This Shabbos we discussed parsha Vayechi, including commentary by Rav Yeager. David Schlesinger led discussion.
We discussed how in the Torah, Jacob did not know that Joseph was alive, and felt that he had been a failure for not being able to continue our faith and traditions through his chosen son Joseph. We discussed how this feeling of failure led to depression in Jacob, and thoughts that he was going to be going to Gehinnom after passing away. However, as we know from parsha Vayechi, eventually Jacob sees that Joseph is alive, and that his wishes will be carried out.
We discussed what Judaism believes about Gehinnom. Gehinnom is not a horrible place with fire and torture, although it is not necessarily pleasant. It is believed to be a place where some of us have to go through a cleansing process after our physical body passes away. Many of us can bypass Gehinnom completely, by living a good life and doing T'Shuva when we make mistakes. Gehinnom is of course a spiritual and not a physical place.
Even after going through Gehinnom, the rewards of the after-life can vary depending on the health and state of our souls. While we are alive we have the opportunity to strengthen our souls by learning Torah, doing mitzvah, carrying out Hashem’s will for us, and being a Kiddush Hashem. Although our physical bodies will expire, our souls live on forever. We can elevate our souls while we are alive, and also have our souls elevated after we pass away, through the actions of others who are inspired by our lives.
David shared some thoughts from his father on this topic. Those who do not live a good and purposeful life, may not go through a horrible existence in the afterlife, but will experience regret of lost opportunity. David shared thoughts from his father how this is similar to getting ready for an opera. Those who are prepared for the opera, get a lot of enjoyment out of sitting through a concert. Those who are unprepared are bored and regret not being prepared. The afterlife for some may end up being very empty but we have the opportunity to make it a very satisfying and rewarding experience by maintaining a soul that is healthy and always growing, and doing T'Shuva when necessary.
We discussed what it means to be a leader. It is important that we have the right motivation to get spiritual as well as physical benefit from this position. The proper motivation is to serve God and carry out his will and good for everyone. Self-esteem, looking good, feeling powerful, being respected, may all be good for us, but should not be our primary motivation.
One thing to remember is that no one is perfect. We discussed some of the mistakes that were made by our ancestors in the Torah. Jacob used his emotions to some extent, favoring Joseph over his brothers, rather than thinking through things logically. Joseph let the idea of being a leader inflate his ego a little, and had some motivation based on purely physical and emotional rewards. Joseph’s brothers let jealousy influence their decisions to some extent, and did not realize that Joseph’s life of physicality was also spiritual in nature.
Jason shared that it is human nature to be motivated by emotion. We discussed how we strive to live a balance in which emotions play a role in our life to some extent. Emotions can sometimes be strong and healthy motivators. Hashem created us with emotions for a reason, but sometimes they can get us into trouble, which is why Hashem also created us with free will and the ability to think.
We all have an opportunity to do t’shuva for our mistakes and avoid having to go to Gehinnom at all. We discussed last Shabbos how Joseph’s brothers did T’Shuva, refusing to leave Egypt without Benjamin, and showing great concern for the feelings of their father. In particular, Judah insisted he be put into slavery in place of Benjamin, which was the ultimate T’Shuva for putting Joseph into slavery years earlier. Joseph did T’Shuva by not using his power to put his brothers down, but for embracing his brothers and understanding that his story of being sent to Egypt was all orchestrated by and the plans of God.
This Shabbos we also discussed some of the halakhah forbidding being wasteful. In particular, we should try not to throw away items such as food. We can give the food to someone else, to charity, or even feed it to a pet. We discussed how eating something when we are not hungry, so that it won’t be “wasted” is actually wasting food, and should be avoided. We also discussed some of the exceptions, such as ripping garments when we are in mourning. In this case, the spiritual benefits outweigh any issues with being wasteful.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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