This Shabbos we discussed 2 very important issues that I am including at the top of the notes because of their importance. The first is that Purim is coming up in about 2 weeks. There have been tragedies on this holiday in our community and elsewhere. Please do not drink and drive, and please drink total amounts that are responsible. We discussed that there are many important Purim mitzvah and that the focus does not have to be on drinking.
The second issue is that we are having a crisis with our early Minyan in which not enough people are showing up. If you do not currently come, please consider coming. If you do come, please come on time which is 7 am - sharp! If not enough people show up, it becomes necessary to do a last minute recruitment that is kind of difficult on a day when phones are not permitted! I myself have had issues with drinking, and not davening on Shabbos, so I don’t mean to be critical. We just discussed these issues this Shabbos and I try to be helpful by including them.
I was reading an email by Dave W this week about how he was visiting guys we know that are serving in the IDF over in Israel. I have a tremendous appreciation and admiration for these guys, and anyone who has made Aliyah to Israel. I think of the sacrifice these guys are making, and the fact I actually know these guys – it is all amazing to me.
David Schlesinger led discussion of an article written by Rav Ari Heller from Ha Kotel. The article discusses how we were forced to accept the Torah by Hashem hanging an entire mountain over us. Our relationship with hashem was originally based on fear, but over time we developed a relationship based on love as well. And over time, the fear became a fear of missing out, rather than a fear that something bad is going to happen.
We discussed an alternative theory from the article, that maybe we experienced both love and fear at the same time at Mt. Sinai. We have seen that the Torah is not always in chronological order. Children often have to be motivated by fear, but beneath this fear is a love they have for their parents. Once they grow up, hopefully the fear develops into something more mature. Just like children love their parents, we may have had love for Hashem from the beginning.
This Shabbos we talked about the idea of living in the here and now. We discussed how we need to focus on doing our part and letting Hashem do his. We discussed specifically the idea of the “world to come”. The messianic era will come, when hashem wants it to come. However, we can do our part by spreading Torah, and being a representative of Hashem when we interact with others.
Norm talked about how this is also a very important concept in psychology, that is called mindfulness that has applications in therapy and self-improvement programs. Norm talked about living in the “here and now”. It is my own experience that if I’m constantly obsessed about the past, or worried about the future, it interferes with what I’m doing today. I have taken meditation classes and they are very helpful.
This Shabbos, Dave K discussed a video he found on facebook, that was a summary of an article we discussed a few Shabbos ago. Back in the 60’s we could look up at the sky, and although only a small fraction of the planets were believed to have the necessary conditions for life, the total number of planets was so incredibly enormous, that we could think to ourselves that it was entirely reasonable that life could emerge randomly.
Today, we have discovered so many conditions that are necessary for life, that other than earth, the number of planets that would be expected to meet all the necessary conditions is zero. So we are left with 2 alternatives, one being that there was such an incredible miracle that the only planet that met necessary conditions, was "lucky" enough to have life randomly develop, or 2 that there is a creator and life was created as a separate process.
One thing we discussed, is that if this is all the case, why do we have to have so many planets to begin with? Yaki talked about how it would interfere with our own free will if there was only 1 planet and we were on it. Yaki talked about how we always will have alternatives. Even back when seas were being split, and plagues were occurring, there were alternatives around so that we would have to use our free will to believe in Hashem.
It should not be surprising that scientists are busy coming up with a 3rd alternative to the above, so that we will be back to using our free will to believe in Hashem, and this is just the way Hashem wants it! He created us to be human’s with free will rather than robots that automatically believe in him. And these humans will always come up with alternatives to the idea that there is a designer.
We discussed this Shabbos about how we have to do some ground work before we can experience rewards such as “spiritual highs”. Dave K shared how he felt a spiritual high in Israel, but would not have felt this if he had not gone to shul and learned in Memphis. We talked about how this is similar to have to do gournd work before experiencing "runner's high". Bucky shared about how he has to work out and diet during the week to get maximum enjoyment from Shabbos. Norm has mentioned the spiritual high he received by sensing his son’s heart beat for the first time.
We discussed the upcoming holiday of Purim from Rav Malamed’s book. Purim is usually celebrated on the 14th of Adar, however in Jerusalem and locations in which the city walls can be seen, Purim is celebrated on the 15th. This is because in certain walled cities it took us an extra day to fight off our enemies.
We discussed some of the mitzvah’s of Purim, such as reading the Megillah. Brett brought up the mitzvah of reading the Torah portion concerning Purim. There are also the mitzvahs of given gifts to the poor, and bags of food to our friends. We discussed how the book of Esther marks the end of the canonization, and from that point forward all mitzvah’s are contained in the oral law.
Finally, we discussed again that Judaism is not just about abstinence. Judaism is about “elevating the sparks of kidusha”. Judaism is about bringing spirituality to a physical world. We do this in many ways such as saying a blessing, having our most delicious food on Shabbos, and lighting candles.
One thing we discussed, is that if this is all the case, why do we have to have so many planets to begin with? Yaki talked about how it would interfere with our own free will if there was only 1 planet and we were on it. Yaki talked about how we always will have alternatives. Even back when seas were being split, and plagues were occurring, there were alternatives around so that we would have to use our free will to believe in Hashem.
It should not be surprising that scientists are busy coming up with a 3rd alternative to the above, so that we will be back to using our free will to believe in Hashem, and this is just the way Hashem wants it! He created us to be human’s with free will rather than robots that automatically believe in him. And these humans will always come up with alternatives to the idea that there is a designer.
We discussed this Shabbos about how we have to do some ground work before we can experience rewards such as “spiritual highs”. Dave K shared how he felt a spiritual high in Israel, but would not have felt this if he had not gone to shul and learned in Memphis. We talked about how this is similar to have to do gournd work before experiencing "runner's high". Bucky shared about how he has to work out and diet during the week to get maximum enjoyment from Shabbos. Norm has mentioned the spiritual high he received by sensing his son’s heart beat for the first time.
We discussed the upcoming holiday of Purim from Rav Malamed’s book. Purim is usually celebrated on the 14th of Adar, however in Jerusalem and locations in which the city walls can be seen, Purim is celebrated on the 15th. This is because in certain walled cities it took us an extra day to fight off our enemies.
We discussed some of the mitzvah’s of Purim, such as reading the Megillah. Brett brought up the mitzvah of reading the Torah portion concerning Purim. There are also the mitzvahs of given gifts to the poor, and bags of food to our friends. We discussed how the book of Esther marks the end of the canonization, and from that point forward all mitzvah’s are contained in the oral law.
Finally, we discussed again that Judaism is not just about abstinence. Judaism is about “elevating the sparks of kidusha”. Judaism is about bringing spirituality to a physical world. We do this in many ways such as saying a blessing, having our most delicious food on Shabbos, and lighting candles.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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