People I would like to invite to my dinner table

People I would like to invite for dinner

By Rabbi Dr Martin van den Bergh

Over the years we have been privileged to have many inspiring people at our dining table. Some of them have had a huge impact on my life, especially Rabbi Lord Sacks ztl, Rabbi Sam Kassin and Dr Haim Peri. Others were huge personalities in modern Jewish history including Uzi Narkiss and Noah Klieger. And then there are those in Jewish history who had a huge influence in my own Jewish outlook, who I would have been deeply honored to have had at our table, such as the Rambam, Rashi, Joseph Caro the author of the Shulchan Aruch and the Mishna Berura, a commentary on the Orach Haim part of the Shulchan Aruch by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan.

Rabbi Lord Sacks ztl

Rabbi  Lord Sacks stayed with on  many occasions both in Wembley and Hong Kong and I got to know the man and especially his humility and consideration. The first time he came to stay, was the occasion when he came to honour Dayan Pinchas Toledano who was then the Rabbi of the Wembley Sephardi Synagogue. His office had told me that Rabbi Sacks would be arriving after 5 p.m. which I thought would give me time to have a bath well before his arrival. As I was undressing Rabbi Sacks arrived. What was I to do, get dressed again or put on a dressing gown. I did the latter and with that welcomed the Chief Rabbi at the door.  I welcomed him and Anna invited him to have tea in our garden (the weather then was sunny and warm). And with that we got to know Rabbi Sacks the person. I also appreciated that he had a deep concern for others, and especially his staff. He had arrived early to enable his driver who also acted as his personal protection officer, to get home in time for Shabbat. Rabbi Sacks not only sat at my Shabbat Table. Demonstrating his humility, he also sat at our kitchen table together with his wife Elaine on the many other occasions we had the pleasure to host them. Possibly one of the most pleasurable occasions of Rabbi Sacks sitting at our Shabbat table was the occasion of the 75^th Anniversary of Wembley Synagogue, when we were also joined by the then President of the United Synagogue and others. Again we were informed by his office that the Chief Rabbi would only be at the table for a short while. But, he continued to be at our table for most if not all the meal sharing in the warm ambiance of our Shabbat table. Having Rabbi Sacks at our table enabled me to see him  as the man, and even then to see the huge contribution that he continues to make through his writings five years after his premature passing.

Rabbi Sam Kassin, Head of the Shehebar Sephardic Center in Jerusalem

It is due to Rabbi Sam Kassin that I was able to attain Semicha. He established the Shehebar Sephardic Centre in the Old City of Jerusalem. He initially founded the Center as a Yeshivah for young men from the Syrian Jewish community in New York. But he expanded it to provide rabbinic training for Rabbis who would serve communities around the world. I had the privilege to be his first Rabbinic graduate, and to be the catalyst in his establishment of the rabbinic programme.

I first met Rabbi Kassin by chance in 1981. Together with Rabbi Harris Guedalia I had established the Spanish & Portuguese Community in Jerusalem and  we were  organising our first Yom Kippur services in the Old City of Jerusalem. As many of our participants were coming from other parts of Israel I had the task of finding accommodation in the Old City. On my visit there I came across Rabbi Kassin who had established his yeshiva for American Sephardi young men. We immediatedly established a rapport and I told him I wanted to study for Semicha. He told me he had such a programme and offered me a place which I accepted. This meant me together with Anna and Abigail moving from Yemin Orde, a Youth Aliyah  Village near Haifa where I was a housemaster and Anna was English Assistant to the Director. We moved to Jerusalem and I joined the Semicha programme which was led by the late eldest son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in Ivrit. I had also had the full support of Rabbi Kassin and with that I received Semcha. With that I looked for my first position as Rabbi of a community and I became Rabbi Kassin’s first Rabbinic Graduate and his first Rabbi to serve a community. Since then we have had avery long relationship to this day. In that time we have had the privilege of having at our dining table as well as staying in our home.  

Dr Haim Peri, Director of Yemin Orde Youth Aliyah Village

As mentioned, we lived at Yemin Orde Youth Aliyah Village when we first made Aliyah in 1980.  The Director then was Dr Haim Peri, who is one  of the most inspirational people I have ever met.

