Recap for 21 Tamuz, 5774 (Parsha Matot, "Gambling and Hanukah", and "Wisdom and Foresight")

This Shabbos, David Schlesinger summarized for us an article written by his father. The article, “Gambling and Hanukah”, by Dr. Rabbi George Schlesinger, appeared in Chai Today magazine. The article starts off by analyzing the question of exactly what is gambling. We would all agree that going into a casino, when the odds are stacked against us, is gambling and may not be a desirable activity to be engaged in. We also discussed the case of a professional gambler, who plays games of skill in which the odds may be in his favor. However, this may still be problematic, as he is not adding value to society and there is halakhah against him being a witness.

We discussed how investing in the stock market also may seem to be a form of gambling, but there are differences between this and gambling in a casino. First investing in stocks provides capital that enables organizations to function and grow. Secondly, there is generally a positive expectation when investing in stock. The investor is more likely to come out ahead over the long run – although this is of course not guaranteed. Our economy depends on people taking risk.

The article continues to discuss the case of risking our lives. Is it ok to “gamble” one’s life? The article discusses how it is not only ok, but mandated that one do so in certain situations. For example, entering a burning house to save family members. However, we should not enter a burning house to try to save our possessions! The article discusses how in the story of Hanukah, we risked our lives to fight off the Greeks, and that we made the right decision to do so, rather than accept the Greek culture and way of life.

Earlier in the week we attended an unveiling in honor of HaRav Natan Ben HaRav Shmuel (aka Dr. Rabbi George Schlesinger). At the ceremony, David summarized for us another article written by his father entitled “Wisdom and Foresight”. This article also appeared in Chai Today magazine. In the article, Dr. Schlesinger discusses intelligence and how it can be helpful in life in accomplishing our goals and being successful. However, intelligence is often not enough, and there are actually times when our own intelligence can get us into trouble.

The article discusses 2 things in which we should be aware. First, we should be aware of our limitations. Thinking that we know everything about anything is a recipe for disaster. No matter how intelligent we may be, we are all human, and there are going to be things we know nothing or very little about. It is important that we stay quiet and do not interject all the time.

Second, our emotions play a very large role in our behavior and decision making. Sometimes this can be helpful when our emotions are based on experience and wisdom. In other cases we can think we are using our intelligence and making wise decisions, but actually our emotions are influencing us and the decisions we are making are not wise.  

The article discusses how it is important in life to be intelligent but it is also important to have wisdom. This wisdom should be based on our experience, knowledge of our emotions and what subjects we need to stay out of.

This Shabbos we discussed the week’s parsha, Matot, and Rav Yeager’s commentary on the parsha. In the parsha, Moshe presents the laws concerning vows. Avishai and David both discuss and point out that once we make a vow, it becomes a Torah level mitzvah. That means, keeping that vow is as important as keeping the commandments we find in the Torah. David talked about how the vow becomes part of the fabric of reality, and that we follow the vow as we do other commandments because that is simply the way the flow of nature and reality works.

In the parsha, we fight against Midian and then loot these people. David talked about how now-adays we may not do this type of looting, but if a country or people starts a war there needs to be consequences. If a people can start a war, and if they win they destroy us, and if they lose they can go to the UN and have things reverted to the state of things before the war, what is going to stop them from continuously starting wars?

In the parsha, 2 tribes, Reuben and Gad, let Moshe know they are not interested in any of the land west of the Jordan river. However they promise and vow to help conquer the land east of the Jordan. We discussed how this is one of the reasons why the section on vows is included in this week’s parsha.  The vow that the tribes of Reuben and Gad make is very important in the decisions that Moshe makes.

One of the very important points that we discussed concerning vows, is under which circumstances can a vow be annulled. We discussed the situation in which I make a vow to make a sacrifice in order to help heal a friend, and the friend becomes healed before I make the sacrifice. Do I still have to carry out the vow? The answer turns out to be yes! Because the healing may be a result of the vow.  As can be seen, our words are very powerful, with much of what happens based on our words.

Avishai brought up a very interesting discussion this Shabbos about the separation of the physical and spiritual in Israel vs. the rest of the world. In Israel, the physical is very tightly connected to the spiritual. In the rest of the world, we can still connect the two, but the connection is not as natural.  We still have as our mission to "elevate the sparks of kidusha" no matter where we are, but there is something special about being in Israel with respect to this.

This Shabbos we also had a discussion of the Torah and how it is written. Avishai pointed out that there is a lot of history and the Torah can not possibly include every detail. We discussed how what is included in the Torah would be what is important to future generations.

