Tuesday, December 22, 2009
#21 Why Kosher?
#20 Why Tefillin, Tzitzis, Yarmulkah, and Mezuzah,....?
Rav Wolbe in Alei Shor Vol. II in the שער רביעי מערכה ראשונה: יראה (page 475 and onward) points out that the outer world in which we live in, is naturally in a state of unawareness of Hashem's existence. The world is made very “smooth”. One can cruise through life in this world with no speed bumps, no roadblocks, all the way to Gehinnom. One main function of these symbols is to put something in our external world to remind us that we exist in the presence of a Supreme Being. Without this periodic—or better yet, constant--awareness, we would be wasting the enormous investment that has been put into every single Jew to achieve a significant amount of closeness to Hashem.
Fear is primarily expressed in refraining from action and discipline-- love is primarily expressed in positive action and display of affection. But certain positive mitzvos have fear as their theme. Their point is to bring the awareness of God's presence before you in such a way as to be incapable of succumbing to sin in such a state. You become awake to all the futility of this-worldly pursuits and make yourself re-focus on the transcendent existence that can be a part of you if you would concentrate on using this world to achieve it.
These mitzvos are able to make the concept of discipline into an external reality: You literally bind yourself in leather straps. You tie knots of thread on your clothing and wrap them around itself in between the knots-- which make them look like a whip. They proclaim that the body is not a free entity that will be allowed to follow its whims and cravings. They are harnessed into the service of the Creator.
#16. What is the Source of Jewish law? God or Man?
#14. What is the role of the Jewish woman, and are why are women different than men in Jewish life?
- Women are disqualified from court testimony not because they are less trustworthy than men. Even Kings and High Priests are barred from public testimony because it is beneath their dignity. Even brothers who are personally unaffected by the testimony are disqualified. Women are completely trusted to testify informally regarding extremely grave matters of purity and kashrus.
Monday, November 23, 2009
#7 Why do/don’t we believe in the Theory of Evolution?
#17. Are the Torah laws old-fashioned? #18. Why are there many separate branches of Judaism?
#18. Why are there many separate branches of Judaism?
I
These two questions directly flow from one to the other. The reason why there are 'many' separate branched of Judaism is precisely because many Jews of the modern era have come to regard the Torah's laws as being old-fashioned--conceived purely for the sake of a particular point of time in ancient history for a particular society and culture.
A clear rejection to this approach by our tradition can be supported by the following trenchant observation:
Judaism has NEVER fit seamlessly into any historical period, society or culture. Judaism has been horribly inconvenient and morally/spiritually challenging to its practitioners from its inception.
A quick review of the facts: (These six items below are taken from Rabbi Dovid Gottleib's research)
Here are six examples of singularly unique Jewish beliefs.
1. Monotheism. Polytheistic idolatry is the rule in ancient Middle Eastern religions. The idea that there is only a single deity is unknown.[1] The uncompromising commitment of Judaism to one G-d only as the cause of all the phenomena of the world is without parallel in the ancient world.
2. Universalism/Exclusivity. Each ancient nation had its own pantheon of gods. But each recognized the appropriateness of other nations worshipping their own pantheons.[2] The universalism of Judaism – the recognition that G-d alone governs the whole universe, and the consequent exclusivity of Judaism – its denial of the reality of others’ gods, are absent from ancient religions.[3] For this reason, aside from Antiochus’ attempt to eliminate Judaism, there are no religious wars in the ancient world![4] When one country conquered another the second was usually required to acknowledge the chief god of the conqueror, and the conquered were usually happy to comply: the very fact that they lost the war proved that the chief god of the conqueror was very powerful. The rest of the religion of the conquered nation was left intact. Only the Jews proclaimed a universal and exclusive concept of deity: the Jewish G-d is the only real G-d.
3. Spirituality. Ancient religions associated gods very closely with physical objects and/or physical phenomena. They abound in nature deities: gods of the sun, moon, sea, fertility, death etc. The gods are given human or animal form. The only ancient religion to declare that G-d has no physical embodiment, form or likeness is Judaism.[5]
4. G-d as absolute. Ancient religions picture the gods as limited in power. Many start with a genealogy of the gods. That means that certain powers predate them and are out of their control. Only Judaism understands G-d as the creator of all that exists and completely unlimited in His power over creation.
5. Morality. The gods of the ancient world are pictured as petty tyrants acting out their all-too-human desires in conflict with men and with one another. No condition of absolute moral perfection applies to those gods.[6] Only the Jewish G-d is defined as meeting that description.
