"G-d said: I will obliterate humanity that I have created from the face of the earth; man, livestock, land animals and birds of the sky. I regret that I created them. But Noach found favour in G-d's eyes. Noach was a righteous man, faultless in his generation. Noah walked with G-d." (Genesis 6: 7-9).
When you think about this line, you realize how amazing it is. In the midst of a world so corrupt that G-d planned to kill everything init, Noach managed to not only stay righteous, but be righteous enough to cause G-d to rethink his plan to wipe out humanity.
In fact, no where else in the Torah, do we find G-d describing a man in such glowing terms. Why is it then that we only talk about Noach once a year, but we talk about our founding fathers and Moshe constantly? Some of our Talmudic Sages teach that Noach was only righteous compared to his generation, but compared to Abraham Avinu he was nothing. We get a hint of that from the phrase “Noach walked with G-d”. Noach needed G-d’s help to be so righteous, where as Abraham Avinu was righteous on his own.
Still, to be righteous in a world as corrupt as his is a great thing. So why did he not merit to be the first Jew? We get a hint from the end of Parash B’Reshit. The Torah bring down a list of the generations of Adam. Everyone has there first child between age 65 and 187, and fathers many more children. Noach had (only) three children, and not until age 500. Noach did not want to bring children into such a corrupt world. Even though he was a great person, he did not believe he could instill that in his children.
Rabbi Jay Kelman writes: “While understandable, this is not and can not be a Jewish attitude. It is not up to us to be derelict in our own duties due to possible fears about the future. Furthermore our job is to change that corrupt and morally depraved world by having children who will serve as a living example of righteousness and purity. While we must protect and prepare ourselves from the corrupting influences of the world at large, we must never give up hope of changing the world for the better. In times of despair we need to have additional, not less children. It is our children who are the hope for the future. And Judaism, regardless of the present, teaches that the future can and must be a better one. Without this mindset we could not have survived all these years under extremely trying circumstances.”
The honour of being the first Jew had to wait for someone who despite the corruption and around him, prayed desperately for a child. Abraham never gave up on the world around him. He was committed to bringing the world to a realization of one G-d. Being descendants from Abraham, we must carry his positive attitude and constant striving to improve the moral climate.
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Discovery Seminar
Last night I went to “Discovery”, which was a seminar hosted by Aish Toronto.
Discovery started as a week long program in Israel, then was adapted to a weekend long program in America, then into a day long program, and now into a 3 hour seminar. They said they did the condensing by speaking very quickly.
The seminar basically attempts to present us with enough information to answer for ourselves the following question “Is the Torah written by man (or men) or G-d?”
The seminar started by talking about how the Mossad verifies messages from its operatives. They look for 5 things:
The Mossad will (according to the host) go ahead with a mission if three of these are present, all five being present would mean they are more sure of the authenticity of this message than “you’re sure that your mother is your mother”.
The seminar then goes on to address each of these five criteria and show how it relates to the Torah.
Some sections were more well done than others, but over all I don’t see how a “non believer” cold leave the event without at least questioning their beliefs. Of course looking at the audience, I don’t think there were too many “non-believers” there.
My favourite part were the many claims the Torah makes that no human at the time could have possibly known. For example, that there is only one animal that has split hooves but does not chew its cud (the pig). Or that fish with scales also have fins.
All in all, $10 well spent.
I’ll talk about some of the specifics as I learn more about them in coming weeks.
Discovery started as a week long program in Israel, then was adapted to a weekend long program in America, then into a day long program, and now into a 3 hour seminar. They said they did the condensing by speaking very quickly.
The seminar basically attempts to present us with enough information to answer for ourselves the following question “Is the Torah written by man (or men) or G-d?”
The seminar started by talking about how the Mossad verifies messages from its operatives. They look for 5 things:
- Identifying Information
- Outside Verification
- Codes
- Transmission
- Control
The Mossad will (according to the host) go ahead with a mission if three of these are present, all five being present would mean they are more sure of the authenticity of this message than “you’re sure that your mother is your mother”.
The seminar then goes on to address each of these five criteria and show how it relates to the Torah.
Some sections were more well done than others, but over all I don’t see how a “non believer” cold leave the event without at least questioning their beliefs. Of course looking at the audience, I don’t think there were too many “non-believers” there.
My favourite part were the many claims the Torah makes that no human at the time could have possibly known. For example, that there is only one animal that has split hooves but does not chew its cud (the pig). Or that fish with scales also have fins.
All in all, $10 well spent.
I’ll talk about some of the specifics as I learn more about them in coming weeks.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Parasha B'Reshit - Part 2
B'Reshit is one of my favourite parahas of the Torah. All of creation is described in 31 verses; it takes science hundreds of thousands of books to describe it. The text is so rich and full of deep levels of meaning that you can spend a lifetime studying it and never fully comprehend all its intricacies. King David wrote "A word well spoken is like a dish of silver filled with apples of gold." King David could have been talking about parasha B'Reshit when he wrote that.
What did King David mean? Take a silver dish and fill it with gold apples. From a distance all you see is the silver dish - as beautiful and valuable as it is. It's not until you get in close for a full inspection do you discover the even more valuable apples of gold inside. So is the case with "a word well spoken". A superficial reading of the text reveals much value, but closer inspection is where you find the "apples of gold".
