Exodus Magazine - August 2022

#238 | August 2022 • Av 5782 pageNewsletterCommunity13 Serving Canada's Jewish Russian Community Since 1980

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— by Jonathan Sacks 12 | ASK THE RABBI Are Bicycles Kosher for Shabbat? Is it permissible to ride a bicycle on Shabbat? There doesn’t seem to be any issue with it that I can think of, but I noticed that observant people tend to avoid it. What is the issue?

— From the Rebbe's letters 6 | PERSPECTIVES

We have seen this happen time and again, when the leaders of a community have been persuaded to make aliyah, with the inevitable result that the community dwindled rapidly.

One of the tragic malaises plaguing the modern world, especially in North America, is the phenomenon of gun violence and mass shootings. Is there a solution that addresses the cause?

18 | LIFE ON EARTH The Kabbalah of Text-To-Image AI Perhaps instead of throwing ourselves on the pavement before the onslaught of the monster tanks of AI invading human territory, we should acknowledge these systems for what they are.

7 | JEWISH THOUGHT Givers and Takers

think! again. August 2022 • Av 5782 6 7 1810 editorial jewish soul perspectives jewish thought ask the rabbi our community simchas life on earth marketplace memorials 4 5 6 7 12 13 17 18 21 25

— by Simon Jacobson 10 |

5 | JEWISH SOUL The Question of Aliyah

— by Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman

Gun Violence: A Preemptive Solution

— by Yoseph Janowski

— by Tzvi Freeman

Let’s put the current wave of generosity in historical context Historically, accumulated wealth was simply not given away. It was always used to gain and consolidate power and influence.

JEWISH THOUGHT Three Types of Community In classical Hebrew there are three different words for community: edah, tzibbur and kehillah, and they signify different kinds of association. What do they mean, and what can they teach us?

Educational models fall short when they fail to strike the right balance in answering this question. One hundred years ago, no one went to school beyond age 12, except for gifted students who were destined to join the scholarly, academic elite. Everyone else went to work on the family farm or business as shoemakers, carpenters, and the like. Then the economy started shifting to a knowledgebased economy. One hundred years ago, 70% of people were farmers. Today, 4% are farmers. To survive in a knowledge-based economy, one need more knowledge. As the knowledge economy grew, more people had to go to school in order to enter the Theworkforce.problem is that the system of learning used in schools today is the same system that was used to educate the geniuses when only the geniuses went to school. The system was designed for a student population in which everyone is at the same level. Back then, when only geniuses went to school, it worked. But when you have a group of kids at various levels of social and intellectual and tactical development all mixed together in a system designed for homogeneity, what happens is that system forces the kids into more manageable boxes, creating a mold of the average student, and attempting to sculpt every student in that same mold. What we ended up with is an education system that by definition breeds mediocrity. A student who finds himself at either end of the spectrum - either exceptionally gifted or "special needs" - is at a disadvantage in such a system. The unique and the gifted are stifled and repressed. The mediocre, or those who learn to contort their uniqueness into the mold of mediocrity, are the ones who strive. In the mad dash toward quantity — churning out a certain percentage of students with a specific body of knowledge who bear a set standard and method of mental acuity so that they can attain an acceptable benchmark of functional intelligence that guarantees them a desirable place in the marketplace so they can meet the minimum requirements of financial stability — any semblance of individuality or creativity is tossed aside. In our incessant pursuit of quantity, we lose the quality. But the opposite extreme would also be destructive: An unhealthy obsession with quality can lead us to get stuck and accomplish nothing.

416.222.7105 x222 416.222.7105 x222 416.222.7105 x221 416.222.7105 x244 exodusmagazine.orgexodus@jrcc.org416.222.7812 editorial ad sales subscriptions donations fax e mail web Exodus Magazine is a project of the Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario editor Izzy Greenberg editorial director Rabbi Levi Jacobson senior rabbi & founder Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman director Rabbi Mendel Zaltzman manager Aryeh Rosenberg jrcc board of governors Igor Korenzvit, Chair advertising sales Rina Merovitch advertising design Stacey Rimskey copy editor Sarah Feiga Krylov graphics & layout Tekiyah Creative cover art M. Dogan distribution JRCC, Origo Direct Marketing return undeliverable items to EXODUS MAGAZINE, C/O JRCC 5987 BATHURST STREET, UNIT 3 TORONTO, ON M2R 1Z3 © 2022 PublishedJRCC.monthly by the Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario. Issue Number 238 (August 2022) Mail Registration Number: 40062996 Circulation: ForSubscription:19,000$18submissions,please send articles via e-mail along with a biographical sketch of the author. Журнал Эксодус выпускается Еврейским Центром Русскоязычной Общины Онтарио. Журнал на русском языке можно приобрести позвонив по телефону (416) 222-7105. Exodus Magazine is printed in Canada on recycled paper. CMCA AUDITED One of the greatest paradoxes in education, whether it comes to educating others or educating oneself on the path to of personal growth and enlightenment, is the struggle between quantity and quality. Indeed the paradox extends to almost every area of life, from relationships to career development: Should I amass volume by striving to accomplish more, or should I concentrate on fewer things and focus on doing them right?

Einstein taught that you need both, and that quantity and quality have a transformative effect one another. But you don’t have to be an Einstein to understand how they complement each other. E=MC2. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. In order to attain balance in a relative universe, you need to strike a balance between quality and quantity. Energy, quality, can emanate into the word only by channeling it into the parameters of space and time. Mass, quantity, can create energy, or enhance quality, when it is multiplied and infused with light. On their own, each can be powerful. Mass movements have the ability to affect instant and decisive change, even when built upon lies and leading to destructive ends. Moments of clarity and epiphany can enable us to overcome then greatest darkness, even if they are never developed or expounded. But only when we fuse the two together, do we touch the purpose of existenceto make goodness and light fill the entire world. We can get there by taking qualitative experiences and funneling them into the finite world, using the tools at out fingertips to let them shine forth. Or we can get there by taking quantitative experiences of mass consciousness and insisting that they be infused with true goodness and light. Either way, we arrive at the same destination. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada

1) That the new immigrant arriving in the Land of Israel should be able to contribute towards the development and wellbeing of Israel, and certainly not be detrimental to it.

If there was a time, decades ago, when the above considerations (to which I have consistently called attention) were considered conjectural, the long-term effects of illconceived Aliyah no longer leave room for any doubts as to what kind of Aliyah is constructive. Far too long have those who are concerned with Aliyah, with all good intentions, considered only the immediate gain and ignored the loss in the longer run. Others, in their zeal to produce quick “achievements,” have, unwittingly or otherwise, resorted to propaganda methods, etc., which were even more inimical to all concerned—Israel, the Diaspora and the immigrants themselves—and this has contributed in no small measure to the inordinate levels of emigration from Israel.

The QuesTion of AliyAh

With regard to Aliyah in general— aside from situations where there is a compelling need for emigration, as from Arab lands, the Soviet Union, etc., and excepting special cases such as reunification of families and the like—it is clear that in view of the limited resources available, there must be a set of priorities as to what kind of Aliyah should be concentrated on. Several basic factors must be taken into account:

A case in point—which is also one of the basic factors responsible for the so-called problem of “dropouts”—is the policy that has been practiced among those groups of olim where family ties and traditions have been very strong in their native countries, of separating the younger generation from their parents. Ostensibly, this was done for the purpose of hastening the process of “integration,” but in fact it has proved disastrous: in terms of juvenile delinquency on the one hand, and in terms of the parents who have been terribly hurt by it on the other. EM From the Rebbe's Letters

5August 2022 / Av 5782 jewish soul

2) The new immigrant should be able to integrate into the economy of the land, and not add to the excessive burden already placed on3)it.Even where the said conditions (1) and (2) are met, the gain of a new immigrant, or group of immigrants, should be weighed against the loss that their emigration from their present country will cause to the local Jewish community. If the person happens to be a leader in his community, and his departure would seriously affect the wellbeing of the community—spiritually, economically or politically-thereby weakening that community’s support for the Land of Israel, then the gain would clearly be more than offset by the loss. We have seen this happen time and again, when the leaders of a community have been persuaded to make Aliyah, with the inevitable result that the community dwindled rapidly, physically and spiritually. In a small community, the departure of a single influential member, whether a rabbi or layman, can make all the difference.

