Announcements

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Dear Sir שליט"א

We are writing a memoir and Sefer Torah in memory of Dayan Saadia Amor זצ"ל

We know that the Spanish and Portuguese community and the Montefiore College was very much part of Dayan Amor’s zt"l life

Our goal is to reach as many Talmidim and friends from Dayan Amor זצ"ל and have them write a memoir or/and Psak Halacha, and we will give them a part in the Sefer Torah that we are dedicating in dayan Amor’s ZT”L memory. We hope to write a book and eternalize this great Tsadik for generations to come, for this purpose we have created a flyer that has the details of a website that was established specifically for this purpose.

This website enables his Talmidim and close friends to write this memoir and directly email it.

I am looking forward to hear from you

Best regards,

Purim Sameach

Rabbi Tsadok Pereira

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SHABBAT

Shabbat Times

לוח זמני תפלה לחורףתשע"ח

Winter Timetable 5778 – 2017 / 18

Shabbat Services

Children’s Tehilim straight after Musaf

Anyone wishing to donate a Kiddush Please email Moorlanenews

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Q & A on Parashat Vayakhel Pekude

Vayakhel

1. On which day did Moshe assemble the Jewish People?
2. Why is the prohibition against doing work on Shabbat written prior to the instruction for building the Mishkan?
3. Why does the Torah specify the particular prohibition of lighting a fire on Shabbat right after it had already noted the general prohibition of doing work on Shabbat?
4. What function did the "yitdot hamishkan" serve?
5. What function did the "bigdei hasrad" serve?
6. What was unusual about the way the women spun the goat’s hair?
7. Why were the Nesi’im last to contribute to the building of the Mishkan? How does the Torah show dissatisfaction with their actions?
8. Who does the Torah identify as the primary builders of the Mishkan? From which tribes were they?
9. What time of day did the people bring their daily contributions for the construction of the Mishkan?
10. For what was the woven goat’s hair used?
11. What image was woven into the parochet?
12. Why does the Torah attribute the building of the aron to Bezalel?
13. Where were the sculptured cheruvim located?
14. How many lamps did the menorah have?
15. Of what materials was the mizbe’ach haketoret composed?
16. Of what material was the mizbe’ach ha’olah composed?
17. The kiyor was made from copper mirrors. What function did these mirrors serve in Egypt?
18. How did the kiyor promote peace?
19. The kiyor was made from the mirrors of the women who were crowding at the entrance to the Ohel Mo’ed. Why were the women crowding there?
20. Of what material were the "yitdot hamishkan" constructed?

Answers

All references are to the verses and Rashi’s commentary, unless otherwise stated.

1. 35:1 – The day after Yom Kippur.
2. 35:2 – To emphasize that the building of the Mishkan doesn’t supersede the laws of Shabbat.
3. 35:3 – There are two opinions: One opinion is to teach that igniting a fire on Shabbat is punishable by lashes as opposed to other "melachot" which are punishable by death. The other opinion is to teach that violation of numerous "melachot" at one time requires a separate atonement for each violation.
4. 35:18 – The edges of the curtains were fastened to them. These were inserted in the ground so the curtains would not move in the wind.
5. 35:19 – They covered the aron, the shulchan, the menorah, and the mizbachot when they were packed for transport.
6. 35:26 – It was spun directly from off the backs of the goats.
7. 35:27 – The Nesi’im reasoned that they would first let the people contribute materials needed for the Mishkan and then they would contribute what was lacking. The Torah shows its dissatisfaction by deleting a letter from their title.
8. 35:30, 35:34 – Bezalel ben Uri from the tribe of Yehuda; Oholiav ben Achisamach from the tribe of Dan.
9. 36:3 – Morning.
10. 36:14 – It was made into curtains to be draped over the Mishkan
11. 36:35 – Cherubim. (See Rashi 26:31)
12. 37:1 – Because he dedicated himself to its building more than anyone else.
13. 37:7 – On the two extremities of the kaporet (cover of the aron).
14. 37:23 – Seven.
15. 37:25,26 – Wood overlaid with gold.
16. 38:1-2 – Wood overlaid with copper.
17. 38:8 – These mirrors aided in the proliferation of the Jewish People. The Jewish women in Egypt would look in the mirrors so as to awaken the affections of their husbands who were exhausted by their slave labor.
18. 38:8 – Its waters helped a woman accused of adultery to prove her innocence.
19. 38:8 – To donate to the Mishkan.
20. 38:20 – Copper.

