Recap for 22 Adar I, 5774 (Parsha Vayhakel)

This Shabbos David led the learning, and we began our discussion with this week’s parsha Vayakhel. In the parsha, we receive atonement for the sin of the golden calf, and Moses brings down new tablets. The next day, he gathers everyone together and goes over detailed instructions we are to follow in building the Tabernacle. We discussed how we were able to recover to a high enough state to be ready to receive these instructions, very soon after having reached the low of our golden calf sin. We discussed how this recovery was possible because we unified with a strong sense of purpose. Our motivation was so strong, that Moses had to stop us from donating too much material for the construction of the tabernacle.

Although we were unified and seemed to have returned to our previous high spiritual state, the sin of the Golden Calf has remained a scar to us through-out history. It is believed that the accountability for this sin has stretched on through-out generations. It is thought that every time we experience repercussions for something, some of this is partly due to the sin of the Golden Calf.

This may not seem to be fair, that we have to live the consequences of our ancestors. We discussed this Shabbos how the world is not necessarily fair, and is what it is. We have evil and suffering in the world which may not be fair, but some of this may be a blessing in disguise. David relayed what his father, Rav Dr. George Schlesinger would say about this, that Hashem created the most perfect world possible. This most perfect world is not one in which there is the least amount of evil and suffering, but one in which the opportunity to do moral acts and mitzvah is maximized. This world is also perfected by the fact there is accountability for our decisions and actions both as individuals and as groups. Accountability keeps us motivated to do the acts that the creator wants to maximize.

We discussed this Shabbos what leadership traits Moses had, and what makes a good leader in general. How was it Moses was able to get us to unify and become spiritually ready to receive the instructions to build the tabernacle? We discussed the leadership traits of charisma, and being able to find common ground amongst people who may have a lot of differences. Some-times people follow a leader because they have no choice, which is known as authority power; other leaders derive their power by having great ability to motivate people. We have discussed some of the teaching from business school, with respect to how leaders get their power.

We discussed the upcoming holiday of Purim. Although we put on masks, which would seem to be hiding ourselves, the goal of Purim is to reveal our true selves. It is said that 4 ways in which we can tell who someone really is, is to observe how they are with money, anger, when drinking, and when at play. On Purim we create all 4 of these situations.

We discussed how Purim can actually be a more difficult holiday to observe than Yom Kippur. With Yom Kippur, if we fast and spend the day in prayer, it can be concluded we are successfully observing the holiday. With Purim, simply drinking and teasing each other does not in and of itself show we are successfully observing the holiday, since these are activities that we are often inclined to do without much effort anyways. With Purim, it is a lot easier to lose touch with the meaning and spirituality of the day.

Finally, we discussed when it would be better to hear the Megillah if we could only hear it one time. Dave W. suggested that this would be best during the day, and we discussed how this was correct because that is the time when we are primarily engaged in the mitzvahs of the day.

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

Recap of our discussion, 15th of Adar I, 5774 (Parsha Ki Tisa)

This week we have our Kiddush and learning of parsha Ki Tisa, and a special Kiddush for the Yahrzeit of Yakki’s father.  May his memory be for a blessing.  Yakki talks about his father, how he survived the holocaust and how he did it.  It is an incredible story of being one of only a few survivors amongst many brothers and sisters.  Yakki also talks about how his father would always have an open house on Shabbos, and how his father believed the message of this week’s parsha – that we donate half of a sheckel, to symbolize that we can not be whole on our own, and we need to be part of a larger group.  Yakki spoke about how often the number 2 seems to come up.  There is man and wife, heaven and earth, body and soul.

This Shabbos, David led some learning, and we discussed the week’s parsha Ki Tisa and commentary by Rav Yeager.  In the parsha, Moses spends 40 days learning Torah, prior to transmitting this information to us.  We discussed how we are partners with Hashem in creating Torah.  The Torah contains information that we use in coming up with specifics and help with interpretation through-out time.  Moses did not get the specifics that we would follow today in the 21^st century, but he did receive the framework in which we come up with these specifics. 

