Recap for 27 Adar 5777 (Parsha Vayakhel)

This Shabbos we discussed Parsha Vayakhel.   We also discussed the idea of “legal fictions”, which are ways the Rabbis make it easier to follow the Torah.  And we discussed the upcoming holiday of Pesach, including how we sell our chumatz.  I would like to thank David and Linda for hosting our Kiddush.  David Schlesinger led discussion.

We discussed the idea of “legal fictions”.  The Rabbis have come up with ways that make following the Torah easier for us.  Each of these ways appear to be creating a Torah violation, however this is technically not the case.  Technically, we do not violate the Torah with these "legal fictions".  The “legal fictions” include setting up an Eruv so that we can carry in our neighborhoods, and selling Chumatz right before Pesach, so we can continue to possess the Chumatz during the holiday locked up in our homes.

We discussed how the Rabbis were concerned that if following the Torah was too difficult, some of us would not do it, and would “fall off the dereck”.  However, we discussed that today we may have gone too far.  Allowing driving to shul on Shabbos, for example, because we would not come otherwise, seems to be going too far.  With this leniency, we would in fact be violating the Torah. 

We discussed the process of selling our Chumatz for Pesach, which is one of our “legal fictions”.  Before Pesach, we agree on a price, and receive a down payment from a non-Jew for the purchase of our Chumatz which we have locked away somewhere in our house.  The Chumatz becomes completely owned by the non-Jew upon making the down payment.  The agreement made is that the Chumatz will be completely paid for later. The agreement states that the Chumatz will become owned by us, again, if the non-Jew fails to pay the remaining balance.  

Yakoov pointed out, that we need to make sure the total price of the Chumatz is high enough that the non-Jew is not as likely to buy it, and if he or she does, at least we will receive a fair price.  It is also important to make the down payment small enough that the non-Jew is interested in making the deal.  Most importantly, we do not want to create the appearance that we are pretending to have a sale – even though we know the non-Jew is unlikely to make the purchase at the end.  We should try to have the mindset that maybe the non-Jew will in fact go through with the deal.

David brought up that there has to be different contracts for selling Chumatz, depending on the time zones of where we are planning to be before Pesach.  For example, Pesach comes to Israel before it comes to the United States.  If we are planning to be in Israel for Pesach, we must contract for the sale of our chumatz earlier than we would if we were planning to be in the United States.  It does not matter where the chumatz is located.  What matters is where we will be.  If our Chumatz is in Israel, but we are planning to be in the United States, our Chumatz can be sold later, however we need to make sure that ownership does not revert back to us until Pesach is over in the United States. 

I asked why we just don’t sell our Chumatz a day early, and have ownership revert to us a day later to avoid these issues.  Rob shared his thoughts that we really like our Chumatz, and would not like to be waiting unnecessarily!  Regardless of our time zone, we should try to get rid of as much Chumatz as possible, and only sell some of it if it is absolutely necessary.

We discussed Parsha Vayakhel.  Yaki shared some of his thoughts.  He spoke about how we were first reminded to observe the Sabbath, prior to given instructions on building the Mishkan.  This was to remind us not to work on the Mishkan over Shabbos.  Yaki commented that although a positive mitzvah of building the Mishkan, would normally override a negative mitzvah of not violating Shabbos, in this case there was no requirement that the Mishkan be built on a specific date.  This is in contrast to a Bris, which can in fact take place on Shabbos.  This is because this procedure and ceremony must be done on the 8^th day. 

Finally, we discussed that as we look forward to Pesach, and begin our preparations for this holiday, it is important to go into it with a positive attitude that this is a joyous holiday, rather than one which requires a lot of work.  Cleaning the house for Pesach, does not have to be as rigorous as many make it out to be.  As we have discussed, we are allowed to own small pieces of Chumatz that are smaller than about the size of an olive.  Therefore it is not necessarily to do an enormous spring cleaning.

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

Recap for 20 Adar 5777 (Parsha Ki Tisa)

This Shabbos we discussed Parsha Ki Tasa.  We discussed the upcoming holiday of Pesach, including commentary from Rav Malamed.  We also discussed some of the fundamental beliefs of Judaism.  David Schlesinger led discussion.

We discussed that there are two fundamental beliefs that we have.  First, that Hashem created the world.  And secondly, that Hashem plays an active and continuous role in the world and in our lives.  Judaism does not believe in deism, which is the belief that God created the world, but does not care and play a role once it has been created.  We believe Hashem’s act of creation continues through-out time.

We discussed how in the parsha, we felt that we were accountable to Moshe, however did not feel a strong accountability to Hashem.  As soon as Moshe was no longer around, we felt a void and a lack of accountability to anyone. This led to our committing the sin of the Golden Calf.

We discussed the importance that we are well aware that we are ultimately accountable to Hashem.  This is true in modern life, as nuch as in the times of the parsha.  David pointed out the problem of being overly accountable to someone.  If something should happen to this person, we are left with no one to turn to.  I pointed out how early on in my journey with Judaism, if the people I looked up to had faltered, I may not have continued.  In life, we tend to focus on pleasing and satisfying other people, and care much about what they think, but what is of the ultimate importance, is being accountable to the creator and carrying out his will for us.  Of course, we are accountable to many people during our life, such as our spouses, parents, and managers at work, but we should always be conscious of our overriding accountability to Hashem.

We discussed the holiday of Pesach that is coming up.  We discussed the commandment to “rid ourselves” of chametz during this holiday.  We discussed that we want to avoid consumption, benefiting from, or owning chametz during this holiday.  We discussed that although we do not want to consume any chametz, and thus must do a very thorough job of cleaning our kitchen and sections of the house in which we eat, it is not necessary to do exhaustive cleanings of the entire house.  This is because we are permitted to possess small amounts of chametz, which are less than about the size of an olive.

We discussed some of the customs that we follow over this holiday.  We eat lamb shank which represents that we are now free, and can enjoy pleasurable food.  However, we also eat bitter herbs, which remind us of our struggles in Egypt. We discussed how matzah bridges the two.  

We discussed various other reasons for why we eat matza.  One of these is that Hashem took us out of Egypt abruptly.  Matza symbolizes that we did not have time to allow the dough to rise when baking bread.  Matza also symbolizes humility, with  the rising dough of bread symbolizing arrogance and ego. 

During pesach, we want to let go of ego, and our desire to control everything, and realize that Hashem is the one ultimately in charge.  Of course, Hashem wants us to finish the act of creation and control some things, so we do go ahead and eat bread during much of the year.  Norm pointed out that ego does have its use.  But once a year it is important to remind ourselves, that we cannot do it all.  

Norm brought up an interesting point, that one of the most humble people there is – Moshe – is not mentioned in the haggadah.  He is so humble, he does not need to be mentioned.

We discussed why it was Hashem’s plan that we go to Egypt in the first place.  By actually living in a society without morality and extreme materialism, we could better understand and relate to our mission and purpose of bringing spirituality and morality to the world.  Egypt was a place of extreme materialism.  As we often discuss at our kiddush, we do not reject materialism and physical things.  However, physicality and materialism should be used as tools, and a platform in which we express spirituality. 

Our purpose is to “elevate the sparks of kiddusha”, as we often say at our Kiddush.   We have the mission of bringing morality to the world.  We discussed how bringing morality to the world, leads to the transition of what are the sources of power in society.  We move away from survival of the fitness, towards survival of what is right.    

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