A classic example is the emigration from Morocco. The Aliyah campaign was concentrated on the group of least resistance— the spiritual leaders—despite warnings of the disastrous consequences of despoiling the local communities of their leadership. The basic argument was that “the leaders must show the way; the flock will follow.” What happened was that the leaders did, by and large, make Aliyah, but the local communities became largely demoralized. In the end, hundreds of thousands of Moroccan Jews emigrated, not to the Land of Israel, but to France, to be exposed to forces of assimilation they had not met before. This went on despite the fact that Morocco was the most benign of Arab countries (as it still is, which is something of a miracle).Needless to say, it is not enough to get someone to be an oleh; it is necessary to make sure, to the extent that this is possible, that the oleh will not, sooner or later, become an emigrant who leaves Israel. Surely there is no point—and it is not merely an exercise in futility, but the squandering of limited resources—to persuade someone to make Aliyah when he is 51% a potential emigrant, not to mention one who is 90% so. Yet it is a matter of record that all too often Aliyah activists have ignored this basic principle, either through wishful thinking or, more deplorably, through setting up “quotas,” to be fulfilled by all means, in order to justify and maintain their positions as successful recruiting agents. Of course, the inordinate level of emigration, especially in recent years, is not due solely to the lack of proper screening or selectivity, or the exaggerated promises and prospects offered to potential olim. A very substantial number of the emigrants are in fact native-born, which is a painful subject in itself. Here we are speaking of olim who have become emigrants, or of their children who have grown up there but have also become emigrants. The disenchantment of some olim is not always rooted in economics, though the situation would have been much better if there had been closer coordination between the Aliyah department and the absorption agencies. Ultimately, it is not the promise of a nicer apartment, a better job and higher standards of living that will satisfy an oleh from the free world, but the fact that Israel is uniquely different for a Jew, its uniqueness deriving from its spiritual quality, and from the fact that it is the Holy Land. If all the accent will be placed on the material aspects of life, with total disregard of the essential point, namely, that true and lasting Aliyah is inseparable from a spiritual Aliyah. There will inevitably be emigrants or, at the very least, disgruntled and embittered “foreigners” whose hearts and minds will be elsewhere. Such an oleh is not likely to recommend relatives and friends back in his country of origin to follow in his footsteps.

Second, after the silent moment is instituted, publicize in the media that parents should get involved by discussing with their children what to think about during the moment of silence, each according to their traditions andThevalues.Rebbe was also quick to point out that the moment of silence is an altruistic public service and should be implemented immediately, and that the plans for what exactly to fill the moment of silence with would fall into place.

In Indiana, one twenty-year old civilian subdued the shooter within fifteen seconds and averted a greater tragedy. The inaction of well trained Texas officers resulted in horrific loss of life. The instant reaction of an untrained young man in Indiana saved manyObviouslylives. we need to make sure bad or mentally unstable people do not have access to firearms. But some will. Taking them away from everyone is not a solution, because then good people will be defenseless.

constructive lives. How will children grow up to be law-abiding, G-d fearing citizens if they don’t think about G-d? How will they be spiritually attuned if their spirit is not nurtured? How will they be good to themselves and each other if they don’t know what goodness really is? Those regions and schools that do not have a moment of silence, should institute it immediately. Where it already exists, parents need to be engaged to join the conversation and guide their children in what to think about. Otherwise we are neglecting our children’s spirits, and allowing the darkness to fester and grow instead of encouraging their light to shine. Our generation is one that needs to open our eyes and see how much goodness we are blessed with, how close our world is to realizing a peaceful and prosperous existence. We need to open our eyes and we need to help our children open theirs, with the spiritual awareness that comes from within. Nurturing and fostering that light will banish the darkness to begin with – certainly better than any legislation or law enforcement can do after the fact. EM Yoseph Janowski lives in Toronto, Canada.

Yoseph Janowski

As I thought about the contrasting Texas and Indiana events, I recalled a Chassidic thought that a friend once told me. "A robber is not someone who knows how to rob. A robber is someone who actually robs. Similarly, a Torah scholar is not someone who knows how to study. A Torah scholar is someone who studies." Knowing how to do something is not enough. The main thing is the action, and time is of the essence. This is true with every good deed. How much more so when it comes to educating children on how to live

Regardless of one’s political views, one need look no further than the recent incidents in Texas and Indiana to see that gun control laws are not the ultimate solution. In Texas 376 police officers waited 77 minutes before intervening and subduing the shooter.

The Rebbe gave us a straightforward, two step vision for how to educate youth to be spiritually aware, law-abiding citizens. In fact, he was recognized for these and other efforts by the United States Congress and President Jimmy Carter in 1978. The Rebbe’s birthday became officially proclaimed as “Education Day USA.” What is the Rebbe’s plan?

6 August 2022 / Av 5782

perspectives Gun Violence: A PreemPTiVe soluTion

One of the tragic malaises plaguing the modern world, especially in North America, is the phenomenon of gun violence and mass shootings. People are understandably frustrated, angry and afraid. For decades, in trying to find a balance between individual rights and security, lawmakers have struggled to find a solution. Some say maybe there is no solution. The combined power of constitution rights activists and gun lobbyists will always win out. Perhaps. But maybe it doesn’t matter, at least not as much as people like to think. Maybe the law is not the real solution anyways. Maybe it’s just a treatment for the symptoms. Maybe what we need is to tackle the root cause.

First, vigorously beseech the decision makers in one's city or neighborhood to institute a daily moment of silence in public schools at the start of the school day.

The beauty of the Rebbe's approach is that we train children to be good to begin with, instead of trying to control the damage later. We treat the cause, not the symptom. We dispel the darkness early on, and in many cases will preempt the causes of anger and violence by bringing more spiritual awareness and goodness into our children’s lives.

And when wealth is driven by myopic, short term gain it inevitably wanes. Today it is controlled by the prevailing dominant individual or group, and tomorrow by the next vanquisher. It never lasts. Where, for instance, is the great wealth of the Roman Empire today? Who inherited the vast holdings of the British Empire? And what about Mali, the Ottoman dynasty or the Incas – each the wealthiest empire in its time; today barely remembered? Every conqueror coming to power –whether it was a monarch or the church –confiscated the treasures of the conquered.

Constantine adopted Christianity and following his conversion, he confiscates the enormous treasures amassed over the centuries in the pagan temples throughout theIndeed,empire.the very root of the word “money” (and “mint”) is derived from the ancient false Roman goddess Moneta, “the goddess who warns,” named after the cackling geese (no joke) of Juno that warned the Romans when the Gauls tried to take the Capitolium in 390 BCE [quite consistent with the Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak’s idiom: Gelt (money in Yiddish) is the gematria of bloteh (mud)].

L et’s put the current wave of generosity in historical context. Throughout the ages accumulated wealth was simply not given away to charity. Quite the contrary: It was always used to gain and consolidate power and influence.