We discussed how Moses was able to get all this in just 40 days.  Efroni discusses this in his book, A year of Divrei Torah, Hashem will help us learn Torah, but we have to do our part.   This is how Moses is able to acquire everything in 40 days.  Even today Hashem can help us learn Torah, and help us remember what we learned so we can write it down doing these notes!

We discussed how Moses breaks the tablets, without first checking with Hashem.  We discussed the 2 other times Hashem does something major without first checking with Hashem.  One of them is giving us an extra day – for a total of 4 days – to prepare for receiving the Torah, and the other is separating from his wife.  

We discussed how Moses breaks the tablets, because it is not the tablets themselves that bring us spirituality and enhance our relationship with Hashem.  We need to first follow the Torah.  Then physical things such as tablets that have been carved out, can be used to express our spiritual state of being.  Physical things, such as star of David necklaces, synagogues, tablets, do not cause us to become spiritual and close to Hashem.  We become spiritual and close to Hashem, and then create physical things as an expression of this.

We discussed how it could be that we commit the sin of the Golden Calf, and then Moses is asking Hashem that we be given even a greater state of being than we had before we committed this sin, similar to asking for a raise after we have done something in which we should be fired!  The answer seems to be, that we learn so much from our wrong doings and sins, that we are ready to reach new heights.  Sometimes we have to go through the worst, in order to reach the best.

We continued our discussion of the calendar and the insertion of an extra month of Adar during leap years.  We discussed what would happen if someone reached the point to have their barmitzvah during Adar I of a leap year.  Would the barmitzvah be postponed from Adar I to Adar II?  We concluded that yes, a person who reaches the point of his barmitzvah on for example the 20^th of Adar I, would have the barmitzvah on the 20^th of Adar II.  This results in some interesting situations.  First it is possible that someone who is older could have a barmitzvah on say the 5^th of Adar II, and someone who is younger would have his barmitzvah on a later date in Adar II.  Second, it is possible that someone born the last day of Shevat would have his barmitzvah a full 30 days earlier than someone born the first day of Adar, in which the time separating the births could be less than an hour!  In the case of a Yahrzeit, some hold that we should commemorate the memory twice, once during Adar I, and once during Adar II.  So during the first year there would be three events, the end of the 11 month period for saying Kaddish, and then the Yahrzeit once in each of the two months of Adar.

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

Recap of our discussion, 8th of Adar I, 5774 (Parsha Tetzaveh)

This week we have our Kiddush and learning of Parsha Tetzaveh, and a special Kiddush for the Yahrzeit of Norm’s father, Baruch ben Yitzhak.  May his memory be a blessing.  Norm offers up some torah, that unlike the other parshas, Moshe’s name is not included in this week’s parsha.  The reason for this being that Moshe tells Hashem to erase his name from the Torah, if the Jewish people are not going to be forgiven for their sins, the main sin being the sin of the Golden Calf.

David leads discussion of this week’s parsha Tetaveh.  Hashem’s instructions for the menorah seem to be out of place in the week’s parsha.  We discussed how in general the Torah may not be written in chronological order when Hashem wants us to learn something related to the current parsha.  We discussed how in this week’s parsha, the menorah symbolizes the light which the Torah beams onto a dark world, and how the menorah symbolizes the foundation that we need before we can start offering sacrifices in the temple.  

This foundation is the mitzvahs as conveyed in the Torah that Moses receives and transmits to us.

We discussed how there is a “curtain” between the menorah, which represents this foundation, and the arc, which represents Hashem’s role in the world.  David pointed out how we need to focus on what we are suppose to be doing – the mitzvah – and not worry so much about Hashem and what his role is.  We also discussed how we need to practice spirituality by doing mitzvah and following commandments, before we start practicing spirituality by wearing jewelry and offering sacrifices.

We discussed how Moses wants so much to be spiritual and carry out the will of Hashem, he is unhappy that the temple roles are assigned to his brother Aron.  It isn’t so much that Moses is jealous, he just wants so  much to reach the next level.  Moses does not realize the huge importance of his own role, receiving the Torah, being our leader, and transmitting the Torah to us.  It is interesting how Aron is actually assigned the job of lighting the menorah, which symbolizes that our foundation must come first.