Pekude

1. Why is the word Mishkan stated twice in verse 38:21?
2. Why is the Mishkan called the "Mishkan of Testimony"?
3. Who was appointed to carry the vessels of the Mishkan in the midbar?
4. Who was the officer in charge of the levi’im?
5. What is the meaning of the name Bezalel?
6. How many people contributed a half-shekel to the Mishkan? Who contributed?
7. Which material used in the bigdei kehuna was not used in the coverings of the sacred vessels?
8. How were the gold threads made?
9. What was inscribed on the stones on the shoulders of the ephod?
10. What was on the hem of the me’il?
11. What did the Kohen Gadol wear between the mitznefet and the tzitz?
12. What role did Moshe play in the construction of the Mishkan?
13. Which date was the first time that the Mishkan was erected and not dismantled?
14. What was the "tent" which Moshe spread over the Mishkan(40:19)?
15. What "testimony" did Moshe place in the aron?
16. What function did the parochet serve?
17. Where was the shulchan placed in the Mishkan?
18. Where was the menorah placed in the Mishkan?
19. Who offered the communal sacrifices during the eight days of the dedication of the Mishkan?
20. On which day did both Moshe and Aharon serve as kohanim?

Answers

38:21 – To allude to the Beit Hamikdash that would twice be taken as a "mashkon" (pledge) for the sins of the Jewish People until the nation repents. 38:21 – It was testimony for the Jewish People that G-d forgave them for the golden calf and allowed His Shechina to dwell among them. 38:21 – The levi’im. 38:21 – Itamar ben Aharon. 38:22 – "In the shadow of G-d." 38:26 – 603,550. Every man age twenty and over (except the levi’im). 39:1 – Linen (See Rashi 31:10). 39:3 – The gold was beaten into thin plates from which threads were cut. (See Rashi 28:6). 39:6, 39:7 – The names of the tribes. 39:24,25 – Woven pomegranates and golden bells. 39:31 – Tefillin. 39:33 – He stood it up. 40:17 – Rosh Chodesh Nissan of the second year in the desert. For seven days before this, during the consecration of Aharon and his sons, Moshe erected and dismantled the Mishkan. (Rashi 39:29) 40:19 – The curtain of goatskin. 40:20 – The Luchot Habrit. 40:21 – It served as a partition for the aron. 40:22 – On the northern side of the Ohel Mo’ed, outside the parochet. 40:24 – On the southern side of the Ohel Mo’ed opposite the shulchan. 40:29 – Moshe. 40:31 – On the eighth day of the consecration of the Mishkan. ****

Halachot

by Rabbi Eli Mansour

Shabbat Parah- The Shabbat After Purim
On the Shabbat immediately following Purim, we take a second Torah scroll from the ark and read from it the section known as "Parashat Para." Parashat Para, which tells of the laws of the Para Aduma (the red heifer, whose ashes were used to sprinkle on those who had become ritually impure), is the opening section of Parashat Chukat, until the words, "Ve’ha’nefesh Ha’noga’at Titma Ad Ha’arev" (Bamidbar 19:1-22).

Tosefot in Masechet Berachot (13) write that the annual reading of Parashat Para constitutes a Torah obligation; this is mentioned by other Rishonim (Medieval Talmudists), as well, including the Rashba (Spain, 1235-1310), the Ritva (Spain, 1250-1330) and Terumat Ha’deshen (Rabbi Yisrael Isserlin, Germany-Austria, 1390-1460). The Shulchan Aruch indeed records this position.

