This document summarizes a passage about the parsha of Massei and discusses the two defeats and destructions of the Temple in Jerusalem. It states that both defeats occurred due to poor leadership - the first when King Solomon's son Rehoboam did not listen to advisors and the kingdom split, and the second during the late Second Temple period when the Hasmonean kings succumbed to Hellenism and the priesthood became corrupt. It argues that leadership is essential for the Jewish people, and that the prophets Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah were great leaders who gave the people strength through being prophets of hope, delivering criticism with love, and speaking of Israel's role in humanity as a whole.
Original Description:
Shabbat Announcements July 26, 2014
from Great Neck Synagogue
This document summarizes a passage about the parsha of Massei and discusses the two defeats and destructions of the Temple in Jerusalem. It states that both defeats occurred due to poor leadership - the first when King Solomon's son Rehoboam did not listen to advisors and the kingdom split, and the second during the late Second Temple period when the Hasmonean kings succumbed to Hellenism and the priesthood became corrupt. It argues that leadership is essential for the Jewish people, and that the prophets Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah were great leaders who gave the people strength through being prophets of hope, delivering criticism with love, and speaking of Israel's role in humanity as a whole.
This document summarizes a passage about the parsha of Massei and discusses the two defeats and destructions of the Temple in Jerusalem. It states that both defeats occurred due to poor leadership - the first when King Solomon's son Rehoboam did not listen to advisors and the kingdom split, and the second during the late Second Temple period when the Hasmonean kings succumbed to Hellenism and the priesthood became corrupt. It argues that leadership is essential for the Jewish people, and that the prophets Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah were great leaders who gave the people strength through being prophets of hope, delivering criticism with love, and speaking of Israel's role in humanity as a whole.
occurs at the heart of the Three Weeks. This is the time when we engage in an act of collective recall of our two greatest defeats as a nation. The symbol of the nation was the Temple in Jerusalem. So the symbol of the nations defeat was the destruction of the Temple. It happened twice, once in the sixth century BCE, the second time in the first century of the common era. In both cases it happened because of poor leadership.
The first defeat was set in motion some three centuries before it happened by a disastrous decision on the part of king Solomons son Rehoboam. The people were restless during the latter part of Solomons reign. They felt he has placed too heavy a burden on the people, particularly during the building of the Temple. When he died they came to his son and successor and asked him to lighten the load. His fathers counselors told him to accede to their request. They gave him one of the finest pieces of advice ever given to a leader. If you serve the people they will serve you (1 Kings 12:7). Rehoboam did not listen. The kingdom split. Defeat of both halves the northern and southern kingdoms was inevitable and only a matter of time. As Abraham Lincoln said: A house divided against itself cannot stand.
The second defeat in the days of the Romans was the result of a complete collapse of leadership during the late Second Temple period. The Hasmonean kings, having defeated Hellenism, then succumbed to it. The priesthood became politicized and corrupt. Maimonides wrote, in his Letter to the Sages of Marseilles, that the Second Temple fell because Jews had not learned military strategy and the laws of conquest. The Talmud says it fell because of gratuitous hatred. Josephus tells us it fell because of conflicts within the forces defending Jerusalem. All three explanations are true and part of the same phenomenon. When there is no effective leadership, divisions open up within the group. There is internal conflict, energy is wasted, and no coherent strategy emerges. Again defeat becomes inevitable.
In Judaism, leadership is not a luxury but a necessity. Ours is a small and intensely vulnerable people. Inspired, we rise to greatness. Uninspired, we fall.
But there is, oddly enough, a deeply positive message about the three weeks. For the fact is that the Jewish people survived those defeats. They did not merely survive. They recovered and grew stronger. They became Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Parshat Massei in the most positive sense a nation of survivors. Who gave them that strength and courage?
The answer is: three leaders whose names are indelibly associated with the three weeks: Moses, whose message to the generations at the beginning of Devarim is always read on the Shabbat before Tisha beAv, Isaiah whose vision gives that day its name as Shabbat Chazon, and Jeremiah, the prophet who foresaw the destruction and whose words form the haftarot for two of the Three Weeks.
What made these men great leaders? They were all critical of their contemporaries but then, so are most people. It takes no skill whatsoever to be a critic. All three predicted doom. But Jeremiah himself pointed out that predicting doom is a no-risk option. If bad things happen, you are proved right. If they dont well, clearly God decided to have compassion.
So what made Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah different? What made them great leaders? Specifically, what made them leaders in hard times, and thus leaders for all time? Three things set them apart.
