From The President
Olivia Bolot will be celebrating her Bat Mitzvah this Shabbat and we look forward to hearing her D’var Torah. We wish Mazel Tov to her parents Viola and Joshua, sister Sophia, grandparents Tony, Rita and Marina and Peter and Shifra Bolot. We thank Viola and Joshua for sponsoring the Kiddush.
Our guest speaker at last week’s Summer Shmooze, Soraya Calavassy, entertained us with fascinating stories from the world of PR. Our thanks to Susie and Stephen Kopp for their hospitality and delicious food. Join us this Shabbat at the home of Rabbi Elton and Hinda where our speaker, Ben Ezzes will discuss Torah as Conversation as part of Rabbi Sacks Global Day of Learning.
Join us this Shabbat for our Remembrance Day rose laying, at the end of the service in the sanctuary.
Upcoming Calendar Events
Join us Shabbat evening, 15th November for a summer schmooze at the home of Rabbi Elton and Hinda. Guest speaker Ben Ezzes
Rosh Chodesh Kislev Shiur with Hinda Young – 22nd November following Kiddush
Israel, It’s Time To Dream Again – Sunday 23rd November (5.30pm -7.00pm). The Jewish Independent is hosting Sir Mick Davis and Mike Prashker of The London Initiative in collaboration with The Great Synagogue. This community-wide conversation will explore the future of Israel’s democracy and the role of the Jewish Diaspora in shaping it. They will be speaking with former ABC Middle East correspondent Debbie Whitmont. Ticketing via this link .
The next Coffee & Connection will be Monday 8th December.
Communal Shabbat Lunch with guest speaker Peter Wertheim AM – 13th December
We wish Mazel Tov to members marking Wedding and Bar/Bat Mitzvah anniversaries and birthdays this Shabbat.(WA) Cynthia and George Deutsch. (BMA) Owen Sperling and Jacklyn Abbott. (B) Jacklyn Abbott and Rochelle Goot.
To any member who has been unwell, we wish you Refua Sh’lema and members marking a Yahrzeit, we wish you Long Life.
Shabbat Shalom
From the Rabbi
DEVAR TORAH - Chayei Sara 5786
This week we celebrate the bat mitzvah of Olivia Bolot, and wish Mazal Tov to her parents, Viola Raikhel Bolot and Josh Bolot, to Olivia’s sister Sophia, and all family and friends. We are looking forward to hearing Olivia’s Devar Torah and celebrating with her.
This week we also mark Armistice Shabbat. In a change to past practice, and due to the building works, we will hold our rose laying ceremony in the Shule after Adon Olam. Women are invited to join us in the men’s section before we all proceed to the Kiddush.
Susie and Stephen Kopp hosted a beautiful Shabbat afternoon last week, with a wonderful presentation by Soraya Calvassy. Many thanks to them and to all who attended. This week I am hosting in my home to mark the Rabbi Sacks Day of Jewish Learning. I am excited that we will hear from Ben Ezzes, Deputy Head of Jewish Studies at Moriah College. All are welcome to my home at 7pm this Saturday evening.
The death of Sarah was a heavy blow for Abraham. Not only had they been husband and wife; they had also been partners in their spiritual enterprise. Until Isaac was born, they only had each other and for most of their marriage they were a pair rather than parents. The Talmud says ‘when a man’s wife dies before he does, it is like the Temple has been destroyed during his lifetime’, and it is a known phenomenon that widowers often pass away soon after their wives.
Abraham poured his attention into finding a suitable burial place for his beloved wife, and he made sure it was in Canaan, in the area that would become the Land of Israel, a special and holy place worthy of the foundress of the Jewish People. That place was the Cave of Machpela, in the city of Hebron. In doing so Abraham set another precedent that we still observe.When a person loses a first-degree relative, they are expected to busy themselves entirely with arranging the funeral and burial. That is why they are released from all positive mitzvot; at least in part that is so that they are undistracted from the essential task they have to undertake. Unlike a mourner after the funeral, such a person, known as an onen, is allowed to wear leather shoes, because they need to get around quickly and efficiently to make all the necessary arrangements.
This includes preparing the eulogy, and in this respect too Abraham’s example lives on.The last chapter of the Book of Proverbs, known as Eshet Chayil, ‘a woman of worth who can find? Her value is far above rubies…’ is recited in Jewish homes every Friday night and it is also said at the funeral of a woman. According to tradition it was Abraham’s eulogy for Sarah, and when we read it in that light it is especially poignant, ‘the heart of her husband trusts in her and he lacks no good thing…’.
Striking too is that after Sarah died Abraham did not fade away. He married again and had more children, but there can be no doubt that Sarah was the centre of his life during their marriage and in the fullest sense could never be replaced.
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