Chidushei Frumhacks

We're moving!

2010-06-30T05:01:00.001-07:00

Hi all my faithful readers (HA!), if you are out there...I have finally made the jump to a real live wordpress blog hosted on my own server. That's right the blue (host) fairy finally turned me into a real boy! All my future Torah related thoughts can be found at http://chidushim.adamsimon.org

Take the red pill and I'll see you in the real world.

The Fetus

2010-06-28T12:52:00.001-07:00

Just as the fetus is independent of the mother and yet simultaneously completely dependent on, nourished by, contained within and surrounded by the mother, so too we and God.

Just as the fetus is not aware of the mothers existence, so too we can go through life unaware of Gods existence.

Just as the fetus is created in the image of the mother and father and yet cannot fathom or know what the mother and father look like, so too we and God.

Just as the entire pregnancy is only developing the fetus into a baby and preparing it for life, so too our lives are developing us and preparing us for real life.

Just as the fetus opens its eyes and attempts to see, even though it is engulfed in darkness, so too we must attempt to open our eyes in spite of the darkness.

Just as the fetus can see certain amounts of light and hear certain amounts of sound from the real world, so too we have the ability to perceive some light in the darkness.

The Secret of Punishment

2010-06-20T00:15:00.000-07:00

There is simple Rashi on this week's parsha that can teach us a tremendous lesson about natural consequences, a lesson which I try very diligently to impart to my students.

In this weeks parsha (20:13-14) within the story of Moshe and Aharon's sin regarding striking the rock for water there is an apparent contradiction. The first pasuk (13) tells us "Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon, "Since you did not have faith in Me to sanctify Me in front of the Jews, therefore you shall not bring them to the Land which I have given them." but the pasuk following it (14) tells us "These are the waters of dispute [Mei Merivah] where the children of Israel argued with Hashem, and He was sanctified through them."

But I thought that Moshe and Aharon sinned by NOT sanctifying Hashem with the water?!

Rashi answers beautifully, Moshe and Aharon should have sanctified Hashem by speaking to the rock, "I [Hashem] would have been sanctified in the eyes of the congregation. They would have said,"If this rock, which neither speaks nor hears, and does not require sustenance, fulfills the word of the Omnipresent, how much more should we!" but instead they did not speak to it, and Hashem told them that they would die before entering the land, and through this He was sanctified, "For Moses and Aaron died because of them. When God judges His holy ones, He is feared and sanctified by mankind. Similarly, it says, “You are awesome, O God, because of Your holy ones” (Ps. 68:36). And likewise it says, “I am sanctified by those close to Me” (Lev. 10:3)"

Hashem needed to be sanctified through the rock and the water at this time, he gave Moshe and Aharon the opportunity to do this by speaking to it, when they failed, he was left no recourse but to kill them before they entered the land of Israel...they were not 'punished' for their deeds, but their deeds required this natural consequence take place...

This is a deep secret regarding the understanding of reward and punishment and a huge lesson in terms of teaching children...

Snake? What Snakes?

2010-06-19T23:26:00.000-07:00

I found/developed a beautiful pshat on this week's parsha that I want to share:

In this weeks parsha (21:6) we are related a story of moderate intrigue, the Jewish people complain to Moshe (yet again) about their food and God sends "fiery serpents" which bite and kill many of them...the Jews run to Moshe and beg him to pray that God "remove the serpents", Moshe does and God tells him a remedy for the serpents' bite, hoist a copper serpent on a pole and when the Jews look upon it they will be healed. The classic explanation, that most people have heard, is that of Rashi (based on the Gemara in Rosh Hashana), "Does a snake cause death or life? However, when Israel looked heavenward and subjected their hearts to their Father in heaven, they would be healed, but if not, they would waste away" The cure, seemingly, was a restored connection with Hashem and spirituality.

But there are a number of good questions to be asked on the psukim that rely the story to us:

When mentioning the serpents, the pasuk uses the wording "הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים - THE fiery serpents" making use of the ה ha'yediah lets us know that the pasuk is referring to specific snakes; what snakes is the pasuk referring to?
The Jewish people beg Moshe to ask Hashem to "remove the serpents", however the removal of the snakes is conspicuously absent from our story, it would seem from the simple reading that the Jews continued to be plagued by the snakes, and that Hashem would 'merely' heal those who had been bitten, nowhere does it mention that the snakes were removed!

The Chizkuni addresses the first of the questions, and I saw a beautiful mahalach which I think is the clear pshat on these psukim.

First we must understand the context of the Jews' complaint and what they were complaining about. This story comes just after the Jews had interactions with other, non-nomadic peoples, they encountered the Edomites and the Cananites, immediately following their interactions with these peoples they complain, saying "וְנַפְשֵׁנוּ קָצָה בַּלֶּחֶם הַקְּלֹקֵל - We hate this light bread (the ma'an)" and then Hashem sends in the snakes...

