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.