This Shabbos we discussed parsha Shoftim and Rav Yeager’s commentary on the parsha. David Schlesinger led discussion. We discussed how the levy were given a special role, and how they have certain mitzvah that do not apply to all of us. Some of these roles continue to this day. We discussed how even today Hashem gives all of us a special role. We have discussed in the past how Judaism is a team sport, and we all have a position on the team based on our skills and talents and how we fit in.
We discussed the section in the parsha having to do with inadvertent murder, a situation in which a person causes another person’s death but did not mean to do so. This would be like having civil liability in secular law, even if no criminal charged were filed. We discussed how this section teaches us the importance watching over each other. We have discussed in the past the halakhah of loving your fellow Jew. This love includes watching out for each other. We have to be careful not to be reckless, especially when others are around.
David talked about the laws of bribing a judge, and how he learned this from his father, Rabbi Dr. George N Schlesinger. In this halakhah, a person who bribes a judge is not charged with any crime, however the judge if he accepts the bribe is charged. By not being charged with a crime, a person who bribes a judge is likely to go around and tell everyone if the judge accepts it. This deters judges from accepting bribes, because they know if they accept it, it is likely a lot of people will find out. Please check out our new website in honor and memory of David's father, www.georgeschlesinger.org.
Dave W commented that the Hebrew word which is pronounced as hamas, appears in this week’s parsha with a meaning of false. The other time we see this word is in parsha Noach. In Noach the meaning of the word hamas is corrupt. These two words would definitely describe the Hamas organization, as well as some of the other terrorist organizations we hear about in the news.
In the parsha, there are sections concerning the structure of government. Back in history, Kings were allowed and were given certain roles. Marshal talked about how our democratic government we have today is different with our legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Marshal drew a comparison between the Torah and our constitution. We discussed how although we live in a great country, but maybe it is time for us to return to our home of Israel.
Dan B brought up some commentary on the parsha. Dan shared about the importance of walking with Hashem. Dan brought up the point that we should not be like robots, following the halakhah but not being conscious of Hashem and walking with him. Dan talked about how Hashem is inside us and that is how we walk with him. Hashem is not an external entity to us.
We had a very interesting discussion about the importance of belief in general, and belief in Hashem’s plans for us, specifically. Norm talked about his house getting flooded by hurricane Katrina, and his belief that coming to Memphis was Hashem’s plan for him. Norm talked about how important belief is, and how a lot of therapy deals with this. He pointed out, that if he had believed Katrina was some sort of punishment, or that he and his family were unlucky and had to suffer, life would have still moved on, but he would not have connected with Hashem and would have lost the opportunity to turn this tragedy into a positive. Even those who are not religion, can benefit by having positive beliefs.
Today I can see that it was part of Hashem’s plan for me to come to Memphis and connect with the Jewish community like Norm. In my case I first lived downtown, and my connection to Judaism and the community here has been a slow process. It would have been quicker and happier for me if I had belief it was Hashem’s plans to begin with, rather than just believing I have to live here in Memphis. I remember when I first went to the JCC, how this was the first Jewish institution I went to, and how the idea to go there seemed to come out of nowhere. Today, I know based on learning we had on a previous Shabbos, that Hashem no longer communicates directly with prophets, but can communicate with us by giving us ideas and solutions such as becoming a member of the JCC.
Nathan commented that a lot of people have the question of how we can know that Hashem exists if he is no longer manifested in an obvious way, such as direct communication. David talked about how we have matured as a people. Just like children when they are little, at first we needed to be almost forced to use our free will in a certain way. As children grow they can make more and more decisions on their own, and realize the consequences of their actions. The same it is with us as a nation. Today Hashem wants our free will to be as free as possible, and as a nation we should have matured to the point where we are ready for this. If Hashem suddenly appeared in front of us in a physical form, we would have no choice but to believe in him. So Hashem still will communicate with us, by giving us solutions like coming to Memphis to live, but we have to use our free will to believe in him. When we use our free will we truly are human beings, created in Hashem’s image, and not robots.
This Shabbos we had some discussions about what the Torah means to us in general. Norm brought up the point that it is about responsibility, especially in the first few chapters. Yaki brought up the point that the Torah is also a guideline, and that not everything is included. David brought up the point that it is important to study Torah, in order to meet our needs such as actualization, represented at the top of Meow’s pyramid of needs. We discussed as a society, how our economy can meet our physical needs at the bottom of the pyramid, but we need to be concerned with our needs at the top of Meow’s pyramid as well. We discussed the opinion that people should work or join the army in Israel in addition to just Torah study, and be part of meeting the needs through-out Meow’s pyramid. We learned that on Shabbos we should engage in Torah study, one-half of the time that we are not sleeping, which works out to approximately 9 hours, however we had a discussion on how we can combine physical pleasures as well as Torah study on Shabbos.
We discussed this Shabbos how we have both good inside of us, and also an “evil inclination”. It is the role of Judaism to bring out the good. Some-times we need help having the “evil inclination” beaten out of us. Brett from the “all Torah team” came up with the example of a Get. Sometimes the person needs to have the evil “beaten out of him” - in order to strip away the evil and get to the good inside him and get him to issue the get.
Norm brought up how Judaism would be an easy religion if we had no “evil inclination” at all, and everyone would be converting to become Jews. Norm brought up how the king would put an attractive, promiscuous woman in the presence of his son in order to test him. Hashem created our world in a way that we are constantly tested. If we were never tested we would not have an opportunity to follow the Torah, to strengthen and to grow.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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