GSS 31 Oct 2009 _Lech Lecha_

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Get Cyril to record some jokes. No one tells it like him. eight. They asked the butler why eight when
Lawrence Margolis. they had specifically instructed him to set the
I fell asleep in Cats and in Phantom of the Opera but table for four.
not here. Never! Norman Stein The butler replied, "The Cohen's telephoned
Absolutely delightful! Our sincere thanks to all those and said they were bringing the Blintzes and
whose efforts and talent ensured its success. Bernice and the Knishes.
Monty Sassen
The show was lovely. We are so proud to be associated What’s Nu?!
with the Shul that is always coming up with something The Barmy Boy 31 October 2009 Parshas Lech Lecha 13 MarCheshvan 5770
exciting. Manfred and Ruth Kalmek Elijah Winston
Is it N’Shakayach or Yasher Koiach? Whatever it is, Mazal Tov to Stacey Kirshenbaum and Steven Airport Story
well done! Avron Melamed Winston and grandparents Samuel & Corrinne By Rabbi Yossy Goldman
Kirshenbaum and Gerald & Sandra Winston.
I was touched. Truly beautiful. Kathy Kaler, Chai Every rabbi has an airport story. In fact, some give at 8 pm earlier that evening.
FM The Battie Girls
Ariella Klitzner, Romy Maloon, Paris Pencharz rabbis tell so many incredible stories of provi- And why might you be interested in my story?
Thank you Chazan Yudi Cohen for the concept, Mazal tov to all the parents and grandparents. dential encounters on airplanes and in air- Because I found it fascinating to watch the
script and direction and many weeks of hard ports that I sometimes wonder if it is physi- reactions of the different passengers on the
work. Thanks to Helen Heldenmuth (Bobba Calendar cally possible for them to have traveled on as plane while we were waiting impatiently to take
Feigie Finkelstein) for Co-directing. Thanks to Shul Brocha in the Seeff Hall in honour of the many airplanes as they have stories! off. Some people got very angry. They were
our own Jose Stern and the Sydenham Choir, to Bat Mitzvah girls and their families. Why am I talking about airplanes? Because screaming and shouting and giving the poor
those great voices from Diversity and to all the  Parsha Shiur: 5:15 pm Rabbi Yehuda Stern this is the week of Lech Lecha, when our flight attendants a very hard time. Others sim-
wonderful boys in the Children’s Choir. Cyril father Abraham was instructed by G-d to ply sulked in silence.
 Mincha: 5:45 pm
Green hasn’t lost his touch. Len Kay hasn’t lost leave his birthplace and journey to a foreign
his voice and Roz Basserabie makes a mean Fri-  Shabbat ends: 6:56 pm I couldn’t help thinking what a lesson this was
land that would, one day, be promised to his on the subject of Divine Providence and who
day Night Dinner, or is it Thembi?! Shirley Stein, children. Ever since then, the Jews have been
you are wasted in the office! Thank you to the really runs the world. I had given myself ample
a nation of wanderers. Our ancestors’ travels
whole fantastic cast, including Donovan Arent- Dis-Chem Golf Day shaped our future destiny. Their journeys
time to get to my 8 pm lecture punctually. But
clearly, G-d had other plans. So who is actually
sen, Darren Meltz, Moshe Medalie, Matthew
Gordon and Lior Ronthal, Stage Manager Susan
Wed 25 Nov @ Killarney became our journeys. And the geographical in control? The best laid plans of mice and
upheavals the Jewish people have been sub-
Hyde & the CSO. Better than ever. jected to over the centuries are mirror images
men don’t necessarily get us to our destinations
on time - even if we get to the airport early.
Live & Laugh Book your 4-ball now. of the footsteps of our forebears.
