The Ten Commandments
At Jewish Newport
Shavuot
May 2020
Thank you to Rabbi Marc Mandel
During this time, there is an opportunity to take advantage of many online learning opportunities.
On Tuesday, I listened to Brown University Professor Adam Teller speak about his book, Rescue the Surviving Souls: The Great Jewish Refugee Crisis of the Seventeenth Century
The crisis was caused by the Cossack uprising from 1648 to 1657 against their Polish rulers. The Cossacks were a military caste who helped defend the borders of The Polish Lithanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was a large country that included parts of many countries that today include Poland itself, Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine.
The Cossacks rebelled because they were not treated equally with the other groups in the Commonwealth, Poles, LIthanians, and Jews It might have been a matter of the Cossack nationality, Ukranian, or their Orthodox religion, or just a matter of snobbism by the Polish Catholic rulers.
Jews helped the nobles manage their land, and were targets of the uprising. Many were killed, many fled west into Poland or Germany, and others became slaves to be sold on the slave market in Istanbul as servants. Women were a particular target as household servants. In many cases, people were abducted so ransom could be demanded to free them.
The influx of refugees reinvigorated the German Jewish community, which had been decimated by the crusades and subsequent pogroms and banishments.
In the Turkish Empire, Jewish communities, although relatively small by Polish Jewish standards, rose to the occasion and did their best to redeem the captives.
How did Polish Jewry cope? A typical Jewish response is that we are punished for our sins. This didn’t sit too well with the victims, who insisted that Polish Jews recite memorial prayers. There was a precedent for this. After the crusades, German Jews introduced memorial prayers. The memorial prayers in Poland continued until the Holocuast.
Rabbi Marc Mandel of Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island shared some thoughts with us,
“Shavuot is the celebration of the giving of the Torah.
What exactly happened at Mount Sinai?”
“According to one Talmudic source, the revelation was a moment of national coercion. God suspended Mount Sinai above the Jewish people and gave them an ultimatum – accept the Torah or die, leaving us with very little choice in the matter.
“According to another Rabbinic source, God went on a world tour, and approached each nation to offer its people the Torah. Only after each one declined did He finally approach the Jews who excitedly proclaimed “Naaseh v’nishma – we will do and we will understand.”
“So which one is it? Did God force the Torah upon us or did we voluntarily choose to accept it? Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm suggests there is no contradiction between these two stories:
‘Both chronologically and logically, God first chooses us, but then we must choose Him. He chose us only once, at Sinai. This choice, thereafter, devolved upon each and every Jew, in any place and at any time, no matter what his wish, his commitment, or his conduct. We must choose God anew in every generation. Indeed, every individual must choose God all over again… At Sinai it was true that “Asher Bachar Banu,” God chose us. But, when we study Torah and recite the blessings, and preface our remarks with Baruch Ata Hashem, Blessed are You, God, then we have chosen Him as well.’”
Rabbi Mandel concluded, “For us, accepting the Torah is not just an obligation, but a great honor and privilege.”
Chag Sameach from Jewish Newport!