But enough about creation for now... I'm sure I'll write more about that some other day (since I'm learning about it all the time). The other major part of B'Reshit is the story of Adam and Eve, and their expulsion from Gan Edan (the Garden of Eden). There is, of course, just as much insight tat can be taken from that text, I'll relate my favourite bit here.
Their problems all started when then ate from the "Tree of Knowledge". Of course, that's not quite right. They had knowledge all along, the tree was called the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad". But surely they had this knowledge before they ate the fruit? After all, they knew that they were not suppose to eat from the tree. The classic philosophical question to ask is "What was the difference between Adam and Eve before they ate from the tree and after?" Here's the best answer I've heard.
Before eating from the tree everything was judged as "True or False", not "Good or Bad". "True and False" are objective. One plus one equals two is true. One plus one equals three is false. No one can argue with these. "Good and "Bad" are subjective. Anything which one person says is good, another person can argue that it's really bad.
That's why good and bad are not used to describe scientific truths. It does not matter if one plus one equals two is good or bad, it's just true. Only in the world of ethical issues is good and bad relevant.
Before eating from the tree, Adam and Eve were free from subjectivity. They could just as easily address ethical issues as they could scientific ones. Kindness is not good, it's true. Killing is not bad, it's false. That's why G-d didn't want his children to eat from the tree. Doing so would alter their perception from moral certitude to relativism. Eating from the tree introduced moral relativism into the world.
Now many people would say that's not a bad thing. After all how can we pass judgement until we walked a mile in that persons shoes. That's the very reason why 2/3 of university philosophy students refused to classify the 9/11 terrorists as being bad. Eating from the tree is why people today consider being anti-gay to be bad but being anti-America to be good. Before eating from the tree, both of these would have been false.
Much of the mess that the world is in today stems directly from this sin. How do we recover from this sin? As Rabbi Benjamin Belch wrote "We must be willing to differentiate between the acceptable and the abhorrent. In an age that has for far too long glorified relativism, we've got to learn to get rid of our excessive neutrality and nonjudgmental behavior. Some things are simply evil -- and no amount of rationalization can alter that truth."
...
Tonight I go to the Discovery Seminar. I'll give you the run down next time.
What did King David mean? Take a silver dish and fill it with gold apples. From a distance all you see is the silver dish - as beautiful and valuable as it is. It's not until you get in close for a full inspection do you discover the even more valuable apples of gold inside. So is the case with "a word well spoken". A superficial reading of the text reveals much value, but closer inspection is where you find the "apples of gold".
But enough about creation for now... I'm sure I'll write more about that some other day (since I'm learning about it all the time). The other major part of B'Reshit is the story of Adam and Eve, and their expulsion from Gan Edan (the Garden of Eden). There is, of course, just as much insight tat can be taken from that text, I'll relate my favourite bit here.
Their problems all started when then ate from the "Tree of Knowledge". Of course, that's not quite right. They had knowledge all along, the tree was called the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad". But surely they had this knowledge before they ate the fruit? After all, they knew that they were not suppose to eat from the tree. The classic philosophical question to ask is "What was the difference between Adam and Eve before they ate from the tree and after?" Here's the best answer I've heard.
Before eating from the tree everything was judged as "True or False", not "Good or Bad". "True and False" are objective. One plus one equals two is true. One plus one equals three is false. No one can argue with these. "Good and "Bad" are subjective. Anything which one person says is good, another person can argue that it's really bad.
That's why good and bad are not used to describe scientific truths. It does not matter if one plus one equals two is good or bad, it's just true. Only in the world of ethical issues is good and bad relevant.
Before eating from the tree, Adam and Eve were free from subjectivity. They could just as easily address ethical issues as they could scientific ones. Kindness is not good, it's true. Killing is not bad, it's false. That's why G-d didn't want his children to eat from the tree. Doing so would alter their perception from moral certitude to relativism. Eating from the tree introduced moral relativism into the world.
Now many people would say that's not a bad thing. After all how can we pass judgement until we walked a mile in that persons shoes. That's the very reason why 2/3 of university philosophy students refused to classify the 9/11 terrorists as being bad. Eating from the tree is why people today consider being anti-gay to be bad but being anti-America to be good. Before eating from the tree, both of these would have been false.
Much of the mess that the world is in today stems directly from this sin. How do we recover from this sin? As Rabbi Benjamin Belch wrote "We must be willing to differentiate between the acceptable and the abhorrent. In an age that has for far too long glorified relativism, we've got to learn to get rid of our excessive neutrality and nonjudgmental behavior. Some things are simply evil -- and no amount of rationalization can alter that truth."
...
Tonight I go to the Discovery Seminar. I'll give you the run down next time.
Friday, October 24, 2003
Parasha B'reshit - Part 1
My formal training is as a scientist. The scientific portion of my mind has always had a problem with the Torah's account of creation. Creation vs Evolution. 6 Days vs. 16 Billion years...
I always wanted to believe in the Torah's account, but things just didn't sit well. I never bought the traditional ways of explaining away the problem. "If G-d can create the universe, he can make it look as old as he wants." To me, that just sounds like a cop-out. "The account of creation is poetic, a day is really an epoch." That one just goes against basic torah learning principles - the Torah is carefully worded, if the term "day" is used, it means day.
