Parshat Vaeira

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December 28, 2013 25 Tevet, 5774

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Parshat Vaeira

Throughout all Egypt the dust turned into lice. But when the magicians tried to produce lice by their secret arts, they could not. The lice attacked men and animals alike. The magicians said to Pharaoh, 'This is the finger of G-d.' But Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not listen. (Ex. 8:13-15) Too little attention has been paid to the use of humor in the Torah. Its most important form is the use of satire to mock the pretensions of human beings who think they can emulate G-d. One thing makes G-d laugh -- the sight of humanity attempting to defy heaven: "The kings of the earth take their stand, / And the rulers gather together against the Lord and His anointed one. / 'Let us break our chains,' they say, / 'and throw off their fetters.' / He who sits in heaven laughs, / G-d scoffs at them." (Psalm 2:2-4) example in the story of the in the plain of Shinar earth He has given to the children of men"). The Torah then says, "But G-d came down to see the city and the tower..." Down on earth, the builders thought their tower would reach heaven. From the vantage point of heaven, however, it was so miniscule that G-d had to "come down" to see it. Satire is essential to understanding at least some of the plagues. The Egyptians worshipped a multiplicity of gods, most of whom represented forces of nature. By their "secret arts" the magicians believed that they could control these forces. Magic is the equivalent in an era of myth to technology in an age of science. A civilization that believes it can manipulate the gods, believes likewise that it can exercise coercion over human beings. In such a culture, the concept of freedom is unknown. greatest of the gods, Re, whose child Pharaoh was considered to be. Darkness meant the eclipse of the sun, showing that even the greatest of the Egyptian gods could do nothing in the face of the true G-d.

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6:45/7:45 am heaven." This is an act of

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nature ("The heavens are the heavens of G-d: the

What is at stake in this confrontation is the difference between myth -- in which the gods are mere powers, to be tamed, propitiated or manipulated and biblical monotheism in which ethics (justice, compassion, human dignity) constitute the meeting point of G-d and mankind. That is the key to the first two plagues, both of which refer back to the beginning of Egyptian persecution of the Israelites: the killing of male children at birth, first through the midwives (though, thanks to Shifra and Puah's moral The plagues were not merely sense, this was foiled) then intended to punish Pharaoh and his people for their mistreatment by throwing them into the of the Israelites, but also to show Nile to drown. That is why, in the first plague, the river them the powerlessness of the waters turn to blood. The gods in which they believed ("I significance of the second, will perform acts of judgment frogs, would have been against all the gods of Egypt: I immediately apparent to the am G-d", Ex. 12:12). This Egyptians. Heqt, the frogexplains the first and last of the nine plagues prior to the killing of goddess, represented the midwife who assisted women the firstborn. The first involved in labor. Both plagues are the Nile. The ninth was the plague of darkness. The Nile was coded messages meaning: "If you use the river and worshipped as the source of midwives both normally fertility in an otherwise desert associated with life -- to bring region. The sun was seen as the

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26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 about death, those same forces will turn against you." An immensely significant message is taking shape: Reality has an ethical structure. If used for evil ends, the powers of nature will turn against man, so that what he does will be done to him in turn. There is justice in history. The response of the Egyptians to these first two plagues is to see them within their own frame of reference. Plagues, for them, are forms of magic, not miracles. To Pharaoh's "magicians", Moses and Aaron are people like themselves who practice "secret arts". So they replicate them: they show that they too can turn water into blood and generate a horde of frogs. The irony here is very close to the surface. So intent are the Egyptian magicians on proving that they can do what Moses and Aaron have done, that they entirely fail to realize that far from making matters better for the Egyptians, they are making them worse: more blood, more frogs. This brings us to the third plague, lice. One of the purposes of this plague is to produce an effect which the magicians cannot replicate. They try. They fail. Immediately they conclude, "This is the finger of G-d". This is the first appearance in the Torah of an idea, surprisingly persistent in religious thinking even today, called "the god of the gaps". This holds that a miracle is something for which we cannot yet find a scientific explanation. Science is natural; religion is supernatural. An "act of G-d" is something we cannot account for rationally. What magicians (or technocrats) cannot reproduce must be the result of Divine intervention. This leads inevitably to the conclusion that religion and science are opposed. The more we can explain scientifically or control technologically, the less need we have for faith. As the scope of science expands, the place of G-d progressively diminishes to vanishing point. What the Torah is intimating is that this is a pagan mode of thought, not a Jewish one. The Egyptians admitted that Moses and Aaron were genuine prophets when they performed wonders beyond the scope of their own magic. But this is not why we believe in Moses and Aaron. On this, Maimonides is unequivocal: "Israel did not believe in Moses our teacher because of the signs he performed. When faith is predicated on signs, a lurking doubt always remains that these signs may have been performed with the aid of occult arts and witchcraft. All the signs Moses performed in the wilderness, he did because they were necessary, not to authenticate his status as a prophet...When we needed food, he brought down manna. When the people were thirsty, he cleaved the rock. When Korach's supporters denied his authority, the earth swallowed them up. So too with all the other signs. What then were our grounds for believing in him? The revelation at Sinai, in which we saw with our own eyes and heard with our own

