Recap for 24 Tamuz 5776 (Parsha Pinchas)

This Shabbos we discussed parsha Pinchas, including commentary by Rav Yeager.  I want to thank Norm for hosting this week, and David and Linda for hosting a later Kiddush in memory of Harav Nattan ben Harav Shmuel, whose yahrzeit was this past Monday.  David Schlesinger led discussion.

We discussed how in ancient times the spiritual and physical worlds were very tightly connected. During the times of the parsha, there were immediate and more obvious rewards and punishments for our actions. We discussed how there was a plague that had killed 24,000 people, because of our immorality.

We discussed how today, the connection between our actions, and reward and punishment is a lot more blurred.  Today we are given a lot more free choice to make decisions. Hashem had no choice but to make his presence clear and obvious during ancient history, but now we are more “grown up” and should be able to make good decisions knowing that we will be rewarded spiritually which will eventually have great affect on our lives and in the world to come.

We discussed how immediate punishment takes away free will. As an example, we do not have much free will as to whether or not we should touch a hot stove. On the other hand, we do have free will as to whether or not we should eat kosher food. If every time we ate non-kosher food we felt intense pain, everyone would eat kosher food! But we should know we benefit spiritually from eating kosher food, even though the rewards and punishments are less obvious.

We discussed how Tisha B’Av should not only be observed to remember the destruction of the temple, but also to remind of that at one time the spiritual and physical were more tightly connected. We should be reminded by our observance of Tisha B’Av, that a spiritual world still does in fact exist, and although the connections are more blurred and less direct than in the past, we need to continue being aware of Hashem and that there is more than just the physical around us.

We discussed how in the parsha Pinchus performs a zealot act killing a prince in order to stop a plague and stop the desecration of Hashem’s name. We discussed how today it is unnecessary to kill people who are not following halakhah, but in the past everyone was affected by plagues and other tragedies due to the immorality of some.

Norm commented how just like Pinchus, we have zealot rabbis today, including those we know from Memphis who helped his family tremendously in their time of need, following the loss of Moshe ben David, who was an uncle. May his neshoma have an Aliyah.

We discussed how there are many mitzvahs that do not require a pure mind and soul, and we will still get credit for the mitzvah regardless.  However when it comes to taking a life, it is absolutely necessary that our motivation be pure.  In the Parsha, Pinchus had pure motivation to stop the desecration of Hashem’s name.

We discussed how his act was so courageous and righteous, that he received the reward and honor that from that point forward, all the descendants of Aaron would automatically be priests (Kohen) without having to be appointed. The reward was great because he did something that greatly went beyond his comfort zone, in order to do the right thing, and he was very thorough in making sure his motivations were pure.  Aaron had great concern that there would be backlash against him for killing a prince, however he took the life of the priest regardless.

We discussed why Moshe was not the one to do or order the killing of the priest. Moshe – unlike the levites - actually was descendent from idol worshippers, and there was concern his motivation would not be pure.  

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

Recap for 17 Tamuz, 5776 (Parsha Balak)

This Shabbos we continued our discussion of Torah v’Derech Eretz from Leo Levy. We discussed parsha Balak.  This Shabbos, the learning was in honor and memory of David’s father, Dr. Rav. Natan Schlesinger, whose yeirzeit is this coming Monday. We studied the article “The First Commandment” written by Dr. Schlesinger.

We welcome back Yaki, and honor and remember his mother, Hannah Ben Shmuel. Yaki spoke about his Mom, and how she was from Romania. Yaki spoke about how her Father (Yaki's grandfather) was a very famous Rabbi in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with Yaki and his family.

David spoke about his father, HaRav Natan ben Harav Shmuel, whose yeirzeit is this coming Monday. Much of the material in our learning originates with David’s father. We have a website that contains much of his Dad’s material, at www.georgeschlesinger.org.

David spoke about growing up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and how they went to the Hillel on Shabbos, where Rabbi Schlesinger would often give talks to the congregants. David shared how they would often be walking in the opposite direction from everyone else on campus.

David spoke about some of the topics that interested his father. He had a very strong interest in time, and has authored many articles and a book on this subject. One of the questions we discussed this Shabbos, is how time works in the world to come, if our soul travels outside of space and time when our life is over.  

Dr. Schlesinger developed a lot of material on the idea that Hashem created the world in a way that maximizes our opportunity to do mitzvah, rather than maximizes our opportunity to experience good feelings and pleasure.  Our material on the idea of the virtuous response to suffering comes from Dr. Schlesinger. Of course, there does seem to be a lot of suffering that we cannot alleviate, and we do not wish suffering on others. But if something negative does happen, Dr. Schlesinger’s ideas, helps lead us towards healthy ways of dealing with things.

We discussed the article, “The First Commandment”, by Dr. Rabbi Schlesinger. We discussed how it can be possible to command someone to believe something. We discussed how once someone has a belief in their core, it is nearly impossible to talk them out of it.

