This Shabbos we discussed how everyone can help our early minyan. Please come to our early minyan, and bring a friend(s), if possible. Please let others know about us.
We discussed what this first commandment means - that there is a God, and we need to have faith in this God. We discussed how belief in Hashem, as the creator of everything, always playing an active role in the world and in our lives, is the foundation of Judaism and our belief system.
We discussed how Hashem has always existed, and it is he who brought the world into existence. We discussed the importance of the wording of the very first sentence in Bereishit. Hashem always must come first. We do not want any suggestion that “in the beginning” came before Hashem.
One of the fundamental beliefs we have is that the physical world, which includes time, did not always exist, and was brought into existence by Hashem. This idea has been stated in our Torah for thousands of years. In the 1970’s, science finally “caught up” to the Torah, and with the “big bang” theory finally agreed that time had a beginning.
Science has finally caught up to the Torah in other ways. It has recently been scientifically discovered, that even with the enormous number of planets that exist, the probability that one of them would contain the necessary conditions for life is virtually zero. Science has finally caught up - by strongly suggesting that the work of a creator is substantially more likely than the conditions of life emerging randomly, let alone life itself emerging.
We discussed the mitzvah of “clinging” to Hashem. In the Torah Moshe is never able to “get” to Hashem completely. Hashem gets down to earth, but does not get down to the final 10 t’fachem. Moshe gets up to the heavens, but does not get to the final 10 t’fachem. So what does "clinging" to hashem mean?
Brett suggested that we could cling to Hashem spiritually. We will never be able to comprehend Hashem completely. However, we can “cling” to Hashem, and comprehend him, by emulating his actions. Some of these actions that we discussed include burying the dead, and taking care of the sick.
Dave W brought up one way we can cling to Hashem, which is to love other Jews, which has not been going on recently in Israel. There has been attacks on others because they are perceived as not following standards or at the same level as others. Sometimes we do very well with the detailed halakuh that is easy to measure, such as eating only kosher food, but then fail at more general halakuh such as peace and love towards others.
We discussed this Shabbos the idea of a Khumra, which is adding a “fence” around the Torah. As we know the Rabbis implemented additional halakha, in order to protect the halakha in the Torah. It is important of course that we follow halakha to the best of our ability, but sometimes we overdo it by taking it upon ourselves to add on additional restrictions which have never been called for.
We discussed how it is an important part of Judaism to go ahead and enjoy some pleasures. Denying ourselves pleasure is not necessary a mitzvah. In fact, it can be the opposite of a mitzvah. We discussed how there will be an accounting, and we will have to answer why we did not engage in some pleasures. So it is not desirable to think that the more strict we are the better.
However, there is an exception if we have a weakness for something. For example, someone who has a weakness for alcohol, can and should restrict themselves to grape juice and not do Kiddush over wine. Or perhaps someone has a weakness for certain foods.
In general the restrictions we have should be enough for us. We discussed how it would be considered “showing off” to stand for an entire service, or say additional blessings that are not called for.
Brian brought up the additional days of Yom Tov. Would it be considered an unnecessary khumra to observe additional days of yom tov? We concluded that this is not an unnecessary khumra because we go strict when in doubt about a Torah level commandment.
Dave W brought up one way we can cling to Hashem, which is to love other Jews, which has not been going on recently in Israel. There has been attacks on others because they are perceived as not following standards or at the same level as others. Sometimes we do very well with the detailed halakuh that is easy to measure, such as eating only kosher food, but then fail at more general halakuh such as peace and love towards others.
We discussed this Shabbos the idea of a Khumra, which is adding a “fence” around the Torah. As we know the Rabbis implemented additional halakha, in order to protect the halakha in the Torah. It is important of course that we follow halakha to the best of our ability, but sometimes we overdo it by taking it upon ourselves to add on additional restrictions which have never been called for.
We discussed how it is an important part of Judaism to go ahead and enjoy some pleasures. Denying ourselves pleasure is not necessary a mitzvah. In fact, it can be the opposite of a mitzvah. We discussed how there will be an accounting, and we will have to answer why we did not engage in some pleasures. So it is not desirable to think that the more strict we are the better.
However, there is an exception if we have a weakness for something. For example, someone who has a weakness for alcohol, can and should restrict themselves to grape juice and not do Kiddush over wine. Or perhaps someone has a weakness for certain foods.
In general the restrictions we have should be enough for us. We discussed how it would be considered “showing off” to stand for an entire service, or say additional blessings that are not called for.
Brian brought up the additional days of Yom Tov. Would it be considered an unnecessary khumra to observe additional days of yom tov? We concluded that this is not an unnecessary khumra because we go strict when in doubt about a Torah level commandment.
How about wearing a kippuh, which is never specifically mentioned in the Torah? This has become a tradition that we follow. We discussed how our head covering symbolizes Hashem “above us”, and the fact we need this higher power above us - as we can not control everything.
Traditions are not unnecessary Khumra's, as long as these are the traditions that everyone follows. An example we discussed, if we go to a shul and everyone is wearing Tefillin during Chol Chomod, it is not an unnecessary khumra to wear tefillin. But if noone is wearing Tefillin, it would be considered "showing off" and an unnecessary khumra to wear tefillin.
Finally, we discussed that back in history - we would daven with robes and needed to wear a gertel. Brian pointed out that today we have ways of dealing with this, such as belts that separate the lower and upper body.
Finally, we discussed that back in history - we would daven with robes and needed to wear a gertel. Brian pointed out that today we have ways of dealing with this, such as belts that separate the lower and upper body.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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