This Shabbos we had a discussion about how this is the last parsha in which Moshe conveys to us that which is communicated to him by Hashem.  We also discussed how there are spots in the Torah where Moshe adds his own details to things.  Brett pointed out how Moshe does this with the story of the spies.  In BaMidbar the story of the spies occurs, and then Moshe tells this along with some added details in D'varim.

Finally, we discussed some more about how special we are, and how Hashem looks after us although we may not see this day to day.  We make up such a small fraction of the total world population, roughly .2% (2 tenths of 1 percent), but the world sure does seem focused on us.  Although we sometimes run into tragedy and misfortune, it is truly amazing how the Jewish people have been able to not only survive, but thrive. David talked about how in the short run anything can happen, and the world was created this way in order to ensure we retain and rely on free will. But in the long run, we are part of Hashem's plans and Hashem takes care of us. 

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

Recap for 14 Tamuz, 5774 (2 articles by Dr. George N. Schlesinger)

This Shabbos, was a special Shabbos as it is the yahrzeit of David’s father, HaRav Natan Ben HaRav Shmuel (aka Dr. Rav. George N. Schlesinger).  Much of the material that we learn every Shabbos originates with Dr. George Schlessinger.  This Shabbos, we had an additional Kiddush and learning at Young Israel, that was in honor of his memory.  May his memory be for a blessing.  

David began by leading discussion of the material in the Daf Yomi.  David later gave a presentation of this material at Young Israel.  There are 2 main sections in this part of the Talmud.   The first being, how we as a nation should ask for help when there are droughts and/or other types of bad conditions.  The second section is about festivals that we celebrate. The first festival is Yom Kippur.  This is considered an important festival to celebrate, because this is the day on which we are forgiven.  The second festival, is the 15th of Av, which is known as Tu B’av.

We spent most of the time discussing Tu B’av.  The Talmud considers this the greatest festival of the year. Why is this so?  There are several reasons that we discussed.  First, this is the day that marked the end of our time in the desert.  After 40 years, an entire generation had given way to a new generation and now we were ready to continue our journey into Israel.  Second, lives were actually saved on this date.  Some of the original Exodus generation’s lives were spared.  Third, we also discussed how on this date tribes were permitted to intermarry.  And finally, at Young Israel David spoke about how this is the day single woman would go to the vineyards.  This can make it a great day for singles.  We also discussed how there is a full moon on this day.

This Shabbos, David discussed an article written by his father that appeared in Chai magazine.  The article is entitled “The First Commandment”.  As we know, this is the commandment that indicates we should believe in Hashem.

This may create a problem to begin with, because it would seem we need to believe in Hashem, before we would follow a commandment from Hashem, that we believe in Hashem.  In the article, Dr. Schlesinger discusses the logic and nature of our belief (or lack of belief) in Hashem.

The article starts off discussing the teachings of Wasserman, that we all have and are born with a strong belief in Hashem, however some of us block this belief off.  The article goes on to discuss that belief in Hashem is actually a decision that we all make, that is (or should be) based on logic and reason, rather than something that we are born with, or feel in our gut.

David talked about how his father would point out just how important this decision is, whether or not to follow the first commandment and believe in Hashem.  He would suggest we are betting our life on this decision.  This decision we make becomes the foundation of our entire philosophy of life, which leads to how we live our life and perceive everything.

We then went on to discuss a second article written by Dr. Rav. George Schlesinger, which also appeared in Chai magazine. This article is entitled “The Leadership of Moshe Rabeinu”. The article discusses how Moshe was not interested in power, status and/or prestige. For example, Moshe would be more interested in helping to judge and resolve disputes that were hard to settle, than in helping to judge and resolve disputes that involved the most important matters.

The article discusses how Moshe was willing to put aside his own personal needs for the good of the Jewish people.  Moshe was interested in using the abilities Hashem gave him as effectively as possible.  Moshe had a lot of humility. He had the opportunity to have his own nation, but told Hashem that he should be the first to go and was not interested in this honor. In fact, Moshe did not want to become a leader to begin with.

We have had a lot of discussions and learning about how we each have a role to play in the community. Moshe was interested in playing his position on the team, but was more concerned with how the team was doing as a whole, than on himself personally. The article discusses how this makes for a man with great character, and this is what made him such a great leader.

This Shabbos, we also discussed the parsha Pinchus. Dave W pointed out the small yud in the parsha, and how this represents those who did not feel as great as Joshua the next leader. We also discussed how Joshua had to relate to Pinchus in order to add some more aggressiveness to his personality.