6. Anti-homosexuality. All ancient cultures permitted some forms of homosexuality, and for some it had religious application. The only exception is Judaism, which opposed all forms of homosexuality, whether religious or merely hedonistic.[7]
In addition, here is an example of a unique Jewish practice:
7. The synagogue. The historian Menahem Stern writes: “It has been rightly said that, in establishing the synagogue, Judaism created one of the greatest revolutions in the history of religion and society, for the synagogue was an entirely new environment for divine service, of a type unknown anywhere before, and it did not entail the ceremonial restrictions and financial sacrifices that were required for the maintenance of temples.”[8]
To ancient cultures, these elements of Jewish belief and practice appeared absurd. They contradicted the common experience and convictions of the whole ancient
In some cases, aspects of a culture which serve no purpose, or are even detrimental to the functioning of the culture, may be preserved, if the culture is outstandingly successful in other areas. One may imagine the religion of an empire preserved by accompanying the military and economic success of the empire. It was worthwhile to pledge allegiance to Roman gods since that granted Roman citizenship, and to the gods of
One final characteristic of ancient Judaism must be noted. Throughout the ancient period substantial numbers of Jews experimented with other forms of religious belief and practice. The prophets testify to Jewish idol worship. During the Babylonian exile a significant percentage of Jews intermarried and adapted their beliefs to the Babylonian milieu. When Greek culture became dominant in the
SUMMARY
Judaism in the ancient period is unique in monotheism, universality and exclusivity, spirituality, G-d’s absolute power, moral perfection, the total rejection of homosexuality, and the invention of the synagogue for divine service. No secular success of Jewish culture was the cause of the maintenance of these unique aspects of Judaism. Substantial numbers of Jews adopted other forms of religious practice – these have disappeared.
So we can easily conclude that Judaism was never a popular religion which was designed to conform to the prevailing beliefs and practices or cultures of ancient civilization. We extend this fact to claim that Judaism by definition can never really be a popular religion. This is not to say that Judaism doesn’t have any meaningful or even enjoyable elements to it. It just means that it will not conform to any human-based value system or conception of natural religion.
Therefore all non-Orthodox branches of Judaism lose their claim to validity when they say Judaism needs to be updated to reflect modern values and sensibilities. One could define the essence of Judaism as formulated in Pirkei Avos: “Fashion your will to conform to His will.” And the Talmud in Brachos identifies the two forces which prevent us from doing this: The evil inclination and the influence of the Non-Jewish nations.
The hallmark of a heretic from our point of view is an unwillingness to submit to the Torah’s authority in any area of life—from private behavior to societal norms to abstract belief. Judaism has always demanded the willingness to make extreme sacrifices—socially, physically, emotionally and intellectually--from the very first Jew (Avrohom Avinu) onward.
II
The truth of this bold assertion starts to get obscured by the Rambam's controversial statements in this matter. In Book III of the Moreh Chapters 26-49 he takes a broad survey of most of the mitzvos of the Torah and discusses many specific ones category by category. In chapter 29-32 he says that a certain number of prohibitions in the Torah were designed specifically to counter certain widespread erroneous beliefs in the ancient pagan world and a certain number of positive commandments were given as concessions to ease the ancient Israelites out of their pagan culture and into pure monotheistic worship.
There is an explicit comment by Chazal to this effect regarding the prohibition against the consumption of blood. This is cited by the Rambam in his intro to Pirkei Avos.
How do we respond to this approach?
The response is that pagan culture and other ancient practices that the Torah indeed came to counter reflect a certain basic spiritual orientation that is a part of the human personality. The Torah is addressing a universal component of the human personality and is negating it, or refining it, or educating it. Without the Torah’s addressing of this issue for all future history, we would revert to that human mode of thinking naturally and adopt some parallel form of practice to reflect it today.
An example can be taken from the history of homosexuality in the western world. For centuries before and after the Torah was given, homosexuality was a part of all human culture. But ever since the western world came under heavy influence of the Torah’s novel approach to religion and sexual orientation, (via the non-Jewish adaptations of it) homosexuality ultimately became taboo. The western world became educated by the Torah to be sensitive to this particular abomination. But when the world became secularized and religion got demoted to the private sphere of life, and the concept of “two consenting adults” became dominant, the sense of abomination regarding homosexuality eroded and was gradually eliminated from public social conversation.
There is no reason that the same thing couldn’t happen to any of the pagan beliefs or rituals addressed by the Torah. The burden of proof is on the other side to show that certain commandments have become truly obsolete via the historical development of the human personality.
In fact, the Torah has concealed the rationale behind many rituals because they are not intended to be pinned down to any specific objective. Jews have consistently found new meaning in them in every generation and culture and they all may very well have been intended by the Creator --Who saw all its possible effects on the human being throughout the various historical periods in advance.
