Recap for 19 Sivan, 5776 (Parsha Behaalotecha).

This Shabbos we continued our discussion of Leo Levy’s work. We also discussed parsha behaalotecha. David Schlesinger led discussion.

We talked some more about the concept of melachot, which we define as work with a purpose. Usually, what we do for a living would be considered melachot, but there are exceptions for work that does not create any value for anyone.  Melachot also includes work we may do for ourselves, such as working in our yard.  By doing work, we imitate Hashem who also did work for 6 days, and we also have an opportunity to apply spirituality to our physical world - "elevate the sparks of kiddusha".

We discussed how as Jews, it is important that we engage in melachot. Melachot to us is not just a necessary burden, but something that is beneficial to us spiritually, and in many ways. We discussed how Hashem himself engaged in melachot, in order to show us that this is what he wanted us to do.  Clearly Hashem had the power to create everything instantly, but the way he did it in 6 days and then resting on the 7th, is because he wants us to do the same.

We discussed that it is not desirable to not engage in melachot at all. This would leave someone without the means to take care of their own needs, in which case they would have to beg from others. All the time spent begging, would take away from time and energy that they could devote to Torah study.  Our ultimate goal is to study and follow the Torah, but the best way to achieve this is to engage in melachot that we do to finish the act of creation and help us make a living.

We discussed how Adam actually had to do some melachot in the Garden of Eden, although many of his needs were taken care of. Last Shabbos, we discussed how it actually created a desirable situation for mankind that Adam ate the forbidden fruit, as the best situation for man is that we all have to work.

We discussed how historically we each did all the work necessary in order to take care of our needs. However, as the modern economy has grown, we have developed a monetary system that allows us to each do what we do best, and to trade this work for the value created by others who do what they do best. We discussed how in Israel, there are so many high tech jobs, some of the lower level jobs need to be done by non-Jewish immigrants.

We discussed the idea of receiving money for doing a mitzvah. It is ok to receive money in certain situations. For example, we may pay someone to teach Torah, such as a Rabbi, with his salary being provided to compensate him for the opportunity cost he endures.

We discussed what was going on with us in the parsha. We discussed how this section of the Torah is not necessarily a happy time for us, as we commit sins and fail to realize our mission of making it to Israel.

We discussed how in parsha Behaalotecha, we see that we each had a role to play in the tabernacle, which had just been inaugurated. The Levies were given special roles, but everyone had a role to play in the construction.

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

Recap for 12 of Sivan, 5776 (Parsha Naso)

This Shabbos we discussed parsha Naso, including commentary by Rav Yeager.  We continued our discussion of material by Leo Levy.   David Schlesinger led discussion.

We welcomed back Dan B. this Shabbos, who has done a great job reminding us of our purpose and mission, to "elevate the sparks of kiddusha".  We discussed what this means - to apply spirituality to our physical world.  David spoke about how we can apply spirituality to the most mundane things.  An example would be cement.  If we use the cement to build a synagogue, we are “elevating” the cement to a spiritual level.  Yaki has shared in the past how every object has a purpose.  We discussed how the Torah is our guidebook in how we are to live spiritually and "elevate the sparks of kiddusha".  

One of the interesting ideas we discussed, that Rob mentioned, is that we can actually improve how we sense the properties of something physical  by applying spirituality.  For example, the food we eat on Shabbos – cholent, barbecue, potato kugel – all tastes better than it would during the week.  And for me, it tastes better than any of the non-kosher food I use to eat, because eating kosher has meaning to me.  Another example, our awareness that Hashem created the world, causes us to have an enhanced sense of physical beauty.

Harold Katz, a regular reader of these notes, pointed out that this is a very long parsha.  He commented that everything had to be repeated 12 times, once for each of the tribes. 

One of the ideas we discussed, from Leo Levy, is that Adam was originally created as a spiritual being.  His physical needs would be taken care of, and he would not have to work.  However, his decision to eat the forbidden fruit changed all this.  We would now have to take care of many of our needs on our own, and do work in the physical world.  

