Weekly Rabbinic Schmooze.....
Is your Table Able?
There are from time to time visitors coming through Perth who join us in shule for davening.  Sometimes these guests are unannounced and there are times when they may phone up our office and ask whether there is a place where they can eat over Shabbat.  There are also scenarios where people have just arrived in Perth to settle and while they are setting up their own home, they need a place where they can celebrate their Shabbat in the proper fashion.   I heard this week that there are also a number of widows and widowers in our community who have no-where to go for their Shabbat meals as their children and grand-children have moved to the eastern states, or sadly, in some cases they have no family at all.   
It is the most wonderful mitzvah to be able to share our Shabbat tables with others.  It enhances the Shabbat atmosphere in our homes and one never knows what effect making new friends, by hosting  visitors, may lead to.  I can tell you numerous stories where real blessings, whether it be business opportunities, social contacts or even shidduchim(marriage partners) have developed from encounters at the Shabbat table.  I am appealing to those of our PHC members whose ‘table is able’ to accommodate extra ‘souls and stomachs’ at an evening meal or afternoon lunch.  Aviva and I are always delighted to host guests on a Shabbat or any other time, but I think it is important that it is not seen as though it’s only the rabbi and his wife who is interested in this mitzvah. After all many people presume, and absolutely wrongly, that this is the rabbi’s duty!  May I point out to everybody that one of the reasons I have never wanted a contract with a synagogue is because these mitzvot are not rabbinic duties but are within the domain of every human being, let alone the Jewish people!  I would like visitors to feel that the congregation is interested in them and wants to invite them to befriend them.  A congregation lacking this, in my eyes, is not a congregation but a mere assemblage of individuals!.........  I appeal to our members who are willing to invite to the Shabbat table to prepare a little more cholent, chicken soup, gefilte fish or herring for a Shabbat in case they have the opportunity of meeting somebody in shule for whom they can do a wonderful mitzvah.  For people who phone the shule and ask where they can find Shabbat hospitality, we would like a list of names and telephone numbers that we can phone from our congregation. This will enable you to do the great mitzvah as exemplified by Abraham our forefather, the master of hospitality.  You might think that you wouldn’t be kosher enough for a particular guest - please let the shule be the shadchan (matchmaker) in this!
Look forward to hearing from you.
Weekly Torah Reflection........
Inside Out and Outside In!
Who is a true Torah (biblical) scholar?  Most people would probably answer it is one who has a great knowledge of the Torah and the Talmud and of course possess true piety and reverence for G-d!  This is not the Talmud’s definition of a Torah scholar!  The Talmud’s definition in Yoma 72B tells us that a true Torah scholar is one whose outside is like his inside and whose inside is like his outside!  What does this mean?  The Talmud explains that just as the Holy Ark which epitomises Torah knowledge is described in this week’s Torah reading as mibayit umichutz tetzapenu “overlaid with gold inside and out” (Ex 25:11) so a Torah scholar should have the same gold – ie. he should speak out forthrightly as to what is in his heart, what he says outwardly should be what he feels inwardly, and what he feels inwardly should be expressed outwardly, without fear of repercussions!  No hypocrisy – straight and clear!
 During my many years in the rabbinate there have been times when I have felt important principles must be expressed for the good of the community.  Some people have said to me, “Shouldn’t you be a little more temperate Rabbi?” as it may appear that I am over-zealous regarding a particular point. Those who know me know that I am not an aggressive person.  But any spiritual leader sometimes has to take the lesson from the Ark in the Tabernacle and express his inner feelings outwardly for the communal good- he must feel inwardly what he is expressing outwardly.  All the knowledge in the world and all the piety does not make you a Torah scholar if it not used through the lesson of the Ark to allow you to become a communal archangel.
Shabbat Shalom
Dovid Freilich