In days of old and not so old huge sums of money – let alone the value of today’s 37 billion dollars, more than the GNP of over half the countries of the world today – would be used to build monarchies, wage wars, conquer lands and construct monuments of glory. How money was used may have something to do with the way it was accumulated, largely from non-commercial sources: usually through war, pillaging, ransoms, slavery, taxation, blood-money and bridemoney – forces of dominance and control. Indeed, the history of wealth is directly linked with the history of war and violence, and even the history of religion. Finance lies at the heart of the rise and fall of the great empires and their conquests and defeats –Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, the Viking assault on England, the Norman Conquest, the Crusades, the Hundred Years War between England and France, the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru, the aftermath in Britain of the Napoleonic Wars, the U.S. Civil War, and the financing of the two World Wars. For example: The need to transfer large sums of money to finance the Crusades (1095-1270) provided a stimulus to the re-emergence of banking in Western Europe.Warfare, with its appalling humanitarian consequences and vast economic costs, has stimulated financial innovations from the spread of coinage to the creation of the national debt. Conversely, economic weakness and the inability to properly utilize financial resources have been causes of militaryObviously,defeats.when wealth is gained through aggressive or criminal activity it will be used to perpetuate corruption, and not serve as a force for good.

7August 2022 / Av 5782

jewish thought

As W. Cleon Skousen writes in The Naked Simon Jacobson

GiVers And TAkers

James Madison put it this way: “History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.”

Some even make a case for a conspiracy amongst the global aristocracy of wealth, arguing that the top Western industrialists and institutions were behind the rise of Communism and Fascism around the world.

The American model in general, and Carnegie’s philosophy and the present Buffett/Gates move in particular is a major event not just in the history of philanthropy (no one has ever bequeathed a larger charitable gift) but in the history of mankind in general. It is nothing less than Messianic: It is essentially a shift from being a taker to becoming a giver.

Andrew Carnegie fulfilled this ethos of generosity to its fullest extreme. In his 1889 essay “Wealth” (later named “Gospel of Wealth”) – which reportedly had a strong influence on Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffett –presents a powerful argument that “the duty of the man of wealth” is to serve as a “trustee” for the larger community. The wealthy should not give their wealth to their children but to administer it for the benefit and common good of the public, and thereby create the “ideal State, in which the surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense, the property of the many”.

8 August 2022 / Av 5782 jewish thought

Capitalist, his review of Dr. Carroll Quigley’s Tragedy and Hope:

“Power from any source tends to create an appetite for additional power… It was almost inevitable that the super-rich would one day aspire to control not only their own wealth, but the wealth of the whole world.”

“As I see it,” Skousen writes, “the great contribution which Dr. Carroll Quigley unintentionally made…was to help the ordinary American people realize the utter contempt which the network leaders have for ordinary people. Human beings are treated en masse as helpless puppets on an international chess board where giants of economic and political power subject them to wars, revolution, civil strife, confiscation, subversion, indoctrination, manipulation and outright deception as it suits their fancy and their concocted schemes for world domination.”Whetheryou agree with this argument or not, no one can doubt the history of wealth as a force of control. Money was always synonymous with power, greed and all its corrupt consequences. Now comes Mr. Buffett and with his unprecedented commitment turns the historical use of wealth on its head.

Carnegie believed, as he wrote in another article in 1908 that “wealth is not chiefly the product of the individual…but largely the joint product of the community.”

The difference between these two models of wealth – the historical model of greedy wealth to gain personal power or the model that is now beginning to take hold (let’s call it the post-Gates/Buffett era) of wealth as an opportunity to give – is not merely a difference in approach; it reflects a fundamental different attitude to life. Are we human beings essentially takers or givers? Is life about you, or about you serving a greater cause?

A few days ago I was speaking with a community leader from a prominent city in New England, a man who has accomplished much in his life of public service. As we were speaking a mutual friend walked by, a businessman who has accumulated a fortune of approximately 90 million dollars. His sheepish look, and forced voice of interest reflected his discomfort. I sensed an underlying resentment. You see people who are takers are very uncomfortable with givers. It exposes their own self-centered lives, and lack of courage to serve. They often enjoy being cynical and criticizing public servants, so that they can be more comfortable in their own skin and not be exposed.Thesecret to true happiness is this: The more you give the happier you will be. The more you take the unhappier you will be. Guaranteed. Test it out and let me know if I’m wrong. The reason for this is because we are inherently wired to be givers – like G-d in Whose Image we are created – and not takers. Yes, we take in our early formative years, as we are provided for by our parents. But that is only a training period, preparing and shaping us to become true givers. Like a student who must first absorb the wisdom of his teachers before he becomes a teacher himself (and even as you become a teacher and giver yourself, you always remain a student).Happiness lays in the domain of givers not takers.Wetake because we are insecure. Hoarding, collecting, gathering gives us a sense of

As long as Bill Gates was the only one to bequeath his fortune to charity the argument could be made that his generosity was an anomaly. But now that the second wealthiest man in the world has joined the wealthiest one in giving away most of his fortune to charity, it is hard to dismiss and should cause us all to raise more than our eyebrows.

In contrast to the way wealth was always used for personal gain, Mr. Buffet’s and Mr. Gates’ initiative should capture our attention to realize that something special is underway.Theaccumulative amount of both their charitable commitments is simply staggering. Let alone that Mr. Buffet did not link his gift to perpetuating his name (as in a Buffet University or Buffet Foundation)!

I would add that money is the history of civilization because it reflects the inherent conflict of life: Will we be takers or givers?

jewish thought

9August 2022 / Av 5782 security – a false sense, but it still feels like you “own” something. In truth we own nothing except our own choices. The great philanthropist Moses Montefiore once told English Queen Victoria: “The only wealth that I truly own is that which I have given away to good causes. Everything else – all my holdings – are simply under my control for the moment, but they can be lost in the next moment due to a bad decision, war, an accident or other cause which I cannot control. However the good institutions that my money has built are forever; they can never be taken or lost.”

This is the choice each of us has: Are you more excited when you make money or when you give it away to a good cause? EM

As the train robber declares before he jumps off the train with all the passengers’ belongings in his bag: “Ladies and Gentlemen, please remember, it’s always better to give than to take”… Napoleon

It takes a lot more strength and courage to give than to take. However, in our insecure world, most people have become (unnatural) takers, living in the illusion that hoarding will bring security. We live in a world of “competition” – people competing with each other for status, power and influence. And in this anxious climate, coupled with the psychological insecurities that many of us have assumed due to absentee (or worse) parents that did not cultivate our selfconfidence, we seek out panaceas that will give us a tangible sense of control. Money is perhaps the strongest soothing drug of themNotall.to suggest that money is a curse. It is actually a great blessing, but only when you don’t use wealth as a compensator for your own insecurity, and know that it is a blessing given to you so that you can use it to give to others.Andnow we have the major philanthropic stride taken by Mr. Buffett, underscoring the one previously made by Mr. Gates.

[And it comes in an appropriate week: The Korach episode in the Torah teaches us about the power of wealth – for good and for bad. Korach was undone by his wealth. And we learn from his behavior about the risks of self-absorbed materialistic abuse, and its subsequent effect of consuming the very perpetrators; yet, at the same time, this is due to man’s weakness, not the fault of the wealth per se, which has the power to lift man to great heights, as discussed at length in another article].

In a world where most people ask: “What more can I take?” there are the precious few who have taken the road less traveled and ask: “What more can I give?”

“The business of this entire world will be to knowTodayG-d.”we stand at the threshold of a new economic paradigm. The final frontier of the history of money and wealth: To see the acquisition of wealth as a means for giving and fuel for spiritual growth. Wealth, in short, will finally realize its true value: soul energy, elevating and transforming all of existence.Thewealthiest men in the world today force us all to ask the question about the nature of our own wealth and its acquisition. And how it will be used: For temporary power, to be stashed away gathering dust in some Swiss account, eventually squandered, sometimes a generation or two later, often destroying families in the process, or will the wealth be used for eternal benefit, to build and improve the world.

Bonaparte in 1815 put it this way (in arguing that government should not be dependent upon bankers for money): “The hand that gives is above the hand that takes.”

Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, once said: “The history of money is the history of civilization or, more exactly, of some important civilizing values. Its form at any particular period of history reflects the degree of confidence, or the degree of trust, that market participants have in the institutions that govern every market system, whether centrally planned or free.”

Rabbi Simon Jacobson is the author of Toward a Meaningful Life: The Wisdom of the Rebbe and the director of the Meaningful Life Center (meaningfullife.com).

Perhaps – hopefully – this will begin a trend of giving, turning takers into givers, ushering in a new era of economics: The Economics of MaimonidesGiving.writes that the Messianic age does not necessitate miraculous or cataclysmic external change. The primary change will be from within; a radical shift of consciousness. Instead of seeing materialism as an end in itself, we will see it as a means to “knowing G-d.” This consciousness will affect our economic view. As Maimonides puts it: “Material delights will be found as dust,” which also means that the abundance of material wealth will render it valueless as dust and useless as an end unto itself. This in turn will naturally eliminate envy and competition, hunger, poverty and strife.

The people who constitute an edah have a strong sense of collective identity. They have witnessed the same things. They are bent on the same purpose. The Jewish people become an edah – a community of shared faith – only on receiving the first command: “Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each Shemothousehold”.12:3

Nowadays the word is generally used for an ethnic or religious subgroup. An edah is a community of the like-minded. The word emphasizes strong identity. It is a group whose members have much in common.

Shemot 35:1

At a deeper level, though, the verse alerts us to the nature of community in Judaism. In classical Hebrew there are three different words for community: edah, tzibbur and kehillah, and they signify different kinds of association. Edah comes from the word ed, meaning “witness.” The verb ya’ad carries the meaning of “to appoint, fix, assign, destine, set apart, designate or determine.” The modern Hebrew noun te’udah means “certificate, document, attestation, aim, object, purpose or mission.”

A tzibbur is a group whose members may have nothing in common except that, at a thought Jonathan Sacks

Along drama had taken place. Moses had led the people from slavery to the beginning of the road to freedom. The people themselves had witnessed God at Mount Sinai, the only time in all history when an entire people became the recipients of revelation. Then came the disappearance of Moses for his long sojourn at the top of the mountain, an absence which led to the Israelites’ greatest collective sin, the making of the Golden Calf. Moses returned to the mountain to plead for forgiveness, which was granted.Itssymbol was the second set of tablets. Now life must begin again. A shattered people must be rebuilt. How does Moses proceed?Mosesassembled the whole Israelite com munity and said to them: “These are the things God has commanded you to do.”

want to return to Egypt. Throughout, they are referred to as the edah (as in “How long will this wicked community grumble against Me?” Bamidbar 14:27). The people agitated by Korach in his rebellion against Moses and Aaron’s authority is likewise called an edah (“If one man sins, will You be angry with the whole community ? Bamidbar 16:22).

10 August 2022 / Av 5782

By contrast the word tzibbur – it belongs to Mishnaic rather than biblical Hebrew – comes from the root tz b r meaning “to heap” or “pile up”. (Bereishit 41:49) To understand the concept of tzibbur, think of a group of people praying at the Kotel. They may not know each other. They may never meet again. But for the moment, they happen to be ten people in the same place at the same time, and thus constitute a quorum for prayer. A tzibbur is a community in the minimalist sense, a mere aggregate, formed by numbers rather than any sense of identity.

jewish

Three TyPes of communiTy

Shemot 32:1 Moses’ act is what the kabbalists called a tikkun: a restoration, a making-good-again, the redemption of a past misdemeanor. Just as the sin was committed by the people acting as a kahal or kehillah, so atonement was to be achieved by their again acting as a kehillah, this time by making a home for the Divine presence as they earlier sought to make a substitute for it. Moses orchestrates the people for good, as they had once been assembled for bad (The difference lies not only in the purpose but in the form of the verb, from passive in the case of the Calf to active in the case of Moses. Passivity allows bad things to happen – “Wherever it says ‘and it came to pass’ it is a sign of impending tragedy”. (Megillah 10b) Proactivity is the sign of impending joy.”

Bamidbar Rabbah 13

The verb vayakhel is crucial to an understanding of the task in which Moses is engaged. At its simplest level it serves as a motiv-word, recalling a previous verse. In this case the verse is obvious: When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they as sembled around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us.”

Rashi on Bamidbar 27:16

15 Av, on the other hand, is a time of forgiveness of sin, which is why the Mishnah mentions it together with Yom Kippur, the day of forgiveness. 15 Av represents what is accomplished through our descent into exile: the coming of Moshiach and everlasting life. The greater the descent, the greater is the ascent that follows. Our efforts in this dark and bitter exile accomplish the coming of Moshiach, which is everlasting, and the building of the Third Temple, which will beTheeverlasting.Mishnah continues to say that on Yom Kippur and on 15 Av, the daughters of Jerusalem (or Israel) would go out to the vineyards and dance. What moved them to dance specifically on those two days? The daughters of Israel sensed G d’s joy from forgiving us, and that filled them with joy, so they danced. Everything that Moses did was everlasting. He knew that if he would lead the people into Israel and build the Temple there, it would be everlasting, and no exile would follow. In other words, Moshiach would come.

MOSHIACH MUSINGS

Moses was able to turn the kehillah with its diversity into an edah with its singleness of purpose, while preserving the diversity of the gifts they brought to God: Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and ev eryone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to God for the work on the Tent of Meet ing, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. All who were willing – men and women – came and brought gold jewellery of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments . . . Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn . . . Those presenting an offering of silver or bronze . . . Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun . . . The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems . . . All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to God freewill offerings for all the work God, through Moses, had commanded them to Shemotdo.

(Bamidbar 27:16) Rashi, following the Sages, explains the unusual phrase “Lord of the spirits of all flesh” as follows: He said to Him: Lord of the universe, the character of each person is revealed and known to You – and You know that each is different. Therefore appoint for them a leader who is able to bear with each per son as his or her temperament requires.

35:20-29

certain point, they find themselves together and thus constitute a “public” for prayer or any other command which requires a minyan.Akehillah is different from the other two kinds of community. Its members are different from one another. In that sense it is like a tzibbur. But they are orchestrated together for a collective undertaking –one that involves in making a distinctive contribution. The danger of a kehillah is that it can become a mass, a rabble, a crowd. That is the meaning of the phrase in which Moses, descending the mountain, sees the people dancing around the Calf: Moses saw that the people were running wild, and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.

The greatness of the Tabernacle was that it was a collective achievement – one in which not everyone did the same thing. Each gave a different thing. Each contribution was valued – and therefore each participant felt valued. Vayakhel – Moses’ ability to forge out of the dissolution of the people a new and genuine kehillah – was one of his greatest achievements. Many years later, Moses, according to the Sages, returned to the theme. Knowing that his career as a leader was drawing to an end, he prayed to God to appoint a successor: “May God, Lord of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a person over the community.”

Now that we have descended to the lowest possible place in the exile and accomplished our mission, it is time for Moshiach to lead us to the greatest and everlasting ascent. May it happen soon. future tense

To preserve the diversity of a tzibbur with the unity of purpose of an edah – that is the challenge of kehillah-formation, communitybuilding, itself the greatest task of a great leader. EM Rabbi Dr. Sir Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, was the former Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth and a member of the House of Lords. He was a leading academic and respected world expert on Judaism. He was the author of several books and thousands of articles, appeared regularly on television and radio, and spoke at engagements around the world. The holiday of 15 Av represents the opposite of Tisha B’Av. On Tisha B’Av, we went into exile because of our sins.

Shemot 32:25

The double expression of Nachamu nachamu, which gives Shabbat Nachamu its name, refers to the consolation that will be ours when Moshiach comes. The repetition doesn’t mean just two comforts. Rather, it means multiplicity, everlasting—that we will be consoled forever.Inthis way, we see how Vaetchanan, Nachamu and 15 Av are connected; they are about the coming of Moshiach and an everlasting change for the better.