Later writers have raised the question of where the Torah introduces such an obligation. If, indeed, this reading is required according to Torah law, this requirement must have a clear Biblical source. The work "Yalkut Ha’gershuni" suggests that this reading is obligated by force of the Torah’s admonition to recall the unfortunate incident of the sin of the golden calf (Devarim 9:7). As this incident marks a very sad moment in our nation’s history, we prefer not to read the actual narrative of the golden calf, and we instead read about the Para Aduma, which serves to atone for the sin of the golden calf. Indeed, the Sages describe the cow used for this ritual as the mother that comes to clean the mess made by her daughter, the calf. Thus, the reading of the Para Aduma section fulfills the Torah obligation to recall the incident of the golden calf.

Others, however, have questioned this explanation. If this is the obligation we seek to fulfill, we can just as easily do so on the Shabbat when we read Parashat Ki Tisa, which contains the narrative of the golden calf. On this Shabbat we could instruct the congregation to have in mind while listening to this reading to fulfill the Torah obligation of remembering the incident of the golden calf. Rather than instituting a special reading, we could fulfill this requirement through the standard, scheduled reading of Parashat Ki Tisa. Furthermore, when all is said and done, the Sages speak of the Para Aduma ritual as a Chok – a Mitzva whose underlying rationale eludes human comprehension. It is therefore difficult to claim that this Mitzva serves solely as atonement for the sin of the golden calf.

The Aruch Ha’shulchan (Rabbi Yechiel Epstein of Nevardok, Bielorussia 1829-1888) suggests a different Biblical source of the obligation to read Parashat Para. The Torah instructs in this section, "Ve’hayeta Lachem Le’chukat Olam" – that this law "shall be for you an eternal statute." The Torah here requires that we observe this law "eternally," despite the fact that this Mitzva of purifying oneself with the ashes of Para Aduma applies only when the Temple stands. The Aruch Ha’shulchan therefore suggests that the Torah here refers to an obligation to verbally recall this process by reading the relevant section in the Torah, even when practically the ritual cannot be performed.

In any event, other scholars claimed that the reading of Parashat Para originates from Chazal (the Sages), and is not required by Torah law. Some even claim that Tosefot did not, in fact, cast this requirement as a Torah obligation. This theory contends that Tosefot had written the abbreviation "Peh-Peh," referring to "Parashat Purim," the section read on Purim telling of the battle with Amalek, with which one can fulfill the Torah obligation to recall Amalek’s hostility. Later editors mistakenly understood the abbreviation as referring to "Parashat Para," and therefore reached the erroneous conclusion that Tosefot viewed this reading as a Torah obligation. However, this theory is difficult to accept in light of the fact that numerous other Rishonim, as mentioned above, side with Tosefot on this matter. It is hard to imagine that they were all misled by a printing error.

Are women included in the obligation of Parashat Para?

Presumably, this would depend on the two sources mentioned above. According to the "Yalkut Ha’gershuni," as we have seen, we read Parashat Para to recall the incident of the golden calf. If so, then women, who did not take part in the worship of the golden calf, should be excluded from this obligation. According to the Aruch Ha’shulchan, however, who explained that this reading fulfills the obligation of eternally remembering the Para Aduma purification ritual, it should apply equally to women, who are likewise required to undergo purification through the process of the Para Aduma.

Therefore, women should endeavor to come to the synagogue to hear the reading of Parashat Para. If this presents a problem given their domestic responsibilities, they may remain at home.

It should also be noted that the highest-quality Torah scroll available should be used for this reading, since according to many it constitutes a Torah obligation.

Summary: There is a difference of opinion as to whether the reading of Parashat Para on the Shabbat following Purim constitutes a Torah obligation, or was ordained by the Rabbis. Women should make an effort to come to the synagogue for this reading unless it poses considerable difficulty, and the highest-quality Torah scroll should be used for this reading.

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