I could have become angry myself. I was very
Anyway, here is an airplane story of my own. upset. It was quite a disappointment to have
An English Jewish couple won twenty-million Send Good Shabbos Sydenham
pounds on the lottery. Some years back, I was traveling from Johan- missed my lecture. Such a thing had never hap-
to your friends. Download it from nesburg to Cape Town to join then President pened to me before. But my conscience was
They immediately set out to begin a life of lux- www.sydshul.co.za. Nelson Mandela at a Banquet honouring clear. I had left more than enough time to
ury. They bought a magnificent mansion in South Africa’s late Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris make it. The fact that I did not was not in my
Knightsbridge and surrounded themselves with and also to deliver a few lectures there at vari- hands. I mean, who runs the world? The an-
all the material wealth imaginable. Then they  Thank you to Charlie Fine Printers. For
all your printing requirements call Jeff Fine ous synagogues. They say “getting there is swer is, the One Above.
decided to hire a butler. half the fun,” but on this occasion nothing
011-493-8522. If, for some reason known only to Him, He
They found the perfect butler through an Acknowledgements: Chabad.org, Stanley could have been further from the truth. First wants me not to give the 8 o’clock lecture, then
agency, very proper and very British and brought Seeff. there was a system malfunction on the air- no amount of huffing and puffing on my part
him back to their home. The day after his arrival Please take Good Shabbos Sydenham home craft and with it a 30-minute delay. Then will make one bit of difference. While ponder-
they instructed him to set up the dining room if you will only carry it within the Eiruv. there was a missing passenger who delayed ing on this philosophical perspective, I found
table for four as they were inviting the Cohen's Hilton Sawitzky, Nathan Fine & Tony Sacks takeoff for a further 3 hours until he was myself becoming more relaxed and actually
to lunch. The couple then left the house to do of HNT FURNISHERS wish all congre- discovered in the airport pub somewhat un- quite serene about the whole frustrating experi-
some shopping. gants a good Shabbos. Call them on 887- certain of where exactly he was going. Even- ence. Yes, we must do our share; we must give
When they returned, they found the table set for 5456 for all your bedding, appliance and tually, we landed after 10 pm and I missed the it our best shot. But beyond that, it’s G-d’s
furniture requirements. synagogue lecture that I was scheduled to
department. is in charge. and Sarai's to Sarah ("princess"), and promises been shot on the spot for far lesser crimes.
If we can develop this attitude – and, believe that a son will be born to them; from this child, The woman was first to recover. "I asked him for
me, I also need to develop it further – we Parsha Pointers whom they should call Isaac ("will laugh"), will a knife," she said. To my horror, she then ad-
will all be better able to cope with the disap- Lech Lecha: Hertz Chumash pg 45; stem the great nation with which G-d will estab- dressed her request to the guard: "Give me a
pointments we so often face in life, and even Living Torah pg 53 lish His special bond. Abraham is commanded to knife!"
with real tzorres we may sadly encounter. It’s G-d speaks to Abram, commanding him to circumcise himself and his descendents as a "sign
of the covenant between Me and you." The German, too, guessed her intention, and a
all in His hands. If he decided the plane "Go from your land, from your birthplace devilish smile flickered on his lips. Doubtless he
would be delayed then there must be a good
reason.
and from your father's house, to the land
which I will show you." There, G-d says, he
The Covenant had seen the bodies of those who, out of des-
peration, threw themselves during the night on
So there really isn’t any major drama in my will be made into a great nation. Abram and The following story was told by Rabbi Israel Spira, the the electrified fence that surrounded the camp;
airplane story. Did I bump into a Jewish his wife Sarai, accompanied by his nephew Rebbe of Bluzhov, who witnessed it in the Janowska Con- but this would be a novel sight for him. Still smil-
passenger and change his life forever? Sorry Lot, journey to the Land of Canaan, where centration Camp: ing, he reached into his pocket and handed her a
to disappoint you but I did not. What I did Abram builds an altar and continues to Each morning at dawn, the Germans would lead small knife.
experience was a personal confirmation of spread the message of a One G-d. us out of the camp for a day of hard labor that Taking the knife, she hurried back to her work
something that I had, of course, always be- A famine forces the first Jew to depart for ended only at nightfall. Each pair of workers was station and bent over a small bundle of rags that
lieved theologically. From my little episode Egypt, where beautiful Sarai is taken to Phar- given a huge saw and expected to cut its quota of she had placed on a log. Quickly unraveling the
on the airplane a basic premise of Jewish aoh's palace; Abram escapes death because logs. Because of the horrendous conditions in the bundle, she took out a tiny infant. Before our
belief was reinforced in my own mind and they present themselves as brother and sister. camp and the starvation rations on which we astonished eyes, she swiftly and skillfully circum-
heart. A plague prevents the Egyptian king from were supposed to subsist, most of us could barely cised the week-old boy.
