PREPARING THE TORAH

It is essential to prepare the Torah reading properly, and it is usual to do this with a Tikkun, which has the portion written with vowels and singing notes on one side, and as it appears in the Torah alongside it.  It is far preferable to read from the Torah, but it is disrespectful to the congregation (and the tradition) if it is not prepared as well as you can do.  There is nothing wrong with having someone to read the chumash and prompt or assist - that is a normal and sensible thing to do!

By the way it does not need to be chanted.  My own preference is to read a verse, and then translate it (sometimes with a bit of explanation and interpretation, which is teh way it was done by the 'Mturgeman - translator/interpretor - which is why the Targum - aramaic ' translation' is printed in the traditional commentaries and often referred to by the commentators).  Many people tell me that this makes the portion more accessible and meaningful.

I find it useful to use coloured sticky markers - they leave no trace after removal - but always put them ALONGSIDE the letters, NOT on them!

Mark the line in which the sentence starts or ends.

I use the same colours to mark the start and end in the chumash as well, so you can tell people exactly where the next part is commencing - eg we are starting at Leviticus 21 verse 10, which you can follow on page 796, left hand column of hebrew, last line, two words from the end - that is page 796, left hand column, last line, second word from the end - verse 10 (always worth repeating these details!).

When to say 'Shabbat Shalom' (A Peaceful Sabbath)

When to say 'Shabbat Shalom' (A Peaceful Sabbath)

People wish each other 'shabbat shalom' instead of 'goodbye' in the day or so leading up to Shabbat - meaning 'when shabbat comes, have a good one'.  It is wrong, however, to say 'shabbat shalom' as 'hallo' until it is actually shabbat!

Can we involve someone who is not Jewish in a service, and if so to what extent?

We know that traditionally, ,and even among Australian Progressive Jews, non-Jews weren't called up to the Torah, but I believe there may have been some rethinking happening on this score. We'd be very grateful if you could advise on current policy. It seems strange to us to be calling up someone who isn't Jewish, but on the other hand we can appreciate it's uncomfortable for the family when people (such as a parent) are left out.


Rabbi Jonathan answers

You are right that we don't do 'call-ups' for non-Jews.  It doesn't make 'Jewish sense' (we invite anyone male to cover their heads out of respect the tradition of the synagogue, but we don't invite them to wear a tallit, representing the commandments, or open the ark, or take out or carry or elevate the Torah, since Torah represents the Jewish framework of life).  However, we also don't ignore the non-Jewish parts of the family.  

The way we deal with this situation in communities I have worked in is to call up the Jewish partner by their Jewish name, and the non-Jewish 'in English' - eg: 'and with her we ask Andrew to join us' - i.e. the non-Jew is an 'adjunct' to a traditional call-up.  At the Leo Baeck Centre the Jewish person comes to the right of the bimah, from where the blessings are always read.  The non-Jew goes to the left of the bimah.  After the call-up, the Jewish person goes to the other side (left) for Mi Shebeirach (the next call up, if there is one, comes to the right side).  This means that, after the blessings, the Jewish person has gone to the left side of the bimah and met up with the non-Jewish one, at which point they can be given an appropriate blessing/words together.  Note that there is a prayer about Torah for non-Jews (if they have some spiritual belief as it is addressed to 'Holy one of Blessing') in our prayer book - middle of page  369 of Mishkan T'filah World Union Edition.  This is more or less a composite of the blessings before and after the Torah reading, but is about 'the Jewish people', not 'us'.  If this is to be used, it would be read by the non-Jewish person once joined by the Jewish one and before their Mi Shebeirach.

Of course if the non-Jew is estranged from the partner, or has no direct connections (eg is a friend), they will need to come up with someone else Jewish who is called up in the usual sense.  But unless there is good reason to have the non-Jew involved with the Torah service (ie they are a parent of a BM or parent or close sibling of a person about to be married), I would advise not to do it. Give them something else to do - eg read one of the prayers 'For our Country' on page 376 of Mishkan T'filah World Union Edition.

Rabbi Jonathan

Can a Jew be buried in a non-Jewish graveyard? Or a non-Jew in a Jewish one?

Dear Rabbi,

Can a Jew be buried next to their Jewish partner in a non-Jewish cemetery or does it need to be in a consecrated Jewish cemetery?  And similarly, can a non-Jewish partner be buried in a Jewish cemetery?  Can a Rabbi or Jewish leader lead a service for a non-Jew? And what can the Jew do about a funeral service, prayers, and can they say Kaddish for their non-Jewish loved one?

With best wishes.

Thanks for your enquiry about burial outside of a consecrated Jewish cemetery.

We feel that in these sad circumstances, we should be ready and willing to assist.  The person leading the service should simply acknowledge that by holding this service, we are consecrating this plot forever as a Jewish burial site which will be marked in due course by the symbol (Magen-David or Menorah) on the stone.

It might be useful to know that our main cemetery here in Melbourne Australia is not a Jewish-only cemetery (even the Jewish sections of it).  It is municipal, and as such anyone can be buried anywhere in it. In the reverse situation, which you also ask about, there are without doubt Jews non-Jews and Jews buried together (and even a few stones marked with crosses!) and in fact in particular circumstances – for example where a non-Jewish partner has never formally converted but has always been present and supportive to the community and has requested a ‘Jewish-style’ burial, my colleagues and I have on occasion led the ceremony. One was a non-Jewish father who was a regular attender and supporter, especially as his children were preparing for Bar/bat Mitzvah.  I supported and visited him in hospital and when he wanted to talk about death and asked me if I would do the ceremony and support his family, I was not prepared to say no, and indeed saw it as an honour and a mitzvah.  This non-Jew had seen and recognised the beauty and value, the power and meaning of our tradition from close-up, and celebrated and internalised it with his family.  These are real situations that we live with in the modern world!  And I would not worry about 'what the orthodox say' - people in need, and anyone with sensitivity and compassion, will applaud and understand it.  And the orthodox Rabbis also conduct burials at Springvale, even with non-Jews in the next grave!

