Parshat Devarim, Shabbat Chazon July 17, 2010 6 Av 5770

Torah Thoughts on the Parsha - Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Artscroll, 938
Hertz, 736 As Moses begins his
great closing addresses
Haftorah to the next generation,
Artscroll, 1195 he turns to a subject
Hertz, 750 that dominates the last
of the Mosaic books,
namely justice:
I instructed your judges
at that time as follows:
"Listen to your fellow
men, and decide justly
[tzedek] between each
Times man and his brother or a
stranger. You shall not
Candle Lighting 8:06 pm
be partial in judgment.
Listen to great and small
Friday Mincha 7:00 pm
alike. Fear no one, for
Hashkama 8:00 am judgment belongs to G-
d. Any matter that is too
Parsha Shiur 8:30 am difficult for you, bring to
me and I will hear it."
Youth 8:30 am
Tzedek, "justice", is a
Main Minyan 9:00 am key word in the book of
Devarim - most famously
Beit Midrash 9:15 am in the verse:
Gemorah Shiur 7:00 pm
Justice, justice you shall
pursue, so that you may
Mincha 8:00 pm
thrive and occupy the
Shabbat Ends 9:12 pm land that the Lord your G
-d is giving you. (16:20)
Sunday 7:30/8:30 am The distribution of the
word tzedek and its
derivate tzedakah in the
Mon, Thurs. 6:35/7:45 am
Five Books of Moses is
anything but random. It
is overwhelmingly
Wed, Fri, 6:45 am
concentrated on the first
Tuesday 7/20, Tisha B’Av and last books, Genesis
(where it appears 16
See schedule page 3
times) and Deuteronomy
Mincha Sun-Thur 8.05 pm (18 times). In Exodus it
occurs only four times
and in Leviticus five. All
Latest times for
Shema/Shmoneh Esrei
but one of these are
concentrated in two chapters:
Exodus 23 (where 3 of the 4
occurrences are in two verses,
23: 7-8) and Leviticus 19
(where all 5 incidences are in
chapter 19). In Numbers, the
word does not appear at all.
This distribution is one of
many indications that the
Chumash (the Five Books of
Moses) is constructed as a
chiasmus - a literary unit of
the form ABCBA. The structure
is this:
A: Genesis - the prehistory of
Israel (the distant past)
B: Exodus -- the journey from
Egypt to Mount Sinai
C: Leviticus - the code of
holiness
B: Numbers -- the journey
from Mount Sinai to the banks
of the Jordan
A: Deuteronomy - the post-
history of Israel (the distant
future)
The leitmotiv of tzedek/
tzedakah appears at the key
points of this structure - the
two outer books of Genesis
and Deuteronomy, and the
central chapter of the work as
a whole, Leviticus 19. Clearly
the word is a dominant theme
of the Mosaic books as a
whole.
What does it mean? Tzedek/
tzedakah is almost impossible
to translate, because of its
many shadings of meaning:
justice, charity,
righteousness, integrity,
equity, fairness and
innocence. It certainly
means more than strictly
legal justice, for which the
Bible uses words like
mishpat and din. One
example illustrates the
point:
If a man is poor, you may
not go to sleep holding his
security. Return it to him
at sun-down, so that he
will be able to sleep in his
garment and bless you. To
you it will be reckoned as
tzedakah before the Lord
your G-d. (Deut. 24: 12-
13)
Tzedakah cannot mean
legal justice in this verse.
It speaks of a situation in
which a poor person has
only a single cloak or
Covering, which he has
handed over to the lender
as security against a loan.
The lender has a legal
right to keep the cloak
until the loan has been
repaid. However, acting
on the basis of this right
is simply not the right
thing to do. It ignores the
human situation of the
poor person, who has
nothing else with which to
keep warm on a cold
night. The point becomes
even clearer when we
examine the parallel
passage in Exodus 22,
which states:

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If you take your neighbour's cloak as a pledge, return
it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only
covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep
in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am
compassionate. (Ex. 22: 25-26)
The same situation which in Deuteronomy is described
as tzedakah, in Exodus is termed compassion or grace
(chanun). The late Aryeh Kaplan translated tzedakah
in Deut. 24 as "charitable merit". It is best rendered
as "the right and decent thing to do" or "justice
tempered by compassion".
In Judaism, justice - tzedek as opposed to mishpat -
must be tempered by compassion.
Hence the terrible, tragic irony of Portia's speech in
The Merchant of Venice:
The quality of mercy is not strain’d, it droppeth as the
gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath: It is
twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that
takes: ‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: It becomes the
throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre
shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to
awe and majesty, wherein doth sit the dread and fear
of kings; but mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is
enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to G
-d himself; and earthy power doth then show likest G-
d’s When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
though justice be thy plea, consider this, that, in the
course of justice, none of us should see salvation: We
do pray for mercy; and that same prayer doth teach us
all to render the deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus
much to mitigate the justice of the plea.
Shabbat Announcements Parshat Devarim 5770
The false contrast between Jew and Christian in The
Merchant of Venice is eloquent testimony to the cruel
misrepresentation of Judaism in Christian theology until
recent times.
Why then is justice so central to Judaism? Because it is
impartial. Law as envisaged by the Torah makes no
distinction between rich and poor, powerful and
powerless, home born or stranger. Equality before the
law is the translation into human terms of equality before
G-d. Time and again the Torah insists that justice is not a
human artefact: "Fear no one, for judgment belongs to G-
d." Because it belongs to G-d, it must never be
compromised - by fear, bribery, or favouritism. It is an
inescapable duty, an inalienable right.
Judaism is a religion of love: You shall love the Lord your
G-d; you shall love your neighbour as yourself; you shall
love the stranger. But it is also a religion of justice, for
without justice, love corrupts (who would not bend the
rules, if he could, to favour those he loves?). It is also a
religion of compassion, for without compassion law itself
can generate inequity. Justice plus compassion equals
tzedek, the first precondition of a decent society.