My dilemma was resolved a few years ago when I read a great book, "The Science of G-d" by Dr. Schroeder. He is both a torah scholar and a PhD in science. He uses relativity theory to resolve the issue.
First, we need to see that time in the first 6 days is different than time after that. Then we look at what time means in the first 6 days.
There are two ways of keeping time in the Torah. The first 6 days are a literal time keeping. "This happens, day one. This happens, a second day". After Adam, time is kept generational. "Person 1 lived for x years and fathered person 2, then lived y more years..." Different ways of keeping time implies time is somehow different.
So what does time mean in the first 6 days? Well, the term "day" is used, so that means a day as we know it. How do we define a day? A revolution of the earth on it's axis, 1/365 of the time around the sun... Problem is the sun wasn't around until day 3, so how can we define a day this way. We could define a day as 24 hours (hour being defined scientifically). But man isn't around yet, so it can't be mans hours. The only thing existing at this point is G-d, so it must be G-d time - i.e. 24 of our hours, experienced by G-d. Before you're "cop-out" alarm goes off, lets apply some scientific rigger to see what G-d time could mean.
G-d created the universe, so G-d must exist outside of it. The universe is expanding. This seems like a prime spot for some relativity theory. If we gave one of our watches to G-d, how would 24 hours from a position outside of the universe look to someone on earth?
The book works out the math (I'll spare you) and relativity theory says that 6 x 24 hours outside of the universe, would look like 16 billion years to someone sitting on earth. 16 billion years is fairly close to sciences best guess of the age of the universe.
But the book goes one step further. The author figures out what time period would be represented by each of the 6 days. The lists what the Torah claims happened on that day (in order), and compared it to what science claims happened in each of those periods. When the sun was formed, when plant life appeared, when fish appear... The two time-lines match exactly.
For me that was a very convincing argument.
That solves the age of the universe "problem". Now lets tackle the evolution "problem".
The Church always argued against evolution, since the bible says that G-d had a separate creation for every species. The only problem is that if you actually read the account of creation in the Torah (which was a no-no for the Church), it claims nothing of the sort.
The word for create is Barah, which is used exactly 3 times in the creation story:
1) the heavens and the earth
2) soul of animal
3) soul of man
Everything else, was "brought forth" or "sprung forth". So there is no problem there.
In fact if you look at the order of creation in the Torah, it goes from simple to complex. Plant life to fish, to mammal, to man. In fact the Torah agrees completely with the theory of evolution, with one exception. Evolutions believes all this was random, the Torah says it is guided. I'll leave it up to you to decide which one is more believable.
My next post will be about what I've learned about Adam and Eve.
That's enough for now, some other time I'll write more about Science vs. Religion - my favourate subject.
Shabbat Shalom.
I always wanted to believe in the Torah's account, but things just didn't sit well. I never bought the traditional ways of explaining away the problem. "If G-d can create the universe, he can make it look as old as he wants." To me, that just sounds like a cop-out. "The account of creation is poetic, a day is really an epoch." That one just goes against basic torah learning principles - the Torah is carefully worded, if the term "day" is used, it means day.
My dilemma was resolved a few years ago when I read a great book, "The Science of G-d" by Dr. Schroeder. He is both a torah scholar and a PhD in science. He uses relativity theory to resolve the issue.
First, we need to see that time in the first 6 days is different than time after that. Then we look at what time means in the first 6 days.
There are two ways of keeping time in the Torah. The first 6 days are a literal time keeping. "This happens, day one. This happens, a second day". After Adam, time is kept generational. "Person 1 lived for x years and fathered person 2, then lived y more years..." Different ways of keeping time implies time is somehow different.
So what does time mean in the first 6 days? Well, the term "day" is used, so that means a day as we know it. How do we define a day? A revolution of the earth on it's axis, 1/365 of the time around the sun... Problem is the sun wasn't around until day 3, so how can we define a day this way. We could define a day as 24 hours (hour being defined scientifically). But man isn't around yet, so it can't be mans hours. The only thing existing at this point is G-d, so it must be G-d time - i.e. 24 of our hours, experienced by G-d. Before you're "cop-out" alarm goes off, lets apply some scientific rigger to see what G-d time could mean.
G-d created the universe, so G-d must exist outside of it. The universe is expanding. This seems like a prime spot for some relativity theory. If we gave one of our watches to G-d, how would 24 hours from a position outside of the universe look to someone on earth?
The book works out the math (I'll spare you) and relativity theory says that 6 x 24 hours outside of the universe, would look like 16 billion years to someone sitting on earth. 16 billion years is fairly close to sciences best guess of the age of the universe.
But the book goes one step further. The author figures out what time period would be represented by each of the 6 days. The lists what the Torah claims happened on that day (in order), and compared it to what science claims happened in each of those periods. When the sun was formed, when plant life appeared, when fish appear... The two time-lines match exactly.
For me that was a very convincing argument.
That solves the age of the universe "problem". Now lets tackle the evolution "problem".
The Church always argued against evolution, since the bible says that G-d had a separate creation for every species. The only problem is that if you actually read the account of creation in the Torah (which was a no-no for the Church), it claims nothing of the sort.
