Recap for 22 Sh'vat 5773

This Shabbos we continued our discussion of what it takes to make a minyan.  The shul may have many rooms, but it is necessary to have 10 men physically present in the main room.  Additional men can then gather in an adjoining room, and they will count as having been part of the minyan, but they can not count for meeting the requirement of having 10 men.

There are 4 levels of minyan participation.  The first level is being present in the main room.  The second level is being present in an adjoining room.  The third level is being present in the parking lot or somewhere within listening distance.  And the fourth level is listening to a minyan over the radio, television, internet, or some other communication device.  We discussed whether or not we could answer "amen" to a radio broadcast.  We can, but it is less than the ideal situation of being actually present with a minyan.

We discussed what would happen if there are enough to have a minyan and begin a service, but someone leaves.  If someone leaves in the middle of a section, resulting in less than 10 men, it is permissible to finish the current section – even if it normally would require a minyan.  It is also permissible to do the kaddish which separates the sections.  But any subsequent sections requiring a minyan will have to be put on hold until 10 men are present.  Some minyans immediately stop when someone leaves, and this is not necessary.

Yaki spoke this Shabbos about the differences between believing something because it is logical, and believing something because we believe it in our gut and as a core of our being.  There are some things in which it is better to choose to believe, and to believe it with all our heart.  This includes our belief in Hashem.  This way we can never be talked out of it.  

Our belief in Hashem makes logical sense, that the incredible organization and design of the world did not come about randomly and by accident, but we also have to belief this as a choose and as a core foundation of our being.  David pointed out how there are things that we just belief and no amount of argument is going to convince us otherwise, such as politics.  This is the same with our belief in Hashem.

We talked about how Pesach is coming up, and how this sometimes brings stress and anxiety in people when it should bring great joy and happiness.  Many people think Pesach means a complete and never ending “spring cleaning” of their home, and it brings anxiety to them that all this will need to be done within a deadline.  But according to the actual halakhah the preparation required is a lot less than this.  It has just become a custom to take this opportunity to do a lot of cleaning.

We discussed the parsha and how the order of events as described in the Torah is not the actual order of events.  The organization of the Jewish people is described before the giving of the Torah, however the Jewish people’s organization as described occurred afterwards.  We discussed possible reasons for this.  One of them is that we must be organized in order to accomplish our mission of learning Torah and applying it and using it as a guideline.  There were 600,000 Jews at the time, and in order for all of them to absorb the Torah and incorporate it in their lives it was necessary to have an organizational structure.

We talked about the month of Adar, and how we elevate our level of Simcha during this month.  We discussed how the greatest joy occurs following times when we were in our darkest moments.  Our emotions compare our current well-being to the place we recently were at, and this large gap results in a lot of happiness.  An example that was brought up, if we are in a boat and reach shore we may be glad to have arrived; but if it started and continued hailing while we are on the boat we are going to be absolutely delighted and relieved to have made it to shore!

This is a summary of what we discussed this Shabbos.  No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.