One of the interesting ideas we discussed, is that this is actually the most desirable state of affairs.  Hashem does not want to be the king of a purely spiritual, or physical world.  He wants to be king of a world in which spirituality is being applied.  We discussed the idea that Hashem would have had to create another form of man to live in the physical, if Adam had not given in to the temptation.

In our Thursday night learning, we continued our discussion from Leo Levy, of the importance of work, known as melachot.  Leo Levy was a contemporary of David's father, Rav Dr. George Schlesinger.  We discussed how simply making money is not necessarily melachot, if it does not add value.  For example, a professional gambler is not adding value, although he may earn money.  There are some professions that create negative value for society.  However, generally if someone is willing to pay for work, that work is adding value at least to someone.

We discussed how the Torah and Rabbis introduce us to ideas that are later in history included in secular knowledge.  For example, the Torah first came up with the idea that time had a beginning long before scientists “discovered” there was a big bang.  Another example, there are many self-help books today which suggest we should have gratitude and have positive thoughts and perceptions.  We discussed how this idea actually comes from ancient Rabbis, who commanded us to say the morning prayer thanking Hashem for giving us another day of life.  It's interesting that the Rabbis knew it would be helpful to us to start the day off with gratitude, long before some of these self-help books hit the shelves!

We discussed how there is some element of luck in nature, and that our main focus should be on how we react to events.   By reacting in a positive way, trying to turn lemon into lemonades, we can benefit from events.  We have discussed how sometimes bad things happen so we can have a virtuous response to them, although there are certain bad things I would never wish on anyone.

The “God Debate” is a debate in a video that David posted online, that took place between a Rabbi and an atheist.  Both sides made some interesting points, however it is my opinion that the Rabbi won on points as he presented various arguments that were not addressed by the atheist.

One of these was the argument that something physical cannot come out of nothing physical, so there would have to be something other than physical.  The atheist responded that nothing was actually something, so something could come out of it.  The Rabbi’s counter argument, that nothing refers to what came before anything the atheist was referring to, was never addressed.

Another argument made by the Rabbi was the astronomical odds against life forming purely by random change and physical laws.  The atheist responded that this is “post-hoc” reasoning.  For example, we can throw a dice a million times, and then say that the odds of the particular combination occurring are 1 in some astronomical number.  The Rabbi’s counter argument, that we are talking about something special such as a million rolls of the dice coming up with the same number each time.  The atheist never seemed to respond to this argument.

One of the arguments the atheist made was that man created God in order to satisfy psychological and other needs.  This is interesting, as it is something we have discussed in our learning.  We discussed how Hashem did create us to search for and believe in a higher power, however we need to use our free will to decide what that higher power will be.  There are in fact other higher powers such as idols that in the past have satisfied needs to explain things.  Hashem wants us to believe in him, however some choose to believe in something else such as idols, or just luck and chance.

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

Recap for Thursday night learning, 4 Sivan, (discussion of Shavuos)

I want to thank David for hosting learning at his house last night.  We discussed the coming holiday of Shavuos, including commentary by Rav Malamed.

We discussed that there are 4 different names for the holiday.  They refer to Shavuos, the harvesting, the first fruits, and Hatzeret.  In particular, we discussed how the name, Hatzeret, is analogous to Shemini Hatzeret which occur on the 8^th day after Sukkot.  Both these days occur immediately after we have counted days and/or weeks to 7.

We talked about this number 7 and how it is common in Judaism and in the world around us.  For example, an object has 6 directions, top, bottom, right, left, up, and down, plus a 7^th dimension which indicates its essence.  We discussed how Hashem created the world in 7 days.  And we discussed how we have 7 days to our week. 

We discussed that when we add an 8^th day, for a Brit Milah, Shavuos, or Shemini Etzeres, this represents getting above nature.  We talked about how we count numbers up, rather than down, especially when counting the Omer.

