Recap for 30 Sivan 5777 (Parsha Korach)

This Shabbos we discussed Parsha Korach. I would like to thank Norm and Eileen for hosting our Kiddush.

After our davening, Rav Males spoke about why it is important that specific roles are assigned to specific people. He spoke about situations where we ask “someone” to do a task, and the task doesn’t get done – or is significantly delayed – because we think someone else is going to do it. Maybe this is why sometimes we don’t make minyans!  Everyone thinks someone else will come.   Larry commented that the opposite situation can happen, in which everyone wants to do something, and this can be overwhelming.  In this case as well, it helps if specific people are assigned specific roles.

Norm shared some of the Haftorah at our kiddush.  The Haftorah speaks to the miracle and significance of Jerusalem specifically, and Israel in general.  Norm commented about the amazing progress Israel has made, from being a vast, barren desert to the green and much more prosperous land it is today. Norm commented that this perhaps indicates that we are getting closer to when Moshiach will come.

Yaki spoke about how Hashem created an imperfect world, to give man the purpose of perfecting the world. Yaki commented that each of us has a unique role. One of our challenges is to figure out what our role is to play in the world. David has spoken in the past how we all have positions on a team. Hashem could tell us directly what our role is, but then we would be more like robots.  As we discussed last week, Hashem wanted Human beings, and not robots or automatic train sets.

Yaki spoke about the rebellion by Korach. Yaki commented that Korach had a huge challenge, to convince at least 50% of us to abandon support of Moshe and support Korach and his side. Yaki commented that Korach had on his side, men who were astrologers.

Yaki shared some commentary, that just like astrologers are not told specifically what the outcome of their work will be, Moshe was not told specifically what the outcome of his search for people to fill specific roles would be.  Yaki shared his thoughts, that this was Korach’s point in including astrologers as part of his rebellious group. Korach’s point was not that Moshe had chosen someone to have a specific leadership role, but that Moshe choose Aaron, who is someone in his family, rather than the best person for the job.  Nevertheless, Hashem later in the Parsha, does make clear that Moshe's choice was correct, when Korach and his supporters are put to death.

Rob spoke about how Moshe assigned different people to different roles in order to avoid conflict. Rob commented that more than one role could be assigned to a person, as long as there was not a conflict in time.

Howard commented that sometimes we see some of us lose faith, or not have it to begin with. Howard pointed out, that we should remember and tell others that even if we believe there is only a 1 in 100 percent chance of spiritual activities such as davening providing benefits, the benefits are so huge that shouldn’t we do it? This reminds me of the article David’s father wrote on how we bet our life on our decision whether or not to believe and connect with Hashem. Once we believe there is the tiniest of probabilities that this is beneficial to us, we should be motivated to daven and follow the Torah, because we are betting our life on this decision.

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

Recap for 23 Sivan 5777 (Parsha Shelach)

This Shabbos we discussed Parsha Shelach, including commentary from Rav Yeager. We discussed the commandment to honor our parents, including commentary from Rav Malamed. We also discussed some of the fundamental beliefs of Judaism. David Schlesinger led discussion.

David spoke about our fundamental belief that Hashem is the creator of everything.  He spoke about how Hashem introduced into his world, human beings, who are agents with free will.  With free will, we are not compelled to make decisions one way or another.  Although Hashem gave us free will, he certainly does have preferences, as outlined in our Torah and unique plans he has for each of us.   

We discussed why it is that Hashem didn’t simply create us to automatically follow his will.  The answer seems to be, that in creating us to function as do automatic train sets, no purpose would be served.  

One of the most important decisions we use our free will to make, is whether or not to believe in Hashem.  As we know, many people choose not to believe in Hashem. David shared what his father, Rav Dr George Schlesinger (Ha Rav Nattan ben Ha Rav Shmuel), would say that many people choose not to believe in Hashem, because belief in him means we have to take responsibility and be accountable.  Many choose not to have this responsibility.

We discussed in Parsha Shelach, how 12 spies were sent into Israel, and 10 of them came back with a bleak report. We discussed from Rav Yeager that there is some disagreement on specifically what constituted our sin, but there is agreement that our lack of faith in Hashem was sinful. This lack of faith in Hashem, can hurt us in the lives we lead today, just like it did back in the times of the parsha. We discussed that some hold that our sin was thinking we needed spies in the first place, whereas others hold that sending spies was ok in order to formulate a strategy of conquering the land, in which case coming back with a bleak report is the sin.

