Great Synagogue in Jerusalem
Great Synagogue in JerusalemLara Hart /Flash90


Q. Why can’t Jews and non-Jews pray together?

A. The prophet Isaiah foresees the day when "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Isa. 56:7).

If this means that all peoples will share a common liturgy and theology it is not something of this pre-messianic world. In the world of history we are divided by concepts, conscience and commitments that make joint prayer impossible.

There is a conventional argument, "But surely we all believe in the same God?"

The fact is that though God is central to the beliefs and prayers of all monotheistic faiths, we have different ways of understanding His nature and His will.

When a Jew says "HaShem echad" – "The Lord is One", his words have their own connotation. When he says, "S’lach lanu Avinu ki chatanu" – "Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned", his concept of sin and forgiveness is distinctive.

When he says, "Ana HaShem hoshi’ah na" – "We pray, O Lord, grant salvation", he means "salvation" in a particular sense.

A Jew can join in a prayer such as "Lord and Giver of all good, we praise Thee for our daily food"… but even then he would quietly or otherwise add his own Jewish b’rachah.


SOULS & SYNAGOGUES

The last few sections of Sefer Sh’mot deal with building the Tabernacle.

Two questions: Can’t we have sacrifices without a sanctuary? Can’t we have a sanctuary without sacrifices?The opening sections of Vayikra tell us the next stage – using the Tabernacle for sacrifices and services.

Sacrifices without a sanctuary are certainly possible, at least in theory. But the Torah frowns on the idea, and for many generations after the people entered Israel there were constant warnings about building altars all over the place.

Chief Rabbi JH Hertz said at the time of the Balfour Declaration that a people can live without a land, but a land focuses its people.

The same can be said about the sanctuary. Sacrifices can happen without a sanctuary, but the sanctuary focuses the sacrifices. You can pray anywhere, but praying in the synagogue has its advantage: the building enhances the thoughts and emotions of prayer.

Can we have a sanctuary without sacrifices? Technically yes, but what’s the point of a empty shell without activity?

Travel the world today and you see the remnants of old synagogues which now have no community, no services, no purpose except as museums and mausoleums.

Those buildings were mostly the victims of a rapacious enemy: we have to make sure that in places where there are synagogues and human beings, there is a connect between them.

For this week's Parashat Shmini:

FOOD LAWS – THE MIND & THE MOUTH

A rabbi sometimes has a hard life. People expect so much of him. Actually most rabbis expect a great deal of themselves.

The two expectations don’t always coincide. An example has to do with food. The rabbi expects that his congregation will take the kosher laws seriously; the congregation often expects the rabbi to be more concerned with the mind and not the mouth.

The Torah solves the problem by expecting both. The mind is obligated to concern itself with ideas and ethics; the mouth is duty-bound to keep itself pure by eating only such foods as are authorised by the Almighty.

Both themes are central to this week’s sidra. It wants us to think properly about God, man, life and the world. It also wants us to live a holy life by avoiding any and every type of forbidden food.


THE TWO OTHER SONS

Aaron had four sons. Rashi tells us that after Nadav and Avihu died, God had a message for the remaining sons, Elazar and Itamar (Lev. 11:1).

These sons, according to Rav Naftali Zvi Berlin, were told the statement of the Talmud (B’rachot 63b) that whoever takes in silence his teacher’s anger deserves to become a teacher of halachah.

The Torah says that when God punished Nadav and Avihu, Aaron had been silent (Lev. 10:1-3). Elazar and Itamar were not unaffected by what had befallen their brothers and they actually made a mistake in their halachic reasoning on an aspect of the laws of the sacrifices (Lev. 10: 12-20). Aaron understood their feelings and explained the situation to Moses. So Elazar and Itamar had a lesson in how to react to a situation.

From Aaron they should have learnt silence in the face of tragedy. Eventually they did learn their lesson and we admire them for it, but we admire Aaron even more for the example he set his sons.


A MONTH BEFORE PESACH

"Don’t remind me!" I said the other day to someone who told me, "Pesach is just around the corner!"

At the same time the Pesach spring cleaning has been under way in some houses since before Purim, and the shopping expeditions are not far off.

Actually I was wrong to respond as I did. There is an important tradition that thirty days before the festival people should already be asking questions about the theory and practice of Pesach.

Of course the bookshops are busy arranging their displays of Haggadot and Pesach plates, and the publishers have probably produced new editions of the Haggadah in the hope of attracting those who are looking for a new format and new ideas.

So are these comments merely journalistic reportage describing the onset of the increasingly frantic activity of the coming month?

Not entirely; symbolically they are a reminder that any important moment in life needs to be prepared for. Marriage is top of the list; it is nothing short of amazing how many couples go into marriage without adequate preparation.

Every life-cycle event likewise, even the end of life. "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel", says the prophet (Amos 4:12). If this applies to death, it also applies to life.

There are two views as to how a human has a God-experience. One is that it bursts upon you when you least expect it, the other that you can make yourself receptive in advance and can, as it were, set up the shidduch. Both views have validity.

On the Amos principle, a person can go seeking God and find Him nearer than they thought.

Rabbi Raymond Apple was for many years Australia’s highest profile rabbi and the leading spokesman on Judaism. After serving congregations in London, Rabbi Apple was chief minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, for 32 years. He also held many public roles, particularly in the fields of chaplaincy, interfaith dialogue and Freemasonry, and is the recipient of several national and civic honours. Now retired, he lives in Jerusalem and blogs at http://www.oztorah.com