This Shabbos, David Schlesinger led discussion. We discussed parsha Va’eira including commentary by both Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl, and Rav Yeager. David also told a couple stories from his father. This parsha happens to be Avishai’s barmitzvah parsha! We hope he had a great Shabbos over in Israel!
We started off discussing some of the events from the end of the parsha. There was a lot of hail, but it only destroyed the older crops. The crops that were not yet ripe seemed to survive. We discussed the question of whether this was really just nature, or was it a miracle that came from Hashem that some crops survived? The hail contained fire which seems miraculous. And the fact such powerful hail did not kill all the crops, also seems miraculous.
We discussed the idea that Hashem continuously wills everything into existence and is an active participant in our world, rather than someone who created the world and then got out of the way. Hashem wills thing in our world to follow certain patterns, however at any time Hashem can decide to make an abrupt “turn” and the pattern will discontinue. The analogy we came up with is that of an army. The army commander instructs the army to march forward. And it does, until the commander shouts “left face!” and the army turns.
Brett brought up the point that Hashem is the creator of the physical laws. However, there are certain miracles that seem to be caused by something above and beyond simply physical laws. Brett brought up the miracle that Juniper was created next to earth in order to divert all the asteroids from destroying life on this planet. It may be that hashem, did not so much create physical laws, as he decided on physical laws. And he continuously wills things to follow the patterns of these laws except for special miracles.
We discussed that this week’s parsha seems to be the first time Hashem has "interfered” in physical laws. This was a point brought up by Yaki. We discussed why Hashem has chosen to remain hidden and the world seems to operate according to physical laws. The first reason, is that if Hashem immediately rewarded and/or punished us for doing, (or not doing), mitzvah this would take away our free will. The second reason, is that if Hashem did not create physical laws for us, it would be very hard for us to operate in the world. We would not know whether our cars would work, how to boil water, or how to heal our bodies.
Dave W brought up the point that miracles are really happening a lot more than we think. He told the story about his place at American Way and Getwell that survived, when the rest of the area was severely damaged. Norm commented that if just one little thing was off, we would not be here at all. Norm talked about how just a fraction of a second, can throw things off, as it does when we make adjustments to time and computer systems become confused. It is important to realize that miracles from Hashem do not just happen in the Torah, but also happen to us in our personal lives.
One of the ideas we discussed this Shabbos, is how although Hashem can create miracles, we have to do our part. I can pray to win the lottery, but I have to buy a lottery ticket. I can hope I’m able to do these notes, but I have to focus at our learnings. But once I do my part, Hashem will do his part. Hashem helps me remember what we discussed when I write these summaries. However, sometimes his part may not be as obvious and immediate. I can buy a lottery ticket, but I am not going to win because I did my part! Hashem wants us to use our free will, so consequences of our actions, both positive and negative, are often not going to be immediate and obvious, and we may not get to pick and choose which miracles we want, such as winning the lottery!
This Shabbos, we discussed a book about Israel that is from Norm’s father. Norm talked about growing up in Queen’s, NY. The book talks about the spiritual beauty of Israel. One of the important points is how we are held to a much higher standard in Israel. This means in Israel it is more important to be a Kiddush hashem. If we are not, we can be expelled from the land. Outside of Israel our standards may be determined by who we are, but in Israel this is not the case. The standards everyone – both Jews and non-Jews - must follow come from the special status of the land itself. Although we are held to higher standards, we get much greater reward when we are in Israel. The great feeling we get when we are there, is part of the reward.
This Shabbos we discussed Rav Yeager’s commentary on the parsha. We discussed why it is that we had to be enslaved in Egypt to begin with. Why did we not simply stay in Israel and receive the Torah without having to go through such suffering. Dave W commented that he had a problem with the idea that the reason someone suffers is so that someone can do a mitzvah. Why did we have to be slaves to begin with? The possible answers we discussed are, that the slavery was a consequence of our actions. The other answer is that life is designed to have negatives, so that we can turn the negatives into a positive. If we had not been slaves, we may have not have noticed Hashem who it was who brought us out, and then had a lot less motivation to receive the Torah. Hashem refers to himself in the Torah as the one who “brought you out of Egypt”.
Finally, David told a couple stories from his dad, Dr. Rabbi George Schlesinger this Shabbos. In the first story, there is the time when someone has a lot of anxiety about visiting a rabbi. The rabbi says not to worry, that he will only insult the great. In the second story, someone writes a book and asks a rabbi to write some comments and sign it. The rabbi writes the comments at the top and signs it at the bottom. He explains that it is important to distance ourselves from falsehoods!
This is a summary of what we discussed. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred. To unsubscribe, send reply email with unsubscribe in the subject line.
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