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DEATH ANNOUNCEMENTS
DAVID CAPLAN JUNE 30
SHERYL BRANDER JULYl
JUUETTE HORAK JULY 6
Qbitua
JOSEPH CHICK
Bom Sept 21,1914, in London, England, Joseph Chick died peacefully after a long illness, on June 12,2003, at Lions Gate Hospital, with his loving famOy by his side. Joe is survived by his vidfe, Anne, and three daughters, Amie, Sunshine and Elaine. Joe will be sorely missed by all. □
BELLA VECHTER
Bella Vechter, a dear wife, mother and baba, passed away on Jime 19,2003, at the age of 89 years. She is survived by her husband, Charles, and family.
Bella was a long-standing member of Hadassah-WEO and was a very dedicated volxmteer. She was a great cook and did wonderful baking for everyone. Her famous redpe for Bageladi was published in the 1990 book. The Best to You from Ziona, compiled by the Ziona chapter of Canadian Hadassah-WIZO.
A service of remembrance was held on June 22 at the Schara Tzedeck chapel and cemetery, where her granddaughter, Eona, gave a very special eulogy.
Thank you to all for your comfort, support and expressions of sympathy in memory of our loved one. Special thanks to Rabbi Baumol, Rev. Marciano, Cantor Orzech, the pallbearers. Dr. Ezekiel, the Chevra Kadisha and to Patricia Nitikin and the staff at the Louis Brier Home and Hospital.
We love and miss you, Mom.n
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Torali Port!
on
Essence of repentance
Maturity means accepting blame for your mistal<es.
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN TORAH COLUMNIST
Chukat-Balak Numbers 19:1-25:9
Efrat
What is the test of true maturity and how many of us (if indeed there are any at all) arc truly mature? I believe the answer can be found in a difScult halachah in the writings of Maimonides, a legal formulation, the depth of which is illustrated by a carefiil study of our Torah reading.
Maimonides begins his Laws of Repentance:
"If an individual transgresses any commandment of the Torah, whether it be a positive commandment or a negative commandment, whether it be on purpose or accidentally, when he repents and turns away from his sin, he is obligated to confess his guilt before the Lord Blessed is He, as it is written, 'And they shall confess their guilt for their transgression' (Numbers 5:7); this is a confession of guilt with words. This confession of guilt is a positive commandment. How docs one confess his guilt?
•He says, 'Please, O Lord, I have sinned, I have transgressed, I have rebeUed before You and I have done such and sucL Behold, I am rcmorseflil and I am shamed by my deeds. I shall never return to this action.' " (Maimonides, Laws of Repentance 1,1)
We will be better equipped to understand Maimonides* position if we ponder this week's Torah reading, Chukat. The tragic episode in (3iukatis Mbecs' transgression. According to the text, once again the Jews find themselves without water and they decry Moses for having "made us to come out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place, not a place of seed or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates and without water to drink." (Numbers 20:6) Moses and Aaron fell on their feces" before G-d in prayer, G-d tells them "to take the staff, assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes that it give forth water." Moses and Aaron "assemble the assemblage before the rock and say to them, 'Listen now you rebels....' And Moses raised his hand, smote the rock with his staff twice and water came forth abundantly. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'Because you had no faith in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel; therefore you shall not bring this assemblage into the land which I shall give them.'"(7-12)
Moses has lost his patience with this nation. After all the
nuracles of Egypt and the desert, they still "kvetch" when there is no water and they blame him. And so Moses calls all of them rebels and strikes the rock instead of speaking to it. G-d blames Moses for missing an opportunity to sanctify the Divine Name and punishes Moses by •preventing his'entry to his beloved Promised Land.
Moses doesn't respond here, but he does respond in his farewell speech, as recorded in Deuteronomy. And Moses gives history a rather subjective spin. He begins his account by harking back to the sin of the scouts - which we have previously read to have been initiated by G-d "to send forth men to look over the land of Canaan" and which was executed by Moses as a reconnaissance mission. Ten of the 12 described a difBcult situation and convinced the Israelites not to conquer the land. Moses retells the stoiy saying, you came near to me, ail of you, requesting that we send men to search out the land for us.... The matter was good in my eyes.... The [men] brought back the word saying 'the land which the Lord our G-d is giving to us is good'... but you [the assemblage] did not want to go up, but yoii rebelled against the word of G-d...." And when G-d punished you by not enabling your entire generation to enter the Promised Land, "the Lord also became angiy with me because of you saying that 'You also shall not come there.' " (Deuteronomy 1:22-37)
Apparently, Moses should have confessed his sin as soon as G-d chai;ged him with it Instead, this great prophet is silent, then he revises what happened by blaming the Israelites for his not being able to enter the land. Moses was expected by G-d to take responsibUity for having instructed the reconnaissance mission that resulted in disaster and for having lost patience and striking the rock. G-d expected Moses to admit his guilt
The most difficult thing to do is to express one's guilt without reservation and beg forgiveness. What is the test of true maturity? When one stops blaming one's parents, siblings, teachers or society for one's own transgressions and accepts the blame oneself. Because this act of confession is so hard to do, Maimonides makes it the essence of repentance.
Shabbat shalom. □
Rabbi ShIomo Riskin is chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel, and dean of Ohr Torah institutions in Israel.