Today's date and time:

Sermon for Sidra Bo
January 2009
by Rabbi Geoffrey Hyman

Another week goes by with much sadness and frustration; with more unfolding insensitive behaviour by people who act supposedly without malice!

So I thought which one should I speak about this week?

Should I talk about the issue of my resignation together with Rabbi Michaels, from the Redbridge Faith Forum because of their haste and insistence in publishing in the local papers a resolution about being “outraged by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”?

Or perhaps I should stand here and attack the local Liberal Democrats who in their campaign for the Valentine’s ward “by election”, which they actually won, used the “Gaza card” depicting a horrific picture of a Palestinian father carrying a injured, bloodied child, all rounded off with an apt slogan by Nick Clegg: “We must stop arming Israel”. How disgusting!

Or should I vent my anger on the lack of diplomacy displayed by the normally benevolent and moderate Imam, Dr. Fahid of South Woodford, who at our local Holocaust Memorial Day service had to get in the “Gaza word” – causing so much “hurt” and offence to the many members of the Jewish community, as well as to the memory of the victims of the Shoah. Then I should add, that at a further meeting of local councillors and religious leaders from Redbridge, chaired by the leader of the Council Alan Weinberg, called in order to discuss the rise of anti-Semitism in the area in recent weeks, Dr. Fahid was severely reprimanded but he was apologetic saying that he never really meant any offence! Whilst a young Muslim lady from the Three Faiths Forum, who had been brought to the meeting by Rabbi Hulbert, argued that Dr. Fahid was indeed right in what he said. Later, after the meeting, in conversation with me she then voiced her strongly held opinion that Israel had committed war crimes. She refused to listen to the other view, yet in conversation I realised that she had absolutely no idea of the history of the region!

Then perhaps I should add my voice to the condemnation of the Pope for lifting the ban of excommunication on an English born Bishop, Richard Williamson, who is a Holocaust denier, claiming only last week that only 300,000 Jew died in Nazi camps and that there were no gas chambers used in the Holocaust.

Oye what a bad week it has been!

But let us put it all in perspective. The Sidros that we are reading at the moment deal with the slavery in Egypt, the Ten Plagues, followed by the Exodus through the “Yad Hashem – the Hand of G-d. So let me ask you. Although one of the purposes of the plagues was to show the Egyptians, as G-d says: “That I am the L-rd”, did the Egyptians actually learn anything from their bad experience of persecuting and enslaving the Israelites? Certainly not, the experience of the plagues was so short-lived, that no sooner were the Bnei Yisrael released, than the Egyptians pursued them, as we will read next week in Beshallach. Did the Egyptians pass on that experience to their next generation or did they remember centuries later that they had better not attack the Jewish people because they suffered in the past for doing so? No, in later history they tried again! Did surrounding nations learn any lessons from what had happened to the Egyptians? No! Straight after the Exodus, the evil nation of Amalek, the descendants of Esau, attacked the Israelites.

But we do remember what happened in Egypt. We never forget it! We’re told: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and I took you out …says G-d”, is a recurring phrase in the Torah. The memories of our suffering in Egypt and the Exodus lives on with us over three thousand years later; it’s all part of our education from our childhood through the Seder nights. The Mitzvot of Tefillin and Tzitzis are connected to it. We remember Egypt in the Kiddush every Shabbat and Festival. And we are told in Exodus 12:17: “And you shall keep this day for your generations as an everlasting statute, never to be forgotten.

Our fight against the world to “Remember” is sadly limited – for they will eventually forget! And one of the reasons that the nations of the world will forget is because as we know, there have been many mighty nations who have sojourned the face of this earth, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, and in our time, Nazi Germany. All that there is left of these nations is relics of their past, their architecture whether the Pyramids or the Coliseum – “alz iz gegangin” – they have all disappeared from the face of the earth.

There is one lesson that we must learn from all this, and that is “FAITH”! Yes, we must do our utmost to fight anti-Semitism but we must never ever forget, that our strength and our future is in the hands of the Almighty.

So my friends, whilst history repeats itself for the moment, let us not despair. We must remain steadfast in our faith in the Almighty. Let us strengthen ourselves and gird ourselves with faith in Hashem and put our trust in G-d.

May G-d redeem all humanity from evil. Amen.