Berkshire Jewish News (Shelach Lecha 5776)

SOCIAL
 
The Berkshire Women’s Rosh Chodesh group will be meeting again at 8pm on Wednesday 6 July at the home of Hannah.   Hadassah will lead some text based study on ethical decision making and should we always follow a majority?  Topical post Brexit!  Email Rebbetzin Shira for more information or for directions. 
 
Monday 1st to Friday 5th August 2016
Oxford Kaytana 2016 is a summer scheme for children aged 5-14 years, organised by the community and led by youth leaders,   experienced staff and junior assistants. The Oxford Kaytana is specifically designed to cater for young people from Jewish families in the greater Oxford area, for both those connected with the Oxford Jewish Community and friends.   Our goal is to strengthen the Jewish roots and Jewish experience of youngsters from age 5 upwards, both as participants and as young leaders in the summer scheme. Oxford Kaytana offers a week of excitement, Jewish learning, pride and fun in a warm, friendly, caring environment. 
This year there will also be a leadership training course all week for those in school years 9 and 10; 1st - 5th August
Contact connections@ojc-online.org for an application form,

JCoB Shul
 
Friday night services continue to be held each week at 7:30pm.  We will be having an Oneg Shabbat this Friday 1 July and can still squeeze a couple of more people in if you let us know asap.
 
We will hold a formal Shabbat morning services again on Saturdays 9 July and 23 July. 
On all other weeks, you are also welcome to join us for JCoB-I, a chance to daven more informally including reading and discussing the weekly parshah.
Thanks to a generous donation, there is currently no charge for children, students or low income adults attending meals at JCoB Central.  
For working adults, standard donations are: Dinners £15 Fancy lunches £10.  Light lunches £5.
We welcome your sponsorship so that we can continue to offer hospitality.
 
KOSHER FOOD NEWS
 
Just Kosher (justkosher.co.ouk) will be delivering food to Reading on Sundays 3 and 17 July.  Please let Rebbetzin Shira know if you require only a small number of items. 
 
Orlando shooting
As published in the Jewish News
http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/torah-for-today-this-week-the-orlando-shooting/ 

​On several occasions now, young men of a Muslim background have entered leisure locations and shot large numbers of people. This is an activity encouraged by terrorist organizations like ISIS and Hamas, and the victims have been Jews, partying young Westerners and in the most recent event mainly partying gay men. 
The irony of a self-hating repressed gay Muslim killing gay Americans at a gay bar he used frequently cannot be lost on us. Can there be something to say from a Torah perspective on this matter?
I believe that the reason that some Muslim extremists can rationalise such murder is that they have little and only recent experience (as a religious grouping) of living in any numbers outside Muslim countries. We Jews have two and a half millennia. 
When Pirkei Avot tell us to pray for the peace of the country, when the Gemara tells us that dina d'medina dina, the law of the land is the law, we understand that we have to respect the law of the country and to maintain it. I am certain that there is Islamic jurisprudence to equal this but it is not as deeply ingrained through practice. That comes with time. 
As for their being gay - a shrill fascist might ask whether I as an Orthodox rabbi shouldn't rejoice in the demise of sinners 
What a thought! We're not so far from Rosh Hashanna, when Jews are reminded that there is no human being who has not sinned. Moreover, these are human beings made in God's image. What gives any random religious zealot the right to kill in the name of His law? We are none of us on the spiritual level of Pinchas. 

It should be remarked that we too have our crazies. How very different is the man who killed those poor people in Orlando from the jewish zealot who killed Shira Banki in August 2015? We note that there are a million times more Muslims in the world and in the USA they have access to rifles. 
Our own community does not make it easy to be openly gay. We are not all welcoming to our lgbtqi friends. Our Orthodox religious rules mean we cannot accommodate aspects of modern life like gay marriage - but that should not stop us from reaching out. 
On this matter, none of us should be smug or complacent. 

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zvi
 
Rabbi Zvi’s two minute torah on Beha’alotecha can be found on  http://youtu.be/yF9iYoErObE