The word for create is Barah, which is used exactly 3 times in the creation story:
1) the heavens and the earth
2) soul of animal
3) soul of man
Everything else, was "brought forth" or "sprung forth". So there is no problem there.
In fact if you look at the order of creation in the Torah, it goes from simple to complex. Plant life to fish, to mammal, to man. In fact the Torah agrees completely with the theory of evolution, with one exception. Evolutions believes all this was random, the Torah says it is guided. I'll leave it up to you to decide which one is more believable.
My next post will be about what I've learned about Adam and Eve.
That's enough for now, some other time I'll write more about Science vs. Religion - my favourate subject.
Shabbat Shalom.
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Davening Shacharit
For close to 6 months now, I've been leading Psukei D'Zimrah at my Shul's morning minyon. Last June, on my Grandmothers first Yahrzeit, I led the full Shacharit for the first time.
Since then I have not led the weekday Shacharit (although I have done Shabbat Shacharit a few times at our Haskama Minyon). This morning I got a surprise... I was asked to "start us off", which means do Psukei D'Zimrah, and have someone else take over for Shacharit. When we got to the normal take over spot, no one was coming up, and the Cantor asked if I wanted to keep on going. How can I turn that down?
So I kept going and did a fairly good job (much better than the first time). Still stumbled at a few places, but overall got through it with little problem.
I don't usually like to do Shacharit, since there are several places where there is a Kaddish that only the leader says. Since I'm not actually saying Kaddish (and G-d willing I won't have to for many years), I don't like to take that opportunity away for someone who is. I don't mind doing Psukei D'Zimrah, since there is no reader only Kaddish.
However, today I was glad to be asked. My brother is going for an MRI today to see how the mass on his brain is doing (an infection that seems to be responding to antibiotics - the mass was one of the factors that lead to my becoming more religious). My prayer this morning was dedicated to him in hopes of a positive result. One day I'll fill readers of this blog (if there are any) in on the details of "The Monster on Ian's Brain".
Since then I have not led the weekday Shacharit (although I have done Shabbat Shacharit a few times at our Haskama Minyon). This morning I got a surprise... I was asked to "start us off", which means do Psukei D'Zimrah, and have someone else take over for Shacharit. When we got to the normal take over spot, no one was coming up, and the Cantor asked if I wanted to keep on going. How can I turn that down?
So I kept going and did a fairly good job (much better than the first time). Still stumbled at a few places, but overall got through it with little problem.
I don't usually like to do Shacharit, since there are several places where there is a Kaddish that only the leader says. Since I'm not actually saying Kaddish (and G-d willing I won't have to for many years), I don't like to take that opportunity away for someone who is. I don't mind doing Psukei D'Zimrah, since there is no reader only Kaddish.
However, today I was glad to be asked. My brother is going for an MRI today to see how the mass on his brain is doing (an infection that seems to be responding to antibiotics - the mass was one of the factors that lead to my becoming more religious). My prayer this morning was dedicated to him in hopes of a positive result. One day I'll fill readers of this blog (if there are any) in on the details of "The Monster on Ian's Brain".
Monday, October 20, 2003
Two great learning opportunities in Toronto
My learning schedule is still rolling along after a few weeks. I figure I need to keep it up for 8 weeks before it becomes routine.
On Sunday, I ran the Toronto 1/2 Marathon. This was the second 1/2 marathon I've done (I did this one 5 minutes faster than last time). There were close to 3500 people running, but I bet I was the only one doing Torah Learning while running.
I used my MP3 player (that I got from Aish Audio) to listen to some MP3 torah learning files. I learned about "How to Respond to a Missionizer", and about Simchat Torah. Made the run go by quite quickly. I plan to continue to use the MP3 player on my runs, great time to fit in some extra learning.
There are 2 great Jewish learning opportunities in Toronto in the next few weeks that I plan to take part in.
First is the Discovery Seminar by Aish Ha'Torah. This is a traveling seminar that close to 10,000 people see every year. I've heard good things about it for quite some time now, and was excited to hear it's being held in Toronto on Oct 28th. See the above link for details.
The second is an all day conference by Torah In Motion, which is an organization very similar to Aish Ha'Torah. They are holding a conference on November 2nd called "Renewing Our Spirit". Looks like it will be a very interesting day.
I'll report back on each of these after the events.
On Sunday, I ran the Toronto 1/2 Marathon. This was the second 1/2 marathon I've done (I did this one 5 minutes faster than last time). There were close to 3500 people running, but I bet I was the only one doing Torah Learning while running.
I used my MP3 player (that I got from Aish Audio) to listen to some MP3 torah learning files. I learned about "How to Respond to a Missionizer", and about Simchat Torah. Made the run go by quite quickly. I plan to continue to use the MP3 player on my runs, great time to fit in some extra learning.
There are 2 great Jewish learning opportunities in Toronto in the next few weeks that I plan to take part in.
First is the Discovery Seminar by Aish Ha'Torah. This is a traveling seminar that close to 10,000 people see every year. I've heard good things about it for quite some time now, and was excited to hear it's being held in Toronto on Oct 28th. See the above link for details.
The second is an all day conference by Torah In Motion, which is an organization very similar to Aish Ha'Torah. They are holding a conference on November 2nd called "Renewing Our Spirit". Looks like it will be a very interesting day.