When it comes to the funeral, and discussion of shiva, minyan, saying Kaddish etc, I would say that we must make it quite clear that the person was not Jewish.  However the partner or family are.  We are doing what we can, not only to satisfy the request of the deceased, but also to support the family through this difficult period.  So I would not call it a minyan, but if they wish to hold a gathering in the evening(s), we should never discourage Jews from praying together - and talking about their loved ones.  Non-Jews may certainly say Kaddish for their loved ones, for which it is traditional for the community (a minyan) to gather round. The mourning process for Jews consists of the deepest loss, immediately after death until burial (as soon as possible), then the first week (shiva), then the rest of the first month (sh'loshim), and then the rest of the year at which time they may wish to light a memorial candle (yahrzeit) - and at that time each year, to keep alive the memory and discussion about their loved one. By the time of the first yahrzeit, it is hoped that live has returned to a new 'normal', where the loved one is in the heart and thoughts and memories though no longer in the physical presence of the family.  

I do hope that is of assistance.   

Rabbi Jonathan

Why are our Torah portions occasionally different from the orthodox?

 Dear Rabbi,

I have long been confused as to why, on some Shabbatot, the parsha listed for progressive services differs from that listed by orthodox.  As it happens, Saturday 18th April which is when John and I next lead services, is one of those.  According to the progressive listing I have (http://news.reformjudaism.org.uk/torah-readings.html ), the possible parsha readings for that week are from Tazria-M’tzora but the Chabad web site lists that Shabbat as Sh’mini.

Can you explain this mystery for me?  It would be good to know the reasons as we do get congregants who are nominally orthodox coming to our progressive services and we may get asked about this.  I have done some preliminary research and suspect it’s to do with a 3-year cycle of readings as opposed to an annual cycle but I haven’t found anything definitive.

Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black replies:

If you use an electronic calendar, you can import the Google public calendar ‘PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM CALENDAR WITH SHABBAT AND FESTIVALS’

The answer regarding the Torah readings is straightforward once you get it, but complicated to explain!  In some years, on one or two occasions, the orthodox 'extra day' of festivals intrudes into shabbat whereas ours (and Israel's) do not.  This coming shabbat is an example.  For us (and Israel), Pesach finishes on Friday at sunset, so shabbat is just shabbat.  But for the orthodox outside Israel, you need to remember that originally, over 2000 years ago, the new moon was only announced once it had been sighted - or by default.  A new moon can be one day or the next.  So if it was sighted, and confirmed on the first day, then THAT was the first day of the month.  If it was sighted on the day after - or if it was not sighted, because it was cloudy etc - then THAT was the first day of the month!  Within Israel, it was considered that there was time to sort this out before the festivals occurred (except, perhaps, for Rosh Hashanah, the only one that falls at the start of the month!).  But outside Israel, there was concern that the message might not get through, or there might be a mistake.  Hence they observed both the first day a festival could be - and the second!

As Pesach COULD HAVE started last Friday night OR last Saturday night, this coming Saturday COULD BE the 7th day Pesach (there is no such thing as 8th day, even for the orthodox - they celebrate Seder night - and the first day on the first day that COULD be Pesach - but they know that they may have celebrated a day early (!) - so they celebrate the first day AGAIN the next day - hence second seder is actually the night that would be first seder if the night before turned out to be premature!).

The silly thing is that we have known the exact and correct days for 1800 years (Mar Shmuel in Babylon calculated the dates - including the leap year system that keeps our years in line with the seasons - so accurately that it still works today!).  But - tradition! So the orthodox continue to have to eat matzah for an extra day (though no-one has ever explained why they don't fast for second day Yom Kippur!).

We, like Israel, continue with our weekly Torah readings (in this case Sh'mini) but they have a special reading for (second) last day Pesach! They call it 8th day for simplicity, but if you have followed me, you will see that it is really 7th day (repeated).  It is only 8th day in relation to our 7 days!

So, we are a week ahead for a few weeks.  This also sometimes happens when Shavuot is on Friday (the orthodox then have it on Friday and again on Saturday!).  

The next question is how do they 'catch up' when we are ahead (or ‘how do we slow down’).  Now several times in a regular year we can have double Torah portions (eg Tazria/Metzorah), because there are 'excess' Torah portions, so that there are enough even in a leap year (with an extra month and four extra shabbatot to fill).  And the week after next is the one where the orthodox will be reading Tazria/Metzorah.  So this week we will read Shmini, and the next week (when they read Shmini) we'll be reading Tazria.  The following week, (when they read Tazria/Metzorah) we'll be reading Metzorah - and voila - after that we're back in sync!

I hope that is clearer!

Good luck explaining it!

One other point from this – even though Israel marks 2 days Rosh Hashanah since it falls at the beginning of the month, since we have known the exact day when the month starts for 1800 years, and since ‘Yom T’ruah’ is a day-long festival (not ‘Y’mei T’ruah!), there is no necessity to mark it for 2 days, whether Israel does or not!  So, for those who wish to have a second day (and why not have an extra service – we should have three every day of the year!), it should be called ‘2^nd day Tishrei’ (as we call it), not ‘2^nd day Rosh Hashanah’.

L'shalom

Rabbi Jonathan