Rav Nachshoni in his Studies in the Weekly Parsha (Hebrew original, Hagus B’Parshios HaTorah) gives a beautiful mahalach in answering these questions: The Jews had now seen what their fellow people had, in terms of heavy breads, fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. and now they wanted this as well. They were no longer satisfied with the "light bread" that Hashem had been providing them with, so Hashem responded in kind. Why does the pasuk refer to the snakes as THE snakes, because these were the standard desert snakes that had always been there, they were always there, crawling around underneath the Jews' feet. But, up until this point Hashem had been protecting the Jews by means of the cloud, etc. just as he had been providing them with food and shelter in the desert. But now that they said 'We don't want this spiritual food, we want real world food, just like everybody else!' Hashem showed them what the real world was really like...you want to live like everybody else, eat their food, you need to deal with their hardships as well! So he stopped protecting them from the snakes that lived in the desert and they started getting bitten...once they realized the error of their ways, Hashem gave them a remedy for those who had been bitten, return to your spiritual cloud, to the world of ma'an and protection, because you don't understand the real world yet...this is why Hashem doesn't remove the snakes, there was no need, they had been there the whole time, the Jews just needed to remember to put themselves into the protection of Hashem...

Methods of Reproduction and Our Relationship with God

2010-06-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

I am known to use a phrase (which I coined), "The briah (creation) is a wonderful mashal (parable or metaphor) for the briah." I really do find that there is so much beauty and truth to be gleaned from the world around us...

I was recently thinking about reproduction and the methods applied by the various creatures and species that exist in our world and wondering why? Why do they all exist, why isn't there just one way for organisms to reproduce?

Let's look at the different methods that are in place:

Asexual reproduction - One organism, all by itself, splits in two and produces an offspring.
Sexual reproduction of (some) plants - Two separate organisms, by way of an intermediary come together to create an offspring.
Sexual reproduction by means of eggs - One organism leaves something and a second organism leaves something, these two things produce an offspring.
Sexual reproduction in mammals - Two creatures come together in order to form an offspring.
Sexual reproduction in (most) humans - Two people enter into a loving relationship and then come together to form an offspring.

To me, this is a beautiful illustration of our relationship with Hashem and the other possible relationships to be had with him. God is showing us, be means of the different type of relationships that exist in the world with the goal of creation, that he could have just as easily created a world in which there was NO relationship whatsoever between Him and his creation, simply a one-sided creation, no need for a relationship between us and Him (asexual reproduction) He could have also built a world by which He used intermediaries to interact with us, (plants) but we are told that Hashem took us out of Egypt, "Ani Ve'lo etc." He does not use intermediaries when forging a relationship with us, he does this with other nations, but not us. He could have also formed a world in which we interacted with Him only indirectly only seeing his effects but never developing a relationship with Him directly (eggs), this is also not the world he willed...Finally, we can have a direct relationship with Hashem, but do it only by route, as a course of survival (mammals)...this too is not the world that Hashem willed into existence, rather it is a world where our relationship with Him is direct (Shir Hashirim) and based on love...

This is connected to the idea of "lo tov heyot hadam levado - It is not good for man to be alone"...

600,000

2010-05-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

I learned an interesting Nesivos Shalom this shabbos which I wanted to share and which led me to a Chiddush...he discusses the idea of 600,000 Jews and what the significance can possibly be that the Torah informs us of this counting. As we know the Torah is a Book of Life and as such, each piece of it is applicable, so this point must be applicable to us.

He goes onto explain that there is an intrinsic connection between the 600,000 Jews, the 600,000 letters in the Torah and the name Haviy-ah. He explains that there are 600,000 permutations of this name of God and it is connected to this idea of 600,000. He then explains that this is the key to reaching a state of completion or unification, combining these three ingredients, Unity of the Jewish People, the Torah and Hashem. And with these three ingredients we can achieve completion or shleimus.

This is directly related to the concept relayed in Pirkei Avos that "the world stands on three things, the Torah, the Avodah and Gemilut Chassadim" Torah is the Torah, Avodah is Avodat Hashem or connection to God, and Gemilut Chassadim is what can help us acheive this aspect of unity in the Jewish people.

All this is related to the 600,000 relayed in our parsha and this is lesson that we can learn from this seemingly un-applicable story...it is in reality the essence of the whole Torah and the whole world, a formula for reaching completion...

Being Counted, Loved and Appointed

2010-05-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

There is a very interesting Rashi on this week's parsha, in which Rashi teaches us the meaning of a certain word (Rashi to Perek 1 Pasuk 50), the word PAKAD he explains that the word, in this context should be translated as "appointed" as opposed to its meaning throughout the rest of the parsha "counted"...

It seems this word has two distinct meanings, one is counting and one is appointing (Hashem Pakad Es Sara, God appointed Sara) but I think that these two meanings are actually one in the same...

When God counts His people, it is an act of Love, He Loves us and therefore he counts us...but in the very same action of Him Loving us He is appointing us as His servants and chosen nation. So in essence by counting us, He is Loving us and by Loving us he is appointing us as his chosen nation.

Essentially this word only has one meaning, it means "a Loving counting, which comes with responsibility"...

Counting Levites and Avodas Ha'Kodesh

2010-05-15T21:14:00.001-07:00

While learning this week's parsha, I was confronted with an interesting question: Why is the general population counted from the age of 20 while the Levites are counted from the age of one month? It is explained that the age of one month is really just a check to ensure the new-born baby will survive, but in reality the age of counting is from birth...this strengthens the question even more, why is a Levite counted from birth, but everyone else only counted from when they are 20 years old?

The general population is counted from the point of "yotzeh tzavah - When they are able to go to the army" when they become useful of functional, shouldn't the same din apply to the Levites? Shouldn't they be counted from the age that they begin serving in the Mishkan? Or at least from Bar Mitzvah when their obligation to be the teachers of the Jewish people begins?