Yaki had an interesting take on this, pointing out that the spies we sent in were in their 70’s, and not youngsters. Yaki shared his thoughts that the purpose of the spies was not to see how we would conquer the land physically, but how we would conquer spiritually. The purpose of sending in the spies was to get a feel for the nature of the morality of the people currently residing there.

Regardless, as we discussed, 10 of the spies came back with a bleak report. We discussed how this number 10 is also the number of men that we need to make minyans. And Dave W pointed out that 10 is the numeric value of the letter yud, that was taken from Sarah’s name and put at the end of Joshua’s (Yehoshua’s) name by Moshe in this week’s parsha. 

Our names can influence us a great deal. The yud added to Yehoshua’s name may have given him extra spiritual energy, which resulted in his not going along with the other 10 spies. Dave W pointed out that this was not the first parsha in which yud was added to his name.

We discussed how the sin of the Golden Calf represented a lack of faith in ourselves, whereas the sin of the Spies represented a lack of faith in both ourselves and in Hashem. David spoke about the importance of having faith in ourselves, as well as faith in Hashem. We discussed that it is important to not have self-limiting beliefs, which can take many forms.  Some examples of self-limiting beliefs including thinking we can not do something, or thinking we are simply worthless.

We discussed the halakuh of giving bread to the Kohen’s, which we do even outside of Israel.  We discussed that bread is special, because it is something that involves both creation by Hashem, and creation by man. We, of course, do not have bread trees. However, we do have grape trees, and the mitzvah of giving of fruits we only do in Israel.

From Rav Malamed, we discussed the mitzvah of honoring our parents. We discussed that sometimes conflicts can come up between this commandment, and other commandments.  A parent may forget all the halakuh, and ask us to do something that is a Torah or Rabbinic violation. In this case, we should nicely remind our parent why we cannot comply with their request.

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

Recap for 19 Sivan 5777 (Parsha Behaalotecha)

This Shabbos we discussed Parsha Behaalotecha, including commentary from Rav Yeager.  The learning was in memory of Howard’s mom, Bracha Bas Menashe M’choel.  We also learned in honor of Menashe’s mother’s yeirzeit, and made this a special Kiddush and Learning to say goodbye to Yakoov who has been with us but is now going home. 

Howard’s mom, Barbara Zimmerman, had a life full of service work and doing Tikun Olam.  She started collecting money for charity at age 11.  She volunteered her time to help many organizations and people through-out her life.  She helped in the effort to improve literacy and provide services to the blind.  She served on a “God’s unfinished business” committee.  She was a librarian, who advanced in her career to hold the position of law librarian in the 6^th circuit Federal Court.  

Rav Males gave a dvar Torah, in which he talked about one of the beliefs many of us had in the past that there was no creation, and that everything we see around us always existed.  He talked about how now we know from both science and Torah, that time and creation had a beginning.  One of the things that Howard once shared at our learning, that made an impression on me and I still remember, was that science may be able to explain a lot of things, but it can never be able to explain something coming from nothing.  This was the same point that Rav Males made this Shabbos.

David spoke this Shabbos about how we can continue to honor and keep our parents spirit going here on Earth, by using their memory to inspire us to do mitzvah, Tikun Olam, and/or continue whatever their mission and purpose was in their life.   David spoke about how we can grow spiritually during our lives, which helps us get ready for the world to come.  

David shared that his father, George N Schlesinger, HaRav Natan Ben HaRav Shmuel , would refer to this as “getting ready for the opera”.  It's still possible to enjoy some aspects of an opera, if we are not ready, but those who are ready get the most out of the experience. Although we may no longer be able to perform mitzvah, in this world and get "ready for the opera" after we have passed, those who are still living and have been inspired by us and hold us in their memory, can spiritually continue much essence of our life and continue enabling us to be rewarded in the world to come.  This is a beautiful idea.    

We discussed the Parsha, and how Moshe was given special trumpets to blow.  The trumpets would be blown and we would follow the clouds when it was time for us to move on, during our journey towards Israel.  We were on our way to Israel, and expected to be there soon.  However, we discussed a possible reason why Yitro did not want to journey with us, which is that he possibly knew we would be spending many years in the dessert, and were certainly not ready to go to the promised land.