The beauty of a kehillah, however, is that when it is driven by constructive purpose, it gathers together the distinct and separate contributions of many individuals, so that each can say, “I helped to make this.” That is why, assembling the people on this occasion, Moses emphasizes that each has something different to give: Take from what you have, an offering to God. Everyone who is willing to bring to God an offering of gold, silver and bronze . . . All you who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded . . .

Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman is the Senior Rabbi of the Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario. You can Ask the Rabbi at jrcc.org or fax to 416.222.7812. To meet with Rabbi Zaltzman in person, feel free to call 416.222.7105 to book an appointment. Appointments are generally available on Wednesday evenings after 7pm. Rebbitzin Chiena Zaltzman is also available for private consultations by appointment on Wednesday evenings from 9 to 10pm by calling 416.222.7105. Bicycles shABBAT?

rabbi Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman

QIs it permissible to ride a bicycle on Shabbat? There doesn’t seem to be any issue with it that I can think of, but I noticed that observant people tend to avoid it. What is the issue?

Are

The most common issue raised is the problem of fixing a bike, which is clearly forbidden to do on Shabbat. The Sages forbade playing music on Shabbat –not because playing an instrument itself constitutes any form of transgression, but because if the instrument were to require repair or tuning, this would be forbidden. In order to avoid a situation where a person would be forgetful and instinctively repair or tune the instrument on Shabbat, the Sages instituted a decree against playing music on Shabbat. Similarly, this is one of the issues with riding a bike on Shabbat. Even a minor repair, a common one like placing a fallen chain back into its track or fixing a tire, would be forbidden.

There are also additional issues that riding a bicycle on Shabbat would create. Riding a bicycle is considered a form of carrying. As such, it could only be done within a designated area which is with in the “eruv” – the boundary in which carrying on Shabbat is permitted. When riding a bike, one could quickly find oneself passing the eruv without realizing it, and be considered carrying in an area where it is not permitted to do Similarly,so. on Shabbat the maximum distance one is permitted to travel is 2,000 cubits (about 1km or a little more than half a mile). While riding a bike, one could easily exceed this limit, which is common to do on bicycle.Riding a bicycle is a weekday activity, which we refrain from on Shabbat. Shabbat is meant to be different, and everything from the things we talk bout to the food we eat and the clothes we wear is meant to be different, elevated. While many of these things are open to interpretation and local/personal custom, all weekday activities should be avoided, and riding bike seems to fit into that category – especially for those who use a bike as a method of transportation, for whom it would be clearly forbidden for that reason. According to most opinions, a simple toy bicycle meant for young children, which does not have a chain or air-filled tires, and which is not ridden great distances, is permitted on Shabbat.While the above focuses on the technical reasons for not riding a bicycle on Shabbat, we should always keep in mind the idea of the spirit of Shabbat. Some say even running or walking quickly should be avoided. Shabbat is primarily a day of rest. We refrain from all creative and mundane activities and spend our day immersed in holiness, prayer, study, family time, enjoyment and rest. The word "Shabbat" itself expresses this idea; its literal translation being “rest.” For this reason, in addition to the technical, legal reasons discussed above, riding a bicycle is not really in the spirit of what Shabbat is all about. EM

На протяжении столетий еврейская жизнь всегда протекала в общине. Вся жизнь еврея зависела от помощи общины, община поставляла еврею все: обеспечивала приданое бедным невестам, оплачивала свадьбы, поставляла продукты для Суббот и праздников, - иными словами, заботилась о жизни каждого еврея. В наши дни происходит то же самое: община проводит свадьбы, организовывает проведение обряда Брит Мила и церемонии Бари Бат-Мицвы, поддержи-вает семьи в горе, если, не дай Б-г, кто-то умер. Это то, что община дает еврею. А что еврей может дать своей общине, чем еврей может быть полезен общине? Это Ваш вопрос? Да. Вы правы в том, что еврейская община всегда помогает каждому еврею. В этом заключается основное различие между еврейской общиной и общинами других народов. Читая мемуары Шестого Любавичского Ребе (всем советую с ними ознакомиться), становится понятно, как жили евреи последние 300 – 400 лет. В каждом местечке обязательно было место, где могли остановиться бедные странники, чтобы поесть и переночевать. Была организация, которая хоронила людей и ухаживала за кладбищами. Помогали вдовам и сиротам... The article above is excerpted from the Russian edition of Exodus Magazine. To subscribe, please visit exodusmagazine.org or call 416.222.7105.

12 August 2022 / Av 5782 ask the

The question of whether a riding a bicycle on Shabbat is permitted or forbidden according to Jewish law is the subject of much discussion. On the surface, it would seem that technically speaking none of the primary laws of forbidden work on Shabbat are being broken while riding a bike – at least not directly. There is no electricity involved or combustion taking place. But, in addition to question of the spirit of Shabbat, there are several halachic (Jewish law) issues that make riding a bike on Shabbat problematic.

kosher for

YESHIVA SCHOLARSHIP GRANT

Last month featured two significant dates on the Chabad calendar that were commemorated with special farbrengens (Chassidic gatherings). The 3rd of Tammuz fell on Shabbat and was marked with afternoon gatherings at each JRCC branch following the morning Shabbat services. The date of 12-13 Tammuz is known as knows as the “Festival of Liberation” when the Rebbe Rayatz, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson was miraculously saved from his death sentence at the hands of his Communist persecutors. By Divine providence, the date he was liberated was also his birthday. The day was celebrated with a special farbrengen at the JRCC South Thornhill, complete with food, song and words of wisdom. Participants reflected on the inspiring story of the Rebbe Rayatz, who demonstrated both in his teachings and in his actions that with the right mindset one can overcome even the most daunting challenge. TRIPS TO THE After a two-year hiatus to Covid, the annual Trip to the Rebbe in honor of “Gimmel Tammuz” resumed on July 2-3. Several hundred people from our community, including a few dozen on an organized JRCC trip, joined tens of thousands of people from all walks of life and from around the world visited the Rebbe’s synagogue and Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, and the Ohel, the Rebbe’s holy resting place in Queens. The participants of the trip also spent some time exploring the Crown Heights neighborhood, enjoying great meals together, and took in words of inspiration and personal stories highlighting the living legacy of the Rebbe – all while traveling on a new, state-of-the-art coach bus. Thank you to all the organizers and hosts for making it a rewarding a meaningful experience. As in the past, a separate women’s trip is also being planned for August 9-10. In the past, women who participated felt really inspired and elevated by the entire experience, and a greater sense of connectedness to the Rebbe. It was an uplifting retreat for all who participated, as well as friends and families back home with home they shared their inspiration. For more information on pricing, accommodation and tickets booking, contact Chanie Zaltzman at 416.222.7105 x234 or email chanie.zaltzman@jrcc.org

13August 2022 / Tammuz 5782

In memory of Ella bat Avrohom Yitzchok

REBBE

If you haven’t already done so, it is time to register your child for Daycare or Hebrew School for the coming year. Only a few spots remain. The JRCC Hebrew School offers a friendly and stimulating Sunday and/or after-school program at eight locations throughout the GTA. Visit www.jrcc.org/hebrewschool for a list of times and locations and to register. The JRCC’s Leib and Mindel Gelfand Preschool and Daycare offers an enriching ECE program based on Montessori principles together with a warm, Jewish environment – as well as a variety of extra curricular programs as Music, Art, Computer, Creative Movement, French and Math, in addition to holiday celebrations and monthly field trips. There are only a few spaces left for children aged 16 months to 6 years for the upcoming school year. To register and for more information, visit jrccDaycare.org or call (416)736-0781. COMMUNITY FARBRENGENS