So, in conclusion, we assert the Torah is not old-fashioned.
It is timeless.
#15 How do we know the Torah is G-d given?
#15 How do we know the Torah is G-d given?
As usual, there are two ways to go about this basic theological question: as an outsider and as an insider.
NOTE: This is not to minimize the need to develop responses to challenges from outsiders. It often helps insiders get reassurance that there are convincing arguments that would persuade an outsider as well.
However, they should not form the bedrock foundation of one’s conviction about the fundamentals. Having one's fundamental axioms of life and existence contingent on the cogency of sophisticated intellectual proofs is not a good recipe for long-term commitment when the going gets tough. The best example of this in history is the defection rate of Spanish Jewry when the tragic choice was given to it to either convert, or be expelled and lose all social and financial status. The community with the most sophisticated intellectual connection to Judaism failed the test, and the community with the most visceral inchoate connection to the tradition remained steadfast.
From the outsider’s perspective we have the unlikely predictions of the Torah which came true and serve as the strongest body of evidence that the Jewish Torah was given by G-d vis-à-vis the alternatives of other religions or atheism.
1) Deuteronomy 28-30 regarding the exile and dispersion and eventual return to the land.
2) Deuteronomy 4 daring us to survey human history to check if any other people even made the claim of open divine mass revelation and mass exodus of one nation from under a dominating nation with open miracles and wonders.
To counter the claim that the Torah was a later myth authored in a later period and attributed to earlier period:
3) The precise chronicled history of all peoples and nations from the very first man.
4) The unusual fact that the Torah documents the military defeats of the nation and personal flaws of its patriarchs and leaders.
5) Lack of anachronistic details in the Torah (lifestyle portrayals, social/political/military conventions, geographical locations) that are a dead giveaway to most other ancient myths projecting backward in time.
From the insider's perspective, we have so much personal experience with the bearers of tradition, that to question the integrity of any link in the chain is rendered a non-sequitir.
#12 How do we know the Tradition is authentic?
#12 How do we know the Tradition is authentic?
We have a problem: The first millennium and a half of Jewish history from the giving of the Written Torah at Sinai (3300 years ago) till the writing of the Mishna (1800 years ago) there are no written explanations/interpretations of the Written Torah on record. Yet Jewish Tradition asserts that whatever the rabbis in the Talmud claim to be the definitive interpretation of the written Torah was in fact received orally by Moshe from G-d and transmitted from master to disciple until the Talmudic era 1500 years later. Do we just accept this assertion simply as a matter of blind faith? Or is there any good reasons to believe that the Oral Tradition is authentic and not just an invention of “Rabbinic Judaism” and falsely attributed to the Biblical era preceding it?
This question can be approached on two levels:
1) For the outsider/skeptic who has no prior experience with Torah learning and wants to have enough reason to take it seriously:
Most skeptics start with the assumption of some kind of “broken telephone” hypothesis: If all that detailed information remained oral for so long a period of time, it must have undergone drastic—if perhaps unconscious—changes.
We can refute this hypothesis with the following lines of argumentation/evidence:
a) The point of departure from the strictly oral transmission to writing down the oral law (by Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi—the redactor of the Mishna) is clearly known and documented including the reasons for this departure and its legal justifications. It is not shrouded in mystery or emerged imperceptibly. It was a conscious decision to start committing the Oral Law into a formal authoritative text which was accepted by all the Jewish sages of that era. The reason given was that the persecutions of the Romans at the time were so severe that the real danger of national loss of memory started to loom large. This implies that the sages were consciously keeping track of how well the oral tradition was being preserved through human memory all along. It was a priority which necessitated a radical change in Jewish learning when the need arose.
If the existence of the oral law until that point in time was gradually unconsciously changing all along, what changed now to suddenly decide to write it down? Why would preservation in writing suddenly become necessary if no serious care was made beforehand to retain the accuracy of the oral information?
b) The points of dispute and the origins of dispute regarding the oral law are very carefully documented in the Talmud. Some disputes are dated back to the Biblical era between kings and their officers and among the prophets. This indicates that great care was taken to preserve not only oral interpretations which everyone agreed to, but even oral disputes which divided earlier generations of scholars. Ex: The mishna records the many disputes between Hillel and Shammai who argued centuries before the Mishna was written.
c) The most basic refutation of the “broken telephone hypothesis” is by challenging the intuitive assumption that masters and their disciples were very informal and casual about transmitting this oral information. There were seven defense mechanisms set up to prevent any mistakes in transmission.
1) constant repetition and thorough review
2) experiential grasp of the information
3) practical implementation of the information in different circumstances
4) multiple chains of transmission which all had to corroborate with each other at the ends of the chains.
