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
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