I think that this can teach us an important yesod in Avodas Ha'Kodesh and working for the klal...those people who are soldiers start being useful when they begin being soldiers, before they are soldiers, they are not counted, and after they are soldiers they are not counted, because a solider's purpose only lasts as long as he serves, but one who works for the klal, one who dedicates him/herself to Avodas Ha'Kodesh their contribution is everlasting and every action that they take leading up to their service is significant...As soon as a Levite is alive, every piece of food he eats, every action he takes, every thing he does is building towards his Avodas Hashem and is therefore significant...this is why a Levite is counted from birth, when we dedicate our lives to Avodas Ha'Kodesh every step we take and action we do is significant, le'tov o' lehepech chas ve'shalom...

Fate vs. Destiny - Race vs. Religion

2010-02-22T12:08:00.000-08:00

This post is way overdue. Almost a month ago, I ran West Coast NCSY's second annual THX (The Torah Experience, formerly Yarchei Kallah) Shabbaton and with the help of Rabbi Dr. Mattan Erder we explored the theme of Identity. My closing speech was also written up on this blog http://chidusheifrumhacks.blogspot.com/2010/02/superman-and-jews.html, but now I am writing what I felt was an important idea in terms of what is a Jew.

Required Reading:

Rabbi Yosef Dov Solveitchik:

Fate:
“What is an existence of fate? It is an existence of duress, in the nature of ‘against your will do you live.’ It is a factual existence, simply one line in a [long] chain of mechanical causality, devoid of significance, direction, purpose, and subordinate to the forces of the environment into whose midst the individual is pushed, unconsulted by Providence. The ‘I’ of fate emerges as an object. As an object, man appears as acted upon and not as an actor. He is acted upon through his passive collision with the objective outside, as one object confronting another. The ‘I’ of fate is hurled into a sealed dynamic that is always turned outward. Man’s existence is hollow, lacking inner content, substance, and independence. The ‘I’ of fate denies itself completely, because the sense of selfhood and objectification cannot dwell in tandem…”

“What is the nature of a covenant of fate? Fate in the life of a people, as in the life of an individual, signifies an existence of compulsion. A strange necessity binds the particulars into one whole. The individual, against his will, is subjected and subjugated to the national, fate-laden, reality. He cannot evade this reality and become assimilated into some other, different, reality… A Jew cannot expel the god of the Hebrews from his private domain. Even if he defiles the Sabbath, defiles his table and bed, and strives to deny his own Jewish-ness, his membership in the Jewish people, he will still not be able to escape…So long as a person’s nose testifies to his origins, so long as a drop of Jewish blood courses through his veins, so long as physically he is still a Jew, he serves the God of the Hebrews against his will.”

Destiny:
“What is an Existence of Destiny? It is an active existence, when man confronts the environment into which he has been cast with an understanding of his uniqueness and his value, freedom and capacity; without compromising his integrity and independence in his struggle with the outside world. The slogan of the ‘I’ of destiny is: ‘Against your will you are born, and against your will you die,’ but by your free will do you live. Man is born as an object, but it is within his capability to live as a ‘subject.’ – as a creator and innovator who impresses his individual imprimatur on his life and breaks out of a life of instinctive, automatic behavior into one of creative activity.”

What is the nature of the covenant of destiny? Destiny in the life of a people, as in the life of an individual, signifies a deliberate and conscious existence that the people has chosen out of its own free will and in which it finds the full realization of its historical being. Its existence, in place of simply being the experience of an unalterable reality into which the people has been thrust, now appears as the experience of an act… replete with movement, ascent, striving and attaining. The people is embedded in its destiny as a result of its longing for a refined, substantive, and purposeful existence… A life of destiny is a life with direction; it is the fruit of cognitive readiness and free choice.

What is the content of the covenant at Sinai? It consists in a special way of life which directs man’s existence toward attaining a single goal, a goal beyond the reach of the man of fate, namely, man’s imitation of his Creator through an act of self-transcendence.”

“Judaism has always believed that a person has the ability to take his fate into his hands and to mold it into destiny, into a life of freedom, meaning and joy, that he has the power to transform a sense of inferiority into a feeling of worth. It is for this reason that Judaism has emphasized the importance of the principle of free will. The Jewish community is obligated to utilize its free will in all areas of life in general.

Our historic obligation, today, is to raise ourselves from a people to a holy nation… from an existence of necessity to an authentic way of life suffused with eternal ethical and religious values…”

Now after having explored these sources, we come out with an important ideas. There is a distinction between Fate and Destiny, Fate is what happens to us, it is the collective big picture timeline that is out of our control. Destiny is what we make of that situation. Fate is big and thrust upon us, Destiny is individual and is the outcome of our decisions. This balance is the delicate tight-rope of free-will. (For those of you who watch Lost, this is, in my opinion, what is going on the show, there is a split timeline between Fate and Destiny. One timeline in which the choices made by the Islanders effects their future and they command their destiny and prevent the plane from crashing and one where Fate wins out and even though they make the choice to try and take things into their own hands, they cannot effect the outcome...but that is a different, longer conversation.