DAYCARE AND HEBREW SCHOOL REGISTRATION

ה''בה”ב AUGUST 2022 COMMUNITY CALENDAR CommunityAUGUST 2022 | TAMMUZ 5782 OurunityTHE MONTH IN REVIEW. UPCOMING EVENTS & PROGRAMS. LIGHTINGCANDLE TIMES Friday, Aug 5, 2022 8:17 PM Friday, Aug 12, 2022 8:07 PM Friday, Aug 19, 2022 7:57 PM Friday, Aug 26, 2022 7:45 PM TRIPREBBETOAUGUST 09-10 20 FARBRENGENAVEAUGUST 06 FAST OF THE NINTH OF AV AUGUST 06-07 GITIK LECTURE AUGUST 31

It’s not too late for JRCC’s Yeshiva Scholarship Grant for the upcoming academic year of study. Yeshivas are Torah study centers that allow for an immersive Jewish study experience that strengthens knowledge and builds learning skills for a lifetime of inspiration. Studying for a year or even a few weeks is a life changing experience. In order to ease the financial burden of taking time off to focus on Jewish study, the JRCC offers a grant to help young men and women from the FSU find out more about and connect with their Jewish roots, with a choice of several educational institutions in Israel, New York and New Jersey. The Yeshiva Scholarship Grant is part of the JRCC’s Jewish Identity Grants initiative to assist members of our community in pursuing opportunities to strengthen our Jewish identity and connect with our heritage. For more information, visit jrcc.org/grants or call 416.222.7105 x293.

14 August 2022 / Tammuz 5782 JRCC Bat Mitzvah Club this year culminates in a stunning banquet and candle lighting ceremony. Each girl celebrates her birthday and journey to jewish womanhood PHOTO OF THE MONTH CLAIM YOUR B I R T C A K E Members of the Jewish Russian community can drop by on their birthday month for a birthday cake. Visit the volunteer lounge in Room 6. More info: Hana monthhana.uralsky@jrcc.orgUralskyforabirthday 20 Av FARBRENGEN WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 8 P.M. | JRCC WEST THORNHILL Commemorating the yahrzeit of the Rebbe’s father, Reb Levi Yitzchak Delivering Holiday Packages & Birthday Cakes Walking & Driving Routes Available FOR MORE INFORMATION 416-222-7105 #291 hana.uralsky@jrcc.org BECOMEACTIVISTS!!COMMUNITY For Girls Ages 11-12Give her a gift of a lifetime! Is your daughter becoming a Bat Mitzvah? Seven locations on Sundaysoranyweekdayevening Show your daughter that her Bat Mitzvah is more than a party - it’s a celebration of her! The JRCC runs an exciting Bat Mitzvah Club, where girls learn and discover what it’s all about, while enjoying every moment of the studying, trips and dinners. For more information, call 416.222.7105 x247 or email BatMitzvah@jrcc.org REGISTER NOW! www.jrcc.org/bmc

15August 2022 / Tammuz 5782

Faces of the Community Maya Kunichenko (née Beigelman)

Please tell us a little about your profession. I am a metallurgical engineer by profession. After graduating from the Mariupol Metallurgical Institute, I worked in Kazan at the Kazan Aviation Plant. It so happened that my mother fell ill, and I was forced to move to Ukraine. Unfortunately, shortly after my arrival, my mother died.

Please tell us about your family. My mother was born in 1921 in Ukraine in the small town of Sofiyivka. These were difficult years – there was hunger, the Makhnovshchina [an attempt to form a stateless anarchist society in parts of Ukraine during the Russian Revolution – ed.], and poverty. May parents, Rozalia Semyonovna and Semyon Yakovlevich, accepted the new order and became typical Soviet Jews. My father's parents, on the other hand, remained religious people who fully observed the laws of Jewish life until the end of their days. Their home was kosher, and Jewish holidays were celebrated behind closed windows. My cousin and I were strictly forbidden to speak in public and at school about what was happening at home. My father was named Tova at birth, but in ordinary life he was known as Anatoly. My grandmother Ethel and grandfather Boruch lived long lives. My grandmother sewed traditional white burial shrouds used in Jewish burials, which is considered a great mitzvah. My grandparents on both sides lived in Nikopol and were neighbors. Their children - my mother and father - graduated from a Jewish school in Nikopol, where they studied in Yiddish. The last graduating class was in 1939 - my father's younger sister, Bronislava, just managed to graduate from school that year, after which the school was closed. Even before the war, my father graduated from the Leningrad Higher Anti-Aircraft Missile Command School in 1939. He came to Nikopol for a week to visit his parents. My mother graduated from medical school and, in connection with the battles at Khalkhin Gol, which were a harbinger of war with Japan, voluntarily left with her friends for the Far East to work in a hospital. After her return to Nikopol, her parents and my father's parents hurriedly married their children, as they were afraid that their children - my future father and mother - would otherwise assimilate. Immediately after that, my father was sent to Ufa, Bashkiria, where he went together with my mother. In May 1941, my father, understanding the pre-war situation, sent my pregnant mother to Ukraine to her parents. On August 4, the Germans approached Nikopol, but the families of my grandparents on both sides managed to leave on carts two days before. There were two pregnant women in their large group - my mother and her older sister. During these travels, my four-year-old cousin, the son of my mother's sister, died due to lack of medicine and food. And after a while she lost her newborn child as well. I believe that already in these days the personal Holocaust of my family began. After a long and tumultuous journey, my relatives ended up in evacuation in Kazakhstan in the abandoned village of Kyzyl Kunchuguz. According to my mother's recollections, the locals received them very warmly. Soon my grandfather, my mother's father, was conscripted into the army, and he went through the whole war. Once, on one terrible October day, my grandmother - my mother's mother - received three funerals at once. Two of them for two sons, one of whom, at the age of 18, volunteered for the front and died near Novorossiysk. The third funeral was for her son-in-law - my father. It said that he was missing. I never saw my father, because I was born two months after this news, on January 1, 1942. In 1944 we returned to Nikopol. After graduating from the Metallurgical Institute, I worked at a military aircraft factory in Kazan. I married Leonid Kunichenko. On October 16, 1941, my husband, who was then four years old, together with his mother, two-year-old brother, grandmother, grandfather and mother's sister, Bronislava Tartakovskaya, witnessed the mass execution of Jews in Dnepropetrovsk. The shooting continued for several days. By a lucky chance, a German officer took my husband's mother and two sons out of that terrible place, and they survived. They walked for a long time and reached the city of Sumy, where his father’s parents lived. Sumy was occupied at that time, and the mother and children had to hide so that the neighbors would not recognize them. This case is described in the book “People, Years, Life” by Ilya Ehrenburg. In 1991, we emigrated to Israel, where we lived for thirty years. My husband's mother also left with us, and she passed away at the age of 90. I felt that Israel is my home, although starting from scratch was not easy. I had to take on any job, but these difficulties did not overshadow my feeling that I was in my native land and Jewish life was close to me. I organized a home for lonely elderly people, which I called "Warm House.” I worked there for eighteen years. My daughter lived on a kibbutz with two small children, and my grandchildren served in the Israeli army. Living in Israel was the happiest time for me.

Topics: Avraham & Ephron, life and death • Four Levels of Tanach • Maarat Hamachpela “against” Temple Mount • Four reasons of human death Third World War in Jewish Tradition • Is Putin’s War on Ukraine the beginning of the Gog and Magog War? • Three World Wars Scenarios by Hafez Haim • World War III as a meeting with the Serpent SEMINARMINIWITHRABBIGITIK Will take place in JRCC 18 Rockford Rd. More info: 416 222 7105 x 221 WEDNESDAYAUGUST318:00PM in Russian All are welcome

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CHITAS Chitas is a Hebrew acronym formed by the the initials of Chumash (the Five Books of Moses), Tehillim (book of Psalms), and Tanya (the “bible” of Chabad Chassidic thought authored by the first Rebbe of the Chabad movement, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi.) It refers to the daily gained, the study of Chitas is considered a vessel for blessings, be it in family life, general health, success in business, and as a method of connection to the Rebbe, is clear. The JRCC produces a weekly, pocket-sized Chitas booklet in Russian that enables people to take it with them on the go and study on the fly, any time.