5) multiple levels of cross-checking
6) motivation by reward for success and punishment for failure
7) grave and solemn responsibility for all future Jewish history
2) For insiders who are intimately familiar with the Talmud and the character of the sages, we see their integrity and honesty in searching for truth on every page. No faults are hidden, no uncomfortable questions are ignored or avoided. The trust in the sages that their tradition is genuine and accurate is well earned by our own experience of them.
3) The issue of the accuracy of the written Torah can be appreciated by contrast with Christianity’s sacred book- the New Testament.
There are thousands of places where there are alternative readings with differences in meaning. Dozens of those places involve subjects of fundamental theology. And there is even a dispute over which language the original text was written in! And all this ambiguity took place only in 2,000 years since it existed with a central religious authority for most of that time. The origins of Christianity is not well preserved at all.
Contrast this picture with the Chumash—written 3300 years ago and only a dozen variant spellings—which do NOT alter the basic meaning of any word!
In accuracy of written texts, Judaism has an outstanding record.
#10 The problem of Evil
#10 The problem of Evil
· One of the oldest problems in Jewish philosophy
· The existence of Evil in potential is a form of imperfection. Imperfection is inherent in the best possible creation by definition.
· Evil is a necessary tool for spiritual growth and maturity. If there are no evil people than there are no good people. Good qualities are appreciated best and motivated best by contrasting with its opposite.
· God only allows for evil to manifest by suppressing His Justice and Mercy. It is not as severe a problem if God were to commit evil directly.
· The possibility of Evil informs us the fact that God trusts Humanity to overcome temptation. He did not create robots who are incapable of committing evil. Evil is a created power of potential which brings great responsibility to the one who can choose it. It is inextricably bound to free-will
· Why is there free-will to choose evil? See Ramchal—it allows more similarity to the Creator because you can generate your own goodness and allows reception of the greatest good.
Monday, October 26, 2009
#6 Does it make a difference if we believe in God?
The question is basically about what has been recently dubbed “Orthopraxy”. “Praxis” means you perform all the Jewish rituals and attends all its religious functions—attending Synagogue, put on teffilin, circumcise your sons, keep Kosher and Shabbos and Yom Tov, etc., but have no internal conviction whatsoever that what you are doing is true and really meaningful in the philosophical sense. You simply belong to a faith community without having any faith as an individual.
There are two questions here:
Is it valid way of life from a Jewish theological perspective?
Does it have any value at all or is it better to be consistent and drop out of the community?
- Is it valid?
No. There is a myth that Judaism’s main difference with Christianity is that Christianity primarily requires that its adherents believe (and not much else) and that Judaism primarily requires actions and rituals. “Deed vs. Creed”.
But this is completely false. Judaism requires belief and conviction about its fundamentals of faith. The Rambam declared that one who does not believe has essentially lost his membership to the Jewish community even though he appears to be a part of it externally.
Such people need to be rejected socially because usually, a person can’t keep his true opinions to himself indefinitely. He will wind up having a negative influence on the society in which he has integrated himself into.
The effects of Orthopraxy on one’s family are especially tragic: Imagine a father who goes through Shabbos without singing zemirot, without talking about the Torah parsha, who dreads learning with his kids and hearing their nonsensical teachings that they learn in school. Inevitably he will be sending conflicting messages to his family and they will be very confused.
It is a tragedy that should be desperately avoided.
But how do you “force yourself” to believe? This brings us to the next question:
- Does it have any value at all?
Absolutely--As a temporary mode of outward behavior to get you through a period of crisis.
We all go through moods and phases of religious enthusiasm and lack thereof. The important thing is not to panic or do anything drastic in the heat of the moment to sever your ties with Judaism. The human mind is very fickle and without training and discipline it can become quite confused and be in constant flux.
The first thing to tell yourself is that this is a temporary phase of uncertainty and it is nothing to be scared or embarrassed of. But don't be passive or resign yourself to the situation.
You can employ various strategies to deal with disbelief and go through various types of reading material to regain faith. With the kiruv world so accessible to each Jew today via e-mail, one can write questions to knowledgeable and sensitive rabbis anonymously and receive individualized guidance on virtually any personal religious issue. There are many resources available today and it is a shame to have to struggle through this kind of challenge on your own.
When logic and philosophy fails, it may indicate an issue with Judaism that is not completely philosophical/intellectual. A crisis in faith may be due the corroding effects of one's social or intellectual environment or premature exposure to some powerful critiques against religion which can be quite disorienting. Countering these effects takes consistent and determined effort.
One powerful emotional antidote is reading the histories of Jews or communities who went through periods of great adversity and persecution for their Jewishness and remained steadfast—The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, etc. Jews retained a deep faith despite the fact that everything around them was telling them to stop believing.