The first is that they were all prophets of hope. Even in their darkest moments they Shabbat Times
Hashkama 8:00 am Parsha Shiur 8:30 am Main Shul 9:00 am Beit Midrash 9:15 am Gemorah Shiur 6:50 pm Mincha 7:50 pm Shabbat ends 9:06 pm Sunday July 27 7:30/8:30 am Mon. 6:30/7:45 am Tues., Wed., Fri 6:45/7:45 am Mincha 7:55 pm Latest Times for Shema/Shemoneh Esrei July 26 9:24/10:37 am August 2 9:27/10:39 am Next Shabbat Devarim Candle Lighting 7:52 pm Mincha 7:00 pm Friday Mincha 7:00 pm Candle Lighting 7:59 pm Thurs. 6:35/7:45am
BAR MITZVAH SAMUEL OHEBSHALOM Mevorchim Chodesh Av Rosh Chodesh Monday July 28 Molad Sunday 6:50:13 am Seudah Shlishit is sponsored by Annie & Robert Mendelson in memory of his father Walter Mendelson,z"l by Michelle & Norman Rutta in memory of his father, Abraham Rutta, z"l and by Beth & Mark Gottlieb in memory of his mother Rachel Gottlieb,z"l, his grandmother Fanny Gottlieb, z"l and his grandfathers Herman Gottlieb and Shlomo Schwartzman, z".
Kiddush Is Sponsored By Limor & Edmond Ohebshalom In Honor of Their Son Samuels Bar Mitzvah were able to see through the clouds of disaster to the clear sky beyond. They were not optimists. There is a difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the belief that if we work hard enough together we can make things better. It needs no courage to be an optimist, but it needs courage, wisdom, a deep understanding of history and possibility, and the ability to communicate, to be a prophet of hope. That is what Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah all were. Here is Moses:
When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. (Deut. 30: 1-4)
Here is Isaiah:
I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City. (Isaiah 1: 26)
And this is Jeremiah:
This is what the Lord says: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded, says the Lord. They will return from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your descendants, says the Lord. Your children will return to their land. (Jer. 31: 15-16)
The point about all three of these prophecies is that they were delivered knowing that bad things were about to happen to the Jewish people. They are not easy hope; they express hope rescued from the valley of despair.
The second characteristic that made Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah different was that they delivered their criticism in love. Isaiah said in the name of God perhaps the loveliest words ever spoken to the Jewish people: Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed (Isaiah 54: 10). Jeremiah, in the midst of his critique of the nation, said in the name of God, I remember the kindness of your youth, how as a bride you loved Me and followed Me through the wilderness, through a land not sown (Jer. 2: 2).
26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 Shabbat Announcements Parshat Massei 5774 Moses love for the people was evident in every prayer he said on their behalf, especially after they had made the golden calf. On that occasion he said to God: Now, please forgive their sinbut if not, then blot me out of the book you have written (Ex. 32). He was prepared to give his life for his people. It is easy to be a critic, but the only effective critics are those who truly love and show they love those whom they criticize.
Third, Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah were the three prophets who, more than any others, spoke about the role of Jews and Israel in the context of humanity as a whole. Moses said, Keep the commands for they are your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations (Deut. 4:6).
Isaiah said in Gods name: You are my witnesses that I am God. (Isaiah 43: 12), and I created you and appointed you a covenant people, a light of nations, opening eyes deprived of light, rescuing prisoners from confinement, from the dungeon those who sit in darkness (42: 6-7).
Jeremiah was the leader who defined for all time the role of Jews in the Diaspora: Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its prosperity you shall prosper (Jeremiah 29: 7) the first statement in history of what it is to be a creative minority.
Why did this universal perspective matter? Because those who care only for their own people are chauvinists. They create false expectations, narrow and self-regarding emotions, and bravado rather than real courage.
Moses had to show (as he did when he rescued Jethros daughters from the local shepherds, Ex. 2: 17) that he cared for non-Israelites as well as Israelites. Jeremiah was told by God to become a prophet to the nations, not just to Israel (Jer. 1: 5). Isaiah in one of the most remarkable prophecies of all time showed as much concern for Egypt and Assyria, Israels enemies, as for Israel itself (Is. 19: 19-25).
Great leaders are great not just because they care for their own people everyone except a self-hater does that but because they care for humanity. That is what gives their devotion to their own people its dignity and moral strength.
To be an agent of hope, to love the people you lead, and to widen their horizons to embrace humanity as a whole that is the kind of leadership that gives people the ability to recover from crisis and move on. It is what made Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah three of the greatest leaders of all time. Great Neck Synagogue Shabbat Activities Program 26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck , NY 11023 Dale Polakoff, Rabbi Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Wolf ,zl, Rabbi Emeritus Zeev Kron, Cantor Eleazer Schulman, zl, Cantor Emeritus Rabbi Sholom Jensen, Youth Director Zehava & Dr. Michael Atlas, Youth Directors Mark Twersky, Executive Director Rabbi Avraham Bronstein, Program Director Dr. Hal Chadow, President Harold Domnitch, Chairman of the Board Dena Block, Yoetzet Halacha 516-320-9818 GNS Yoetzet Halacha Dena Block welcomes your questions about mikvah, observance of taharat hamishpacha (halacha relating to married life) and women's health, as it connects to Jewish law. Reach out to her at: Phone: (516) 320-9818Email: [email protected] All conversations/emails are strictly confidential GNS SISTERHOOD The Sisterhood will be having a Krav Maga class on Tuesday, July 29th at 7pm. Class is limited to the first 20 participants. Please RSVP to the shul office with a $12 check to insure your spot. At the door the cost will be $15. Great Neck Synagogue Mens Club
Invite you and your family to join us
Sunday, August 17 at 1.10pm Jewish Heritage Day At CITIFIELD
Cubs Vs Mets
Discounted price: $35.00 per person (adult or child).