Shakespeare is here expressing the medieval

stereotype of Christian mercy (Portia) as against
Jewish justice (Shylock). He entirely fails to realize -
how could he, given the prevailing culture - that July 13, 2010 at 8:35 pm
"justice" and "mercy" are not opposites in Hebrew but
are bonded together in a single word, tzedek or
(following Mincha at 8:10 pm)
tzedakah. To add to the irony, the very language and
imagery of Portia's speech ("It droppeth as the gentle
rain from heaven") is taken from Deuteronomy:
Rabbi Dovid Hirsch
May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew, “What Can I Say & When Can I Say It:
like gentle rain upon the tender grass, When Lashon Harah Is Permissible”
and like showers upon the herb . . .
The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice. Rabbi Hirsch is a 1990 graduate of Yeshiva College, where he
A G-d of faithfulness and without iniquity, majored in computer science. Upon graduation from YC, Rabbi
just and upright is he. (Deut. 32: 2-4) Hirsch received the Rothman Award for Excellence in Talmud. He
earned his M.S. degree in Jewish Education from Azrieli Gradu-
ate School of Jewish Education and Administration in 1993. That
Great Neck Synagogue
Shabbat Activities Program same year, he was ordained at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theo-
logical Seminary (RIETS).
After Rabbi Hirsch was granted semikhah (rabbinic ordination)
Dale Polakoff, Rabbi from RIETS, he was named a fellow of the Gruss Kollel Elyon.
Shalom Axelrod, Assistant Rabbi Rabbi Hirsch has taught Talmud and halakhah (Jewish law) and
Dr. Ephraim Wolf ,z”l, Rabbi Emeritus Jewish Thought in the Stone Beit Midrash Program at YU and
Michael Bleicher, Rabbinic Intern was appointed Rosh Yeshiva on June 7,2000.
Zeev Kron, Cantor A native of Peoria, Illinois, he is married to Miriam Hirsch. The
Eleazer Schulman, z”l, Cantor Emeritus couple has three children, Esther, Rochel, and Rivka.
Mark Twersky, Executive Director
Joseph Hecht, President
Harold Domnitch, Chairman of the Board
 TISHA B’AV 5770
Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Monday Schedule
Mincha 7:40 pm
Seudah Mafseket: Rolls and hard boiled eggs

Fast Begins 8:23 pm

Maariv 8:25 pm
Introduction to Eicha by Rabbi Polakoff
followed by Eicha and Kinot
8:40 pm

Tuesday Schedule
First Shacharit 6:00 am (with kinot until 8:15am)
Second Shacharit 8:30 am (with kinot until 12 noon)
Tisha B'Av Shiur by Rabbi Axelrod 12:15 – 12:45 pm

12:45 – 1:30 pm
OU Video with Rabbi Tzvi Weinreb:
“Mourning for the Lost Torah”
Chatzot 1:01 pm

1st Mincha 1:40 pm

2:10 – 3:10 pm
OU Video with Rabbi Aharon Kahn
“The Song and the Testimony”

6:15 – 7:50 pm
“Chofetz Chaim Video “Our One Safe Harbor: Emunah”
with Rabbis Mattisyahu Salomon, Paysach Krohn and Fishel Schachter

2nd Mincha 7:50 pm

Shiur between Mincha and Maariv
Rabbi Polakoff

Ma’ariv 8:45 pm

Fast ends 9:01 pm

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SCHOLARS KOLLEL If you happen to siyum entering the
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Mazal Tov to Joan Hope on the birth of a granddaughter, born to
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OF INTEREST
The Great Neck Arts Center will be showing the works of Folk Artist Harry
Lieberman "Visual Statements" Paintings & Three-Dimensional Works
August 31, 2010
HUNGER INITIATIVE Regular food drop offs continue
Friday’s, at 18 Birchwood Lane. Drop off hours are between
10 am and 1pm. Kindly place your food in the cooler.
Saturday, 6 Av
Sabina Geist for Rachel Geist
Sabina Geist for Tova Geist
Sunday, 7 Av
Dassie Barth for Roslyn Orenstein
Stanley Fischer for Harry Fischer
Sabina Geist for Ichaskel Geist
Marion Kapner for David Eisenberg
Alan Levy for William Levy
Monday, 8 Av
Sheila Bachman for Max Gur
Sabina Geist for Itzchak Geist
Sabina Geist for Moshe geist
Y Israel Rosenzweig for Evelyn Rosenzweig
A Tuesday, 9 Av
Trudy Jettelson for Sol Sirota
H Robert Kraft for Rachel Kraft
R Wednesday, 10 Av
Claire Behar for Patricia Marback
Sanford Brand for Frieda Brand
Annette Forman for Frieda Krauss
I Marilyn Freedman for Anna Cohen
T Philip Lanzkowsky for Lily Lanzkowsky
Hilda Schulman for Mollie Trainer
Jerrald Weinstein for Philip Weinstein
Thursday 11 Av
Charles Berlin for Helen Berlin
Friday 5 Av
Anita Aharonoff for Hadji Kamali
Rafael Gad for Michael Gad
Yehoshua Gilad for Shmuel Greenberger
Blanche Goldstein for Eva Rubin
Larry Horn for Morris Horn
Janet Pomerantz for Nathan Siegel