I'll report back on each of these after the events.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Explanation of the Bris Milah
As I mentioned a few days ago, and friend of our gave birth to their second boy, and the Bris was this morning. Which meant I needed to find a minyon that finishes earlier than mine.
I found an Orthodox Shul, 5 minutes from where the Bris was being held (my usual Shul is traditional Conservative) with a 6:10 service - plenty of time to make a 7:45 Bris. What I didn't consider, was that this early minyon was for "power daveners" - it only took 50 minutes for the entire Sukkot service (my Shul takes 1:15). So I had a bit of a tough time keeping up with them, but managed to do a fair job. Only problem was that I was just reading, not really praying. I don't know how you can concentrate on the prayers at that speed - but maybe when you can say the words automatically, you can let your mouth do that while your heart and mind and thinking about the prayers. G-d willing, I'll be able to answer that question some day.
I have davened at "foreign" Shuls a few times, and as usually, I found the "regulars" very welcoming. May of them greeted me and asked my name, where I'm from, why I was there. I did feel a little uncomfortable because I didn't have an Lulav and Etrog (I usually use one of the ones my Shul provides), but I got over that. All in all it was a very nice service, but I'd want to do one that goes a little slower next time.
Now on to the Bris. The Moel started by saying that the Bris is a very strange Mitzvoh. Why would such a gentle people be commanded by G-d to do an act that involves inflicting pain. He explained with a story about King David. It goes something like this.
King David was preparing to enter the Mikvah, of course this requires you to be naked. So as he takes off his tzitzis, his tefilin, his kippah - which are all physical signs of our relationship with G-d. - he became very depressed, since he felt he was loosing his connection with G-d. But then he looked down and saw his circumcision, the one physical sign of our relationship with G-d that is always with us, and he became overwhelmed with joy.
I thought that was quite a beautiful explanation.
The Bris went off perfectly (the Moel commented on what a beautiful penis it was) and bagels with egg were had by all.
My wife and I bought a Mezuzah necklace as a gift for the baby. G-d willing, once Jacob is a little older, he will wear the Mezuzah proudly and it will server as another physical reminder of his relationship with G-d.
A blessing to Jacob for a speedy recovery, and one to his parents - May Jacob forever be a blessing in your lives. May you be blessed with the strength and wisdom to raise him in the ways of Torah, and may you be privileged to see him become Bar Mitzvah and accompany him to the wedding canopy.
I found an Orthodox Shul, 5 minutes from where the Bris was being held (my usual Shul is traditional Conservative) with a 6:10 service - plenty of time to make a 7:45 Bris. What I didn't consider, was that this early minyon was for "power daveners" - it only took 50 minutes for the entire Sukkot service (my Shul takes 1:15). So I had a bit of a tough time keeping up with them, but managed to do a fair job. Only problem was that I was just reading, not really praying. I don't know how you can concentrate on the prayers at that speed - but maybe when you can say the words automatically, you can let your mouth do that while your heart and mind and thinking about the prayers. G-d willing, I'll be able to answer that question some day.
I have davened at "foreign" Shuls a few times, and as usually, I found the "regulars" very welcoming. May of them greeted me and asked my name, where I'm from, why I was there. I did feel a little uncomfortable because I didn't have an Lulav and Etrog (I usually use one of the ones my Shul provides), but I got over that. All in all it was a very nice service, but I'd want to do one that goes a little slower next time.
Now on to the Bris. The Moel started by saying that the Bris is a very strange Mitzvoh. Why would such a gentle people be commanded by G-d to do an act that involves inflicting pain. He explained with a story about King David. It goes something like this.
King David was preparing to enter the Mikvah, of course this requires you to be naked. So as he takes off his tzitzis, his tefilin, his kippah - which are all physical signs of our relationship with G-d. - he became very depressed, since he felt he was loosing his connection with G-d. But then he looked down and saw his circumcision, the one physical sign of our relationship with G-d that is always with us, and he became overwhelmed with joy.
I thought that was quite a beautiful explanation.
The Bris went off perfectly (the Moel commented on what a beautiful penis it was) and bagels with egg were had by all.
My wife and I bought a Mezuzah necklace as a gift for the baby. G-d willing, once Jacob is a little older, he will wear the Mezuzah proudly and it will server as another physical reminder of his relationship with G-d.
A blessing to Jacob for a speedy recovery, and one to his parents - May Jacob forever be a blessing in your lives. May you be blessed with the strength and wisdom to raise him in the ways of Torah, and may you be privileged to see him become Bar Mitzvah and accompany him to the wedding canopy.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
How to not be overwhelmed by 613 mitzvot
Judaism places a lot of demands on you. 613 mitzvot can seem overwhelming, especially considering that they affect every aspect of your life, cut into your free time, are often costly, and sometimes seem pointless.
In learning about Sukkot (talking about how many of the mitzvot around Sukkot seem strange), I learned why this is not the case.
Imagine that I give you $24,000. Not a loan, I just give it to you out of the goodness of my heart. Now imagine that I come to you a week later and say "look, I hope the $24,000 was helpful to you, but something has come up and I'd like to borrow $1000 of that back." You would, of course, give it to me (maybe even not as a loan). After all, not doing so would be no way to show your gratitude for my kindness.