I had determined that I would only make Aliyah if I could find a job and position.  I came to Israel on a Aliyah and found one at Yemin Orde. On arrival there, which is on the mountain range south of Haifa, I found a beautiful place and determined that I wanted to live there. I met with the deputy director Pesach Rifkin as Haim was in London. Pesach told me there was a position open as a housemaster, but Haim was the only one who could decide to offer me the job. On my return to London I met with Haim and with that he sent me a telegram offering me the job. I immediately sent back a telegram accepting. And with that Anna and I had an incredible experience working with young people from different backgrounds and of course with the inspirational leadership of Haim Peri.

We continued our relationship with Haim well after we moved from Yemin Orde to Jerusalem with visits to Yemin Orde, and with Haim visiting us and staying with us at Wembley. On that Shabbat Haim addressed the congregation with a very inspiring sermon. This reminded me of when he spoke in the Synagogue at Yemin Orde. The Synagogue was financed by Michael Winner in honour of his parents and is shaped in a crown and can be seen from the Route 4 on the way to Haifa. I had the privilege of being the Gabbai of the Synagogue while we were at Yemin Orde, and which gave me very valuable experiences of how to relate with the Gabbaim I worked with as a Rabbi.

Haim related to all his students and especially lone students and even after they graduated from Yemin Orde and went into the IDF. He provided them with a home and also inspired the establishment of Hoshayah, now a thriving town in Northern Israel. And many of his graduates now hold important positions in Israeli society including members of the Knesset. Haim also led the integration of Ethiopians, as Yemin Orde was one of the first high schools to integrate young Ethiopians. I also had the privilege to work with them and to experience at first hand, their dedication and their work ethic.

On a personal level Haim together with his wife Shuli supported us when Abigail our first child was born. Haim wrote a poem on that occasion, and I read it under the Chuppa when Abigail got married to Jon Simons at Wembley Synagogue.

Uzi Narkiss

Uzi Narkiss was a famous general in the IDF, and he is pictured with Yitzhak Rabin and Moshe Dayan at the Kotel at the Kotel after the Old City of Jerusalem was captured during the Six Day War in 1967. He came to Manchester to speak at a meeting which was hosted by my former congregation, and we had the very great privilege of hosting him at our dining room table. Josh was six years old at the time, and he asked Uzi – How many people have you killed? Uzi answered: “Too many!”

 Not only was he the commander of the Central Region, but the famous semi-automatic machine gun is also named after him. And now through Geni I have found out that he was a distant relation of mine.

Noah Klieger

Noah Klieger was another famous Israeli to grace our dining room table. We first met Noah in Warsaw when we were part of the March of the Living delegation from Hong Kong, which centred on Yom HaShoah at Auschwitz, He was our living witness who had been an inmate there at the age of 16. Noah told us of his experiences there which started with him standing naked before Mengele who would decide whether he would live or not. Mengele showed his left finger which meant he was destined to die. But Noah did not move, and picked up the courage to say to Mengele that he was young and fit and able to work. Mengele asked those beside him if this was true. They confirmed Noah’s argument, and he saved himself from the gas chambers. Noah survived Auschwitz by becoming a boxer by which he entertained his Nazi captors.

Noah did not only survive Auschwitz. He also survived several Marches of the Dead. Before Auschwitz was liberated, survivors of the concentration camps were marched to other camps by the Nazis, and many fell dead on the way, but Noah survived.

Noah was also on the ship which was at the centre of the events which were immortalized in the film Exodus. He tells the story of when the British refused to allow holocaust survivors to land in Israel (then Palestine). The group on the ship suggested that they go on strike until the British changed their minds. But the problem was that there were two other ships with holocaust survivors, and the question was how to relay that decision to the other ships. Noah suggested that one of the group fall overboard and swim to the other ship. The leader answered that this was a good idea, “you do it”. With that Noah jumped overboard. But by the time Noah could get his bearings, the ships had passed him. Eventually Noah was rescued by a British boat and was landed at Marcelles in France. By then the British had relented. Eventually Noah made it to Israel to learn that his parents had also been as Auschwitz and had survived. Noah became the doyen of Israeli sports reporting and died at the age of 92.

We were very fortunate to have him in Hong Kong, and he was a guest of ours at our table on several occasions during his visit, during which he also made visits to Carmel School, the Jewish School in Hong Kong, and several pro-Jewish and Israel Christian groups.

Indeed, Noah Klieger was also one of the most interesting guests at our table.