By connecting to the amazing story of Jewish commitment throughout the millennia, we can put our seemingly looming doubts into their proper perspective.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
# 4 &5 How can we prove the existence of G-D? How do we know G-d created the world?
There is a generic answer and a uniquely Jewish answer to this question.
The generic approach is to look at the universe and employ some form of the argument from Design.
The argument from design works on two and a half levels:
For those who reject evolution (another lecture) the argument comes from irreducible complexity we find in the biological world. Components which make up DNA and other machinery of the cellular world work and even look like machines. Michael Behe who is a microbiologist has done extensive research on this topic and is one of the leaders of the Intelligent Design movement.
For those who accept the evolutionary explanation for the development of all biological life, there is still the huge mystery of “where did the simplest life form come from.” Even atheists are really at a loss for this question.
Yet another argument comes from what is called “The Anthropic Principle” Essentially it is the same argument from design which is altered to bypass the theory of evolution. The physical sciences can only explain HOW things in the physical universe work. They cannot be used to explain WHY things work in the first place. What is a star? They explain that a star is made up of helium and hydrogen atoms colliding, causing a nuclear reaction called fusion. That’s a description of what is happening and how stars are formed from these elements. But to explain why there is helium and hydrogen existing in the universe at all, and why they have these physical properties and produce stars when they collide—those are why questions which cannot be answered even by the most detailed description of the process itself.
Science finishes its job when it fully describes what takes place and describes the necessary physical conditions which bring out the processes we see. All the why questions can never be answered by science and you need religion for that.
Unfortunately, we erroneously feel we have explained something completely when we describe what happens and the immediate causes. Supplying a physical sounds like an adequate answer to a why question, but it isn't. That shouldn’t satisfy the really curious person who yearns to know the real ultimate causes and reasons for the very existence of the universe and everything in it.
We need to posit the existence of G-d to explain any ULTIMATE why’s of the universe. Why are the physics so fine tuned to allow the existence of biological life as we know it?
But there is a deep problem when we are positing the existence of God in order to resolve an unsolvable mystery. How meaningful is that? Do we pray to him? Does this Creator care about us? And this function of God-as-Creator is a very man-centered one. He only exists because we need Him to exist in order to solve a philosophical question.
So much for the generic answer.
The Jewish answer is that we received the answers from direct experience.
Both of the above questions have the same ultimate answer: Yetzias Mitzrayim.
The Ramban at the end of Parshas Bo says that the question of G-d’s existence and His creation of the universe is resolved from the quality of the ten makkos. Hashem attached a message to various makkos explaining what their function was and what belief they were designed to instill.
Some makkos showed Hashem complete and total ability to manipulate and co-ordinate the laws of nature. He systematically smashed every Egyptian source of power and object of worship in order to illustrate that he created the natural world. He also illustrated his awareness of the details of human events and intervened in history to save one nation from another. He is the creator and supervisor of this world.
This was going to be a one-time event
The Ramban concludes that Hashem only openly reveals Himself and proves his existence and role as creator in this manner once in human history. He will not perform miracles for every skeptic who demands direct proof. He made a big enough illustration of this truth as to make it unlikely for future generations to have any serious doubt to its occurrence and unnecessary to repeat it ever again.
#3 Why is the Torah so important?
- Aside from the obvious issue of getting eternal personal reward and not being a human animal
- Living up to the demands of the Torah elevates the entire world and brings it to its perfection
- Ethical dilemmas resolved
There are some basic principles of morality that are universally agreed upon. Secular ethicists don’t really know where they come from or why we have them, but you could say there is such a thing as moral intuition that is shared by everyone. So we may not need the Torah to determine what IS a moral value and what IS an immoral value in isolated cases. The real problem for the secular person is knowing how to balance two or more moral values when they are in conflict.
The classic case is telling “the brutal truth” which will be insulting and offensive, or lying to avoid insult. Truth-telling is a universal moral value which is clearly superior to lying IF THAT IS THE ONLY FACTOR INVOLVED. But what about lying in order to avoid giving pain to someone? That is also a moral value and it is coming into conflict with the value of truth telling.
So the Torah (and Halacha in general) gives us principles regarding how to chose between conflicting moral values in most situations. By following the Torah’s principles we can be confident that we are not compromising our moral integrity when we sacrifice one moral value for another.
- Comprehensive Ethical living—covering all the bases
When someone is unaware of certain facts, he may do the objectively wrong thing even though he is not to blame and has not compromised his own personal moral integrity. Doing the wrong thing is still something that should be avoided. Example of an adopted child unwittingly turning away his parents when they ask for aid.