G-d gives you 24 hours of life every day. If he asks for 1 hour in return (in the form of prayer, study, good deeds), how can you refuse. Giving the 1 hour back to him is just showing your gratitude for the 24 hours he gives you every day.
After all, G-d never asked anyone without a house to hang a mezuzah. G-d never asked anyone without clothes to wear tzitzis. G-d never asked anyone without an arm or a head to lay teffilin.
G-d gives you a house and asks you to hang a mezuzah, clothes the naked and asks that you wear tzitzis, gives you a baby boy and asks that you perform a Bris. A small sign of gratitude for such a huge gift.
Suddenly saying a 5 second prayer before eating my lunch does not seem so daunting.
In learning about Sukkot (talking about how many of the mitzvot around Sukkot seem strange), I learned why this is not the case.
Imagine that I give you $24,000. Not a loan, I just give it to you out of the goodness of my heart. Now imagine that I come to you a week later and say "look, I hope the $24,000 was helpful to you, but something has come up and I'd like to borrow $1000 of that back." You would, of course, give it to me (maybe even not as a loan). After all, not doing so would be no way to show your gratitude for my kindness.
G-d gives you 24 hours of life every day. If he asks for 1 hour in return (in the form of prayer, study, good deeds), how can you refuse. Giving the 1 hour back to him is just showing your gratitude for the 24 hours he gives you every day.
After all, G-d never asked anyone without a house to hang a mezuzah. G-d never asked anyone without clothes to wear tzitzis. G-d never asked anyone without an arm or a head to lay teffilin.
G-d gives you a house and asks you to hang a mezuzah, clothes the naked and asks that you wear tzitzis, gives you a baby boy and asks that you perform a Bris. A small sign of gratitude for such a huge gift.
Suddenly saying a 5 second prayer before eating my lunch does not seem so daunting.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
A new Mitzvah
I went to Shul this morning - having to leave bright and early (5:40) to get there on time for the early start. I wasn't able to make it to Shul Sunday or Monday, so this was my first time at Shul this Sukkot. Even though I didn't buy my own Lulav and Etrog, the Shul has a few extras, so I was able to say the blessing over the lulav and etrog and shake them in the six directions at the appropriate points in the service. This was the first time I have ever performed the mitzvah of lulav and etrog - I said a special She'Hecianu.
Sukkot, the festival of joy, will be filled with a little more joy for one of our close friends this year. She just gave birth to a baby boy (she was due on Rosh Hashana - they were worried they might have to make a Bris on Yom Kippur). The name is Jacob Nathan, and the Bris is on Thursday at 7:45. Which means that I need to find an early minyon that day (my Shul doesn't get out until 8:00). I asked a few friends of mine, and there seem to be 2 Shuls in the area of the Bris that have 6:15 services, that should be perfect. www.godaven.com is a great place for finding minyons.
Sukkot, the festival of joy, will be filled with a little more joy for one of our close friends this year. She just gave birth to a baby boy (she was due on Rosh Hashana - they were worried they might have to make a Bris on Yom Kippur). The name is Jacob Nathan, and the Bris is on Thursday at 7:45. Which means that I need to find an early minyon that day (my Shul doesn't get out until 8:00). I asked a few friends of mine, and there seem to be 2 Shuls in the area of the Bris that have 6:15 services, that should be perfect. www.godaven.com is a great place for finding minyons.
Monday, October 13, 2003
Chag Same'ach - thoughts on Sukkot
We're now well into the Festival of Sukkot. I'd like to write a bit about what I'm doing this Sukkot, then a little about some of he interesting learning I've been doing.
First of, I (not my family) have never built a Sukkah (I would like to build one next year). However one of our family friends build one every year and invite us over. This year was no different. My wife and I, y parents, my brother and his fiance, and my sister-in-law and her husband all went over to join our friends in the Sukkah on the first night (Shabbas no less). After a week of cold and wet weather, the days leading up to Sukkot were warm and sunny. Our night in the Sukkah, we were blessed with weather just about as perfect as you could ask for in October.
Earlier that day, I received in the mail my MP3 player from Aish Audio, a service of Aish Ha'Torah where they offer many of their seminar series as downloadable MP3 files. The "listen Online" service is free, which gives you access to streamed audio. Or for $10 per month you get to download 10 MP3 seminars for listening offline. They also had a bundle where you pay about $175 and get a year's membership, 2 CD's full of MP3's and an MP3 player. I did that one.
So after spending far too much time that day playing with the MP3 payer and filling it with some learning material, my wife and I listened to some seminars about Sukkot on the way to our friends Sukkah. Here's one of the highlights I found interesting (more to follow).
The symbolism of the walls of the Sukkah were explained as follows. For the month of Elul, we sound the shofar. We know that the shofar has the power to bring down walls (i.e. in Jericho). Throughout the year, we build a wall between us and G-d through all the mistakes we make. The shofar we hear at the end of Yom Kippur brings these walls crashing down, leaving no barrier between us and G-d. Then, before we have a chance to build the separating wall back up we build a Sukkah, which are walls around us and G-d, to keep G-d in our lives. We pray that seven days of living with God (in the Sukkah) will prevent us from building the dividing walls back up in the coming year.
