#18 Menachem Av

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18 Menachem Av 5784 (21-22 August 2024)

According to tradition, the seven lamps of the menorah in the Beit haMikdash were lit every evening before sunset, and left to burn through the night, but one of the lights, the ner hamaaravi, would keep burning even after the other lamps went out. Thus, the kohen assigned to light the lamps of the menorah was able to light the other six lamps by kindling a taper in the still-burning flame. This continuously burning lamp is the inspiration for both the ner tamid (eternal light) that hangs in front of the Torah ark in a synagogue and the shammes in a hannukiah from which the other flames are kindled.

Legend also has it that the wickedness of king Ahaz was so great that on the eighteenth of Av early in his reign the miracle of the ner hamaaravi was withdrawn and the menorah went out completely. From that time forward the lamp burned out entirely during the night and had to be lit completely the next day.

Ahaz adopted Assyrian religious practices and worship of the Assyrian pantheon after seeking political support from the Assyrian Empire against his neighbors, including the Northern Kingdom of Samaria. He made Judah a tributary state of the Assyrians, starting a period of national subjugation to foreign empires which continued through the end of the second temple period and the dissolution of the Jewish community in Judaea following the Bar Kokhba revolt.

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15 Menachem Av 5784 (18-19 August 2024)

Tu b’Av Sameach! According to the Talmud the fifteenth of Av was the most joyful festival of ancient Israel (they say the only thing that matched it was Yom Kippur, when the entire community’s sins were carried off into the desert by the scapegoat). So what was celebrated on Tu b’Av? Love! Youth! Marriage! Romance!

Like Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, Tu b’Av did double duty as an agricultural festival (the start of the grape harvest) and a historical commemoration (which we discussed in yesterday’s post). Unlike the others, its purpose was not to focus on the covenant between the Jewish people and HaShem. Instead, it was a day for those who were single to show they were ready to mingle. It was a festival for flirting. It was a day for young people in the community to imagine that they’d find the kind of romance that would fill their lives with joy. You get the picture.

In ancient society courtship was often closely regulated, with marriages arranged by extended families to cement alliances with other families. But Tu b’Av was a day for young women to try to attract a husband of their own choosing. Traditionally, it was a day when young women would go dance in the vineyards in plain white dresses that disguised socioeconomic distinctions, singing traditional songs about what good wives they would make and teasing the community’s young men.

Since most of us don’t live near grape vineyards or practice the same type of limitations on courtship or know a wide range of communal dances any more, the celebration of Tu b’Av has changed considerably. It’s now used as the Jewish holiday for those in a long term romantic relationship to celebrate their partner, like the European Christian celebration of Valentine’s Day. So if you have somebody in your life who you love like that, wish them a joyful Tu b’Av— and then do your best to have one together.

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16 Menachem Av 5784 (19-20 August 2024)

The 16th of Av in 5645 saw the death of a great leader within the Jewish community of Great Britain— and indeed, all of Europe and the Mediterranean. This giant was not a rabbi or a sage but a financier, statesman, and philanthropist, who had spent the first half of his life doing his best to assimilate into the upper echelons of British society, and the remainder very deliberately reasserting his Judaism and doing all he could for global Jewish welfare. He died nine months into his hundredth year of life, having witnessed a full century of historical and social transformation at the height of the Industrial Revolution.

Moses Haim Montefiore was born in 5545 in Livorno, Tuscany to a large Sephardic merchant family with interests spread across Europe. He was named for his paternal grandfather, the patriarch who had relocated the family from Livorno to London forty years prior, and came into the world while his parents had returned to Tuscany on business for the family’s firm. Montefiore left school at a young age to begin work in another trading firm, and at the age of 18 became a trader in the London Stock Exchange. For the next thirty years he expanded his business and focused on attaining markers of social respectability, joining both the Freemasons and the local militia as Britain entered the Napoleonic Wars. Soon, through his own efforts and the good fortune of becoming brother-in-law and then stockbroker to Lord Rothschild, the British representative of the famous banking family, Montefiore’s fortune expanded exponentially. In addition to business, Montefiore devoted himself to the popular social reform campaigns of the era, including the promotion of charity hospitals and the abolition of slavery. In 1827, Montefiore and his wife went on a long voyage throughout the Mediterranean that included a visit to Jerusalem. The visit profoundly altered the course of Montefiore’s spiritual life. While he had always been proud of his Jewish heritage, Montefiore had been casual in his religious practice until his first experience of the holy city. While there, he committed himself to Shabbat and kashrut observance, and to attendance at the Torah readings in the synagogue on the second and fifth days of each week in addition to attendance at Shabbat services. He began traveling with a personal shochet and his own kashered dishes so that even when attending soirées and banquets with wealthy gentiles he would always have kosher food available. He also brought his own minyan of devoutly Jewish staff members and a personal Torah scroll so that his business travels would not interfere with his participation in religious services.

The newly devout business magnate then devoted his full energies, talents, and extensive connections to advocating for the welfare of the Jewish diaspora. He traveled to Morocco, Istanbul, Rome, Russia, and numerous other destinations specifically to use his considerable influence to combat antisemitic policies and pressure government to ensure Jewish subjects the same rights given to other citizens. Time and time again, Montefiore’s interventions were crucial. He also raised funds— and donated a significant proportion of his own wealth— to Jewish causes around the world, and especially for the welfare of the Jewish community in and around Jerusalem.

When his wife died, Montefiore had a replica of Rachel’s Tomb built as a mausoleum for her, and also established a yeshiva in her honor. He lived as a widower for another 23 years, still actively involved in a large number of charitable causes, before he was buried there beside her.