So even if nothing amazing occurred, I be- touching her and convinces him to return stand on our feet. But we sawed away, knowing
her to Abram and compensate the brother- that our lives depended upon it; anyone collaps- "Blessed are You, G-d our G-d, King of the Universe,"
came far more aware that G-d, and not I, is she recited in a clear voice, "Who has sanctified us
the controller of this universe. I may still revealed-as-husband with gold, silver and ing on the job or failing to meet his daily quota
cattle. was killed on the spot, G-d forbid. with His commandments and commanded us to enter him
have no idea why this delay was part of His into the covenant of Abraham our Father."
vast eternal plan but I do know that there Back in the Land of Canaan, Lot separates One day, as I pulled and pushed the heavy saw
was a reason. I may never discover what that from Abram and settles in the evil city of with my partner, I was approached by a young Cradling the child in her arms, she soothed his
reason was, but that there was a reason I am Sodom, where he falls captive when the woman from our work detail. The pallor of her cries. Then, she addressed the heavens: "Master
convinced. mighty armies of Chedorlaomer and his face showed her to be in an extremely weak of the Universe! Eight days ago you gave me a
three allies conquer the five cities of the physical state. "Rebbe," she whispered to me, "do child. I know that neither I nor he will long sur-
When we understand this, we will have vive in this accursed place. But now, when you
learned the art of acceptance. When we learn Sodom Valley. Abram sets out with a small you have a knife?"
band to rescue his nephew, defeats the four take him back, you will receive him as a complete
acceptance, we lead calmer, more tranquil I immediately understood her intention and felt Jew."
lives, without all the unnecessary anxiety we kings, and is blessed by Malki-Zedek the king the great responsibility that rested upon me. "My
create in our own minds. And I must admit, of Salem (Jerusalem). daughter," I begged, concentrating all the love "Your knife," she said, handing the holy object
it is a conviction which has helped me G-d seals the Covenant Between the Parts and conviction in my heart in the effort to dis- back to the German. "Thank you."
through many disappointments in my own with Abram, in which the exile and persecu- suade her from her intended deed. "Do not take
life, from the small stuff to the more serious. tion (Galut) of the people of Israel is fore- your own life. I know that your life is now a liv- High Shul Musical Takes
I think the famous Serenity Prayer is quite in told and the Holy Land is bequeathed to
them as their eternal heritage.
ing hell, from which death seems a blessed re-
lease. But we must never lose hope. With G-d's
Jozi By Storm!
keeping with Jewish tradition. G-d, grant me The Chazan’s Dream Becomes Reality
the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Still childless ten years after their arrival in help, we will survive this ordeal and see better
days." We proudly share some of the unsolicited rave
courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to the Land, Sarai tells Abram to marry her reviews for our Shul’s musical production staged
know the difference. maidservant Hagar. Hagar conceives, be- But the woman seemed oblivious to my words. at the Victory Theatre earlier this week.
May all your journeys be safe and successful comes insolent toward her mistress, and then "A knife," she repeated. "I must have a knife.
flees when Sarai treats her harshly; an angel Now. Before it is too late." In my life, Rabbi! I have never seen a better production.
and may you get to your destinations on Bravo!!! Denis Cohen
time. And even if you don’t, don’t sweat. He convinces her to return and tells her that her At that moment, one of the German guards no-
son will father a populous nation. Ishmael is ticed our whispered conversation and ap- Another Sydenham Winner! Anonymous
Sydenham Shul 24 Main Street, Rouxville, 2192.
born in Abram's 86th year. proached us. "What did she say to you?" He de-
Telephone: 640-5021, Fax: 485-2810 An absolute treat! My whole family thoroughly enjoyed it.
E-mail: sydshul@iafrica.com
Thirteen years later, G-d changes Abram's manded of me. Outstanding. A triumph! Janice Leibowitz
Website: www.sydshul.co.za
name to Abraham ("father of multitudes") We both froze. Conversing during work was a Mazel Tov on a great production. Enjoyed by all. Make
grave transgression. Many a camp inmate had it an annual event. We are proud of you and the Shul.