This Shabbos David Schlesinger led discussion. We discussed this week’s parsha, Vayechi. We then studied and discussed an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on how science is increasingly making the case that Hashem exists. We also shared the miracles in our own life that make the case for God. Also this Shabbos, David shared some more from his father. And Harold Katz, a regular reader of these summaries, held a Kiddush for the yeirzeit of his wife.
We discussed parsha Vayechi, the last parsha of Bereishit. In the parsha, the Jews have settled in Goshen, keeping somewhat of a distance from the Egyptians. We discussed the importance of sticking together, and living in the same neighborhoods, even in modern times, as we did back in Egypt. We do want to participate in the host culture, however it is important we maintain our identity and watch out to not get side tracked from our mission. Norm pointed out that this is what we were trying to do by settling in Goshen.
In the parsha, Jacob is approaching the end of his life, and gathers his sons together. Usually the oldest son would be given the largest portion, but in this case it went to Joseph. Joseph was blessed by his father for being righteous, and having endured quite a bit of suffering. We also discussed that Joseph was charming and good looking. We discussed how Joseph was given a double portion, one for each of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, which each became a separate tribe in Canaan.
Reuben, the oldest son of Jacob, is rebuked for being impetuous, and for sleeping with his father’s concubine. We had a lot of discussion on what exactly Reuben did. He certainly did give the appearance of sleeping with his father’s significant other. We discussed how certain people, such as Jacob’s sons destined to be the leaders of the tribes of Israel, are held to the highest standards, and the Torah may call attention to even a hint of character defect. One lesson to learn is that even the appearance of doing something wrong, is wrong, even if nothing wrong was actually done. Another lesson for us, is to not be impetuous, and actually think through our actions before we act.
We discussed how the idea that time had a beginning originates in the Torah. The Torah has been around for thousands of years, but it has not been until recently, over the last 50 years or so, that science has finally come around to support what is in the Torah. The “big bang” theory is now widely accepted by everyone, including scientist.
Another idea that originates in the Torah is that life, including intelligent life, was willed into existence as a separate step and could not and did not come about by only randomness and accident. We discussed an article in the Wall Street journal, “Science increasingly makes the case for God”, by Eric Mataxas. The article points out how science is coming up with more and more factors, that make the odds of life randomly and accidently emerging, less and less likely. Back in the 1960’s it was thought that 1 out of approximately 1000 planets had the conditions that would be necessary for life to emerge, and being that there are 10 to the 27th power planets, it seemed likely we would find life if we began checking the 10 to the 24th power planets that had what were thought were suitable conditions. However, over the last 50 years, more and more conditions for life have been discovered, to the point where today the expected value of number of planets that have the suitable conditions for life is so close to zero that we are not even suppose to be here.
My father once told me we could never be certain of anything. I remember him telling me that it was extremely unlikely, but possible, that the air molecules under the television could life the television up. We will probably never be able to prove with 100% certainty that god exists, but as Dr. Rabbi George N Schlesinger points out, if science accepts things that are almost 100% proven, why can’t we accept the existence of god when we have proven it by almost 100%?
What we are faced with is choosing whether there was an intelligent designer who planned the creation of life, or whether life emerged randomly and accidently from the physical world. Science is increasingly making the case that the odds of an intelligent designer is much more likely than the odds of a planet having emerged randomly that meets the necessary conditions, even with 10 to the 27th power number of planets.
We discussed an article that contained rebuttal to the article making the case for God. The rebuttal makes the point that science is always changing, and that we should thus not rely on science in reaching conclusions about God’s existence. The rebuttal goes on to make the point that it is not really the “job” of religion to determine how things happen, whether randomly or through an intelligent design, but to determine why they happen. Science can never answer a question such as why was man created. We know from the Torah we were created to have a mission, bring spirituality to the physical world, and finish the act of creation. The answers to many questions can only come from religion.
One of the interesting discussions we had is what it is that may cause a person to believe or not believe in Hashem. It seems to be more than simply each of us reviewing the evidence and then making a decision. Having and experiencing miracles in our own lives can be very powerful at shaping our beliefs. Norm shared the incredible experience of seeing and hearing his son’s heart beat for the first time. When I hear Norm’s story, and think about my own miracles, it is not 100% proof of god’s existence, but it certainly strengthens my belief in an intelligent designer. This seems so much more likely than the alternative theory. And the miracles to me are not just in the physical body, but in the story of people's lives as well.
David told a story from his father. When people heard that things would last for millions of years they were stress out and worried, but when they heard they would last for billions of years, they were happy and relaxed. At some point the sun will burn out, and I believe that could be a reason for all the additional planets that Hashem has made available. It is dangerous for us to stay on just one planet as not only the sun burning out, but a disease or nuclear war could wipe everyone out. Norm pointed out that our testing of nuclear weapons would lead any possible intelligent life to not want anything to do with us, anyhow. My personal believe is that hashem wills things into existence. Since he is outside of time, it may occur instantly to him, but to us living in the physical world, things may appear as a process, such as evolution that takes time.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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