Sukkat Shalom Reform Synagogue

Congratulations to Ellis Robinson

On his Barmitzvah which took place on Saturday the 1st May

Ellis took a good part of the service and sang his portion of the Torah beautifully.

Ellis also produced a very interesting Drasha and Study Passage.

These pieces are listed below.

MY STUDY PASSAGE IS CALLED MUSIC

For my study passage I would like to talk about music… something perhaps we take for granted and is so much a part of our lives, and has been since time begun. In fact the earliest forms of communication are believed to have been through music.

Please look at psalm 150 on page 180 of your sidur

Hallelujah – praise G-d!
Give praise to G-d in G-d’s holy place,
Praise in G-d’s mighty heavens,
Praie for G-d’s powerful deeds,
Praise for G-d’s surpassing greatness.
Give praise to G-d with the shofar blast;
Praise with the lyre and harp,
Praise with drums and dancing,
Praise with the lute and pipe.
Give praise to G-d
With the clash of cymbals,
Praise with the clanging cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise G-d.
Hallelujah – praise G-d!

This powerful psalm indicates that words are no longer enough to praise G-d and that musical sound, through every living being and with an entire orchestra only, can express the enormity of wonder and amazement.

What does singing add to prayers? It can add emotion and feeling, sometimes cheerful and bright, sometimes deep, sad and emotional, and that has been demonstrated here today at my Bar Mitzvah service.

The Torah is full of references and use of music and singing. In Genesis IV We learn of Jubal,( 6th great grandson of Cain,) the first instrument maker, who created the harp and flute. We also learn of Tubal, his brother who was maker of weapons. Later we learn how their father uses song to glorify weapons, so the meeting of something beautiful with something ugly.

This to me shows how music, although uplifting, emotional, beautiful and powerful, can also be used to convey messages of hatred and destruction, which are equally as powerful. Songs can raise our consciousness, ‘Feed The World’ and ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ - to encourage and support ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’ ‘I’m For Ever Blowing Bubbles’ (It was suggested to me that Leyton Orient may be more successful If they had a song!)
Conversely, white racial extremists use music to advance their goals and movement objectives through lyrics that dehumanize and create imagery of white unity and solidarity.

Punk music has earned its reputation for being high impact, loud, energetic and intense. However people often associate the message of all punk music as containing nothing more then violent anti-government statements and messages of alienation.

Having to analyze and think about what music means to me has made me realize how much I take it for granted.
Music and song can enhance and change our moods and bring colour and depth to our world. Imagine life without it….. it would be like living in black and white. Take a moment to consider the following without the songs we are all so familiar with…. Eastenders Star wars and How could we “Go Compare” without the theme tune?

I am grateful that I have had this opportunity to stop and think about something that I derive so much pleasure from and hope that you too have been able to consider what music and song means to you.

Ellis Robinson 1st May 2010

My Drasha

“Ayin tachut ayin, shever tachut shever.” An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is a well known phrase from my portion which I find a very thought provoking concept. It suggests that a person who has injured the eye of another is instructed to give his or her own eye in compensation. At the root of this principle, is that one of the purposes of the law is to provide fair retribution, the act of correcting for your wrong doing, to the offended party.

In modern times, the phrase still loosely applies. Should a person commit a wrong doing that result in personal injury, they do not have to give up their own limb literally, but instead pay the repairing of the injury via compensation.

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, better known as Rashi, the famed Biblical commentator, tells us that the Torah could not have intended for us to follow the literal meaning of ‘ayin tachut ayin’ as there is no way of knowing the exact amount of the ‘ayin’ (eye) that was lost. Instead he suggests that one who blinds another’s eye pays the damaged person money in proportion to the damage done.

I am troubled by how one could calculate the compensation of another person’s injury or death. In Babylonian law, this is calculated on the social position of a person, therefore a slave would be compensated less than a nobleman.
In Jewish law there is no difference to one’s social position.
I disagree with British law that calculates compensation on your economic value. E.g. a social worker or nurse would receive less than a politician or lawyer –Is that just? In my opinion, no.

Indian philosopher and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi, and activist and prominent leader Martin Luther King Jr, both held the opinion that ‘an eye for an eye for an eye…’ ends in making everybody blind. I share this opinion, as I feel that two wrongs don’t make a right. It is a logical fallacy assuming that when one wrong is committed, another one will cancel it out.

So what better way is there?

Perhaps a more appropriate way is the act of teshuva (repentance)?

I would like to tell you a very powerful true story of teshuva.

Ernst Werner Techow was one of three German terrorists who assassinated Waiter Rathenau, Germany’s Jewish foreign minister in 1922. When the police caught them, two of the three men committed suicide. Techow alone survived. Three days later the victim’s mother wrote to Techow’s mother. She told her that she would forgive her son if he confessed to the murder and repented.

Techow was released from prison for good behaviour after 5 years.

In 1940, when France surrendered to Nazi Germany, he smuggled himself into Marseilles where he helped over 700 Jews escape to Spain. Whilst some had money, he funded others.

Before his activities in Marseilles, Techow met the nephew of the man he murdered and confided that his repentance and change had been triggered by the victim’s mother. He said that the mother had conquered herself when she wrote the letter of forgiveness, and that he tried to master himself. Wishing that he would get an opportunity to right the wrong he had done.
The story of Techow was first told by George Herald, "My Favorite Assassin," Harper's, April 1943; an extraordinarily powerful dramatization of the story, which appeared on the radio program Eternal Light, is printed in Jack Riemer, ed., The World of the High Holy Days, pages 179-190

I can think of examples in the past where I have felt that I have had wrong done to me, and how consequently, that has made me feel….. annoyed, angry, upset, and sometimes wanting to get my revenge. Also times when I have done wrong, and wanting to repair this damage. Exploring my feelings now, I recognize that these are negative emotions and lead me to ask the question… Is there another choice I can make about my response to such events, and an alternative way to repent?

Ellis Robinson 1st May 2010