Recap for 16 Tevet 5777 (Parsha Vayechi)

This Shabbos, we discussed Torah Shebealpeh, known as the oral law. We also discussed parsha Vayechi.  David Schlesinger led discussion.

We discussed the different categories of Torah Shebealpeh (oral law). One of these categories is known as implementation details.  The written Torah contains some general halakuh, such as the commandment to wear tefillin. However additional to the written Torah, Moshe received implementation details at Mt. Sinai, such as the requirement that the tefillin be black. For many years these implementation details were transmitted only orally, until it was decided to write them down in what is known as the Talmud.

Another category of Torah Shebealpeh we discussed, is laws which are the Rabbis interpretation of the contents of the Torah. At Mt. Sinai, Moshe received 13 principles, which are used to unlock the “secrets of the Torah.” For example, the law against mixing milk and meat, and the laws requiring a minyan of 10 are extracted from the written Torah using these principles.  Halakha that is not explicitly written in the Torah, but the Rabbi's pascan from the written Torah using these principles, is a special category of Torah Shebealpeh.

Another category of Torah Shebealpeh that we discussed, are laws that the Rabbi enact in order to protect us from being at risk of violating Torah prohibitions. We discussed an example of this, which is the law forbidding the mixing of chicken and dairy. These laws, known as Rabbinic Torah, are at a lower level than Torah law, which comes from the written Torah. One of the main differences between Rabbinic and Torah law, is when we are in doubt with a halakha we go lenient with Rabbinic, and strict with Torah law.

The Torah allows Rabbi’s to enact laws that create a “fence”, however today there is no central rabbinic authority to do this. We discussed how it was important for the Rabbi’s to be careful enacting new laws. We discussed the implementation of Purim as a holiday, as an example. We discussed how careful the Rabbi’s were with their decision to declare this holiday.

We discussed the holiday of Yom Ha’atzmaut. There is a belief by some that this is not a religiously sanctioned holiday. In Israel, this is considered a holiday and people take the day off. In the United States, we may not consider it as big of a holiday as some of the others, but we recognize the great importance the state of Israel plays in our religion, how the land of Israel was promised to us by Hashem, and what Israel means to us today.

We discussed parsha Vayechi, including commentary from Rav Yeager. We discussed how Jacob appeared to be very old to Pharaoh who asked him how old he was. Jacob responded that there were many years that he felt like he wasn’t living. These were years in which he was concerned about Joseph. Last Shabbos we discussed how Jacob never accepted that Joseph was dead, however was concerned that Joseph was dead spiritually. Elliott, a newcomer to our Kiddush this Shabbos, shared his thoughts that the specific concern was that Joseph had assimilated into Egyptian culture.

We discussed that although Joseph had spent many years preoccupied about Joseph, he kept up his practices. We discussed how when we are depressed, we can continue living by keeping up our practices of davening, studying Torah, doing mitzvah, and making a positive contribution to our communities and the world.

We discussed this Shabbos how there are different definitions for the word "living". There is of course physical life. But there is also spiritual life, which means we are continuing our practices, and making a positive contributions and not merely surviving. We discussed that when living, it is important to keep growing, as we will lose any growth we have attained unless we keep moving forward. Elliott shared his thoughts that it is the nature of human beings to have to keep moving forward in life.  We discussed that we will fall back if we don't continue pushing forward.

We discussed this Shabbos, how after Jacob passed away, the brothers told Joseph that Jacob wanted them to be forgiven. We discussed from Rav Yeager, how Joseph knew they were lying, because he had never told Jacob what had happened.

We discussed a few other topics this Shabbos.  Hannah shared that it was unlike most families, that the sons of Joseph went with the flow and did not become jealous of each other.  Also, Rob shared this Shabbos, about the historically different types of laws in Judaism. There are serious laws, which when violated called for the death penalty, less serious laws that when violated called for lashes, and still less serious laws that would have less serious penalties.

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