Diary Entry

Wednesday and Thursday. The last days of Pesach were relatively quiet in Synagogue, but there was nevertheless a pleasant atmosphere there. On the seventh day, I spoke about the idea that the last days of Pesach offer us an opportunity to contemplate on the meaning of Pesach and its symbols. We can actually contrast Pesach to Shavuot. Pesach celebrates the founding of the set of beliefs of our nation whereas Shavuot celebrates the receiving of Law. In fact the dual need for belief and spirituality on the one hand, and Law on the other is described by Rav Aharon Lichtenstein in his article on Conversion which you can find at:
http://vbm-torah.org/halakha-combined.htm
So the fact that there are Rabbis who understand the last days of Pesach as experiencing the closeness of God fits in well with Rav Aharon's idea that the convert first experiences a subjective desire to come close to God. We then refine that desire and concretise it through the Law. Similarly, the Children of Israel came to Mount Sinai with a new found belief in God, and then received the Law, the Torah to eternalise that belief.

We had some really interesting and lovely guests to our house over Pesach - if you were one of them, then thank you!

What I experienced for the first time this year was the mad rush for Chametz...but not just in Golders Green, in Colney Hatch Tesco! It seemed like the place was full of our brethren with trolleys laden high with boxes of cereals. My checkout assistant had never seen anything like it - so I tried to explain what exactly was going on.

Shabbat. I spoke in Shul about the history of the Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Memorial Day instituted by the Government of Israel in 1951. I spoke about the tensions between the religious understanding of commemorating the Holocaust (on 10th Tevet or 9th Av) and the secular understanding that there should be a new day set aside. I also referred to the difficulties Zionism had in the early State years in coming to terms with the Holocaust and how this impacted on their relationship to those that survived. What I think is important for us, in 2009, is to read about the Holocaust and learn it mullti-layered existence. It is not simply a story about hatred. There is so much more, not just relating to the psychology of the murderers but how are nation survived and reacted to the torments and traumas of the Holocaust and post-Holocaust years. An entry into understanding probably should begin with Martin Gilbert's 'Holocaust'. An interesting book on how Israeli society dealt with the survivors is Tom Segev's 'The Seventh Million'. I have recently quoted A. B. Yehoshua's article on looking for a root cause of anti-semitism which you can find at http://www.azure.org.il/article.php?id=18

Sunday. I suppose I cannot finish without a mention of the football frenzy this time of the year. Arsenal were disappointing really - but mazaltov to any Evertonians...and who do you think will take the third Europa Cup spot - Tottenham I hear many of you say?!

May you all have a Shavua Tov, a good week!