31 MAY 2022
JUDAISM 21
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ASK THE RABBI Looking for answers? Send your question to Rabbi@RabbiSchochet.com BLESSING FIT FOR A QUEEN
Dear Rabbi Now that we’re all gearing up to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, some of us might catch a glimpse of HRH in person and certainly on the telly. I was told there is a blessing to be recited. Is this true and could you share with readers what that blessing is? Sandy Dear Sandy The Talmud states categorically that there is an obligation to recite a special blessing when seeing a monarch. Jewish law codifies this by stating the blessing, Baruch etc. she’noson mikvodo l’basar v’dam. (“Who has bestowed from His glory upon mankind”) However, the Talmud is vague as to the definition of “monarch” and what kind of authority they must have. This is a matter of debate in the codifiers. Several maintain that an actual monarch requires a blessing regardless of their abilities and duties. Some even specify in particular our Queen as requiring a blessing. However, they are all of the view that this applies only when seeing the monarch in person, and not any other way.
WHAT’S SHAVUOT GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Dear Rabbi Platinum Jubilee followed by Shavuot. Talk about one long extended holiday. Is there a message in there somewhere? Efrim Dear Efrim I remember my father a”h once telling me how he was in Luton airport heading to Holland to
deliver a lecture. At one point he wandered into an area that was devoid of any people. He couldn’t quite understand it. Then he looks up and lo and behold he’s standing literally within arm’s length of her majesty the Queen. He said, “I could literally touch her.” Apparently he wandered past some cordoned off area, and, as this was mid 90’s we were still a little less security conscientious, so no one pounced on him. It was the Queen’s jubilee year and she was opening up a new wing in the airport as part of the yearlong celebrations. And then he stood there deliberating: “Do I or don’t I make a blessing?” Most of us would be standing there thinking, “Oh my, it’s the Queen,” maybe even move in for a selfie, but my father stood there pondering the halachic implications of Queen Elizabeth. When he finally concluded, in what really just a few seconds, that yes, he should recite a blessing, she was already gone. The moment passed him by. When the Torah was given to us at Sinai we were proclaimed a mamlechet kohanim – a regal nation. We all became kings and queens as it were, tasked with the responsibility of being trailblazers of morality to society. The way to go about that is prescribed in the Torah. Inasmuch as we were given the gift of the Torah on Shavuot, our Sages tell us that every day we should consider the Torah as though given anew. This means there’s tremendous opportunity that presents itself daily by which we are able to make significant differences and maintain our regal bearing. You could literally reach out and seize those
Pirkei Avot
opportunities. Don’t hesitate and risk letting the moments pass you by.
JEWS & THE JUBILEE
Dear Rabbi Should the Jewish community get involved in celebrating the Queen’s jubilee? Do we even recognise such milestones in Judaism? Harris Dear Harris Milestones are important and recognised in Judaism. The Mishna in Ethics of the Fathers talks about the significance of reaching milestone birthdays, from ages 5 through 100. The Torah itself talks about the importance of a jubilee year. This was celebrated in a big way, with special rituals both in the Temple and throughout Israel. Fifty years is a special milestone and the Torah instructs that every fifty years in Israel should be recognised as such. But what was the underlying point of all the celebration and commemoration? Was it merely to mark the milestone, or was it something more? The Hebrew for jubilee is Yovel, which comes from the root word havalah which means to move forward. In other words, take this moment and move forward with it. It was a very significant year. Most people would have only ever lived through one. Today, you would be more likely to live through two. But that’s it. It’s a unique moment in time and if you were fortunate enough to be there, to experience it, then you cannot allow the moment to pass you by. You have to Yovel – let the moment move you forward. Consolidate the
experience and the inspiration up until this point and build upon it as you enter into the next fifty years. Quite curiously, the Torah sometimes uses a different term to describe the Jubilee year – Olam. We know the word to ordinarily translate as “world.” Why then is it also used to describe the Jubilee year? Because, I suggest to you, this milestone is essentially a transformative experience and moment in time. Indeed we find other instances where fifty is a transformative phase in Jewish life and living. For example, the Jewish people left Egypt, counted forty-nine days, and on the fiftieth day they were given the Torah and proclaimed G-d’s nation. They were leaving one life and entering into another. It was a whole new world. In Temple times, a Levite was only allowed to do service in the Temple until the age of fifty. That was his world up until that point, and now he is moving on into something else. So fifty
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In Memory of Jacqueline Curzon A’H
This week we meet Rabbi Yonatan, who gives us his precious pearls of advice. “Whoever learns Torah as a poor man will merit to learn it as a rich man. And vice versa, anyone who neglects Torah study as a wealthy man will end up neglecting it as a poor man.” As Rabbi Moishe Weiss writes, people will always have excuses not to do something. It’s too hard. It’s too early. It’s too late. Gemoroh is too fast. I need to learn slowly. I would but I am too busy. Our Rabbi tells us that every person is capable of making time to learn Torah and no one can ever say they couldn’t learn at all. No one is that busy. In heaven if they hear someone say he was too poor, they bring our the famous Hillel, who was so poor that he could not afford
the entrance fee to the Beit Hamidrash and famously was found unconscious on the rooftop, desperate to hear words of Torah whilst shivering on the rooftop in the freezing snow. They will ask if you were poorer than him? Look how much Torah he learned! If you say you were too busy, or too good looking and were involved with world affairs, they will wheel out Yosef Hatzadik. A famous rabbi in the Talmud was so wealthy his servants didn’t even recognise him as he had so many, and others were so rich they travelled on a golden chair carried by their servants. Yet all the above made time for Torah. Rich and poor alike they made time for Hashem in their
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takes you into a new phase of your existence. One of the primary rituals during the Jubilee year in Israel was the blowing of the Shofar. The commentaries explain that the shofar was sounded for one and all to hear reminding everyone that, they are all in this together. Nothing strengthens the spirit of mankind like universal public action. The fact that everybody is a part of it is the greatest source of encouragement. If the Queen is marking a platinum jubilee, which, to be frank, anyone celebrating will only ever do so once in a lifetime; and bearing in mind we live in, and benefit from, a benevolent host country, then as the occasion is being marked in a special way, it is only right that we appreciate that we are all in this together and we should get in on the action. With a yearning and a prayer that we will all be propelled from the experience as a united people and a healthy and prosperous nation.
Perek 4: Mishna 9 day and so can we. So we MUST! If we all look carefully and honestly at our daily and weekly schedules we can all find little pockets of time here and there to add Hashem’s Torah into our lives. Read a book. Attend a shiur. Watch a shiur online. Five minutes less Netflix per day adds up to 2.5 hours per month of Torah. The Chofetz Chaim did a calculation in his book Torat Habayit, where he calculated how many words a person can say in a minute to work out how many mitzvot you can achieve. As we approach the festival of Torah, let us use this Shavuot to reconnect with Torah like never before, Amen!