The booklets are delivered four at a time, either to your local JRCC branch or to your home, at the beginning of each month. To learn more or to subscribe, call 416.222.7105 or visit jrcc.org/chitas.

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EXODUS MAGAZINE Exodus Magazine monthly provides articles on Jewish thought, spirituality and profiles,practice, and news and information about community programs. The Russian edition was established in 1983, with the English edition following in 2002 to cater to the younger, nonRussian reading segment of our community, and those who prefer English language content. There are also editions of Exodus Magazine published in several other North American cities, including Miami, Baltimore and Boston. The magazine, with a monthly circulation of 18,000, is available via home delivery subscription or can be picked at the JRCC Head Office and branches.

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16 August 2022 / Tammuz 5782

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(Birkat Kohain is the priestly blessing given by the direct descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses. If you haven't been at the Western Wall when it happens, it's just beyond description. There can be thousands of those avocados chanting in unison up there.)

That’s just one out of a riveting collection of avocado-art you’ll find in Noam’s feed.

I've got a new, very concrete metaphor now for something that has always been extremely mind-discombobulating.Thisuniverse,inclassic Jewish thought, is a voice-activated system. As the line from Psalms goes, "He spoke and it was." And what does the voice say? Well, words, of course. Text. Meaning: information packets.Sohere you have this Supra-cosmic Consciousness initializing a virtually limitless set of instances called "heaven and earth" and then, simply by multiple requests in the form of tight, information-rich packets, extruding from this amorphous reserve of possibleness creations such as light, an atmosphere, oceans, trees and herbage, stars and galaxies, and an almost endless diversity of flora and fauna, all the way to selfaware two-legged critters who build neural networks that illustrate stuff.

Here it breaks down twice. The first is obvious: There’s no boundary between the operator and the operation. One Creator both comes up with the idea and extrudes it out of the set. And then there’s another non-duality. Because in the metaphor, the AI doesn’t generate that original set of imagery. The supra-cosmic consciousness we are speaking about, however, is responsible for fundamental existence—literally, from the ground (i.e. physical reality) up. So really, there isn't anything else here other than that consciousness imagining us being here. Only that “G d’s thoughts are not like our thoughts,” and so rather than a fantasy, we end up as real beings replete with a sense of self and actual free choice. We only call it “speech,” rather than consciousness or imagination, because it has this inexplicable function of generating critters that feel they are independent others—like in speech, where you speak to someone other than yourself. What really sparked my fascination in Noam's Avocado gallery of DALL-E 2 illustrations is the stuff AI engineers might call flaws, but better off understood for what they really are—emergent artifacts from the fascinating realm of the nexus between algorithmic mechanism and human organism.Emergence.

It's called text-to-image generation, with Imagen from Google and DALL-E 2 from OpenAI stirring up a flurry of oohs and aahs the last few months. In both models, a human operator feeds a descriptive text to a neural network—which just means that it builds new connections each time it processes information—to generate an image (e.g. “Gringo bunny rabbit with shades looking in smartphone while munching red enchiladas on beach chair, pop art”).

The network has been trained on a large number of examples, including bunnies, that relate to the text description it’s been given. Now all it has to do is repeatedly generate lots of gringo bunny images, altering them over many iterations through a process of continuous learning, until it matches most closely the text it's been provided.

The results can be impressive. These systems have integrated a surprisingly large repertoire to mix, match and tweak, and their results sometimes break the imagination barrier of even the human who made the request.

Meanwhile, my brain is starting to feel more like the plasticine and less like the avocado.

The kABBAlAh of TexT-To-imAGe Ai

Tzvi Freeman

Of course, as with every metaphor, it's real power is in its subversion. You need to see where it breaks down--and that's when you really see.

Noam Zur, self-described as a “proud Jewish orthodox”, posted on his Twitter account @avocados_ai a scrumptiously delightsome image generated by the request "Birkat Kohain at the Western Wall performed by avocado characters made out of plasticine."

It’s a buzzword today, both in art and science—particularly in systems theory. In AI, it's popping up all over the place.Emergence is what happens when parts interact to form a new whole and suddenly there’s something there totally new, belonging to none of the parts, but only to the whole. In science, a classic case of emergence is how the strange and complex world of quantum mechanics somehow emerges at the macro level as a far simpler Newtonian world. Or how highly predictable chemical bonds are arranged in living organisms, which emerge as largely unpredictable entities. Or in the unexpected dynamics that emerge when those individual organisms interact to form self-organizing flocks, colonies, and communities.Inart,emergence happens when we stare

It’s always fascinated me how our machines enable us to push the envelope of being human. So perhaps, instead of throwing ourselves on the pavement before the onslaught of the monster tanks of AI invading human territory, we should acknowledge these systems for what they are—dumb machines built to be nothing more than tools in our hands, like hammers and plows. Then can we reap their real value—their power to allow us to discover what it means to be human. Here’s the latest: Whether you are a professional communicator, such as a writer or art director, or just anybody trying to make a point on social media, you are likely perpetually scrambling for just the right illustration to get across your idea. So we should all be elated to find that two major firms are closing in on a hi-tech, on-demand, solution.

18 August 2022 / Av 5782

It's really nothing new, just amplified to the extreme. Every artist, artisan, musician— anyone who engages in the craft of lending beauty to physical materials will experience on occasion the success of self-astonishment.

at a random collection of dots and strange faces jump out at us, as our minds attempt to find patterns in chaos.

19August 2022 / Av 5782

Here's an example—one of many. A human fed the network the following text: “Rapunzel as elderly avocado rebbe, he lays down his long golden-white beard through the castle tower window, below the tower, stands his jewish orthodox student who came to ask questions, shot from below the tower, fantasy, beautiful, digital art.”

And got this:

After a long and tiresome labor of love, you behold this creation of yours and ask, "Where on earth did that come from?"

Does the same occur in the creation of our universe? Is the Creator blown away by the emergent qualities of a physical world? Intuitively, we should say no. "There is nothing new under the sun," wrote Kohelet. If the sun is here a metaphor case for the Creator, since all comes from Him, how can He surprise Himself? There's no nexus of opposites in this case because there is no true duality.And yet the Genesis narrative speaks otherwise. "G d saw all that He had created, and behold, it was very good."

True, this particular human unleashed an undeniably powerful burst of creative energy upon the machine. Nonetheless, I don’t doubt that he was awestruck at what the machine spat back at him. The scene employs all the elements he requested, yet it speaks from outside the realm of human experience. Of course it does. It's not human. It's not even an organism. It's a mechanism. It doesn't live within the realm of human experience, or of any form of experience whatsoever. It doesn't live. And precisely for that reason, it is capable of opening up to us possibilities and experiences from beyond the pale of the most vivid human imagination. The unexpected.

And in current developments of artificial intelligence and learning systems, the most stunning examples of emergence occur in the unexpected forms of interaction between human and machine.

It's not that it didn't come out as you wanted. It's that you had no idea that this is what you wanted—until you see it now before your eyes, or hear it from your instrument.Again,it's an emergent quality of this interface of human and device, mind and matter, knowledge and action, an intersection at which something unexpected emerges that transcends both poles of the duality, something beyond knowing, beyond human.

Rabbi Shalom Dovber of Lubavitch (known as “the Rashab”) was particularly fascinated by this phenomenon of the artist surprising himself. He saw in it the markings of something supra-rational, beyond knowing.

