Chief Rabbi Hertz on Antisemitism

While looking for reading material for Tisha B'Av I came across this sermon (or short booklet, depending on how you view things) from Chief Rabbi Hertz.


It is dated "First Day of Sukkot" (though he calls it 'Tabernacles') "1922" and addresses the current increase in antisemitism. Any discussion of antisemitism today is in the context of the holocaust. It is very intersting to see what antisemitism looked like to Jews in England before the holocaust.

CR Hertz's starting point is the verse of kiddush Hashem. Jews represent G-d and religion wherever they go and whatever they do.

" Ye shall not profane My holy Name, but I will be hallowed among the Children of Israel."

He explains the importance of going beyond the letter of the law in dealings with non-Jews, citing the example of Shimon ben Shetach returning the gem which his students took from an Arab (sic.).

Thus, every Israelite holds the honour of his faith and of his entire people in his hands; and a single Jew's offence can bring slander on the whole House of Israel.

I think this message is still relevant today. As is what it can lead to:

I will not, on a festive day, dwell on the fiendish slaughter of 150,000
Jewish men, women and children in the Ukraine during the years 1919 and 1920; on the torture and murder inflicted on so many of our brethren in Hungary: on the tidal wave of hysterical intolerance that swept during these years over Western democracies even, and resulted in exhibitions of anti-Semitism that would have been absolutely unbelievable ten years ago.

Wow! If only he had known how bad things were going to get! And they were absolutely unbelievable in 1922.

We looked to the common sense and the enlightenment of the age to laugh such insane vapourings out of court. We certainly did not expect that this grotesque
myth, founded on malice and hysteria, built up of garbled history and synthetized by impudent forgery, would be taken seriously by anyone. We soon learned that in the words of the Prophetical Lesson of this Festival — our day was a day without daylight, when the heavenly luminaries contracted themselves. We found that the leaders of opinion in various lands resigned their sacred task of moral guidance. With very few exceptions, they either remained silent in the presence of all this malicious indictment of a whole race, or they shamelessly swelled the howling of the mob.

The entire pamphlet is here. It is only about 10 pages of text. It certainly put me in a depressed mood for 9 Av.

Death by Caffeine

Also posted on torahlab.org

This Tisha B'Av was different for me than any other year. Sadder, more meaningful, and I managed to stay in Shul right through to the end of Kinot! And the reason? A caffeine pill!!! One little yellow pill, the equivalent of 4 cups of coffee, made all the difference.

I didn't realise how dependent I was on coffee until yesterday. Although I sometimes have headaches if I don't drink enough coffee, I can usually manage without, and I don't seem to see any noticeable improvement or difference before and after I have my morning java. But now that I know how good it is for me, and how it improves my davening and thinking and makes everything more meaningful, I'm going to have to make sure I am fully dosed at all times. Woo hoo!

Of course all of the above is meant tongue in cheek. Mood altering drugs are not the way to get closer to G-d, or to make life more meaningful. But still...

There is an interesting website here which will tell you how many cups of coffee you may drink before it kills you (I'm not sure that you could really manage that many without spending the rest of the day in the bathroom, but you get the idea.)

http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine/

(If you would rather death by chocolate try the following website: http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-penguin-mints/)

Newsweek has an article on the fact that we now need more caffeine in our products. You can get double caffeinated coffee, which gets you going without making you go (if you know what I mean).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19875412/site/newsweek/page/0/

- anyone for caffeinated soap??



So this is what fuels the fires of Torhalab, and it is good to know that it is keeping the rest of America and the free world going as well. Any complaints to the major coffee brands please.

Keep on Buzzing.

Rabbi Sedley

Post Tisha B'Av Post

It is amazing how deprivation makes the desire grow stronger. For 24 hours, the whole of Tisha B'Av, we are not allowed to learn Torah, because it makes us happy. For 24 hours I sit and stare at all the seforim on the shelf and wish I was allowed to learn them. They look so enticing and exciting - row upon row of Torah that I need to learn!
I even start fantasizing about what to learn first, and how long it will take and how happy I will be when I am learning it!

Then Tisha b'Av is over, and so are the fantasies. All of a sudden they are just shelves of books, and even though I want to learn them all, and even though I spend several hours a day working my way through them, it is not with the same desire.

How can I retain that strong desire to learn? How can I recapture that intense desire for Torah?

I find that I learn best (by far) when I have an obligation to a chevruta. Not only do I learn better by speaking things through with someone else (of course), but the fact that someone is depending on me, or waiting for me, forces me to get out of the house and learn (or stay in the house and bring the chevruta over). BUT - having an obligation to learn with a chevruta also means that I am learning because I have to, not because I want to or desire to.

OK, for some people it is now bein hazmanim. Even though I am still working, my kids are on holiday and I will try and take some time off to spend with them. And my afternoons are free at the moment because my kollel and teaching aren't operating for the next three weeks. So (bli neder) now is my chance to learn just for fun. Purely for the enjoyment of it.

I have so many things I want to learn. I'll just have to try and remember what I felt like yesterday, and how much I really want to learn it - even if it is the middle of the night and I am exhausted from having taken the kids out somewhere (or just chasing them around the house - good thing it isn't a very big house!)

On with the summer and free Torah!

Hope your fast was as meaningful as mine!

Tisha B'Av song

To put you in the mood for Tisha B'Av (and while I was waiting for the scanner to scan)

With thanks to Billy Joel:

When we left Egypt, we were triumphant
But out of Israel, we were despondent
We'd got the law
On Mount Sinai
But we were quick to give it up for sinning and lies

We saw the Shechina, and built the Temple
We had korbanos, it was all so simple
But then they burned
Our holy home
And they killed thousands and thousands of folk

Old Jeremiah, said we were mistaken
We never thought that, we'd be forsaken
We cried so hard
That ninth of Av
And prayed for G-d to once more show us His love

We lost our homeland, we made an error
We went to Bavel, with Nebuchadnezzar
And we were blind
We lost our minds
But we never stopped praying
and hoping and saying
That we'd come back home to Israel once more

We said we'll all return together
Yes we will all return together
Oh we will all return together

Remember David, Remember Shlomo
He built the city, He built the Temple
But we were wrong
We lost our way
For no reason at all, we had to hate

We used to live, every day miraculous
But we forgot, Who was above us
Exile's the price
We have to pay
But it's so long, and gets harder each day

We'll all do teshuva, and love each other
We'll once more love You, our King and Father
But its so dark
In exile's night
We hope and pray once more to see your bright light

When we can all return together
We pray we'll all return together
When can we all return together