This Shabbos David S led a discussion of the week’s parsha Korach. In the parsha there are rebellions by Korach, Dathan and Aviram against Moses and Aaron. We discussed how there were actually 2 rebellions. The first rebellion is with Korach, who wishes to serve Hashem but does not want to accept his (Korach’s) role in the community. The second rebellion is with Dathan and Aviram, who never have any faith or belief in Hashem to begin with.
Korach was like a blocker on a football team who wants to play quarterback. He thought everyone was equally holy, so anyone - including himself - could play the role of Moses or Aaron. He did not realize that he may have been able to act out the role of Moses and Aaron, but he did not have all the qualities of Moses and Aaron. Korach did not have the depth of a relationship with Hashem, as did Moses and Aaron. Regardless of what qualities Korach had, the fact is Hashem specifically choose Moses and Aaron to have the roles that they did. This is all a lesson for us today. We all have a role to play, and all of our roles are important. But we can't just choose any role that pleases us personally. We have to consider what is the role that is Hashem's plan for us that best fits into Hashem's overall plan. We talked this Shabbos about the importance of community, and living on a team in which we give and take with others.
Dathan and Aviram questioned why we even left Egypt, to begin with. They had no faith or belief in Hashem. They refused to even take part in the experiment that Moses had set up. This is why their punishment was worse than that of those who took part in the sacrifice. Dathan and Aviram were swallowed up by the earth, where-as the rebels lead by Korach died from flames during the sacrifice. The rebels lead by Korach died a more honorable death. As for Korach, himself, we discussed how Korach was really worthy of both punishments, because his rebellion lead others to rebel, even if the other rebellion was more extreme.
Efroni gave a very interesting dvar Torah of material from Rav Avigdor Neventzol. One of the questions we discussed is - if Hashem is all powerful why did it take him 6 days to create everything? We discussed how Hashem wants us to imitate him. He wants us to finish creation, and to do it with a day of rest just like him. If hashem just took 1 day, then we would be celebrating Shabbot every day!
Another questions we discussed is how Hashem could have done all his work in only 6 days. Scientifally there appears to be millions of years between the time of the "big bang" and the first appearance of man. Of course, the definition of “day” may have been different in the beginning before the sun and planets came into existence. But Efroni talked about another explanation that comes from Rav Avigdor Neventzol, which is that Hashem created everything to begin in a mature state. This would mean that events like the “big bang” were just in Hashem’s “imagination” and just the way things appear to us scientifically.
Efroni also gave a dvar Torah about toveling, immersing pots and other items in water. It is not necessary to tovel items that are attached. It is also not necessary to tovel items that are made by Jews, or that are owned by non-Jews. These exceptions help provide us a solution if we have an item that presents a problem in toveling. We may be able to pass ownership onto a non-Jew, or have a Jew participate in the manufacturing or putting toegether of an item.
David S. led more discussion and learning on the topic of Shabbot. We learned that it is inappropriate to discuss week day activities that are not allowed on Shabbot. For example, it would be inappropriate to discuss how we are planning to water our plants. However, this mainly applies to the future. Discussing what we have done in the past is ok, unless we are using this discussion to plan for the future. If we do want to discuss the future, it may be ok to talk in vague terms. For example, we could say we are going to take a look at our plants when Shabbos is over.
In our discussion, the point was made again that we need to use common sense on Shabbot to preserve the holiness of the day and to keep the day different than other days. If we do not do this, more rules and laws will need to be put into place. It would be best if it was sufficient to just have general directives and then we could use common sense to come up with the details. We do not want to get to the point of some communities where things like exactly what food is going to be served is spelled out.
Finally we want to wish Alex K. well with his move and hope to hear from him soon!
This is a summary of what we discussed this past Shabbos. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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