The article suggests that one way we can carry out this commandment is to be honest in all our affairs.  The article discusses how being dishonest towards others, leads to being dishonest with ourselves and self-deception.  It is self-deception which causes us to not follow the first commandment.  Self-deception, explain why some are atheist, in spite of overwhelming evidence that Hashem does in fact exists, created and controls the world.

The article postulates that we all have a basic yearning for Hashem, but many of us block this out due to dishonesty and deception. Although we are always on the look out to counteract dishonesty in others, we often do not bother to counter self-dishonesty. We discussed how when we really wish something to be true, for whatever reason, we tend to look for arguments in favor of our belief, and ignore those that are contrary.

We discussed that the best way to follow the first commandment, is to be honest in all our affairs, because this will lead us to be honest to ourselves, in which we will have no choice but to believe in the obvious. Some of the ways in which we must be honest, which are mentioned in the article, include more than just with our words. We must be honest with our deeds to not mislead people. This includes such things as not to dress up used articles to fool people into thinking they are new, and not pretending to be sad at a funeral, when this sadness is due to something else.

This Shabbos we continued our discussion of Torah v’Derech Eretz. We discussed the idea that  work is not just a necessary burden, but in fact has intrinsic value. Someone who wins the lottery, or inherits a lot of money, should work even though he doesn’t have to. If we do not work we tend to be bored, and/or have an empty feeling.  Hashem created us to have these feelings because he wants us to participate and work and finish his act of creation.

We discussed that parents have an obligation to teach a trade to their children. And we discussed that if we are between jobs, we should continue to do work, such as creating and maintaining a garden. We discussed that it is Hashem’s will that we create and work, but we must make this decision with our free will. Hashem created us to have free will, because there was not much desire in him to be the king of a world with a bunch of robots.

This Shabbos, Dave W talked about how Israel is a home for us, just like going to where our families may live. And we wish Mazel Tov to Ariav, and to everyone else celebrating Simchas in our community.

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

Recap for 26 Sivan, 5776 (Parsha Shelach)

On Thursday night, and this past Shabbos, we continued our discussion of material by Leo Levy, related to the importance of doing productive work, known as melacha. This Shabbos we also discussed parsha Shelach, including commentary by Rav Yeager. David Schlesinger led discussion.

We discussed that doing productive work is a Torah mitzvah. We can see this from noting that Hashem did work for 6 days, when he actually had the power to create everything instantly. We discussed how Hashem did this, in order to show us that this is what he wants us to do. We also discussed passages from the Gemara in which work is referred to as a mitzvah, with respect to being permitted to board a boat within 3 days of Shabbos.

We discussed how work is good for us and goes beyond being just necessary. This is why we need to be told to work. Doing work helps give us a feeling of accomplishment and supports our happiness. When we do not work, we often have feelings of boredom and/or emptiness, at least I do.

Brett commented that he often sees a swagger in people when they are positively participating in things, such as work. We discussed how work in this world can bring contentment in the next world. In the world to come we can look back on the positive contributions we made through our work.

Many of us do work by making a living, however we discussed that those who are unemployed, retired, stay at home parents, full time students, do work as well. Work includes creating things, gardening, fixing and much more. Basically, we want to participate in creation within the physical world.

This Shabbos we discussed parsha Shelach. Harold Katz, a regular reader of the notes, mentioned to me that this is a very sad parsha. In the parsha, we send spies into Israel and they come back with a bleak report, that we should not attempt to conquer the land.  Dave W mentioned the idea that the walls that were built around our enemies in Israel were actually signs of weakness, and we should not have come back with such a bleak report.  It was simply that we had a bad attitude.

We discussed that we had a very bad attitude back in the times of the parsha. We discussed how back then, as well as today, attitudes can shape and change reality. If we do not think we can do something – whether it was the Jews contemplating going into the land of Israel – or ourselves in current modern day life - we are licked from the start and won’t get it done. We discussed how in order to accomplish our goals, it is necessary to believe that we can do so!

We discussed that attitude and how we react to things, can be more important than the actual events that happen to us. David commented that his Dad, Rav. Dr. George Schlesinger, would often say there are people with terrible things happening to them, yet they somehow seem to be content, and it is because of their attitude and how they react.

We discussed the different views of Rashi and the Rambam with respect to the parsha. Rashi’s opinion was that sending spies into Israel in the first place was showing a lack of faith in Hashem. Rambom’s opinion was that if we are sending spies into Israel in order to access the situation, then that is not necessarily showing a lack of faith. We discussed that it would seem that Rambam would have the burden of proof.  However, Dave W mentioned that Hashem did say “go if you want to”, which would seem to support the view of Rambam.

We discussed how Hashem was a lot more forgiving with the sin of the Golden Calf. The sin in this case was not believing in Hashem at all,  However it may be that we believed in Hashem although we needed a way to relate to him. The remedy for all this was building the mishkan. With the sin of the spies, we believed in Hashem, however we did not have faith in him. Hashem was a lot less forgiving with the sin of the spies and sent us into the desert for an entire generation.

Finally, we discussed how in order to achieve our goals we need to have the help and assistance of Hashem. This applies in the times of the parsha as well as today. At the same time that we need the help of Hashem, it is necessary that we do our part.

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