Tickets are going fast. We have a limited number of tickets available so please order early.
Yes! We will be joining you at the Ball Game!
Name _____ ______________________________
Phone # __________________
Number of tickets __________ at $35 each $ _____________
Please make checks to GNS Mens Club and send to Synagogue office
Summer Learning Tuesday, July 29 Following Mincha 7:55pm Sandra E. Rapoport Author: Biblical Seductions Ruin of a Princess: The Story of Amnon & Tamar
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Y A H R Z E I T
Saturday, 28 Tammuz Ada Berkowitz for Israel Hass Alisa Hoenig for Augusta Barbara Olen Sunday, 29 Tammuz Adam Zalta for Maurice Zalta Monday, 1 Av Ivan Seidle for Hymie Seidle Tuesday, 2 Av Lauren Abeshera for Evelyn Stricker Sheila Ebrahimian for Devorah Aminoff Gladys Moslin for Seymour Moslin Michael Moslin for Seymour Moslin Osnass Shein for Joseph Shein Ruven Shein for Joseph Shein Wednesday, 3 Av Madeline Belonsky for Monty Wine Mansour Farhadian for Joseph Farhadian Zoltan Justin for Herman Juskovic Susan Mandelbaum for Tillie Justin Gloria Wang Miller for Frank Saltzman Phyllis Safdieh for Bella Shampan Alex Weiss for Ignatz Weiss Michael Weiss for Ignatz Weiss Friday, 5 Av Anne Gold for Harry Feinstein Marion Rabinowitz for Rose Getreu Brian Smith for Louis Smith Edward Wydra for Helen Wydra WITHIN OUR FAMILY
SUN. AUG 17, 1:10 pm: Baseball: Jewish Heritage Day at Citifield. Mets vs Cubs. Details to follow. SUN. SEPT 14 10:00am: A breakfast and talk by Barry Libin, writer, composer, playwright and lyricist, on his new book, "The Mystery of the Milton Manuscript", with commen- tary by Larry Shiffman, who will also interview the author. Copies of the book will be available. All welcome. Mazal Tov to Limor & Edmond Ohebshalom on the Bar Mitzvah of their son Samuel. Mazal Tov to Marcelle Fischler & Serge Fischler on the engagement of their son Jeremy to Ilanit Sisso, daughter of Alberto & Rosanna Sisso, from Fort Lauderdale, Fl.
SISTERHOOD The Sisterhood will be having a Krav Maga class on Tuesday, July 29th at 7pm. Class is limited to the first 20 participants. Please RSVP to the shul office with a $12 check to insure your spot. At the door the cost will be $15. SAVE THE DATE Sunday morning, September 21st will be the date to pack and deliver food for Rosh HaShana for PASS IT FORWARD for those in need! A Mitzvah Opportunity! SCHOLAR KOLLEL The Kollel announces that it will hold its 5th annual mid nine days siyum on July 30th at 7:00pm at Chatanooga on Cutter Mill Rd, Great Neck. Details will follow. Reservation necessary. Please e-mail Steve Zuckerman, [email protected]. CALENDERS The new Jewish Calendars are available at the office. GNS JULY/AUGUST SCHOOL SUPPLY CHESED COLLECTION Supplies will be donated to Ohel. Please drop off new school supplies for children from kindergarten through high school: Markers, crayons, notebooks, loose leafs, glue, scissors, knapsacks etc. at the home of Sharon Goldwyn-9 Locust Drive. Sunday-Friday - please leave in bag at the front door. Thank you! HASHKAMA MINYAN Kiddush this week is sponsored by Alisa & Michael Hoenig in commemoration of the first yahrzeit of her mother Augusta Barbara Olen, z"l. SUMMER LEARNING Tuesday, July 29 Following Mincha 7:55pm Sandra E. Rapoport Author:Biblical Seductions Ruin of a Princess: The Story of Amnon & Tamar TISHA BAV Special Tisha Bav series with Rabbi Barak Levy. Inviting College and High School Seniors. Location: Great Neck Synagogue at 8:30pm. July 30, Destruction of the Temple in our Days August 6, Tisha Bav is over: What do we do now? See you there.