First of, I (not my family) have never built a Sukkah (I would like to build one next year). However one of our family friends build one every year and invite us over. This year was no different. My wife and I, y parents, my brother and his fiance, and my sister-in-law and her husband all went over to join our friends in the Sukkah on the first night (Shabbas no less). After a week of cold and wet weather, the days leading up to Sukkot were warm and sunny. Our night in the Sukkah, we were blessed with weather just about as perfect as you could ask for in October.
Earlier that day, I received in the mail my MP3 player from Aish Audio, a service of Aish Ha'Torah where they offer many of their seminar series as downloadable MP3 files. The "listen Online" service is free, which gives you access to streamed audio. Or for $10 per month you get to download 10 MP3 seminars for listening offline. They also had a bundle where you pay about $175 and get a year's membership, 2 CD's full of MP3's and an MP3 player. I did that one.
So after spending far too much time that day playing with the MP3 payer and filling it with some learning material, my wife and I listened to some seminars about Sukkot on the way to our friends Sukkah. Here's one of the highlights I found interesting (more to follow).
The symbolism of the walls of the Sukkah were explained as follows. For the month of Elul, we sound the shofar. We know that the shofar has the power to bring down walls (i.e. in Jericho). Throughout the year, we build a wall between us and G-d through all the mistakes we make. The shofar we hear at the end of Yom Kippur brings these walls crashing down, leaving no barrier between us and G-d. Then, before we have a chance to build the separating wall back up we build a Sukkah, which are walls around us and G-d, to keep G-d in our lives. We pray that seven days of living with God (in the Sukkah) will prevent us from building the dividing walls back up in the coming year.
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Tseduka - My New Year's Resolution
New year's resolutions are more of a secular thing than a Jewish thing.
Halacha is such that resolving to do something (before witnesses) makes that something legally binding. So by not doing it (as tends to happen with new year's resolutions), you have an unfulfilled oath which needs to be dealt with. Instead, I propose a theme for the new year... something that I want to think about, do, and do well.
Last year the theme seemed to be tefilah (prayer). Not that it was fully planed, it just seemed to work out that way. This year it's tseduka (charity). (Maybe next year it will be teshuva - acts of loving kindness, to round out the "B'Rosh Ha'Shana" prayer.)
Not only do I want to try to give more charity (both money and my time), but I want to give it better.
By better I don't mean picking better charities to donate to. I want to try to make my charity to impact peoples lives.
One example... I never used to give change to the "beggars" down town. A few years ago I changed that practice and now I give whenever I have what to give. However, I have often caught myself dropping money in their cup/hat/bin and walking by without even looking at them. They deserve better than a few coins, they deserve the same respect I would afford to everyone else. This year when I drop the change in the bin I want to look at them, smile, say hello, talk to them... As human beings they deserve at least that much.
A few months ago I had the opportunity to perform one of the best forms of charity and passed it up - I don't want to pass it up if I get the chance again. I was walking downtown (on my way to watch a Blue Jays game) and someone asked for some change, I happily gave them some. They then asked if I wanted to buy some of their art ($5 for a picture) and I turned them down. Charity through handouts is one thing, but charity through business dealings is another. By giving her some coins she is dependent on me, by buying her art she would have felt like she earned the $5 money. The self respect that would have come along with that transaction would have meant more to her then the $0.75 I gave her.
Another time I'll tell you about my first charitable donation of the year - and why it means much more than that.
The year 5764 will be the year of tseduka.
Halacha is such that resolving to do something (before witnesses) makes that something legally binding. So by not doing it (as tends to happen with new year's resolutions), you have an unfulfilled oath which needs to be dealt with. Instead, I propose a theme for the new year... something that I want to think about, do, and do well.
Last year the theme seemed to be tefilah (prayer). Not that it was fully planed, it just seemed to work out that way. This year it's tseduka (charity). (Maybe next year it will be teshuva - acts of loving kindness, to round out the "B'Rosh Ha'Shana" prayer.)
Not only do I want to try to give more charity (both money and my time), but I want to give it better.
By better I don't mean picking better charities to donate to. I want to try to make my charity to impact peoples lives.
One example... I never used to give change to the "beggars" down town. A few years ago I changed that practice and now I give whenever I have what to give. However, I have often caught myself dropping money in their cup/hat/bin and walking by without even looking at them. They deserve better than a few coins, they deserve the same respect I would afford to everyone else. This year when I drop the change in the bin I want to look at them, smile, say hello, talk to them... As human beings they deserve at least that much.
A few months ago I had the opportunity to perform one of the best forms of charity and passed it up - I don't want to pass it up if I get the chance again. I was walking downtown (on my way to watch a Blue Jays game) and someone asked for some change, I happily gave them some. They then asked if I wanted to buy some of their art ($5 for a picture) and I turned them down. Charity through handouts is one thing, but charity through business dealings is another. By giving her some coins she is dependent on me, by buying her art she would have felt like she earned the $5 money. The self respect that would have come along with that transaction would have meant more to her then the $0.75 I gave her.
Another time I'll tell you about my first charitable donation of the year - and why it means much more than that.
The year 5764 will be the year of tseduka.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
My mind set for Rosh Ha'Shana
My favourate web site for the past several years has been Aish.com, the web site for Aish Ha'Torah, what I would call a Jewish "in-reach" organization.