Shaabbat Announcements Parshat Vaeira 5774 ears..." (Hilkhot Yesodei haTorah 8:1). The primary way in which we encounter G-d is not through miracles but through His word the revelation -- Torah -which is the Jewish people's constitution as a nation under the sovereignty of G-d. To be sure, G-d is in the events which, seeming to defy nature, we call miracles. But He is also in nature itself. Science does not displace G-d: it reveals, in ever more intricate and wondrous ways, the design within nature itself. Far from diminishing our religious sense, science (rightly understood) should enlarge it, teaching us to see "How great are Your works, O G-d; You have made them all with wisdom." Above all, G-d is to be found in the voice heard at Sinai, teaching us how to construct a society that will be the opposite of Egypt: in which the few do not enslave the many, nor are strangers mistreated. The best argument against the world of ancient Egypt was Divine humor. The cultic priests and magicians who thought they could control the sun and the Nile discovered that they could not even produce a louse. Pharaohs like Ramses II demonstrated their godlike status by creating monumental architecture: the great temples, palaces and pyramids whose immensity seemed to betoken divine grandeur (the Gemara explains that Egyptian magic could not function on very small things). G-d mocks them by revealing His presence in the tiniest of creatures (T. S. Eliot: "I will show you fear in a handful of dust"). What the Egyptian magicians (and their latter day successors)did not understand is that power over nature is not an end in itself but solely the means to ethical ends. The lice were G-d's joke at the expense of the magicians who believed that because they controlled the forces of nature, they were the masters of human destiny. They were wrong. Faith is not merely belief in the supernatural. It is the ability to hear the call of the Author of Being, to be free in such a way as to respect the freedom and dignity of others.

Great Neck Synagogue Shabbat Activities Program 26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck , NY 11023 Dale Polakoff, Rabbi Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Wolf ,zl, Rabbi Emeritus Zeev Kron, Cantor Eleazer Schulman, zl, Cantor Emeritus Rabbi Sholom Jensen, Youth Director Zehava & Dr. Michael Atlas, Youth Directors Mark Twersky, Executive Director Rabbi Avraham Bronstein, Program Director Dr. Scott Danoff, President Harold Domnitch, Chairman of the Board Dena Block, Yoetzet Halacha 516-320-9818

SOLICITINGNOMINEES GreatNeckSynagogue is currentlysolicitingnomineestobeconsideredforthe DavidandEllieWerberChesedAward. Thisisanawardpresentedtoachild/teenagerfrom ourcommunitywhoperformschesed inanotableway. PleaseemailMarkTwersky(mtwersky@gns.org) withthenameofyournominee (canbeachild/teenagerthatyouknowfromour community,orevenyourownchild/teenager), andabriefdescriptionofwhyyouthinkheorsheis deservingofthisaward. Allnomineeswillbeconsideredbythecommittee,and allsubmissionsareconfidential.

COMMUNITYSHABBAT LUNCHEON Saturday, February8,2014 Sponsorship&DedicationOpportunities: SeriesDedication$5,000/year SeriesSponsorship$1,800/year

VIPSeatingandacopyofYoni'sLastBattle: TheRescueatEntebbe,1976 DinnerDedication$1,000|DinnerSponsorship$500 includesasignedcopyofYoni'sLastBattle: TheRescueatEntebbe,1976 DinnerSupporter$360|includesfamilyreservations Formoreinformation,pleasecontactthesynagogueoffice

GuestSpeaker: Dr.IddoNetanyahu YonisLastBattle:TheRescueatEntebbe

PresentedbyLedermanCaterers ReservationsRequired~ThisOne**WILL**SellOut! $35/adult|$25/teen|$15/child|$125familymaximum RSVP:516.487.6100,mtwersky@gns.org,orwww.gns.org ReservationsDeadline:Tuesday,February4 Dr.IddoNetanyahuisan Israeliphysician,authorand playwright.Heisthe youngerbrotherofBenjamin Netanyahu,thecurrent PrimeMinisterofIsrael,and YonatanNetanyahu,who waskilledleadingthe OperationEntebbe hostagerescuemissionin 1976andwasahighly decoratedveteran. IddowasborninJerusalem,andspentpartofhischildhood intheUnitedStates.HeleftstudiesatCornellUniversityin 1973tofightforIsraelintheYomKippurWar.Netanyahu servedinSayeretMatkal,IsraelsSpecialForcesunit,asdid bothhisbrothers.HehasanMDfromHebrewUniversityof JerusalemSchoolofMedicineandworksparttimeasa radiologistatSt.JamesMercyHospitalinHornell,NewYork, spendingmostofhistimeinIsrael. HisbookYonisLastBattle:TheRescueatEntebbe,was publishedinHebrewin1991,andreissuedinEnglishto commemoratethe25thanniversaryoftheEntebbemission. Thebookisbothanaccurate,detailedaccountoftheraid andapersonaltributetoabrotherandahero.The fastpacedtextoffersnumerousflashbacksofthethree brotherschildhoodandarmyservice.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
HASHKAMA MINYAN Kiddush is sponsored by Robin & Jeroen Bours in memory of her mother Teddy Lynn Siegel, zl. YOETZET HALACHA Tuesday, January 7, 8 p.m. "Conversations with Yoetzet Halacha Dena Block" continues. JANUARY 2014- GNS CHESED COLLECTION- UJA TO DISTRIBUTE TO BENEFIT NEEDY FAMILIES: Please drop off NEW Childrens Pajamas, and Toiletries like diapers, baby wipes, Baby Shampoo etc... at Heidi and Glenn Zuckermans Home-7 Hillcrest Drive any time from Thursday, Jan 1 Friday, Jan 17 As well as Friday, Jan 24 - Friday, Feb 7- Thank you!