We discussed how Shavuos is the only holiday that historically did not have a fixed day in the calendar.  We count 49 days after Pesach, and then the 50^th day is Shavuos.  Today, we do not use observers and judges to determine the new moon, so the day is fixed on the 6^th of Sivan, but historically it was not.

We discussed how we go through Pesach to get to Shavuos.  The exodus from Egypt meant to us that there is a God who is interested in human affairs, and this laid a foundation for us.  However in order to build on that foundation, it was necessary to count the Omer until the day we arrived at Mt. Sinai, to understand what God wanted us to be.  Today, we continue to count the Omer.  Each year we experience increasing spiritual growth, which is our foundation that we build on the following year.

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

Recap for 28 Lyyar, 5776 (Parsha Bechukotai and Torah v'Derech Eretz)

This Shabbos we discussed material on the topic of Torah v’Derech Eretz, from the book Sha’arei Talmud Torah, by Leo Levy.  We discussed parsha Bechukotai, including commentary from Rav Yeager.   This Shabbos we welcome back Yaki and Bryan Itkowitz.  David Schlesinger led discussion.

We discussed how Derech Eretz means the “ways of the world”, and refers to the physical world, and how the world works – from the secular point of view.  We discussed how Torah v’Derech Eretz fits into a modern orthodox life, in which we believe that Torah is most important, however we engage in the physical world as a way to apply spirituality, and also to make sure we make enough of a living to pay for necessities such as food, clothing, and housing.

David spoke about Dr. Leo Levy, who was a colleague of David’s dad, Dr. Rav George Schlesinger.   Yehuda "Leo" Levy was a physicist who believed in the teaching and training of professionals in the work force in parallel to Torah study.  In 1981 Dr. Levy published his book, Sha’arei Talmud Torah, which we discussed at our Kiddush.

We discussed from the book, the idea that we should only engage in work that is purely physical, to the point that we earn enough to take care of our basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, etc. etc.  Then we should expend the remainder of our energy engaged in Torah study.  We discussed that sometimes what we do for a living may give us great opportunity to apply spirituality, so it is not always so clear cut.  There is also practical applications, in that it may not be possible to vary how many hours we work per week, especially if we work for an employer who expects us to put in a set number of hours.

We discussed that the most optimal situation in life, is that of a balance between working for a living and Torah study.   We discussed why either extreme is not ideal.  For example, there is a tendency as we get further and further away from Mt. Sinai to forget about Torah and simply engage in physicality.  David shared how his Dad would say getting further and further away from Torah, is like music going from Mozart to that of pop artist such as Michael Jackson.  This is not good because over time we can lose touch with why Hashem created physicality, which is to apply spirituality.  I 

On the other hand, we discussed how the other extreme is not optimal either.  If we stop working, it is hard to engage in Torah study because we are constantly worried about how we will get enough money to buy our next meal.  However, we discussed that as a community we may decide to certain members will engage full time in Torah study, and then we make sure to provide for their needs.

Rob gave a Dvar Torah, about the infinite value of human life, and how this applies to Jewish law.  Rob also shared about how Judaism views the value of the human body.  Rob shared that the most amazing creation of Hashem is the human body.  We often see beauty in nature, but 

we should also see it in our own bodies.

This Shabbos we discussed parsha Bechukotai, including commentary from Rav Yeager.  In the parsha we are presented again with the opportunity to accept or reject the Torah and make or not make an agreement with Hashem.  In this agreement, it is laid out what will happen if we do our best to follow Hashem’s commandments, and what will happen if we do not.  We discussed that in order to be valid, consequences that are conditional must include the converse as well.

We discussed how at Mt. Sinai we were “infants”, and did not have the capability to go over the pros and cons of accepting the Torah, so we were pretty much forced to do so.  Later on at the time of parsha Bechukotai, we had “grown up” to the point that we could appreciate more mature reasons for accepting the Torah, and this time Hashem wanted us to know more of the details.

Finally, Brett mentioned that Hashem only gives us what we can handle.  I am not sure this is true, but it certainly helps to believe things can be handled and Hashem is with us.

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