Without the Torah telling us Who made the universe and therefore to Whom we owe a debt of gratitude, we would be doing the wrong things in life from an objective point of view because we could not give any credit where credit was due.
- The narrative sections of the Torah give us human role-models by which we can measure ourselves and strive for greatness. Being good and moral is level one. A secular person could be satisfied with just that. But striving for greatness beyond what is strictly ethical is a whole other dimension.
Avraham’s extreme chessed, Yitzchak’s extreme din, Rivka’s extreme chessed despite evil surroundings, Yaakov’s extreme honesty in working, Rachel’s extreme selflessness to give her husband to her sister, Yosef’s extreme resistance to temptation, Moshe’s extreme concern for justice, and extreme self-sacrifice for the Jewish people, Aharon’s extreme acceptance of personal tragedy, etc.
- The same narrative sections also provide human examples of evil which are held up for contempt—The Torah magnifies the sins of the great ones almost to the point of caricature in order to have this effect.
We can more easily internalize the correct values and attitudes and reject the incorrect ones if we see them illustrated clearly and not just be given a long list of rules.
- Without the Torah we wouldn’t know that God takes a serious interest in human affairs—personal and global. We see from the Torah that God has a plan and purpose for this world and has given us an indispensible role in achieving it. The history of the ancient world and the Jewish people is recorded in the Torah for this reason.
This is what making a covenant with Hashem means. The covenant with Noach, Avraham, the Avos, regarding the Land of Israel, regarding the Jews accepting the Torah. All the things that Hashem makes a covenant for means that His purpose of creation must be achieved through it and it will not happen without it. Zechus Avos may run out, but bris Avos can never be nullified now matter how low we go.
#2 What is the Torah?
Bullet list:
- Written Torah
- 5 Books of Moshe plus the Nevi’im and Kesuvim—different levels of prophecy and different rules of understanding each set
- The 5 books of Moshe are the pure will of God encapsulated in letters and words, sentences and sections of text. It is the most amazing thing that the Divine mind has been compressed and expressed in a way that we can understand it at all.
- Moshe had the highest authority in Judaism because he has the highest possible level of prophecy. He became a completely transparent medium for the Divine will. This was because he was the humblest of all men. Why does the Torah testify to his humility? Because that’s how it established the fact the only Moshe’s prophecy was completely transparent. This comes from the story of Miriam and Korach. It became one of the Rambam’s ikkar of emunah. This is why we execute any prophet who contradicts the Torah.
- Interesting difference in style between the language of the first four books of the Torah and the fifth--see Ramban
- The Torah itself is the tool by which Hashem created the world-“He looked in the Torah and created the world” It is the blueprint of creation. Everything in the world only exists because it has its roots in the blueprint. This is why we believe that if not for the constant learning of Torah by the Jewish people without a moment of interruption, the world would simply vanish into non-existence. (Nefesh Hachayyim) The existence of the physical universe was made contingent on the perpetuation of Torah since Sinai. God made a condition with the creation on Yom HaShishi.
- Those who have mastered the entire Torah must by definition have mastered all the inner workings of the physical world. Moshe Rabbeinu and Shlomo Hamelech knew it all and understood all wisdom. Great sages know different parts of Torah and can have knowledge about the physical world that was not obtained through scientific investigation. Hafoch bo--Kula bo They got it from the Torah—gestation period of the nachash.
- Oral Torah-indispensable to make the written Torah a text with practical instructions. What is a pri eitz hadar? What are totafos and tefillin? What is a melacha? Some of these instructions come with a death penalty. How can you be killed for doing something if you don’t know exactly what you weren’t supposed to do?
- Part of the ikkar emuna in Moshe’s prophecy of the five books is that he also received oral explanations for each mitzvah at the same time on Sinai. Not made up and interpreted by humans as we went along. This is true only of NEW cases which arose. But even with interpretations, the RULES for interpretation are technical and objective—received from God Himself. No room for subjective biases to make new rules of interpretation. Gezeiros and takkanos are completely made up and it is an aveira to call those things part of the Torah itself. This is Ba’al Tosif.
- Ba’al Sigrah: Do not subtract from the Torah—Since the Torah is the blueprint of all creation from its beginning till its end, it is illogical to claim that the Torah was only intended to be applied in ancient times as a response to ancient pagan concepts and uncivilized societies and that parts of it have become obsolete. Since the blueprint of all mankind is sourced in the Torah, it follows that the Torah’s laws and demands for man are always relevant. They are designed for the existential make-up of the human personality which does not change from culture to culture or era to era.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
#9 What is a Jew and what is Judaism?
