Allerton Hebrew Congregation
Central Synagogue
Malcolm Malits Court
207 Mather Avenue
Liverpool
L18 9UB
What3Words location:
only.leaves.goat
Office Hours:
Mon-Fri:
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Sun & Bank Hols
By appointment
Tel: 0151-724 4811
Minister:
Rabbi Natan Fagleman
rabbinatan@allertonshul.org.uk
Administrator:
Mr David A Coleman
Chairman:
Mr Alan S Coleman
Senior Warden:
Michael Lawrence
Imm. Past Chairman:
Mr Jonathan Malits
Hon. Treasurer:
Mr Ellis Haft
Assistant Hon. Treasurer:
Mr Jonathan Beck
Hon. Secretary:
Mr Howard Norman
ALLERTON HEBREW CONGREGATION
CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE
is a Registered Charity, Number: 1169737
The Land of Our Dreams
Parshas Shlach
By Rabbi Label Lam
And HASHEM spoke to Moshe and Aaron, saying, “How much longer will this evil congregation …” (Bamidbar 14:26-27)
Here’s a curious and somewhat embarrassing fact. Everybody knows what a MINYAN is. It has even found its way into the Miriam Webster Dictionary. It’s a quorum, a group of 10 men that is required to begin a Jewish prayer service, to say Kaddish, Kedusha, and read from a Sefer Torah. It’s a magic number! Where is it learned from? From these words describing the 10 spies that deviated from their mission, “this evil congregation”. That’s pretty awkward! Couldn’t the Torah have found a more positive source to teach us an EIDA is a group of 10?!
Reb Tzadok HaKohen writes that when a person does Teshuva, then whatever experience he has had in life can be utilized to serve HASHEM. Please excuse me if I dip into my deep past and draw on a memory from a less than holy source, but it has helped me enormously and I am still learning from it many years later.
It was 1974, Thanksgiving, and my brother bought a couple of tickets for himself, me, and another friend to attend a concert at Madison Square Garden to watch Elton John play. It was exciting and beyond for us American kids. We were really enjoying it when something totally unusual and unexpected happened. The star of the night, Mr. John, announced in the middle of the event that he was inviting on stage a good friend and he proceeded to welcome John Lennon. Now John Lennon was a Beatle and the Beatles had an almost deity-like status among young people all over the world for decades.
The place went wild. My brother was hitting me in my ribs with his elbow and shouting, “It’s a Beatle Bobby, it’s a Beatle!” They played an old song, “She was Just Seventeen…”. Madison Square Garden was pulsing “like one man with one heart” as John Lennon with ease plucked the guitar strings. It was one of the most magical and unifying events I had ever witnessed.
Years later I found my way to Yeshivas Ohr Somayach in Monsey and I remember one Rebbe explaining why we lift our heels when reciting in Kiddusha, “KADOSH-KADOSH-KADOSH” – He told us that at the time that we are reciting Kedusha and raising up our heels, the entire angelic world is jumping and dancing with ecstasy in response.
My mind immediately flashed back to that experience from years earlier. When I have the presence of mind to remember, it has helped me to focus and visualize the grand import of what I am doing. Yes, I am like that lone Beatle on the center stage of the universe gently touching those strings and generating an indescribable pulse of sublime unity. This is lesson number one.
Years later I felt comfortable sharing this experience. Someone told me that I could easily revisit the concert online. I became curious and it was as I had remembered. The camera is scanning the crowd and there is John Lennon’s wife with her lips pursed nervously and rubbing her hands like the mother of the Bar Mitzvah boy in the women’s section. It seemed odd to me that she was not enjoying it like everyone else. So, I scrolled to read an article. I learned there that he had not played music in public for many years prior to this appearance and it was his last public performance. He was afraid of his own shadow, afraid of failing. It hit me with such force. Someone who with a few movements could electrify a room of 20,000 people, plus was scared to try. I realized that we may not realize the importance of the moves we make and how powerful we are.
The Chiddushei HaRim often employs this method of thinking, “Mida Tova Meruba” – The goodness that HASHEM delivers is, at least 500 times more than any seeming negativity. If 10 complainers can frustrate the dreams of a generation and forestall their entry into the Holy Land, then how much more so, in the positive direction, can 10 men who gather to sanctify HASHEM’s name, bring us much closer to the land of our dreams.
Click here to see this week’s Dvar Torah from the Chief Rabbi