The act of creation, he explained, begins far before the act of knowing, in the fundamental, subliminal realm of selfpleasure. That, he wrote, is where everything begins—in a place inside where you exist alone, in almost absolute stillness. Many of us live our entire lives never accessing that place, never understanding what drives us to do the things we do. That’s because this internal pleasure does not emerge in an orderly sequence of "thistherefore-that." It is too still, too sublime, too intimate to become a direct cause for anything else other than itself. Rather, most often it emerges as a sudden flash. It appears to come out of nowhere and vanishes in the same moment, leaving only a trace of an inkling of its knowledge for a skilled mind to process and grasp whatever it Socan.that the inner, essential origin of all art remains trapped within its stillness. It cannot be known by knowing, by understanding, by designing, even by the act of creating. It cannot fit into any of those.

G d, too, surprises Himself with His creations.

Then, having descended a ladder from inspiration to concept to form and craft to emerge into physical reality, it might occur, just on seldom occasions, that the artist finds himself astounded by his own handiwork.

Gleaming back at him is a glimmer of a mystery that lies so close to his own essential self, he could never have otherwise known it exists.The human being is a micromodel of the cosmic order, and our act of creativity provides a means for us to know the divine.

Until it comes to lie entirely outside its artist psyche, as its own material object.

Are there dangers inherent to AI development? Should we be wary? Of course. Progress and freedom all come at the price of responsibility and forethought. Otherwise, great ideas can go sour and awry real fast. But that’s another discussion, which I already took up at length here and here. For now, let me leave it as this: Here's another instance where a technological advance can open our minds to see our universe in whole new ways, vividly illustrated.Aswell, it’s another instance of learning our true value as human beings. That’s certainly not in crunching numbers, or solving complex logistics. It’s not even in finding the right combination of elements to illustrate an essay about algorithms that make illustrations of essays. Being human is about originality, discovery, and harmony—the originality to discover infinitely diverse possibilities of beauty and meaning within a finite, material world, and to reveal this harmony of oneness we call G d within a fragmented, physical world. Which is what building these machines and working with them is really all about. We are getting closer to the era when all the world will be seen lucidly as one big metaphor—a lab for understanding the divine.Oras

As His light flows and ebbs through worlds of thought, worlds of meaning, worlds of form, worlds of spirit, eventually constricting and congealing to become discrete physical beings, those beings may then turn around and perform acts of love that none of those worlds could stage, acts of unexpected altruism, of self-sacrifice, of just doing the right thing in the face of every challenge. So that He, Creator of All Things, may observe and disclose in His creation a divine knowledge of His very essence that could never have been spoken or known in any realm of the spirit. Only where spirit meets matter and the two collaborate as one, only there can you find the most hidden secret of the essential G d.

20 August 2022 / Av 5782

Maimonides puts it, “The whole business of the entire world will be just knowing G d.” Because that’s what it’s here"Hey,for. Siri, generate a universe of selfaware, walking, talking entities made out of nothing but my imagination, searching for their true reality and surprising me with it!" EM Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior editor at Chabad.org, is the author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth and more recently Wisdom to Heal the Earth. To subscribe to regular updates of Rabbi Freeman's writing or purchase his books, visit Chabad.org. Follow him on FaceBook @RabbiTzviFreeman.

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August 2022 / Tammuz 5782 25 Fill out the form below and mail it in or order online at www.exodusmagazine.org. Mail to: Exodus Magazine, 5987 Bathurst St., #3, Toronto, ON M2R 1Z3 Canada. Subscription Type (choose one):  Canadian subscription — $18 per year  US/International subscription — $54 US per year Mailing Address: Name: ___________________________________________ Address: _______________________ Postal Code: ______ Tel: ____________________ E-mail: __________________ Gift Subscription:  I am purchasing this subscription as a gift for: Name: ___________________________________________ Address: _______________________ Postal Code: ______ Tel: ____________________ E-mail: __________________ Sponsorships:  I would like to be an Exodus Sponsor: Amount: $_________ (Sponsorships are tax deductible) Payment Method (select one):  Cheque — payable to JRCC Exodus Magazine  Bill me  Credit Cardcard: Number: _______________ Expiry: _______ Signature: ______________ Date: _________ S UBSCRIPTION FOR E XODUS MAGAZINE BOOK CONDOLENCE ADS IN EXODUS MAGAZINE ● Death Announcements ● Death Anniversaries ● Tribute Ads ● Remembrance Ads Contact at: 416-222-7105 #222 or exodus@jrcc.orgYOUCANHELP For charity box pickup or drop off call 416-222-7105 or email jrcc@jrcc.org The word for “charity” in Hebrew actually means “justice,” for giving is not seen as an exceptional favour to the needy but a matter of simple justice: it is the just thing to do. The act of tzedakah brings so much positive energy into the world that it is equal to all other mitzvoth and brings the redemption closer.

August 2022 / Tammuz 5782 MorningKollel Start your day with a dose of Jewish studies. Weekdays from 6:00-7:00 a.m. followed by morning services at JRCC @ Rockford, JRCC East Thornhill and JRCC West Thornhill www.JRCC.org/IJS416-222-7105 Jewish ofCommunityRussianCentreOntarioЕврейский OбщиныРусскоязычнойЦентрОнтарио 26 EВРЕЙСКИЙ ЦЕНТР РУССКОЯЗЫЧНОЙ ОБЩИНЫ ОНТАРИО ● JEWISH RUSSIAN COMMUNITY CENTRE OF ONTARIO ה"ב Mezuzah & Teffilin Checking by a certified scribe Have your teffilin and mezuzot checked by a certified scribe. Price: $12 per mezuzah 1 $108 for teffilin If repair is required, only those costs will be charged Mezuzot, teffilin, talitot and other Judaica are available for sale at the JRCC Bookstore. For more information call 416-222-7105 | www.jrcc.org/mezuzah Drop-off and pickup at 5987 Bathurst St., Unit 3

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BEREAVEMENT PACKAGE

For a child turning three years marks the beginning of a more formal education, and an introduction to Jewish customs such. For girls, it also includes the custom of lighting Shabbat candles on Friday before sunset.

BABY BASKETNEWBORNWELCOME

Marriage is a lifelong journey. Much wisdom, guidance and Divine assistance are needed to ensure the journey is harmonious and fruitful, and this package is designed to help get the young couple started on the right foot.

For a child turning three years marks the beginning of a more formal education, and an introduction to Jewish customs. For boys, it also includes wearing tzitzit and the Upsherin, the inaugural haircut.

A Bar MItzvah is much more than a party or event. It is the the most significant milestone in a boy’s life as he learns about community, personal responsibility and the meaning of life.

In addition to social services that assist newcomers, the JRCC sends new immigrants a gift package as a way of making contacting and welcoming them to our community. We celebrate this new addition together with the family, and send a package of practical items to assist with post-birth needs of the baby and mother.

Losing a loved one is a dark time that requires consolation. Knowing a community is there with the bereaved family, providing support and caring, eases the burden and helps them find inner peace in their pain.

dovid.faynberg@jrcc.org

LIFE CYCLE BASKETS

Jewish Russian Community Centre offers complimentary packages for different occasions. You can order it for yourself or for someone you know who is of former Soviet Union (FSU) descent. The Gift Baskets and Packages are a source of support and serve to connect members of our community with their Jewish lifecycle events, their heritage, their community and one another.

WEDDINGBAT MITZVAH BAR MITZVAH3 YEAR OLD GIRL3 YEAR OLD BOY

If we hear about a birth more than a couple of months later we send a different type of package to say mazel tov and help the family with their baby’s needs.

A Bat MItzvah is much more than a party or event. It is the the most significant milestone in a boy’s life as he learns about community, personal responsibility and the meaning of life.