We discussed the mitzvah to spend our life as much as possible in a state of gratitude and simcha. David mentioned some members of our community who are amazing and inspirational with this. They remain in a state of simcha regardless of the problems, challenges and/or difficulties they are facing. In a previous Shabbos, David shared that his father, Rabbi Dr George Schlesinger, would say it is not the events that happen to us that matter, but how we react to them.
David suggested that we should put the focus in our life on the future, rather than in the past. This is an excellent suggestion, and I know it helps me. This applied to our story in the Torah as well. It was most helpful for us to focus on our journey into Israel, rather than beating ourselves up for our past experience wandering the desert. It is good to learn from the past, but at some point it needs to be accepted and focus should be on the future, which is what we have the control over.
We continued our discussion of the appropriateness of paying people to perform mitzvah. We discussed the case of judges, who may be paid, however payment should come equally from both sides in a lawsuit. This helps avoid any conflict of interest. We discussed the pros and cons of a system in which the loser pays the fees. A disadvantage of such a system, is that those with lower income would be less able to seek justice.
We discussed that although we sometimes pay Rabbis to compensate them for opportunity cost, payment can take away the spiritual value of doing mitzvah. We discussed how this spiritual benefit is analogous to the time value of money, worth much more in the "world to come" than it is now in the form of a few dollars. We discussed how the Rambam was strongly against paying anyone, however there has been disagreement from those who note that we have a history of donating to the Kohen.
We discussed the importance of having a relationship with Hashem. Hashem is a power greater than ourselves, and all the distractions and issues we are facing. In general, Hashem will help us, but we must do our part. We discussed the example of David and Goliath. In the story, David had to do his part and make an effort to fight Goliath. Then, at just the right moment Goliath “coincidentally” had an itch which resulted in protection being removed. A relationship with Hashem can help us live in a state of simcha even when times are rough, by giving us a source that is more powerful than anything we are facing. We discussed that davening was an excellent way to develop a relationship with Hashem.
We discussed how it is important for us to try to do things differently once in a while to get out of routines. This is built into some mitzvah, such as having mezuzah. We all have the same Torah writing, but differ with the outer décor. David mentioned going to Israel for sukkot, which is different than his normal routine. We should all think of how we can change our routines in order to keep the spirit of our life and the mitzvahs as fresh as possible.
We discussed the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashanah. We discussed the blowing of the shofar, which takes place every day during the month of Elul. On Rosh Hashanah we blow the shofar 100 times. We discussed several reasons why we blow the shofar. One of these is as an alarm, to remind us to examine our deeds and correct our ways. Another one of these is that the shofar signals new opportunity for us. We discussed how Rosh Hashanah is a day of fear, but also a day of opportunity as we look forward to the new year. Yaki mentioned that Hashem judges the whole world on Rosh Hashanah, however Rosh Hashanah is for Jews.
Finally, we discussed how on Rosh Hashanah, we should be very grateful for all Hashem has given us over the past year. We should be more than happy to give a fraction of this away in the form of tzedukah and/or tithings, if we are in Israel.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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