This Shabbos was a very special Shabbos, as this Shabbos day 2 Av is the yeirzeit of Ira’s father Tsvi Mayer Ben Avraham Halevi. Ira spoke about how this year is the 8th year yeirzeit, and about how his daughter was born on this same date. Ira spoke about how his father worked as a chef, and about how his family is from Hungary.
Ira spoke about his grandmother on his father’s side and what life was like back in Hungary. Ira spoke about how his grandmother and her sisters were rescued and sheltered by a German soldier after the war. They were later able to escape to freedom and come to America.
David spoke about how we went in and rebuilt Germany after the war. David spoke about how his father, Rabbi George Schlesinger, would talk about the United States being a very moral country to go in and rebuild a country that we just fought against. We have discussed the source of these moral ideas, which first came from our religion, Judaism. Morality is the idea of doing what is right, rather than doing what we have the power to do.
This Shabbos we talked about the power of speech. We can use speech to give Torah status to certain objects. For example, if one makes a vow to not eat herring, this creates a prohibition on eating herring the same as the prohibition against eating non-kosher food.
Obviously we want to be careful with our speech, particularly when making vows. It is important when making commitments to add phrases such as "God willing", or "planning" to do something, when we make commitments. Otherwise we take the risk of breaking our vows, which carry the same importance as following halakuh.
We discussed how speech is a reflection of our soul, and what is inside us. Of course we often have a filter and do not say everything on our mind! However, there are certain times when we are tested, and usually do not filter things. These include when we are angry , drinking, or asked for money.
We discussed some of the reasons why Hashem may have given us the ability to speak in the first place. One reason is to make vows. Another reason is so we can advance as a species. We discussed how there are other animals such as monkeys that may be intelligent and communicate, however human beings are the only animal that has steadily advanced. Today we have the internet, cell phones, and flat screen televisions that did not exist even 20 years ago.
We discussed the idea of bringing Hashem's name into a vow. For example, the standard oath we take before testifying in court includes the phrase "so help me God". When we bring in Hashem’s name, we are saying that our vow is as true as what is in the Torah. When we break the vow, we are implying what is in the Torah is not true.
We discussed some of the reasons why Hashem may have given us the ability to speak in the first place. One reason is to make vows. Another reason is so we can advance as a species. We discussed how there are other animals such as monkeys that may be intelligent and communicate, however human beings are the only animal that has steadily advanced. Today we have the internet, cell phones, and flat screen televisions that did not exist even 20 years ago.
We discussed the idea of bringing Hashem's name into a vow. For example, the standard oath we take before testifying in court includes the phrase "so help me God". When we bring in Hashem’s name, we are saying that our vow is as true as what is in the Torah. When we break the vow, we are implying what is in the Torah is not true.
We discussed how even if we keep our vows, we should not include Hashem’s name in the vow unless we have reached a level in which we have a very close relationship with Hashem. This is why the section on vows occurs after the main part of the Torah is complete.
We discussed how the parsha this Shabbos, concludes the section of the Torah in which what Hashem tells to Moshe is transmitted to the people. Subsequent parshas will include the last book of the Torah in which there is a summary of our experience and history so far.
We talked about how Judaism is more focused on rehabilitation than on punishment. For example, in the world to come some of us may need to go through a cleansing process, but the process is about cleansing rather than punishment. Another example is the sin of the spies and how it led to us having to spend 40 years wandering the desert. The purpose of the 40 years in the dessert was for us to focus on learning Torah, growing spiritually, and being better prepared to enter Israel. It wasn’t necessarily about being punished.
We also discussed how we can learn lessons from our history and apply them to our personal lives. It is always the most amazing thing to me, how the stories in the Torah and what we learn parallels and relates to my own life. I have been in "Egypt", received a "Torah", wandered the "desert", and so on.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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