EDGWARE MASORTI SYNAGOGUE
http://www.edgwaremasorti.org

 

16 February 2012
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Chaim Pearl Community Centre
Stream Lane
Edgware
Middlesex
HA8 7YA

Phone: 020-8905 4096
Fax: 020-8905 4333

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Text Box: MISHPATIM – Shabbat Shekalim 25th Shevat 5772~11th February 2012 Shabbat begins in London at 17:04 and ends at 18:08 This Sidra contains much of the civil legislation that has been the backbone of Jewish law throughout the ages.  It starts with laws concerning the Hebrew slave who (unless he desires otherwise) must be set free by his master after six years' service.   The section on capital punishment ordains the death penalty for willful murder, striking or cursing a parent, kidnapping, the practice of witchcraft, bestiality and sacrificing to idols.   Compensation for personal suffering applies, among other instances, to injuries inflicted in a fight, accidental miscarriage, death of a person caused by an animal whose owner failed to take adequate precautions and death of a heathen slave caused by a vicious animal.   The Torah states that compensation must also be paid for damage to property or animals - by neglect or through theft, fire or trespassing cattle.  Penalties vary from repayment of full value to five-fold restitution.   A section of the sidra is devoted to moral offenses and lists the laws concerning seduction, witchcraft, sodomy, polytheism, oppression of the weak, loans and pledges, respect towards God and rulers, offerings of first-fruits, unlawful meat, helping one's enemy and impartiality in justice.   Further laws deal with the Sabbatical year, observance of the Sabbath day, and the institution of the three pilgrimages when offerings should be made in gratitude to God.  The final injunction in this section forbids the seething of a kid in its mother's milk.   When Moses returned from Sinai and told these laws to the people, they responded, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do and hear."  Moses, Aaron, Nadav and Avihu then ascended the mount and witnessed a mystic vision of God, after which Moses alone stayed forty days and nights on Sinai to receive the tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments.  Aaron and Hur were left to govern in his absence.