This Shabbos, David Schlesinger led discussion, as we discussed the week’s parsha Ki Tavo. Norm summarized this week’s parsha as being about crime and punishment. We discussed how this week’s parsha may give the impression that Judaism is all about laws and what is going to happen if we don’t obey them. We discussed to what extent Judaism should be a religion of fear, and to what extent the harshness of the week’s parsha applies to modern day life. Dave W pointed out that although modern day life does not seem that bad, we have gone through periods of harshness such as the holocaust.
In modern day life, we do not stone those who stray from Judaism, and in fact usually welcome everyone without a lot of judgement. Ariav brings up the point, that the parsha was written in a way that would have meaning at a specific period of time and under certain circumstances. Ariav points out that in the historic past, we had a violent nature and were more likely to respond to harsh physical punishment, which is why the parsha is written as it is. David talked about how the Torah has different layers, and that we must bring out and go with whatever layer applies for our current time period and circumstances. However, Norm pointed out that there is a danger in allowing the Torah to be too dynamic, and that too much flexibility has led to the many different sects of Judaism that we find today.
David talked about how although the Torah is dynamic, the different layers are only determined by specific rules of interpretation. David pointed out that we were given the Torah along with these specific rules that we must use to interpret the Torah. The Torah can not be interpreted to mean anything we want, however there is enough flexibility that the Torah can be applied to different periods of time. Today, we do not have to implement punishments such as stoning.
Ariav points out that it is a very unhealthy way to live to feel as though one is constantly being observed and punishment is about to be lashed out at the slightest mistake. Ariav further points out that the purpose of the Torah and this week's parsha, is so that we can live a better life today, without being concerned about the afterlife. By living life in a way that carries out Hashem’s will for us, we have a more rewarding and happier life right here, right now. David talked about how his father would say North Carolina is a southern piece of heaven. Heaven is right here for us, right now, if we following the Torah and this week's parsha.
David talked about how it is important to work toward long term goals and resist the temptation to “live in the moment”. Norm commented how there is a lot of “living in the moment”, and how it is not so easy for people, communities, and nations to focus on long term goals. Norm illustrated his point by saying how to some it is “all about rock and roll”. Spending time listening to rock and roll does seem to be about right here right now, and most of the lyrics do not seem to be about long term goals. But there are ways to "elevate the sparks of kidusha", perhaps by creating music with lyrics that help communicate the Torah.
This Shabbos we had a discussion of the structure of davening. We have set prayers that we say as a community, while being able to add our own individual prayers. Jeff, compared this to giving a message to someone on a birthday or anniversary. The best way to give this message would be with a card along with some individually picked out words. This is better than giving a card with no message, or giving a happy birthday or anniversary message written on a regular piece of notebook paper. Likewise, it is important that our davening include a set of prayers that we say as a community, but it is also important that we include some individual words of prayer.
This Shabbos we continued our discussion of Rav Yeager’s commentary. We discussed how the first parsha communicates to us the importance of doing mitzvah. The next few parshas communicate the specific mitzvah. And how the last parsha communicates to us again the importance of doing mitzvah.
We discussed how after we have done mitzvah, we repeat that we have done all the mitzvah. The reason for this repetition is to illustrate that we should do mitzvah with simchah. David pointed out how doing mitzvah with simchah is analogous to giving the birthday or anniversary card to one’s spouse in a way that shows you really feel like doing it.
We discussed the meaning of the different holidays. Pesach corresponds to the lowest level of physical needs, within Meow’s hierarchy of needs. Shavuous corresponds to an intermediate level. And finally, sukkot, is when we are at the highest level spiritually. We discussed Rosh Hashanah, and how the shofer reminds us to strive for the messianic error in which Satan no longer has an opening in our mind. From our previous discussion, Satan represents doing things in the moment, vs. doing things in order to follow the Torah and achieve longer term goals and rewards.
We discussed how certain mitzvah represent “capstone” mitzvah. David commented how there is a capstone as part of the MBA program. Likewise, the mitzvah to give fruit and tithing to the Kohen is a capstone mitzvah. We discussed how with this capstone mitzvah in particular, it is very important to do it with simchah. We need to come across as more than happy to give to the Kohen. In modern day, it is important to do mitzvah such as tzedakuh with simchah.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
No comments:
Post a Comment