• Home
  • Parashah
  • Ask the Rabbi
  • Festivals
  • Freemasonry
  • Articles
  • About
  • Books
  • Media
  •  

    Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple z”l

    March 18th, 2024

    Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple z”l passed away in January 2024. As an archive of the Rabbi’s written contributions across his many fields of interest, this site is a tribute to the man and his work. More information about his life is available in the About section. Y’hi zichro baruch.


    New year for trees

    January 21st, 2024

    Trees are a constant theme of our literature, both metaphorically (e.g. Psalm 1) and literally (e.g. Deut. 20:19).

    Trees and human beings are often compared. The Psalmist (Psalm 1:3) likens man to a tree: both grow if they are properly nourished.

    The Midrash says that the righteous, like a tree, is strong and solid and like a tree he produces results. The Maharal of Prague says that if well rooted, both humans and trees grow upwards.

    Chassidic philosophy says that a tree grows quietly and gradually, and so does a human being. You can’t see a tree actually growing or see the human spurt of growth; but both have observable results.


    Then Moses sang – B’shallach

    January 21st, 2024

    This week’s Torah portion begins (Ex. 15:1) Az Yashir Moshe.

    These words are usually translated “Then Moses sang”, though literally they mean “Then Moses will sing”.

    In the Talmud the future tense of the verse indicates “Then (thereafter) Moses will sing”, i.e. in the future messianic era.

    Rashi suggests that the verse combines past and future; when he saw the miraculous redemption at the Red Sea, he thought he would sing a song about it in the future.

    Others say we are dealing with a strange Hebrew grammatical form which, though it looks like future tense, refers to history, i.e. to events in the past tense.


    Did Miriam sing? – B’shallach

    January 21st, 2024

    The Bible is not sure that Miriam herself sang at the Sea, but Dead Sea texts say she did.

    In the Torah, Moses says ashirah, “I sing”; Miriam tells the women, Shiru “(You) sing!” Possibly the women responded with the words beginning with ashirah.

    The text says Vata’an, literally “she answered” (verse 21), but the root ayin-nun-heh cannot mean “to answer”, unless there is a preceding statement to which to respond (e.g. Deut. 26:5, 21:7, 27:14-15; II Kings 1:11, I Chron. 12:18); hence it means “to utter” (here, “in song”) or “to chant”.

    Targum Pseudo-Yonatan renders vata’an as v’zamrat, “she sang”. Mechilta Shirata says, “As Moses recited the song for the men, so Miriam recited the song for the women” (JZ Lauterbach’s translation). In Ex. 32:18, anot is “tune” or “song”. In I Sam. 18:7, vata’anennah hanashim is, “and the women sang”. Gersonides says they sang a one-verse precis; Chiz’kuni agrees that the Torah gave a precis.

    In Onkelos and Peshitta, vata’an is ume’anya, “and she answered”, i.e. the women responded to Moses’s lead. Malbim says that the women insisted on singing as a contribution to the redemption.


    Warming the bread – B’shallach

    January 21st, 2024

    Chapter 16 verse 3 of Sh’mot – part of this week’s reading of the Torah – reports that the fleeing Israelites complained in the wilderness that life had become too difficult.

    “When we sat by the flesh pots,” they said in recollection of life in Egypt, “we ate bread to the full”.

    It seems that in Egypt they had to cook the meat for their masters but they were not permitted to eat it. So their task was limited to warming their bread on the vapour of the roasting meat. They enjoyed the savoury smell even if they got no actual meat.

    In the wilderness they didn’t even get any meat vapour.