Reading Saint Luke’s Gospel in Advent 2019: Luke 17

As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him … they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ (Luke 17: 12-13)

Patrick Comerford

During the Season of Advent this year, I am joining many people in reading a chapter from Saint Luke’s Gospel each morning. In all, there are 24 chapters in Saint Luke’s Gospel, so this means being able to read through the full Gospel, reaching the last chapter on Christmas Eve [24 December 2019].

Why not join me as I read through Saint Luke’s Gospel each morning this Advent?

Luke 17 (NRSVA):

1 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! 2 It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. 4 And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, “I repent”, you must forgive.’

5 The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ 6 The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.

7 ‘Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table”? 8 Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink”? 9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”’

11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ 14 When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19 Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’

20 Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21 nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’

22 Then he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, “Look there!” or “Look here!” Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all of them 30 – it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.’ 37 Then they asked him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’

A prayer for today:

A prayer today (Eglantine Jebb) from the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG, United Society Partners in the Gospel:

Let us be inspired by the work of Eglantine Jebb, the founder of Save the Children, and pray for its ministry today.

Tomorrow: Luke 18.

Yesterday: Luke 16.

He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan (Luke 17: 16-17)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Hidden stories of Jewish Bratislava: 2, Richard Réti, chess grandmaster, author

Richard Réti (1889-1929) was a chess grandmaster, chess author, and composer of endgame studies … an exhibition in the Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

During last month’s visit to Bratislava, two of us waited for over half an hour for a booked guide who never showed. Eventually, we made our own impromptu tour of Jewish Bratislava, visiting major sites associated with the stories of the Jewish community in the Slovak capital.

The sites we visited included the area that was once the mediaeval Jewish ghetto, the site of the earliest synagogue at the present Ursuline Church, the Chatam Sofer Memorial commemorating the city’s most famous rabbi, the site of the former Neolog Synagogue, the Holocaust Memorial on Rybné Square, the city’s last surviving synagogue on Heydukova Street, and the Museum of Jewish Culture on Židovská Street.

As I pored over my photographs from Bratislava in recent days, I realised I had also come across many other stories of Bratislava’s Jewish communities, including a world chess grandmaster and author, a resistance hero who saved lives during the Holocaust, the lost portal of a mediaeval synagogue, an international wrestler, a visiting Russian pianist and composer, an antiquarian bookshop, and a man who stood up bravely to anti-Semitic gangs.

Rather than tell these hidden stories in detail in one or two blog postings, I decided – as with my recent tales of Viennese Jews – to post occasional blog postings over the next few weeks that re-tell some of these stories, celebrating a culture and a community whose stories should never be forgotten.

Richard Selig Réti (1889-1929) was an Austro-Hungarian, later Czechoslovak chess grandmaster, chess author, and composer of endgame studies.

He was one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism in chess. With the exception of Nimzowitsch’s book, My System, he is considered the movement’s foremost literary contributor.

Réti was born into a Jewish family in Bazin, now Pezinok, near Bratislava, on 28 May 1889. The town was then in Hungary and is now in Slovakia. His father, Dr Samuel Réti, worked there as a medical doctor in the Austrian army and was the head of the local, iron-rich, medical spa. The family later moved to Vienna, where his father set up a private practice.

The magic of chess enchanted Richard Réti from a young age, but his start in chess was so inauspicious that he came in last in tournament in Vienna in 1908. However, his talent was exceptional, by 1912 he was recognised as a brilliant player and he became a member of the famed Vienna Chess Club.

Richard also excelled in mathematics, and studied mathematics at Vienna University.

His colleague the chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower wrote, ‘Réti studies mathematics, and yet is no dry mathematician; he represent Vienna, though he is no Viennese; he was born in Hungary and doesn’t speak Hungarian; he speaks uncommonly quickly, yet makes no premature decisions; one day he will be the best chess player but he won’t be world champion.’

It could be said Réti began his chess career because of his forgetfulness: he forgot his thesis in the café where he played and analysed games of chess, and did not want to rewrite it; and so he started making a living as a chess player.

He began his career as a combinative classical player, favouring openings such as the King’s Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4). He played in tournaments and simultaneous exhibitions, wrote articles and books about chess, and gave lectures about chess.

His playing style changed after the end of World War I, and he became one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism, along with Aron Nimzowitsch and others. With the exception of Aron Nimzowitsch’s book My System, he is considered to be the movement’s foremost literary contributor.

Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Réti was one of the top players in the world, travelling throughout Europe and America. His most significant early successes were from 1918 to 1922, in tournaments in Košice or Kaschau (1918), Rotterdam (1919), Amsterdam (1920), Vienna (1920), Gothenburg (1921), and in 1922 in Teplice-Šanov, Czechoslovakia (1922), when he triumphed over an entire multitude of European masters.

The Réti Opening (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4) is named after him. Réti defeated World Champion José Raúl Capablanca in the New York 1924 chess tournament using this opening – Capablanca’s first defeat in eight years, his only loss to Réti, and his first since becoming world champion.

This tournament was also the only occasion in which Réti beat future world champion Alexander Alekhine, accomplishing this feat in the same number of moves, and with the same final move (31.Rd1–d5). He won the ‘brilliancy prize’ for the most brilliant game in the tournament that year.

In 1925, Réti set a world record for blindfold chess with 29 games played simultaneously: he won 21 games, drew 6, and lost 2.

Réti was an exception among grandmasters, being keenly interested in composing chess problems and studies, and he was a notable composer of endgame studies. His writings have become classics of chess literature, including Modern Ideas in Chess (1923) and Masters of the Chess Board (1933).

Réti died 90 years ago on 6 June 1929 in Prague of scarlet fever. He was buried in his father’s grave in the Jewish section of Zentralfriedhof cemetery in Vienna.

His older brother Rudolph Reti (1885-1957) was a noted pianist, musical theorist and composer. Richard Réti’s son, Simon Reti, was murdered in Auschwitz; his grandson, Benjamin Reti, was killed as he tried to escape Hungary after the Soviet invasion in 1956; his great-grandson is the German painter Elias Maria Reti.

Richard Réti was an exception among grandmasters, being keenly interested in composing chess problems and studies (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)