Within Our Family Mazal Tov to Elaine Wolf on the birth of a greatgranddaughter Yehudit born to her grandchildren Racheli & Yair Wolf in Yerushalayim. Mazal Tov also to grandparents David & Leah Wolf. Mazal Tov to Vivienne and Arnie Beitbart on the engagement of their son Morris to Ruby Gardner daughter of Maure and David Gardner of Los Angeles. Mazal Tov to Roz & David Wagner on the birth of a great-granddaughter born to their grandchildren Devorah & Eliron Levinson. Mazal Tov to Lynn Steinberg on the birth of a grandson, born to her children Jessica & Noah Steinberg. Mazal Tov to great-grandmother Elizabeth Katzwer. Mazal Tov to Dassie & Eddy Barth on their daughter Talya earning her doctorate in psychology.

LUNCH & LEARN Come for Lunch and Learn for Women only- Jan 15th 12 sharp! at the home of Dr. Laura Danoff, 4 Vista Drive Great Neck Estates. How does the Parsha of the week influence your every day life....RSVP: openwyd613@aol.com. Sponsored in memory of the yahrzeit of her mother.

SNOW BIRDS Please let us know when you are going south. Saturday, 25 Tevet Robin Bours for Theresa Lynn Siegel Pauline Levy for Leon Joseph Susan Mindick for Phyllis Cohen Fay Smith for Abraham Brafman Sunday, 26 Tevet Seymour Cooper for Miriam Cooper Myrna Horowitz for Herman Tempelman Sonia Mauthner for Felix Epstein Ruth Shalit-Apelbaum for Meir Shevili Monday, 27 Tevet Sydelle Knepper for Michael Marin Al Leiderman for Ralph Dobrow Tina Machnikoff for William Machnikoff Ira Rosenberg for Abraham Rosenberg Tuesday, 28 Tevet Frank Buchsbaum for Joseph Buchsbaum Mel Fox for Sally Fox Amy Fox Griffel for Sally Fox Thelma Kattan for Naim ben Harun Mindy Leventhal for Edward Scheinkman Susan Mandelbaum for Irvin Justin Wednesday, 29 Tevet Anne Gold for Murray Gold Gedale Horowitz for Barbara Horowitz Gladys Moslin for Paul Moslin Sandy Nissenbaum for Saul Nissenbaum Osnass Shein for Bessie Miller Arnold Swartz for Robert Swartz George Zobel for Hillel Zobel Thursday 1 Shevat Jonathan Brisman for Joan Brisman Michael Brisman for Joan Brisman Ebrahim Gabbaizadeh for Shmuel Gabbaizadeh Myles Mittleman for Jack Mittleman Eli Moradi for Jahan bat Bibijan Anne Sandler for Harry Usher Friday, 2 Shevat Linda Horowitz for Arthur Kagan Liza Novogrudsky for Helen Young Ehsan Reyhanian for Aharon Reyhanian Chava Shalmon for Shmaye Grinszpan

MEN'S CLUB UPCOMING EVENTS TUES., Jan 21, 8pm: The next event in our Medical Forum series features a PLASTIC SURGEON, Dr Arnold Breitbart. He will educate and inform you on many aspects of Plastic Surgery, from Tummy-tucks and Breast reconstructions to Facelifts and Rhinoplasty. Details to follow. REMINDER: For those of you who have not yet done so, please send in your annual $54 membership subscriptions. Help us to continue bringing you the many programs and events we have in the past. A big thank you to those who are already paid-up members of the Men's Club. MASTER CHEF COMPETITION Our 1st ever Adult Master Chef Competition will be Saturday night, Feb. 1st. We will be having a short briefing of rules coming shortly. The deadline has passed for captains to sign their teams up. If you are still interested, see Rabbi Lichter ASAP. CHESED COLLECTION THANK YOU We thank the following Chesed Chair people for making our October- November and December Collections a great success- helping needy families all over the tri-state area and beyond. Our donations of Winter clothing, Coats, Chanukah toys, and Baby clothing and accessories were sent to Oneg Shabbos, Chai Lifeline and Janet Hakimian. They were all very grateful for the generosity of the GNS members! October Collection: Thank you- Michelle Berman-Baby Items November Collections: Thank you-Rabbi and Katie Lichter-Chanukah toys Thank you-Donna and Joey Hecht-Winter Coats December Collections: Thank you-Debbie and Hal Chadow-Winter clothing

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