We began our learning by discussing one of the week’s parshas, which is known as Matot. We discussed the section of the parsha which includes the laws concerning vows. We are obligated to keep our vows. However in certain circumstances, a husband or father can annul the vows of his wife or daughter. We discussed how vows should not be taken lightly. We should be careful not to make too many vows, as each vow adds to the laws and commandments that are already included in the Torah.
David S. shared a story that his father, Rav Natan, would tell. This story describes an interesting paradox. A husband issues a conditional get. The get states that 30 days from today a divorce will be granted, retroactive to today, as long as the wife keeps her vows. What happens, the wife pledges not to eat any meat, the husband annuls the vow, and then the wife eats meat. All this takes place within the 30 days. The question is – is the divorce granted? If the divorce is granted, then the husband annulled the vow during a period of time in which he wasn’t the husband, so the wife committed an aveira and the divorce should not have been granted. But if the divorce is not granted the husband had the power to annul the vows and the wife did not commit an aveira, so the divorce should have been granted.
This Shabbos we discussed some of the issues surrounding evil and suffering in the world. Why does Hashem allow evil and suffering? David S. shared that this was a topic that his father would often talk about. One of the main points we discussed, is that Hashem doesn’t just allow suffering, he intentionally created a world in which suffering and evil would exist. This suffering gives us work and mitzvah to do, in order to create well-being out of the suffering, and turn the negative of suffering into a positives. This helps us to grow, become closer to Hashem, and finish the act of creation that Hashem started.
David S. shared how his father would say that Hashem created the best and most perfect world that is possible. And the most perfect world for us, is a world that is not perfect. This world includes us having free will. If we automatically made choices that were the right choices to make, we would not have free will, we would be like robots. Evil is one of the proofs that we do in fact have free will, and some of us choose to follow the Torah and do what is right and some of us do not.
If there was no suffering, and we always had a feeling of well-being, we would not know we were having a feeling of well-being because there would be nothing to compare it to. One of the questions we discussed is why there is severe suffering, such as with the holocaust and earthquakes? It is possible the holocaust and earthquakes would have been a lot worse without Hashem’s intervention, but why do things like this happen to begin with? We did not come up with a single satisfactory answer, but it is clear that there are events and circumstances we are powerless to do much about. One point that was made is that either there is going to be suffering or there is not, and if there is suffering then all suffering is going to occur, including some that is severe, and/or some that we can do nothing about. If we could control everything, what would be the role for Hashem in our lives?
Another question we discussed is the other extreme, and why it is necessary to have minor annoyances that we cannot do anything about. Hashem gives us free will to choose which annoyances we want to do something about, and which we are going to tolerate and accept. It is clear that Hashem intended the most perfect world for us, to be one that is not perfect in which some things would have to be tolerated and accepted.
One of the topics we discussed this Shabbos, is how everything comes from Hashem, including money. David W talked about how families use to live with maids, butlers, and servants and then lose their wealth. The same way that Hashem can give us money and wealth, he can take it away.
Hashem would like us to enrich ourselves, so that we can use our wealth to perform mitzvahs such as giving Tzedukuh. We discussed giving of Tzedukuh to poor people. In giving tzedukuh, we are representing Hashem. This helps the poor maintain a good relationship with Hashem, and Hashem then has a better relationship with us. We discussed how it is desirable to be helpful to the poor, without enabling them to continue having problems. If we are going to give someone money, then it is better that it be a loan. Better yet, would be to give someone a job. This would be better than giving someone money or loaning it to them.
We spent some time this Shabbos discussing the issue of non-Jews doing work. There is nothing prohibiting a non-Jew from working on Shabbos, but there are prohibitions against us benefitting from this work. We are not allowed to directly ask a non-Jew to do work for us. However, it is possible to train non-Jews. Brian R talked about how an employee has been trained to follow certain rules - like not changing the state of the lights - when he is dressed up as if it is a special day.
We are not allowed to benefit from a Torah level violation by a non-Jew. However, most violations are rabbinic violations, and we can benefit from these as long as the non-Jew did not have us in mind as a beneficiary. For example, if a non-Jew turns on a light in order that he can see better, and then forgets to turn it off, we can benefit from the light being turned on.
Finally David W shared some good news that Israel is doing very well economically. He also shared that it is helpful that surrounding enemies are not focused on Israel, but are fighting each other. He shared that one area in which Israel needs to improve, is internal fighting, and that it would be nice if we could all get along.
This is a summary of what we discussed this past Shabbos. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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