I think that this concept can help us better understand what it means to be a Jew and the duality it entails. There is a famous question, is Judaism a race or a religion? And I think the answer is both. In Judaism, whether you like it or not, you are born into it, because of your mother and mine we are Jews. This Fate is thrust upon us without us having any say, we are a race. Just as a Black Person cannot change his/her skin color, so too a Jew cannot change his/her blood. However their a another component to being a Jew, choice. We are handed our race, but what we make of it is our own. Being a Jew by birth or blood is our Fate, but being a Jew by choice is our Destiny.

Let's examine the pasuk presented above, the Jewish people are referred to in two distinct ways and the pasuk uses two distinct verbs to denote the means of communication. One is Bnei Yisroel, The Sons of Israel, and the other is Beit Yaakov, the Household of Jacob. The Torah says Omar to the Household of Jacob and Hagid to the Children of Israel. This pasuk is a perfect proof to the concept outlined above. Throughout the Torah we see Jacob referenced by two names, Jacob and Israel, as opposed to anyone else whose name is changed, only be referenced by the new name. These two names reference the duality we discussed above. Jacob is the name he was given, the name he was born with, it means "heel" which signifies Jacob's failed attempt to grab on and control his Fate. Israel is his new name, the one which he acquired, it means "to struggle with God" and signifies Jacob/Israel taking control of his Destiny and making it his own.

This duality is the Jewish condition.

To go further into the pasuk we see that two seperate verbs are used in the context of the two names given to the Jewish People, Omar to the Household of Jacob and Hagid to the Children of Israel. Both of these words, on the surface, mean the same thing, to say. However if we look beneath the surface we can understand that both of these verbs carry a special connotation that further drives home the idea presented above. The word Amar signifies the grouping of a number of ideas into one unified idea and communicating that point, it represents grouping individuals together into one collective whole. This is our nationhood, the race of the Jews, all individual Destiny's are just a blur in the face of the collective Fate. But Hagada signifies taking a large concept and breaking it down into its individual components to make it easier to communicate. This corresponds with the Children of Israel, the idea of Destiny, that we have the power to break down the collective Fate and take charge of our individual Destiny.

We are all Jews by birth (Fate), let us become Jews by choice (Destiny).

Lamed Vav

2010-02-22T11:55:00.000-08:00

Over this past weekend I had the privilege of attending one of my favorite annual events, the SCY High Ski-Battaon, and over the course of Shabbos I spoke about a number of things surrounding the theme of "The Responsibility of Unity". One piece that I gave over was novel and I felt like sharing.

Last Wednesday I heard Rabbi Dr. JJ Shachter address a group of NCSY Staff members at our semi-monthly conference call, he spoke about the letter Vav. He explained that Adam was created on Yom Vav (the sixth day), and that the mark placed on the forehead of Cain was a Vav, underscoring the idea that this was the purpose of humanity, Vav ha-chibbur, the Vav which connects, this letter in Hebrew is a letter that connects two things, it also means hook, an object which supports, he spoke about the significance of the Vavim in the Mishkan and the fact that this idea of connection and support of one-another is the key to rebuilding our temple and bringing our world to its completion.

We have a concept, since the Temple was destroyed there exist 36 righteous people, Tzadikim, who support the very fabric of reality and keep the connection between this world and the spiritual reality. They are known as the Lamed Vav Tzadikim. They are like our lifeline since the destruction of the temple. Perhaps we can understand a little depth behind their name and this number. As we outlined above, the letter Vav denotes connection and support and it is the key to completion and rebuilding. Perhaps the significance of the Lamed Vav is that striving Le'vav toward Vav toward connection and support is what we all must internalize and what we all must do. These Lamed Vav Tzadikim are the metaphor for what we all must internalize, striving le'vav toward vav toward connection and support is the only way to bring about completion and redemption.

White Donkey

2010-02-01T14:56:00.001-08:00

As I was discussing the concept of Mashiach riding into town on a "white donkey" I made this connection.

First of all, to explain this idea of Mashiach's white donkey. The Hebrew word for donkey is chamor whose root word is chomer or physical material. Donkeys represent physicality or the most raw materials of our physical reality. And as we all know, white is a symbol of purity, but let's explore that a little further and try to understand what that purity means and why white is the symbol for it.

The Hebrew word for white is lavan which shares a root word with libbun or the act of heating something up to remove the impurities. When a vessel becomes un-kosher one must heat it up and perform the act of libbun to make it kosher once again, this process heats the metal up so hot that any impurities or foreign matter is burned up and the metal turns white this is why white symbolizes purity.

Using this concept we can better understand the idea of a "white donkey" when a person is able to use the physical world around them for its intended purpose and uplift it, he removes any kilppah or impurity that it contains, when we sanctify the physical world we uplift it and purify it. The Mashiach will be "riding", meaning he will in control of, a "white donkey", or a completely purified and uplifted physical reality, he will be a person who is totally in control of the materials or physicality of our world will have removed any impurities from them.

Teshuva, Tefilla, Tzedaka - What do they really mean?

2010-02-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

One of the parents of one my NCSYers was diagnosed with cancer so we held a Latte and Learning in her honor (Malkah bat Yehudit - May she have a speedy recovery) and discussed the ideas below:

"Teshuva, Tefila, Tzedaka Kra Roah Gzar Dineynu" These three things are the things that we are told in the High Holiday Prayer can annul the evil decree. Why these three things? What is the magic that makes it happen?

First of all let's look at each one and try to figure out what they signify...