First some history behind the name Jew- it comes from the biblical name
- Historical answer: They were the most prominent tribe of the tree tribes remaining after the 10 tribes went into Exile by Sancherev. The ten tribes are the ten lost tribes. Various people and groups have claimed to belong to these lost tribes over the centuries.
- Jewish answer—Mordechai of Megillas Esther is called Mordechai Hayehudi. Anyone who is kofer in avoda zara is called a yehudi.
רבי יוחנן אמר לעולם מבנימין קאתי ואמאי קרי ליה יהודי על שום שכפר בעבודה זרה שכל הכופר בעבודה זרה נקרא יהודי כדכתיב +דניאל ג'+ איתי גברין יהודאין וגו'
אִיתַי גֻּבְרִין יְהוּדָאיִן דִּי מַנִּיתָ יָתְהוֹן עַל עֲבִידַת מְדִינַת בָּבֶל שַׁדְרַךְ מֵישַׁךְ וַעֲבֵד נְגוֹ גֻּבְרַיָּא אִלֵּךְ לָא שָׂמוּ עליך עֲלָךְ מַלְכָּא טְעֵם לאלהיך לֵאלָהָךְ לָא פָלְחִין וּלְצֶלֶם דַּהֲבָא דִּי הֲקֵימְתָּ לָא סָגְדִין: ס
This is the key behind Judaism: No idol worship But doesn’t the Hebrew word mean Modeh—admit? Not deny!
- No idol worship was a radical idea in ancient times and it is radical today
Ancient times viewed the natural forces as independent. They had spiritual beings which caused them to work. Idol worship meant worshiping this spiritual being behind that force of nature and basically bribe it to get what you want.
People today also have this attitude to God. “Oh God, if you would just give me a good mark/job/lottery ticket/ I’ll pray every day to you!”
That’s not really worship—that’s manipulation. Denying idol worship means you don’t want anything in this world for its own sake. Everything in life is there just to do God’s will. We completely submit ourselves to God and don’t hold anything back. That is being “modeh”
Any religion that has God in the center and not man in the center is taking a concept from Judaism.
- Just as human beings go through a process from immaturity to maturity, Human civilization has also gone through a maturation process. God models his relationship with us as a parent raising a child.
(ה) וְיָדַעְתָּ עִם לְבָבֶךָ כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר יְיַסֵּר אִישׁ אֶת בְּנוֹ יְקֹוָק אֱלֹהֶיךָ מְיַסְּרֶךָּ:
- Our civilization is backsliding from maturity to immaturity
The average age of marriage is getting older and older. Why? Immaturity. Marriage means living a large part of your life for someone else. You work to feed your family. You go to school meetings about them, you go to the doctor with them you sleep over at the hospital with them.
But you become a great person.
- The other way to define a Jew and Judaism is with the concept of holiness.
God commands us to be holy FOR HE IS HOLY.
(כו) וִהְיִיתֶם לִי קְדֹשִׁים כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְקֹוָק וָאַבְדִּל אֶתְכֶם מִן הָעַמִּים לִהְיוֹת לִי:
What is in common between our holiness and God’s holiness. What is holiness?
Rav Shimon Shkop explains that holiness in Judaism means you become bigger than you are. You expand your identity to encompass people beyond yourself. It is the opposite of small self-centeredness which is a definition of immaturity.
Someone else’s success becomes your success. Someone else’s loss and pain becomes your loss and pain.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Introducing a New Hashkafa Discussion Series Launched at the Derech Institute
I will be posting the written outline to each discussion topic on a regular basis.
I have a nightly 45 min. slot for each topic-- which includes the time for questions, so the material is usually basic and to the point.
I distribute this list below to those who attend. The questions were culled from various sources. I do not address them in the numerical order listed here.
