In the past, Norm has spoken about his mom, and described her as honest, generous and an overall mensch. She was intelligent and very hard working. Although she had no formal education, she became educated in other ways, and kept working into her 70’s. She is an inspiration to all of us to value learning and hard work, and good character.
My father, Joseph ben Abraham, yeirzeit will be on Kislev 26. I will share some words about him next week. If anyone else has a yeirzeit coming up, and would like to share some words, please let me know. I don’t mean to leave anyone out.
Rav Males gave a dvar Torah which included the story of Jacob in the Parsha, and how he had a fight with the angel of his brother Esau. During this fight, Jacob’s sciatic nerve was injured. This is why there is a prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve of otherwise kosher animals. As usual, one should check with one’s Rabbi on this, as practices may vary.
This Shabbos we discussed the meaning of Hanukkah. Norm commented that we celebrate the Macabee’s victory. We discussed how we were living in a culture very different than our own. In the Greek culture physicality was highly valued, where as in our culture, physicality was valued but as a platform in which to apply spirituality.
In the Greek culture, physicality was valued in and of itself. We discussed how it was hard for us to retain our identity and culture and not assimilate. Hanukkah commemorates our resilience in retaining our culture and identity, in spite of living in such a hostile environment.
We discussed how as Jews, we do not want to assimilate, however we do not want to impose our culture on others. It is our belief, that non-Jews must hold to the 7 laws of Noah, however other than this, we do not believe it is necessary or desirable for non-Jews to keep the covenant that we have with Hashem, and engage in the same practices. We believe that we have our special relationship with Hashem, and it is not a relationship that everyone has, or should have.
We discussed the practice of lighting candles on Hanukkah. We discussed why it is that if we had enough oil to last 1 day, why do we consider all the days to be a miracle, including the first. One of the reasons why we celebrate on all 8 days, is because the miracle is that the oil burned at a slower rate (1/8 the normal rate) on all 8 days.
We discussed how in the parsha, Jacob was in Beth-El, when Hashem appeared to him and blessed him. Hashem told Jacob that his descendants would occupy this land in which Jacob was present. Hashem also changed Jacob’s name to Israel at this time. Rob commented that the location of Beth-El in the parsha, is different that the location of this city today. I remember my trip to Israel, in which we went to the current day Beth-El.
David spoke about how we need to demonstrate willingness to connect to Hashem, in order for Hashem to be willing to connect to us. We can show willingness by davening, learning, and how we lead our lives. Going to early minyan, and our Kiddush and learning, can help us connect to Hashem.
At our learning we have discussed some suggestions for having success. This success includes being judged favorably on Rosh Hashanah, and growing our soul so that we are ready for the world to come. We have discussed that in order to do this, we may have to put aside short term pleasures, and avoid distractions in our everyday life. I showed David an article which was on this topic, about discipline, and how it leads to success. David commented that having a feeling of accomplishment every time we make progress and successfully apply discipline, can help motivate us to continue to make the right decisions.
We discussed how as Jews, we do not want to assimilate, however we do not want to impose our culture on others. It is our belief, that non-Jews must hold to the 7 laws of Noah, however other than this, we do not believe it is necessary or desirable for non-Jews to keep the covenant that we have with Hashem, and engage in the same practices. We believe that we have our special relationship with Hashem, and it is not a relationship that everyone has, or should have.
We discussed the practice of lighting candles on Hanukkah. We discussed why it is that if we had enough oil to last 1 day, why do we consider all the days to be a miracle, including the first. One of the reasons why we celebrate on all 8 days, is because the miracle is that the oil burned at a slower rate (1/8 the normal rate) on all 8 days.
We discussed how in the parsha, Jacob was in Beth-El, when Hashem appeared to him and blessed him. Hashem told Jacob that his descendants would occupy this land in which Jacob was present. Hashem also changed Jacob’s name to Israel at this time. Rob commented that the location of Beth-El in the parsha, is different that the location of this city today. I remember my trip to Israel, in which we went to the current day Beth-El.
David spoke about how we need to demonstrate willingness to connect to Hashem, in order for Hashem to be willing to connect to us. We can show willingness by davening, learning, and how we lead our lives. Going to early minyan, and our Kiddush and learning, can help us connect to Hashem.
At our learning we have discussed some suggestions for having success. This success includes being judged favorably on Rosh Hashanah, and growing our soul so that we are ready for the world to come. We have discussed that in order to do this, we may have to put aside short term pleasures, and avoid distractions in our everyday life. I showed David an article which was on this topic, about discipline, and how it leads to success. David commented that having a feeling of accomplishment every time we make progress and successfully apply discipline, can help motivate us to continue to make the right decisions.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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