fellow Jews who are less or not observant . I am a strong believer in outreach to all Jews who are not religious; I guess in Christian terms that makes me somewhat of an 'evangelist'.And Shabbat is the best place to start, for there is the old cliche that says 'Shabbat has keep the Jews, more than the Jews have kept Shabbat' .

I believe that a Jew should belong within a Jewish community, not being ostracised because of lack of dogma or observance. To be a Jew there are no application forms and no qualification requirements.He or she is born Jewish or converts to Judaism— that's where he or she belong, within our community. Period.  I will acknowledge that under Orthodoxy if your mother is not Jewish, then you are not,  however, I believe that we should still make people who identify as Jewish welcome and encourage them to take the full steps towards formal conversion. We all have our challenges, our shortcomings, our feelings...and our failures and with all that, but we are all still a community. We all should try and help each other become more observant, to reach out to our OTD [Off the derech] and secular brother and sister Jews & to be a light to our gentile friends.

No Jews left in Iraq for ISIS to slaughter

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the new leader of the global Caliphate (OR ISIS as it used to be called) has, naturally, called for a new holocaust against Jews via a  graphic posted  on his twitter account : 

“The Real Zionist Holocaust is Predicted in the Hadiths! The Hour [resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, and the tree will say: “Oh, Muslim, servant of  Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him! THE PROMISED Holocaust"

This Anti-Semitic propaganda should come as no surprise as it has been playing an important role in the terrorist group’s recruitment efforts; indeed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, placed Jews on the side of evil in a speech posted last Tuesday on the Internet in which he called on Muslims to join him, “O ummah of Islam, the world today has been divided into two camps and two trenches … The camp of Islam and faith, and the camp of kufr (disbelief) and hypocrisy … all being led by America and Russia, and being mobilized by the Jews,” al-Baghdadi said.

I bet he is a bit pissed that he can do sod all about this because previous secular & heretical Iraqi governments of 1948 to 1972 already got rid of the Jews of Iraq,  part of The Sephardim or in Israel 'Mizrahi' , because just like the Jews of Syria there are practically no Jews left in either of these countries. In fact hardly any Jews are left in the middle east, outside of Israel. Clearly it is not that secular Arab government beat the fundamentalists to a bit of ethnic cleansing ? Surely not.....

Errr........