Subject Next to each question: Indicate if you prefer text-based or open forum discussion | Don't Really Care | clueless but curious | Thunk about it once -twice | Been there done that | |
Fundamental Questions: | | | | | |
1. What do we mean by G-d? | | | | | |
2. What is the Torah? | | | | | |
3. Why is the Torah so important? | | | | | |
4. How can we prove the existence of G-d? | | | | | |
5. How do we know that G-d created the world? | | | | | |
6. Does it make a difference if we believe in G-d? | | | | | |
7. Why do/don't we believe in the Theory of Evolution? | | | | | |
8. How do we know that G-d still runs the world? | | | | | |
9. What is a Jew and what is Judaism? | | | | | |
10. Why is there pain and suffering? | | | | | |
11. Why doesn't life/history seem to run more perfectly in line with Jewish beliefs? | | | | | |
12. How do we know the Tradition is authentic? | | | | | |
13. Why isn't there immediate reward and punishment? | | | | | |
14. What is the role of the Jewish woman, and are why are women different than men in Jewish life? | | | | | |
15. How do we know that the Torah is G-d given? | | | | | |
16. What is the Source of Jewish law? God or Man? | | | | | |
17. Are the Torah laws old-fashioned? | | | | | |
18. Why are there many separate branches of Judaism? | | | | | |
19. What is the rationale behind Shabbos and Yom Tov, | | | | | |
20. Why Tefillin, Tzitzis, Yarmulkah, and Mezuzah,....? | | | | | |
21. Why Kosher? | | | | | |
22. Are there rationales for the Mitzvos all together? | | | | | |
23. What is wrong with assimilation? | | | | | |
24. Why do Jews reject Jesus as a Messiah, Mohammad as the one true prophet, and L Ron Hubbard as the answer to getting our thetans to a higher level? | | | | | |
Where is it written in the Torah… | | | | | |
1. That we have to get up in the morning to daven. | | | | | |
2. That we have to make brachos | | | | | |
3. That we have to learn Torah every day | | | | | |
4. That we can’t use curse words | | | | | |
5. That we can’t get drunk and use drugs | | | | | |
6. That we can’t have girlfriends | | | | | |
7. That we have to listen to Rabbis | | | | | |
Specific Hashkafa Questions: | | | | | |
1. 1. How do we explain the bracha of שלא עשני אשה? | | | | | |
2. How does the concept of נשים דעתן קלות apply to the well-educated women of today? | | | | | |
3. Why do frum people seem to place more of an emphasis on mitzvos בין אדם למקום than בין אדם לחבירו? | | | | | |
4. Why do we care more about external appearances than sincerity? | | | | | |
5. How can we explain mitzvos like מחיית עמלק, קרבנות polygamy—which seem to defy our sense of morality? | | | | | |
6. If there is שבעים פנים לתורה where do we draw the line on legitimate Torah interpretation? | | | | | |
7. On what basis do you choose your Rav? Do you pick a rav based on your hashkafa or visa versa? Where does your upbringing fit in? | | | | | |
8. Why can't I just go after my feelings and not my intellect? | | | | | |
9. What's wrong with cremation? | | | | | |
10. Why do I feel that religion takes away my “private space”? | | | | | |
11. Why is Orthodox society so insular with its “ghetto mentality”? | | | | | |
12. Why is the goal to be a “Ben Torah” and not just a good observant Jew? | | | | | |
13. How do we relate to people who don't appreciate Torah learning for its own sake? | | | | | |
14. Why do chareidi people smoke? | | | | | |
15. Why does Judaism seem to deny normal pleasures and put up endless obstacles to enjoying everyday life? | | | | | |
16. Why are we obligated to do chesed to Jews and not non-Jews? | | | | | |
17. What should be encouraged more—learning or davening? | | | | | |
18. Addressing the college issue—is it so bad? | | | | | |
19. Why can't I listen to Goyish music? | | | | | |
20. Why is there such a strict dress code in the Yeshiva world? Where is there room for individualism? | | | | | |
21. Explain the difference between Gan Eden and Olam Habba. | | | | | |
22. How do I know whether to be a Yissachar or Zevuluun? | | | | | |
23. How can we change our attitude that Shabbos is too boring? | | | | | |
24. Why does there seem to be such a pull to not be observant? | | | | | |
25. How can I be expected to achieve total self-control of thoughts, speech, and action in light of being brought up in a free world open to “new experiences”? | | | | | |
26. What is the evidence for a Divine Oral Law? How can we explain the existence of rabbinic disputes? | | | | | |
27. Why is there free-will to do evil? | | | | | |
28. Why is there such an emphasis on intellect in Judaism? | | | | | |
29. What's a person with poor intellect supposed to do to avoid failure? | | | | | |
30. What will happen before, during and after Moshiach, resurrection, the war of Gog U'Magog? | | | | | |
31. What happens after we die regarding Gehinom, gilgulim and dibbukim? | | | | | |
32. Explain Malachim, the Satan, evil eye, and Sheidim | | | | | |
33. I try so hard to be good—why does Hashem punish me/make it so hard for me? | | | | | |
34. Explaining some of the Chukim: Pe'os, no razor shaving, shatnez | | | | | |
35. Why did Hashem create suffering/evil? Why couldn't He give us the same reward without making us suffer? | | | | | |
36. What can be said to someone who is dealing with a tragedy and questions God's goodness? | | | | | |
37. Why are we responsible for the mistakes made by our ancestors 2,000 years ago which brought about the exile? | | | | | |
38. What is our biggest guarantee for getting into Olam Habba? | | | | | |
Your Suggestions for this series—anything left out?