Teshuva, which is often translated as "Repentance" actually means "To Return". This idea that we are always on a journey of returning to God is essential to understanding this concept. Our spiritual life is all about ups and downs, when we fall we get up and keep on going, this is Teshuva returning to God and making a journey toward Him and His will.

Tefilla, many people translate as prayer, beseeching God, however the languistic expert will tell you that the word is actually reflexive, meaning it is a verb which does not have an object and subject but only an object. It is something that is internal, similar to meditation or other concepts in that category. Tefilla is a personal, internal thing.

Tzedaka, most people will tell you that Tezdaka means "Charity" this couldn't be further from the meaning of this word. Tzedaka literally means "Justice" from the Hebrew root TZEDEK (related words, Tzadik or righteous one, Tzodek or correct, Tzedek or justice). Tzedaka does not mean charity, it means doing the right thing. If someone doesn't have enough, and I have more than I need, the right thing to do is to help him out. That is why Tzedaka is mandated and has specific parameters within Halacha, because the Torah mandates a society in which their is a mix between Capitalism and Socialism, a sort of "Kind Capitalism". But to be clear, Tzedaka means "Doing the right thing" not "Charity".

Now that we have a better understanding of what theses concepts represent, perhaps we can figure out how they have the magical powers to destroy the evil decree. Each one of these things falls in a different category of interaction. Teshuva is between a person and God, Tzedaka is between a person and another person and Tefilla is between a person and his/her self. These three categories are all way that we relate to the world and make up a part of who we are. We are taught that if a person changes who he is, perhaps he can escape judgement (for example we change a sick individual's name). I think this is the very concept we are dealing with here. If a person is able to change himself in terms of how he relates to the world he becomes a different person and is no longer subject to the decree.

Survival of the Fittest

2010-02-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been reading up on some Rav Kook and came across an interesting quote from him about evolution. He said something to the effect of 'Evolution is not in conflict with Judaism, in fact, if one looks at the deep mystical sources it would seem that this new (at his time) scientific theory is in beautiful harmony with the way Judaism views the world'. This got me thinking and from my own humble knowledge of evolution and Torah I think we can see that this theory can work in beautiful harmony with Jewish thought. Oh boy, this is gonna get me in trouble, isn't it.

In Judaism we have a concept that nothing can exist without a purpose or a reason. Everything that exists is purposeful or it would not be able to exist. Nothing happens without a reason, nothing exist without a purpose, etc.

If we apply this concept to the natural world and the creatures of the bria we basically end up with Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" concept. If there is something that is functional it will flourish and continue to exist, if it has no function it will cease to exist.

With this idea in mind, I think we can all begin to see how the concept of a creator can work in harmony with scientific theories.

Superman and The Jews

2010-02-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

I spoke this weekend at a shabbaton about identity and my closing speech went something like this:

We can learn a lot from superheroes. All superheroes dress up to become their alter-ego, or their superhero counterpart. They're true personality is who they are, for example Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne, and the person they dress up to become is their alter-ego, it is their costume; but deep down inside they are truly Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne. This is true for all superheroes except one, Superman. Superman's true personality is Superman (or Kal-El for you Superman nerds) that is the person he was born as, and it the person he is deep down, he dresses up (in order to fit in) as Clark Kent, but his essence is Superman. Every superhero put their costume on, superman is always wearing his Superman suit underneath his clothes and when he changes he just removes his outer clothes to reveal the true man underneath. Most superheroes put on a mask, Superman removes his glasses.

This is a perfect metaphor for Jewish Identity. This is who we are. For those of you who know the story of Superman this becomes even more clear as you further analyze the story...Superman comes from another planet, his planet was destroyed because of the fact that his people did not take care of it. At the last moment before the planet was destroyed, his parents had mercy on him and, instead of letting him die, sent him into exile on a spaceship to earth, where he would do good things for humanity.

We all were originally in our homeland, with our Beit Hamikdash, but due to our sins and not treating each other well we were supposed to be destroyed, God decided to have mercy on us and send us to exile instead and save us. We were sent out to the world, often times we need to blend in and dress up like Clark Kent, but we must never forget that who we truly are is Superman.

All the things we do that seem like who we are, that seem to define our identity are merely a Clark Kent costume over our Superman suit. We need to remember that underneath it all we are Superman, not Clark Kent.

Moshele The Water Carrier

2009-12-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

Moshele was a water carrier. Each day he would make the long trek out to the well early in the morning, before the sun rose, to draw water from the well and schlep it back to the town. This was in a time before in-door plumbing, before spraklets and arrowhead, if a person wanted water they needed to come to Moshe to get it, or schlep out to the well themselves...Each and every day Moshele would spend his morning sweating, drawing water from deep within the well, pulling up bucket after bucket of water filling them and carrying them back to the town. From dawn until noon he would work, and then each afternoon the townspeople would come and buy the buckets of water from Moshele.

One day Moshele was trudging through the mud, rain was pouring down all around him, he was trudging to the well to get water, when and idea struck him...he went back home with no water and locked himself in his home. He toiled for days and weeks in his home, only visiting the well infrequently enough to get enough water to survive. At the end of his toil, he had built a contraption that could capture the rain, he never had to schlep to the well again. During the rainy season, he would set-up his contraption and all through the season it would catch rain, enough water to last him and the whole town all through the year.