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

Recap for 7th Tamuz, 5774 (Parsha Balak and "No Peace for the Wicked")

This Shabbos, David summarized for us Efroni’s commentary on the parsha.  Efroni points out how Balak can not take no for an answer.  He continuously asks the non-Jewish prophet Balaam to curse the Jewish people.  Balaam keeps saying "no".  It is not until Balaam's purpose becomes to bless and praise the Jews as specifically directed by Hashem, that Balaam agrees to go.  Dave W commented that the entire parsha is dedicated to this conflict, whereas with Jewish prophets this is not necessary at all.

Efroni describes the history of the families of the Moab leaders, and their basic character flaw of believing that Hashem is like an idol.  Efroni uses the example of Haron, who believes that just like Avraham he is going to come out just fine after going through a fire.  Haron, and the other Moab’s, do not realize that simply being righteous and worshipping Hashem does not result in Hashem becoming a servant of the people.  The reason Avraham came out on the other side, is because Hashem had plans for Avraham to start a religion and nation of people with a purpose.  Haron burns in the fire, because that is what happens if you go into a fire.  Hashem did not have any plans that necessitated the survival of Haron.

We discussed Rav Yeager’s commentary on the parsha.  Balaam is known as the greatest non-Jewish prophet to ever live.  Just like Jewish prophets, such as Moshe, Balaam is able to see and convey the history of the Jewish people and talk of the future including the coming of the messianic era.  However there are big differences between Balaam and Moshe.  Moshe did not have to be forced to use his free will to effectively serve Hashem.  On the other hand, Balaam needed to have his “eyes opened” by Hashem.  We see this with the incident involving the donkey.  Balaam was not inclined to bless and praise the Jewish people, however after receiving instruction and becoming aware he was able to do so.   

We discussed this Shabbos, why the non-Jews were given a prophet, which may have been as a response to their jealousy.  We talked about the very tiny fraction of the world’s population that we as Jews represent, but the tremendous importance of our people as can be seen by the large amount of attention that we get.  This can lead to envy both historically and in the present.  The non-Jews were given Balaam as a prophet, but as we can see from the parsha, this prophet does not carry out the will of Hashem's until he is forced to do so.

David talked about how we all have this free will, and that it is great we live in a country in which we have the freedom to use it.  On this Independence day holiday, we should all give some thought to this, and how fortunate we are to have freedom.  But with this freedom comes responsibility.  We have the responsibility to carry out a purpose.   

This Shabbos, David summarized an article, “No Peace for the Wicked”, written by his father, Dr. George N. Schlesinger.  The article was published in “Chai” magazine back in 1994.  The article starts off discussing how those with a conscience have trouble having peace and sleeping at night when they have done something wrong (or not done something right).  Those who are not wicked in general, or only have some wickedness, have enough conscience to be bothered when they transgress.

The article continues to describe how there are some that are so wicked they have no conscience at all.  These people can sleep at night regardless of what they have done, however their wickedness leads to them never finding any peace.  The article uses as an example, Hitler.  Hitler was able to sleep at night, but ended up losing the war.  The article points out how Germany may have been able to acquire an atomic bomb if the smartest and brightest had not been considered the undesirables by hitler.   

The article goes on to discuss how those who are wicked, let the wickedness control them.  This wickedness and the accompanying emotions, drive their behavior, rather than intelligence and logic.  The wickedness leads towards a lack of trust in anyone, which results in those that are wicked not being able to receive the help of others.

After discussing the article, we moved on to discuss Tefillin.  The general purpose of tefillin is to “elevate the sparks of kedusah”.  In other words, by engraving words of Torah onto physical objects, we symbolize our purpose of bringing spirituality to a physical world.  We discussed how we must treat tefillin with utmost respect, certainly taking off tefillin before going into a restroom.  We also must only wear tefillin when we are conscious of it, so that it has become the practice to take tefillin off and not wear it the entire day.

We studied some Talmud as part of the Daf Yomi program.  In the section, when there are droughts there are procedures that are followed in order to bring about rain.  We do not want to “use up” the people with the greatest abilities to bring the rain about, so we look towards those who have just enough ability to do this. 

We talked about some of the new Jewish communities that have developed.  Jeff B talked about the community in Boca, and Dave W talked about the community in Destin.  

Next week we will have a special Kiddush at Young Israel at 11:00 AM on the occasion of David’s father’s yeirtzeit.

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