This led to a discussion of whether or not following the
specifics of halakhah was enough. We
concluded that it was important to not only follow the specifics of halakhah
but to also “bring something to the table”.
We discussed how it was important to follow the spirit of the law and
make sure the general ideas and purpose and our mission are not being lost in
the details. Yaki talked about how we
must ask ourselves during the day if what we are doing, or not doing, is what
Hashem would want us to do. Another example
is Shabbos. It is very important that we
follow the specific halakhah. But this
is not sufficient, we must also do whatever we can to encourage the spirit of
the day and make it special, such as having our best meals and wearing our best
cloths.
We discussed how we balance two emotions towards Hashem, fear and
love. We have fear of Hashem and the
consequences of not following the details of the Torah, but at the same time we
have love for Hashem that motivates us to follow the spirit of the law, and to
always look to create a Kiddush hashem, imitating Hashem’s ways, and
representing Hashem in a way that is most holy.
Yaki talked about finding money and returning it to its owner, even
though there may not be a specific halakhah requiring this. In business, we should not try to fool
customers into believing things that are not true, even though there may not be specific halakhah.
David talked some more about a central idea of Judaism, that
we are not the result of some random, unplanned process, but rather the whole
universe was created by Hashem with us in mind. We
talked about how we are the only piece of physical material that has free
will. The sun, stars, planets, trees,
and animals do not have free will in the same way that we do. We discussed how Hashem gave us free will, and wants us to make moral choices. If we automatically made the right choices, then we would not have free will. It would also take away some of our free will if we were instantly rewarded and punished for the choices we make. For example, we generally don’t use our free will to put our hands in fire because we would certainly be punished for this in the form of pain. However, with moral choices the consequences are not necessary as certain or quick so it really is up to us what to do. We discussed how when Hashem does choose to reward or punish, it is usually done with leaders, in order to make an example for all of us.
This Shabbos we started discussing Pesach. We discussed the general purpose of holidays – the “common denominator” – which is to come closer to Hashem, and how with Pesach, there is a specific mitzvah to teach our children – the next generation – about how we were freed from slavery in Egypt.
One of the things we discussed, is why the general mitzvah
to teach our children Torah, does not cover the mitzvah to teach our children
about what happened in Egypt. The reason
we have 2 mitzvahs – one to remember what happened in Egypt – and two to teach
our children Torah, is because the learning and remembering from Cedar nights
helps increase children’s desire to learn Torah during the year. And although it is a mitzvah to teach this to
children, in a broader sense it is important for all of us to remember and
never forget that we were once slaves, that Hashem helped us become free, and
that there was a purpose for our freedom.
We discussed how we were not free just to become free, but were freed to
receive the Torah and carry out our mission.
Finally, we discussed that it is most interesting that central ideas of Judaism, contained in the Torah, later turn out to be accepted by scientists. For example, the idea that time has a beginning originated in the Torah. Scientist use to believe that time was always here. Now scientist generally agree that time had a beginning.
This is a summary of what we discussed this past Shabbos. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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