Life went on. The towns-people would come to Moshele and buy water, he would sell it out a spigot from his contraption. Each day he would sell them water, until one day when it began to snow.

The towns-people awoke to see their town covered in snow, and they found Moshele dancing like a crazy-person dancing and singing in the snow. They said, "Moshele, what are you doing? Why are you dancing so wildly?" and he answered,

"In the beginning, I needed to trek to the well to gather water, it took all day. Then I was able to spend some time getting ready and I caught the rain and all the water we needed, but it still took some work to get ready and prepare myself to catch it. But now, with the snow, no advanced planning is necessary, none of us need to get ourselves ready, we don't need to work at all, we just reach down and pick up the snow with our hands and fill up our buckets and we have water, from the sky, with no toil and no preparation."

Ain Mayim Ela Torah

There are times in life when we need to toil and sweat and dig deep to get the Torah, the Truth, and there are times when the Torah comes to us, we just need to be ready to receive it, we need to make ourselves into a vessel, a kli, in advance. And there are other times when the Torah, the Emet, comes to us and we need not prepare, or have made ourselves into a kli in advance, we just need to reach out and grab it...once we have a hold on it, then we can prepare the kli to hold it for the long term, but we can grab it before we are really ready to hold it...this is the ultimate Chessed, kindness, that God does for us, this is snow.

NebuchaNetzar vs. NebuchaRetzar

2009-11-26T12:26:00.000-08:00

This piece has not really been developed fully yet, I came up with on the fly at the shabbos couch last week at Reuven Meir's house.

It was brought to my attention that throughout Tanach Nebuchanetzar is also referred to as Nebucharetzar (with a REISH instead of a NUN). On the fly I suggested that perhaps this has to do with his development as a leader, REISH has four times the value of NUN and we are taught that the number four (see Maharal) denotes spreading out to the edge or filling out to all directions. When he started out he was a military leader but as he developed he grew to a world power spreading out to all directions and ruling large parts of the world. As well I saw in a book while sitting at the couch that NUN is a letter of emergence and potential and REISH is a letter of choice between greatness and degradation. As we grow and become powerful we have the choice to be great leaders or corrupt ones.

As well, both NUN and REISH have dualities to them, NUN stands for both NE'EMAN and NAFAL (a believer and a fallen one) and REISH stands for both RASHA and ROSH (evil and head or king) the significance there runs deep. Additionally, REISH is a component of the letter KUF, which stands for KEDUSHA (holiness) but only when bound together with the VAV from Hashem's name. When we grow and powerful, we must bind our selves to God in order to sanctify, rather than corrupt...

I hope to develop this further.

Yitzchak, Rivkah and Tefillah (Prayer)

2009-11-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

Last week's parsha, Parshas Toldos, brings up a very interesting question regarding tefillah. In the beginning of the parsha (25:21) we are told the story of Rivkah's barrenness and how she and her husband, Yitzchak, entreat God to allow Rivkah to become pregnant. The pasuk tells us that only Yitzchak is answered, not Rivkah. There are numerous answers given to this questions, but I would like to offer what I think to be a novel one.

We are taught in the Gemura (Bava Metzia 42a) that Bracha only rests on that which is "hidden from the eye" ie. God will not change the fabric of reality to answer a prayer or give bracha, rather only if something is hidden from view will it be able to receive God's bracha the example given in the Gemura is that of grain, before the grain has been counted it can be the recipient of bracha and one it has been counted, its amount is set (For a deeper understanding of this look into Quantum Mechanics and the principle of observation). I would like to suggest that perhaps this concept is a subjective one. If something seems abundantly clear to one person, so much so that it is no longer "hidden from the eye", it is nearly impossible for bracha to rest on it, but if a person is unsure about something that thing is still "hidden from the eye" and a prayer for it could be answered.

I would like to suggest that, perhaps, this is the case with Yitzchak and Rivkah. Rivkah was a woman, she was the one who was barren and she had a deep and intimate understanding of those facts, she felt "dried up" a woman deeply understands her own anatomy and "feels" how things work. Yitzchak, on the other hand, was a man and his wife only told him she was barren, he did not have a first hand understanding of the facts and did not feel them. To him, it was not as abundantly clear that Rivkah's barrenness was a reality as it was to Rivkah. To Rivkah the situation was set in stone, because she was intimately in touch with the situation and could really feel the despair and emptiness, it was no longer "hidden from the eye" for her, but for Yitzchak, the information was second hand, he did not intimately feel the despair and it was still "hidden from the eye" and therefore his prayers could be answered.

Food, Light and Torah

2009-11-26T11:38:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a great book lately called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, in the course of the book he references a food chain that many of us have probably not considered. This is, what I like to call, "The Energy Food Chain" basically he discusses food and the source of it and its essence. In its most basic form, food is fuel, it is what gives energy to live, but where does this energy come from? In a classical (and beautiful) natural model all energy on earth comes from the sun in the form of light and heat. This is the source of most of the energy on this planet (until recently when the world has shifted to fossil fuels as its main energy source, but this is a different discussion). We humans are unable to process this energy as it comes to us in the form of light to produce usable energy in our bodies. However there is one group of living organisms who are natural solar power plants, they are able to take the sun's energy (light) and convert it into usable energy in the form of sugars which our bodies can burn to produce energy (calories). This is the first step of the chain. These sugars are good for basic energy and are the most basic form of food energy that exists, however we humans also have a need for a different type of energy, proteins. Plants do not only produce sugars as part of their solar energy party, they also produce a substance called cellulose, which us humans cannot digest and make use of. However, cows (and other animals with ruminants) can digest and process this substance to produce the proteins that make up their muscles and tissues and thus are the second link in the chain of "The Energy Food Chain". To sum up, we cannot take energy from the pure light from the sun, we do not have the faculties to do that, we really on plants to process the light and allow us to use it, additionally, we are unable to use all the energy that plants produce when the process the light into energy, we also do not have the faculties to do that, so we really on ruminant mammals to do this for us as well.