My table would be incomplete without the following historic post Talmudists whose works influenced our outlooks on Judaism to this day and certainly who influenced my own attitudes.  They were the Rambam, Rashi, Joseph Caro the author of the Shulchan Aruch and the Mishna Berura, a commentary on the Orach Haim part of the Shulchan Aruch by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan. While their presence would have enhanced my table with that of those already mentioned, a separate table for them would have been a great experience.

The Rambam Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Maimonides.  

The Rambam was one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars. It is of said of him that from Moses to Moses there was no one like Moses. He was born in in Cardova, Spain in 1135, moved to Morocco and then to Israel. He then moved to Egypt and became the physician to the Egyptian Viceroy, and where he dies. The Rambam is buried in Tiberias. He was not only a Talmudist, but also a Halachist and a philosopher. Amongst his many works he was the author of the Mishnei Torah, the Moreh Nevuchim and commentaries on the Mishna. One of my favourite teachings of the Rambam is that the middle ground is the  best way, which he calls the golden path.  Another of his teachings which I have always liked to teach are the laws of repentance, which are particularly relevant during the month of Ellul.

The Rambam is also known as one of the three pillars of the Shulchan Aruch, the foundations of Halachah, Jewish Law. The other two are the Rif (Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi) and the Rosh (Rabbenu Asher).

Rashi – Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki best known as Rashi is the greatest commentator on Tanach and the Talmud. He was born in Troyes in Northern France in 1040 and studies with Rabbi Yaacov ben Yakar and Rabbi Yitzchak ben Yehufa, who were disciples of Rabbeinu Gershom, one of the first of the great sages of Ashkenaz. Rashi later returned to Troyes to serve as a judge in the local rabbinical courts. However is probably best known for his stay in Worms. I had the privilege of visiting Worms and the room where Rashi studied

Rashi’s commentaries on the Torah and the Talmud are possibly the most well known of all the commentaries which include comments on Hebrew grammar, Midrashic sources and literal interpretations. Many study his Torah commentaries weekly gaining deeper insights into the weekly Torah reading.

For me one of the most insightful aspects of Rashi is that in his commentaries he is prepared to say לא ידעתי – I do not know when he does not understand the meaning of a word or a phrase in the Torah. Indeed, the Pirkei Avot teaches us that the one who feels ashamed does not learn. There is no shame in admitting that we do not know or understand a concept in the Torah. Rather we should be like the Children of Israel who said  at Mt Sinai – We will do and we will learn.

Thus, Rashi would be a very honoured guest at my table. He died in 1105 and is buried in Troyes.

Rabbi Yosef Caro.

Rabbi Yosef Caro was the author of the Shulchan Aruch, which is the codification of Halacha, Jewish law. The Shulchan Aruch also has the addition of the opinions of Mosh Isserles who brings in the main Ashkenazi opinions of the law, with the result that the Shulchan Aruch is still one of the most authoritative codes of Jewish law to this day.

It is thought Yosef Caro was born in Spain in 1488 and moved to Turkey with the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. He arrived in Safed in the north of Israel. He was a mystic and a halakhist, and he wrote the Shulchan Aruch there, having written commentaries on the works of his three pillars of Halacha. He died in Safed in 1575 and is buried there in its historic cemetery. In the middle of the cemetery is Caro’s Mikvah. On a visit to Safed a cousin of mine went into the waters of the Mikvah and reported back that it is very cold.

Rabbi Caro is possibly one of the most influential of rabbis to this day as the Shulchan Aruch is not only the most influential of the codification of Jewish Law, it is the basis of the the curriculum for the qualification of rabbis to this day.

On a personal not, according to Geni, I have a distant family connection to Rabbi Yosef Caro.

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan

My last dinner table guest would be Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, the author of the Mishna Berura, one of the most famous and most relevant commentaries on the Orach Chaim, an important part of the Shulchan Aruch. The Orach Chaim deals with the laws of our daily lives, Shabbat and the Festivals.

Rabbi Kagan was famously known as the Chofetz Chaim and was born 1838 in Dzienciol and dies in 1933 in Raduń in Poland. He was also famously known as the author of the Chofetz Chaim, from which he got his famous name. The Chofetz Chaim is about the laws of Lashon HaRav, evil talk, which is a very important part of Jewish law to this day and therefore is of great relevance. And according to Geni I also have a distant family connection to Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, the Chofetz Chaim.