25 Cheshvan 5776 (Parsha Chayei Sarah)

This Shabbos we discussed the commandment of netilat yadayim, including commentary by Rav Malamed.  We discussed parsha Chayei Sarah, including commentary by Rav Yeager.  And we discussed an article about the need to believe.  It was a special Shabbos as Chayei Sarah is Yaki’s bar mitzvah parsha.  David Schlesinger led discussion.

We continued our discussion from Rav Malamed concerning the commandment to wash our hands before eating bread. We discussed the concept of purity, and what happens when we come in contact with non-kosher meat or animals. Of course many of the laws with respect to purity no longer apply with the temple no longer standing, however, commandments that we follow to this day have evolved from these practices we had in the past.

We discussed how during the times of the temple, the Kohen would wash their hands before making sacrifices. The Rabbis then decided that everyone should wash their hands, in order that the Kohen would not feel alone in this requirement.  Since not everyone made sacrifices at the temple, the rule was established that everyone would do this before meals, with a meal defined by the consumption of bread.

We discussed how body parts would be presumed to be pure unless there was evidence otherwise. However there were special rules for the hands, which are a part of the body that seems to come in contact with everything. It was presumed that the hands were impure, which is why the Cohen would be required to wash before making sacrifices.

We discussed parsha Chayei Sarah including commentary from Rav Yeager. This is Yaki's barmitzvah parsha.  We discussed how Isaac’s brother Ishmael would comment that Isaac had it easy. After all, Ishmael had his brit at 13, whereas Isaac had his brit at 8 days old and did not have to make decisions to go through this experience. We discussed how in response, Isaac told Ishmael he would be willing to do anything for Hashem. This is a reason why Isaac was asked to sacrifice himself, and proove this willingness. We discussed how the stress of all of this may have been too much for Sarah which is why she passed away.

We discussed how in the parsha, Eliezer is instructed to go to Aram to get a wife for Isaac. We discussed that Aram was a preferable location for a wife, where it would be possible to get someone for Isaac from Abraham’s family. We discussed that although those in Aram may not share the same beliefs as Abraham, the people there had better character and made better choices than those in Canaan.

 We discussed how in general it is preferable to be someone who doesn’t believe in Hashem, but has good character, than someone who believes but is immoral. We discussed that it is easier to change belief, if it exists at all. But changing an atheist or one who doesn’t believe at all, or one who is immoral, can be very tough and challenging.

We discussed that it is interesting that Hashem knew Isaac would find a wife in Aram, but he waited to reveal this until after asking for Isaac to be sacrificed. We discussed several possible reasons for this, including not wanting to interfere in Abraham's decisions.

We had an interesting discussion about how free will isn’t all that determines one’s life. We can actually be born into a certain life. For example, the woman in Aram were eligible to be Isaac's wife simply because of where they were born.  It did not matter whether or not the woman in Canaan wanted to use their free will to make choices with respect to this.  Another example, some of us are born into Judaism, or born into lives of apparent privilege. We discussed that this may not seem “fair”, but along with this privilege comes a lot of responsibility.

We discussed an interesting article entitled “The Need to Believe: where does it Come From”, by Marcelo Gleiser. The article discusses the idea that whether or not we believe Hashem exists can be a range. However the idea of belief being a range can be bothersome to scientist who have definitions of what it means for Hashem or anything to exist that are based on science.

We discussed that throughout history there seems to have been conflict between science and religion, however it is interesting that the more we know about science, the more it confirms what we have known about religion. Brian Rubin talked about the importance - that even the very religious - believe in science.  Brian talked about processes such as photo syntheses.  And the more we know about these, the more amazing it is how it works and it becomes evidence of a creator.

There have been some who have thought science is completely false, and some who have thought religion is completely false. It can be hard to imagine how both can be true, but the article suggests that it is not one or the other.  David told a story from his father how spirituality seems to have decreased since Mt. Sinai, similar to how there doesn’t seem to be the same great musical composers we have had in the past. The only reason spirituality remains strong, is because the more we know about science, the more it seems to confirm what we know about religion.

Conflict will always remain if we look at spirituality through the framework, logic, and definition of science. It seems necessary to get “outside the box” of our physical world, and to believe in something even though we will never have all the details.  We all seem to have a yearning to understand that which is greater than ourselves.  But it is up to us how we use our free will to make decisions, hashem has not created us to automatically do everything, including determination of our fundamental believes.

David told a story from his dad, Dr. George Schlesinger, that just because one wins an argument doesn’t mean that person is right. So although science can proof something doesn’t “exist”, wherein the definition of “exist” is determined by science to mean has certain physical characteristics, doesn’t mean that this argument that seems to have been “won” is right.

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