Recap for 13 Av, 5774 (Parsha Va'etchanan)

This Shabbos David Schlesinger led discussion of the week’s parsha Va’etchanan, and Rav Yeager’s commentary on the parsha. We started by discussing the very beginning of the Torah, with the first sentence of Bereishit, and how this relates to this week’s parsha. This week’s parsha includes a repetition of the 10 commandments, which begin with the first commandment, which is belief in Hashem. We discussed how we must first believe in Hashem, and that the Torah comes from Hashem, before we can move on to anything else.

We discussed how the first sentence of Bereishit is about Hashem, but why Hashem’s name isn't the very first word.   Ellie suggested that maybe there is a gematra reason for this. Another possible explanation that we discussed is that the Torah is not suppose to be directly about Hashem.  The Torah is actually about how to connect with Hashem.  By studying and following the Torah, we can connect to Hashem.

We discussed other ways to get close to Hashem, or "cleaving" to Hashem, as Yakki called it.  One of these is to study his creations. David pointed out that the more we know about such subjects as science and math, the more we can see the greatness of the creator. Another way to get close to Hashem that we discussed is to imitate his ways.

We discussed how human-beings have a natural desire to connect to something greater and more powerful than ourselves. We seem to be born with this. Yaki referred to this as a “yearning". David suggested that the fact we have this yearning, is evidence of the existence of Hashem. Although we are born with this yearning, it is not necessarily for Hashem specifically. Hashem wants us to use our free will to believe in him. Through out history, many people have satisfied their desire for something greater by worshipping idols, believing in multiple Gods, or believing in other types of greater forces.

We discussed how Judaism brought monotheism, and a Torah of moral values, to the world. Today the largest religions are monotheistic, and have taken the ideas that originated with Judaism. We discussed how Jews have a special mission in the world, and how non-jews are expected to follow 7 special laws which ensures they at least have a chance at receiving our message.

Ellie brought up the question of why we even need a Torah to begin with if certain things are obvious. Ellie then answered his question by pointing out that we all have a yitz ahora which is an evil inclination. This inclination interferes with our ability to be able to figure out what we should do, and then to carry it out.

We discussed some of the current events that are in the news. Norm pointed out that our customs and laws concerning burial, prevent the spread of disease, such as what is going on now with the Ebola epidemic. Norm also spoke about the heroism of KC, who stopped a train in order to save everyone’s life except himself. KC was willing to sacrifice himself for everyone else. A gentleman at our learning who prefers to be anonymous spoke about how terrorist groups such as Hamas are no different than Al Quada and ISIS and that we should support Israel, and fight these groups now rather than later.

One of the main topics we discussed this Shabbos is that of being “in a storm”, or going through a period of life that is not going well. One thing we can do to deal with this is realize that things could be worse. David repeated what Norm says about a group of people attending a group therapy and how that allows them to see that it could be worse. A gentleman (who wants to remain anonymous) at our learning pointed out what it says in the Torah about he who is happy with what he has, being someone who is happy.

We discussed another, perhaps better way of dealing with a bad period - which is to have faith in Hashem and realize that it will get better. That is what some of the Jews did who were in the desert, and Hashem did spare the lives of 15,000 of them. Given time, all bad things will come to an end, and if we have faith and connect with Hashem we really never need to be as fearful as we are.

We discussed the upcoming day of Tu Bshvat. This is the day that Hashem spared the lives of the 15,000 people. It is the day that these people looked up and saw a full moon. These people had faith in Hashem, and things did in fact get better for them.

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