Recap for 6 Adar I, 5776 (Parsha Terumah)

This Shabbos we discussed Parsha Terumah, including commentary from Rav Yeager. We discussed some of the halakhah related to Shabbos. We welcomed Efroni back from Israel this Shabbos!

We discussed how in the parsha, Hashem’s command to help build the Tabernacle, seems to be out of order in the Torah. Why would this appear now, rather than after the Sin of the Golden Calf?  It was after the Sin of the Golden Calf that we demonstrated a need for physical things to help us make spiritual connections.  We discussed a possible explanation - that we were at a spiritual high at the time of Mt. Sinai, and this was the best time to understand and appreciate Hashem’s commandment to build a tabernacle.

Efroni gave a dvar Torah, in which he commented as to why Hashem commanded the people to do what they were going to do anyway. By making this a direct commandment from Hashem, it's importance increased, and it becomes an even bigger mitzvah.  It was important that this mitzvah to build a tabernacle be motivated out of love for Hashem, and not because we felt social pressure to contribute.  

We discussed how it can be a challenge to relate to spirituality, so we use physicality to do so. There are 3 aspects to physicality that we discussed, space, time and mass. We discussed how holiness can vary, depending on where we are in space, the current time, and what an object is. The holiest space would be the “holy of holies” where only the Kohen could go during Yom Kippur. The rest of the temple would have a lesser degree of holiness. Some would say the holiest time is Yom Kippur, which has been considered the “Shabbos of Shabbos”. Others would say Shabbos is the holiest time, for reasons that include the fact it occurs more often. That which comes directly from Hashem, such as a Sefer Torah would be considered the holiest object, which is holier than a Chumash, which is holier than a Siddur.

We perceive there to be different aspects of physicality, such as space, time, and mass, and we connect physicality to the spiritual based on these.  There was recently a discovery that further confirmed Einstein’s theory of gravity, that mass and space are intertwined and not separate - although we perceive them as seperate. The dimensions of space and time are also known to be intertwined and not separate. There are actually at least 4 dimensions of space-time - although we perceive space and time as seperate.  It is very interesting, that the Torah first came up with the idea that everything was one, that there was one God etc. etc., long before science started to confirm that everything, space, time, and mass, was actually all one. The Torah also first came up with the idea that time had a beginning, which was later confirmed by science.

The fact that the Torah confirms things first is evidence of Hashem’s existence, along with what we discussed last week that we all seem to be born with a desire to connect to a higher power. However, David brought up an article that seems to contradict this. The article points out that societies in which there is a belief in God tend to be moral, which makes them have more power, last longer and be more successful.  In this case it seems to be our choices that have evolutionary value, not what Hashem gives us.  A desire to believe in a higher power in and of itself does not lead towards a moral society.  We could believe in the wrong higher power.  Hashem gave us this desire whose evolutionary value depends on how we use it.  The fact that Hashem gave us something that can lead towards strong, successful societies is evidence of Hashem's existence.

 

We have discussed how Hashem created the most perfect world, as one in which we have problems, challenges, and bad things can heppen. David has shared from his father, Dr. Rav George N Schlesinger, the idea of the virtuous response to suffering – that Hashem wants to maximize our opportunity to do mitzvah, grow spiritually, and get close to him.

We discussed how gratitude and connection with Hashem may be able to help us deal with hardship. Dave W pointed out that we should be grateful just to wake up every day and be alive. We discussed how things happen for a reason – even bad things – and we should think of life as an experience, in which bad things can have good aspects, especially if we help turn the situation into as much of a positive as we can.

Dave W shared about a Rabbi here in Memphis who was able to continue functioning while going through a crisis. Efroni shared about a Rabbi in Israel who was able to function while going through a crisis. Efroni shared how this Rav was able to give an amazing dvar Torah just 1 week after finding out his wife had cancer. These Rabbi have amazing and inspirational closeness to Hashem.

Yaki shared this Shabbos how we all have a different purpose in life and we should not compare ourselves to others. It may seem like certain people are more important, but we are all equally important in the eyes of Hashem. Rabbi Greer gave a dvar Torah on the idea that “everyone gets”. We each give and receive in our own ways.

Finally, we discussed how we have an obligation to make sure we minimize the inconvenience of halakuh we follow on Shabbos. For example, we make sure that we have turned on the lights we will need and that the temperature is set correctly. We discussed that when there is an exception to following halakuh on Shabbos, it is usually with that halakuh in which we did not have an opportunity to minimize the inconvenience.

This is a summary of what we discussed.  No halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.