Doing some pre-Rosh Ha'Shana reading there before the new year, I came across a quote from Rabbi Avigdor Nebanzahl. He says "if the Jewish people would cry tears of repentance on Rosh Hashana, when all the occurrences of the subsequent year are determined, we would not have to cry tears of grief throughout the year."
The past 2 years have been filled with many tears of grief for me and my family. The big ones being the passing of my grandmother, a cancer scare with my brother and my wife and I having 2 miscarriages. My faith and my Jewish community has been a huge support for me, but despite my best efforts I still find myself asking "why". This line from Rabbi Nebanzahl really hit home for me.
I went into the High Holidays this year with this as my mindset and the holidays were the most spiritual and moving I have ever experienced (not to mention the fast was the easiest it has ever been - I was so deeply engrossed in my spiritual side that I forgot my physical side was hungry). For the first time the notion of Teshuva was real to me, not just a motion we're suppose to go through at this time of year.
During the "Al Chet" I found myself not just mouthing the words, but actually asking myself what have I done this past year which would be a sin of hardening of the heart, or through though or speech or bribery... For the first time I was actually repenting for specific mistakes, not just generalities.
I know this process made me a better person, and G-d willing it will save some tears of grief for the upcoming year.
Doing some pre-Rosh Ha'Shana reading there before the new year, I came across a quote from Rabbi Avigdor Nebanzahl. He says "if the Jewish people would cry tears of repentance on Rosh Hashana, when all the occurrences of the subsequent year are determined, we would not have to cry tears of grief throughout the year."
The past 2 years have been filled with many tears of grief for me and my family. The big ones being the passing of my grandmother, a cancer scare with my brother and my wife and I having 2 miscarriages. My faith and my Jewish community has been a huge support for me, but despite my best efforts I still find myself asking "why". This line from Rabbi Nebanzahl really hit home for me.
I went into the High Holidays this year with this as my mindset and the holidays were the most spiritual and moving I have ever experienced (not to mention the fast was the easiest it has ever been - I was so deeply engrossed in my spiritual side that I forgot my physical side was hungry). For the first time the notion of Teshuva was real to me, not just a motion we're suppose to go through at this time of year.
During the "Al Chet" I found myself not just mouthing the words, but actually asking myself what have I done this past year which would be a sin of hardening of the heart, or through though or speech or bribery... For the first time I was actually repenting for specific mistakes, not just generalities.
I know this process made me a better person, and G-d willing it will save some tears of grief for the upcoming year.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Shana Tova
The name of this blog is "Pintle Yid" which is a Yiddish phrase meaning "Jewish Spark".
The idea of this blog is to provide a place for me to record (for myself and anyone else) some of the Jewish insights that I learned, came across, read, heard or was otherwise revealed to me on any given day.
I have always been "fairly Jewish". I had a good Jewish education and was raised in a moderately observant Jewish home. I always had strong Jewish feelings, but in the last few years (especially the last one year) I have been drawn to Traditional Judaism.
For most of the past year I have wrapped tefillin and daven Shacharit daily (with a minyon at Shaar Shalom in Thornhill, Ontario the days I work from the office, and at home when I work from there). My wife, Mandy, and I just about keep a kosher home (kosher food and separate dishes, but we wash everything together in the dishwasher, and out separation of pots and pans in not very good). We observe all the holidays and I've played a little with becoming shommer Shabbas (I'm not quite ready to make that leap but someday...). I started learning regularly, and the more I learn the more I want to learn. Hence this blog.
I often come across teachings, quotes or ideas that are life altering for me - they change my way of thinking or looking at the world. I wanted to have a place to record these and share them with the world. That's what you'll find here.
I'll also use this blog to record updates on my personal practices and observances as well as the occasional comment on world events of interest to the Jewish world.
Use of the comment facility is encouraged and greatly appreciated. I'd love to hear peoples reactions and see if the words on these pages affect you as much as they affect me. I'm also interested to see if people actually read this blog.
So without further adieu, I present "Pintle Yid - The Blog".
The idea of this blog is to provide a place for me to record (for myself and anyone else) some of the Jewish insights that I learned, came across, read, heard or was otherwise revealed to me on any given day.
I have always been "fairly Jewish". I had a good Jewish education and was raised in a moderately observant Jewish home. I always had strong Jewish feelings, but in the last few years (especially the last one year) I have been drawn to Traditional Judaism.
For most of the past year I have wrapped tefillin and daven Shacharit daily (with a minyon at Shaar Shalom in Thornhill, Ontario the days I work from the office, and at home when I work from there). My wife, Mandy, and I just about keep a kosher home (kosher food and separate dishes, but we wash everything together in the dishwasher, and out separation of pots and pans in not very good). We observe all the holidays and I've played a little with becoming shommer Shabbas (I'm not quite ready to make that leap but someday...). I started learning regularly, and the more I learn the more I want to learn. Hence this blog.
I often come across teachings, quotes or ideas that are life altering for me - they change my way of thinking or looking at the world. I wanted to have a place to record these and share them with the world. That's what you'll find here.
I'll also use this blog to record updates on my personal practices and observances as well as the occasional comment on world events of interest to the Jewish world.
Use of the comment facility is encouraged and greatly appreciated. I'd love to hear peoples reactions and see if the words on these pages affect you as much as they affect me. I'm also interested to see if people actually read this blog.
So without further adieu, I present "Pintle Yid - The Blog".
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