The metaphor in this hit me like a ton of bricks one evening and I feel it is so poignant for us in our time.

When God created the world, he created us in this limited physical form, he also created the Infinite Light of "Sheishet Ha'Yamim" this Light is to much for us and we, in this lowly physical form, are unable to process this Light, in fact, we are taught in the seforim ha'kedoshim that this Light would in fact destroy the vessels if applied directly. God, however, in His Awesomeness gave us tools by which to process this Light and use it to perfect ourselves and the universe. He gave us the Torah, and other Keilim with which to make use of this Light.

Cool, huh?

Radio Commercial

2009-06-03T02:19:00.000-07:00

Recently I was listening to the radio on the way home from work and I heard a commercial that got me thinking...It went as follows:

When you sit back and think of all of the people in your life, don’t you wonder what they’ll do next? Go on, not just a little curious? When your shy sister married a stamp collector you weren’t surprised but when she started with Karaoke Tuesdays you were filled with wonder. And when your power dressing brother joined the Peace Corps, didn’t that give you just a little taste for future news? A hankering for the next installment? Admit it. We know you can’t wait to find out what surprises the future has in store. And that’s why we suggest a mammogram. At Kaiser Permanente in Southern California we have one of the highest screening rates in the nation. And we believe that regular mammograms can help women live long and thrive. So you want to know what happens next? Book your next mammogram today, and stick around, things are going to get a whole lot more interesting. We’re Kaiser Permanente and we want you to be well and thrive.

You can listen to it here: http://members.kaiserpermanente.org/redirects/thrive/index.htm#modnav=inspiration click on radio ads and select "What Next"

This commercial made me a little uneasy and I will explain why, as I listened to it I translated it in my head. The commercial basically sends the following message, "It is worth staying alive because you never know what INTERESTING thing is gonna happen next!" That made me a little nervous for the world. We have come to a point in our growth as a society that BOREDOM=DEATH if you are bored there is really no point in continuing to live. Let me rephrase the commercial in the reverse, "Nothing exciting left to do in life? Don't get a mammogram, because that will keep you around longer, you wouldn't want that would you?"

If you are bored, you might as well die.

Wow, scary, huh?

In Judaism, we place a serious value on entertainment, pleasure and not being bored, however, entertainment and excitement are not the purpose of life. In Judaism, the purpose of life is making a difference, repairing this world, learning, growing, completing our mission on this planet. God put us here for a reason and that is the real reason to stick around.

So next time you are bored, think to yourself, "What can I do to fulfil my purpose in life?"

Modim

2009-06-03T02:04:00.000-07:00

It has always bothered me, the way the end of the Amidah is structured, with the bracha of modim at the end followed by one last request. It seemed out of place for two reasons; first, shouldn't we thanks God first, before asking him for things? Second, why throw in one last request after we already thanked him, if the thanking is at the end, shouldn't it be the closer?

The other night I was praying Ma'ariv and it hit me, I was begging God to make life easier on a certain person I know, then when I reached Modim I began to thank God for all the things he has given me, and I thanked him for giving me the strength to overcome the challenging points in my life, that's when it hit me. As I was thanking God for giving me the strength, I realized that all the challenges I went through and succeeded in overcoming made me who I am today, and had I not traveled that road, I would not have reached the place I stand now.

In the course of our lives, and the Amidah, we ask God for many things, money, an easy life, knowledge, etc. We beg him to give us things, but in the end, when we look back we must thank him for what he has given us, and realize that we got exactly what we needed. While we are in the moment, we scream for mercy, but once we are removed and can look back we realize that we need to thank God for what He has given us, He never gives us a challenge for which we don't have the tools to overcome. It as this point in our lives, or the Amidah, that we ask God for one more thing, Peace, or contentment, we must realize that once everything is said and done, that is really all we need (contrary to the Beatles) we need to be content with what we were given and with that we can move forward peacefully, "Who is rich? The one who is content with his lot."

This is a serious lesson, During life we think we need many things, in the end we must appreciate what we have gotten and ask for contentment to move forward in peace...

Torat Maflee!