This Shabbos we also continue our discussion of our calendar.  Our months are normally 29 or 30 days, although sometimes there are extra days to ensure that holidays fall on certain days.  The result is that our years (non-leap year) are usually 354 days, with some 353 and 355 day years.  Our calendar still uses the solar year, of approximately 365.25 years, so that we need to make up the short fall of approximately 11 days by having leap years, which will increase the length of the year by 30 days.

In ancient times we would add the extra month whenever it appeared that Pesach in Israel would be coming too early.  This extra month is called Adar II, and becomes the main month.  Purim occurs on the 14th of Adar II during leap years, and occurs on the 14th of Adar I during non leap years.  During leap years, we observe Purim Katan on the 14th of Adar I.

In modern times,  we add this month on the 3^rd, 6^th, 8^th, 11^th, 14^th, 17^th, and 19^th year, of a 19 year cycle.  Every 19 years we need to make up approximately 19 times 11 equal 209 days.  We make up this shortfall by adding in 7 months of 30 days, every 19 years.  There are some complexities with the calendar and the total number of days per year can vary which is why 209 divided by 7 is not exactly 30.  

We discussed how with the solar calendar, a year is approximately 365.25 days.  We have a leap year every 4 years, so that 3 years are 365 days and a 4rth year is 366 days.  Having said this, it actually is more complicated and we do have to make adjustments every 100 and 400 years, because a year is not exactly 365.25 days, it is actually approximately 365.2422 days, and this is still aproximate!

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

Recap of our discussion, Adar 1, 5774, Parsha Terumah

This Shabbos we discussed the parsha, Terumah, in which Moses is given detailed instructions in which to construct a dwelling place for Hashem.  We discussed the order of the Parsha, and how the details come first, and then the objective, which is to create this dwelling place.  We talked about how normally, giving people the overall objective first, helps motivate them in carrying out the details, but in this case we had achieved such a high level of spirituality, we would be highly willing to carry out this project.  This lead to an interesting discussion of how in the Israeli army it is a strategy to make sure all the soldiers are aware of the overall objectives, rather than just giving out orders to them. 

We discussed some of the specifics with respect to the design of this dwelling place.  We talked about how the cherubim would face each other, to reflect when we are in alignment with Hashem’s will for us, and how the cherubim would face away from each other, to reflect when we are not in alignment.  Ultimately the cherubim were placed so that they were at angles, which represents that we are somewhat aligned with Hashem’s will, but there is room for improvement.

We discussed the fact that we have challenges, to do things like overcome temptation, and whether or not that is better than to not have any challenges or temptations at all.  Would it be good if we never had temptation?  One of the points that was brought up is that we get a feeling of accomplishment when there are challenges, which we would not get otherwise.  Another point is that challenges and overcoming temptation help us grow spiritually, by bringing us closer to Hashem.  One of the interesting discussions we had was whether it was more desirable to have always eaten kosher food, vs. having to wrestle with the challenge of giving up non-kosher food. 

David talked about how his father, Rabbi Dr. George Schlesinger, would say that everyone has challenges with non-kosher food, as even those who have grown up keeping kosher have to wrestle with curiosity of what non-kosher food is like.  Hashem created a world in which we have to undergo a certain level of “pain” in order to “gain”, whether that gain is physical, at the gym, or spiritual. Those who have grown to the point where resisting non-kosher food is no longer a great challenge, can find other ways to grow spiritually, whether it is dealing with a different type of temptation, like curiosity, or in some other way.

Finally, we discussed our calendar.  Generally, a month is one lunar cycle.  In ancient times, witnesses would notice a new moon, at which time they would testify to this, and the court would rule that a new month had begun.  The length of time for a month involves fractional days, so that sometimes a month is 29 days, and sometimes it is 30.  Normally, adding up all the months results in a year that is less than the number of days in a solar year, so that every few years an extra month is inserted.  We call this month, Adar II.  Without Adar II a year would have around 350 days, and with Adar II the year has around 380 days.  Some of the months may not always have the same number of days.  We may adjust the lengths of these months so that holidays do not occur on certain days.

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