We discussed how in this week’s Parsha, we celebrated our first Pesach.  Since this was the first time doing it, we made mistakes from which we should learn.  Many of us were impure and unable to bring the special sacrifices.  It was thus necessary to have a second Pesach.

This Shabbos we discussed some of the halakuh related to being left handed and how this affects our performance of mitzvah.  In particular, we discussed putting on tefillin, which we do on our weakest hand, so that those who are left handed put the tefillin on their right hands.   

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

Recap for 9 Sivan 5777 (Parsha Naso)

This Shabbos was a special Shabbos, as it was the yeirzeit of Ethan Jacobs, who was a regular at our kiddush and learnings.  All the learning this Shabbos, was in his memory.  This Shabbos we welcomed back Dan.  This Shabbos we discussed Parsha Naso, including commentary from Rav Yeager, as well as some other topics, including commentary from Rav Malamed.  David Schlesinger led discussion.

David shared how his father, Harav Nattan ben Harav Shmuel, would point out that Judaism is the only religion in which is said a blessing after meals.  Dave W pointed out that there is a lot of motivation to go through procedures, such as saying a blessing, in order to be able to consume food when hungry, but not a lot of motivation to do procedures, such as saying a blessing, afterwards. David's dad would make this point, that the way we do it is more likely to demonstrate true gratitude, rather than just motivation to get to a meal.

We discussed that we say the blessings afterwards, even when we have consumed very small amounts.  This is because we are in fact considered “full”, even when consuming an amount of bread the size of an olive.  Although we may not be full physically, we should be full spiritually, by being aware and grateful for the fact that the bread, and everything else, ultimately comes from Hashem. The lesson for us, is that as we consume food we should be consiousely aware of our gratitude that it is provided from its ultimate source.

As Jews, our purpose and mission is to bring spirituality to the physical world, and we do this by saying blessings, and following the Torah, which is our blueprint on how to do this.  Dan refers to this as “elevating the sparks of Kidusha”, which is a quote that we bring up quite often.  We remember how Ethan would refer to following the Torah, with his saying “Torah says …”.

We discussed the week’s parsha, and how the Kohen were historically given the special role of carrying the Tabernacle from location to location as we traveled through-out the dessert towards the land of Israel.  All the descendants of Aron were to have a special role in leading services.  Dave W pointed out how the parsha seems to have a lot of unrelated topics put together.  There are also commandments in the parsha, to isolate people who have contracted spiritual illnesses involving impurity.

We discussed how the original plan was for the oldest child to have the special role of carrying the components of the tabernacle, and leading services, however this did not work out so it was assigned to the Kohen, who had not participated in the sin of the Golden Calf.  To this day, the Kohen play a special role in our services.  They receive special honors, such as receiving the first Aliyah.  Along with these special honors, comes additional responsibility. 

These responsbilities include the importance of following all the halakuh, including special commandments given to the Kohen, specifically.  These include the commandment to not marry a divorcee, and not coming in contact with those who have passed away by attending funerals.  A Kohen can lose his special status by not following the commandments which apply to him.  We discussed that if a Kohen does lose his special status, it may be possible for him to do t’shuva and have his status restored.

We discussed that the descendants of Aron, the levies, were not given any land in Israel, as their role was to lead services and perform spiritual duties.  All of us were commanded to give gifts to the levies so that they could focus on their duties, rather than on making a living.

This Shabbos, we discussed how the angels had a disagreement with Hashem on whether or not we should be given all the details in the Torah.  The angels felt that we would become lost in the details, and forget our overall purpose and mission, and even lose our awareness and our connection to Hashem.  Hashem’s argument, was that the Torah is a path which can lead towards our spirituality, and it was important for this path to be laid out before us, although we may choose to not follow it. 

The lesson to us is that we always try our best to be aware of the overall reasons for why we are following the details of the commandments and mitzvah.  We should try our best to have an awareness of the overall, and have a conscious relationship with Hashem.

David spoke about the importance of renewing our interest in routines that we follow, such as how we observe the holidays, so it always seems fresh to us.  Some examples of what we can do is perhaps observe a holiday in Israel, which would be a change, or observing the holiday with new people or in a different way.  If we renew our interest in our routines and remain aware of our overall purpose, we can overcome the concerns of the angles. 

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