Rosh Hashanah 2009 - South African Jewish Board of Deputies

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JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2009When she was at school, Dawn had attended theHoly Rosary Convent. One day during the catechismclass, she said to the Mother Superior: “May I askyou a question?”“Certainly, my daughter”, the Mother Superiorreplied, looking at her with a sweet smile.Dawn opened her Bible and read fromDeuteronomy, Chapter 13:If there should rise among you a prophet or adreamer of dreams, and give thee a sign or awonder. And the sign or wonder come to pass, ofwhich he spoke unto thee saying. Let us go afterother gods, which thou hast not known, and letus serve them: Thou shalt not hearken to thewords of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams;for the Lord your God puts you to the proof, toknow whether you love the Lord your God withall your heart and with all your soul. You shallwalk after the Lord your God, and fear him andobey his commandments, and obey his voice,and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.“Mother”, Dawn proclaimed loudly andconfidently, “I don’t understand - if these are thewords of God, our Father in heaven, how could ourso-called ‘Messiah’ come and revoke most of thecommandments of the Old Testament? According tothe words of God in Deuteronomy, he must havebeen a false prophet”.“You apostate, you heathen! Get out!”Dawn did get out. She never returned to theconvent and never stepped into a church again. Fromthat day onwards, she was engrossed in studying the‘Old Testament’, and a few weeks later she beganattending services at the Glendinningvale Synagogue.That was the beginning of her learning Judaism, andshe was soon befriended by other congregants. Shefound the sermons of the Rabbi inspiring and she alsowent to shiurim on Tanach. After two years ofapplying herself assiduously to Torah study shefinally, with the Rabbi’s recommendation, appearedbefore the Beth Din in Johannesburg. It was a longprocess, but after going to the Beth Din twice more,she finally went through the process of Giur -conversion to Judaism.Shortly after that, Dawn and Mark started dating.He was a regular attendee at shul, and she had seenhim in there and at shiurim. Dawn soon found outthat Mark was a loving and caring man, and when hefinally proposed to her, she felt that her new emunah(faith) in Hashem and her fulfillment of the Mitzvothad brought her the biggest brachah that any Jewishwoman could wish for…. and that was the way shealways felt, from the time of their Chuppah and whenAlan, their son, was born.What had triggered off Dawn’s question to theRebbetzin? That morning, after dropping Alan off atthe Theodor Herzl Nursery School, she had gone tothe Walmer library, where she worked as a librarian.In the middle of the morning, she suddenly saw a nunstanding at the reception desk. It was Sister Margaret,who had been her class teacher in the 11 th Grade. Sherecognized her immediately in her black habit andblack and white veil. Sister Margaret, after Dawnhad greeted her and written down the books she wastaking in the library register, suddenly showed a signof recognition.“My goodness Dawn, we haven’t seen you inchurch for a long time!”“That’s true, sister. I haven’t been to church fora very long time - not since I converted to Judaism”.“Oh, my dear! Don’t you know that Jewish wivesdon’t have a place in heaven?”Dawn suddenly felt dizzy and sat down,traumatized. Later, when she had calmed down andgotten over her shock somewhat, she asked two ofher colleagues if they, too, had heard that Jewishwives had no place in heaven.Winifred, the senior librarian, immediatelyresponded: “Of course sweetie. That’s why Jewishhusbands treat their wives so well - I guess they feelsorry for them”. Adding further to Dawn’s upset wasthat other Christian colleagues and friends confirmedwhat Sister Margaret and Winifred had said.It was 1.00 p.m. As Dawn entered Alan’sclassroom at the nursery school, Alan came runningto meet her and gave her a big hug. She thenapproached Yael, who said, “You have such awonderful little boy. Alan has been helping me totidy up”.“I have a question to ask you”, said Dawn, withobvious anxiety on her face.“Go ahead. How can I help you?”“Yael, is it true that Jewish wives don’t go toheaven?”Yael was taken aback.“How can you ask such a thing? Of course it’s nottrue! Who told you so?”“Do you think you could explain this to me -perhaps give me the source…?”Yael smiled warmly.“You know what? Speak to my husband, RabbiDavid, and ask him to explain this to you. After all,he is the Rabbi and I am just the Rebbetzin”.That night, Dawn called Rabbi David, who invitedher to come over the following afternoon. Yaelopened the front door and welcomed her. ThenRabbi David entered the room, holding a Tanach anda Chumash with commentaries.“Come and sit at the dining room table and thenI can show you the sources relating to your question”.Before he could begin his explanations, Yael hadalready come with a tray with coffee and cake.“I hope you don’t mind, but I am also curious tofind out the answer to your question” she said.“Well ladies, you will be delighted to know thatin relation to Dawn’s question, the Rabbis of the firstMishnah of Chapter 10 of Tractate Sanhedrin saidthe following: ‘All Israel have a share in the world tocome, as it is said: (Isaiah 60:21) Your people shallall be righteous; they shall possess the land forever;[in other words, in this world and the next] they area plant of my own, the work of my hands, wherein Imay glory’. The words ‘All of Israel’ obviouslyrefers both to men and women”.51
JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2009“But Rabbi, is there a Biblical source whichindicates that women have a part in the world to comeand therefore go to heaven?” (Dawn was thinking toherself, “I must show my Christian friends a prooffrom the ‘Old Testament’ that their assumptions andpresumptions about Jewish women are unfoundedand wrong”.)“There certainly is - not just one source, but eventwo. It is striking that both sources also form part ofthe Haftarahs on the two days of Rosh Hashanah. Inthe first Book of Samuel, Chapters One and Two, weread that when Chanah came to the sanctuary of theLord in Shiloh, bringing her little son Samuel, sheaddressed Eli the priest and said, ‘I prayed for thisboy, and the Lord has granted me what I asked’. Thenshe prayed to the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord causesdeath and bestows life, He lowers to the grave andbrings up’. Thus we learn from Chanah that Hashemresurrects the dead, and of course that includes all ofIsrael, both men and women”.“In the Haftarah of the second day of RoshHashanah, we read from Jeremiah, Chapter 31, ‘Thussaid the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah - lamentation,bitter weeping; it is Rachel weeping for her children;she refuses to be comforted for they are away. Thussays the Lord: Restrain your voice from weeping,your eyes from tears; your work shall have its reward,says the Lord; they shall return from the land of theenemy. There is hope for your future, says the Lord;the children shall return to their own land’. Whatbetter proof is there that Jewish women have a placein Heaven? Here the Tanach records that many,many years after Rachel died and was buried in Efrat,her spirit revived and she wept for the Jewish peoplewho were going into exile in Babylon”.“Oh Rabbi, how grateful I am!” exclaimed Dawn,“I am so proud to have become one of Am Yisrael,and today you have strengthened my faith. I feel nowwhat Ruth spoke to Naomi: ‘Your people are mypeople and your God is my God’”.MR. THOMAS SAID*John YarbroughMr. Thomas said it was ok if I sat in the corner ofhis neighborhood grocery and read comic books aslong as I was careful not to bend the pages so theylooked used. Miss Wison who worked the cashregister said an eight-year-old boy shouldn’t be outrunning the streets unsupervised all summer even ifhe did have a dog which I did name Pokey who satoutside the store until I came out no matter how longthat was. Mr. Thomas said he would rather have a kidreading comics and not bothering anyone than onewho came in running and breaking things and lookingto steal candy bars. Miss Wilson said none of the kidshad to steal anything on account of Mr. Thomasletting us sell him coupons from the newspaper atone-half their value. Mr. Thomas said he only boughtcoupons for items he carried in stock so what was theharm. Freda Walker who had finished paying for ahalf gallon of milk and some potatoes said she wouldcome back and sit with me but first she had to take theJohn Yarbrough is an award-winning poet andshort story writer and a frequent contributor toJewish Affairs.groceries home because the milk needed to be put inthe ice box. Miss Wilson said its funny how kids callrefrigerators ice boxes when they never even saw anice box. Mr. Thomas said it’s just language kids pickup from their parents and grand-parents and that onetime Freda’s dad asked where were the goobers andit took a minute to remember that is what old peopleused to call peanuts. Freda came back and said mydog was still sitting outside the store which I alreadyknew. She said when I was alone looking at Lulu shewould like to see it and she sat down and folded herknees under her dress and started reading Nancy.Mr. Thomas said we could have a soda pop if wepromised to both bring in a coupon worth at least tencents because pops cost five cents each. Freda saidwe would and she drank a Mission Orange. I had aNehi Grape. Miss Wilson said don’t spill your drinkson the comic books and if your hands get sticky thereading is over for the day. Freda said we had readlong enough anyway, and I should walk her homebecause that’s what a gentleman would do. Mr.Thomas said come back and don’t forget about thosecoupons.52
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Rosh Hashanah 2009 - South African Jewish Board of Deputies

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