2009-06-01T18:38:00.001-07:00

In this week’s parsha, Nasso, we find the parsha of Nazir; within this parsha we find an interesting word and a series of debates over its meaning. The word is יפלא or "Yaflee". At first glance the translation and placement of this word seems odd. The pasuk reads as follows:
"דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם: אִישׁ אוֹ-אִשָּׁה, כִּי יַפְלִא לִנְדֹּר נֶדֶר נָזִיר--לְהַזִּיר, לַיהוָה"
Roughly translated this means, 'Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them, if a man or a women decides to [YAFLEE] and make an oath to guard him/herself for God' Now if we look at the root of the word Yaflee, we see that its root is פלא or wonder (as we see in the bracha of Asher Yatzar, "בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', רוֹפֵא כָל בָּשָׂר וּמַפְלִיא לַעֲשׂוֹת" meaning 'God, You are the source of all blessing, You heal all flesh and do wonders') The only problem is that the Artscroll Chumash translates the word Yaflee as "Disassociates" this doesn't seem to jive with what the root of the word seems to be...This can be explained by looking to Rashi, who explains the word Yaflee as meaning Yafrish, or separate, according to the Gemurah in Sota (2a) which teaches us that the juxtaposition of the parsha of Nazir with that of Sota is to teach us that one who witnesses the Sota should separate himself from wine because wine leads to temptation. At first glance this seems to be the same way that the Targum renders the יפרש which although appears to be the same as Rashi, is not. Rather Targum is teaching us a Halacha regarding the Nazir, that he must say his vow out loud, MEFURASH, explicitly.
The Targum and Rashi, interestingly, use words that have the same shoresh (root) and yet different meaning to explain the same, complicated, word. The connection between the two definitions of פרש the root of both Yafreesh and YeFaresh is its root meaning, to explain, (Peirush Rashi, means the explanation of Rashi) when one explains something, in the traditional sense, he/she breaks it down into its parts and makes explicitly clear what they each mean, once he/she has an understanding of the parts that make up the whole, the whole can be understood. This is the connection between Yafreesh and YeFaresh, one breaks an idea into its parts into to explain it and make it clear.
The final translation of this word which fits best with the root of the word in question is that of the Ibn Ezra. Rashi and the Targum were teaching us Halachot and Philosophy based on their translation of the word; the Ibn Ezra is just teaching is the simple meaning of the words (as well as some philosophy, which may encompass that of Rashi and Targum...). Ibn Ezra tells us that the word Yaflee means "does a wondrously unfathomable act" so the Pasuk would read 'Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them, if a man or a women decides to do a wondrously unfathomable act and make an oath to guard him/herself for God'. According to the Ibn Ezra the pasuk is teaching us as follows, it is a wondrous and amazing for a person to take the oath of Nezirut, because "the natural way of man is to go after his desires" and if a person decides to subdue his desire, this is considered wondrous and amazing. I think that we can also explain the Juxtaposition of the parsha of Nazir with that of Sota according to the Ibn Ezra's view. The parsha of Sota deals with a woman who does not have self control, she secludes herself with a man, who is not her husband, and does so repeatedly even after being warned. The oath of Nezirut is the tikun, so to speak, for this, it is the act of subduing ones desires as opposed to indulging them and this is why it is juxtaposed to the parsha of Sota, to show the contrast and give us a tikun.

So to sum up:
Acc. Rashi the pasuk reads as follows: 'Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them, if a man or a woman decides to [YAFLEE] disassociate themselves and make an oath to guard him/herself for God'
This teaches us that anyone who witnesses the Sota should separate themselves from wine because wine leads to temptation.
Acc. Targum the pasuk reads as follows: 'Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them, if a man or a women decides to [YAFLEE] explicitly state an oath to guard him/herself for God'
This teaches us the halachah that the Nazir oath must be explicitly stated out loud.
Acc Ibn Ezra the pasuk reads as follows: 'Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them, if a man or a women decides to [YAFLEE] do a wondrous act and make an oath to guard him/herself for God'
This teaches us that since the nature of man is to go after their desires, subduing desires is a wondrous and amazing act. This also teaches us that in order to fix (tikun) the fact that the Sota so easily gave into her desires we must try to subdue our desires and re-sensitize ourselves to self-control after being desensitized by the Sota.

Why is Succot Greater Than Pesach?

2009-04-19T16:29:00.001-07:00

My contractor in Israel told me this(he doesn't wear a kippa, I love Israel...chidushim even come from the "non-frum" Jews):

Why is Succot greater than Pesach?

Becuase on Pesach we only invite in guests for the meal, "orchim" (we invite all those who are hungry, and we invite Eliyahu for a glass of wine); however on Succot we invite guests even to sleep, "ushpizin" this is a much higher level of the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim.

To add to this, this mitzvah of hachnasat orchim is a big part of the Yetziat Mitzrayim story, becuase a big part of it to force us to recall, "Ger Hayiti Ba'Eretz Lo Sheli, I was a stranger in a strange land" and that our job is to always make our fellow Jews feel at home and never again be a Ger now that we have a nation.

To understand this a littel deeper, pesach is a holiday that we accomplish the main mitzvah with our mouthes, one part of our body, we sacntify eating the very physical act which sustains us. Our mouth also signifies many other things, eating, speaking, breathing, etc. which we can ponder. However on succot we accomplish the mitzvah with out whole body, there is not merely "lip service" on Succot.

To take this even higher, this, I beleive, is the very essence of the holidays, on Pesach we take away our main source of Mazon, our staple of sustenance, bread, and through the very thing that we remove we do the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. The same is true on succot, we take away our beds, our homes, our Bayit and through this we do the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim. This is to put us in the same place as the person we are supposed to invite. On Pesach without proper food and on Succot without proper housing. We must realize that it is only God who gives us everything and therefore we must not be reluctant to share. Before God took us out of Egypt we had nothing, only becuase He took us out do we have anything, we owe everything to Him and therefore cannot be selfish and horde it all for ourselves.

To take this even higher, on pesach we stay in our homes and remove the Chametz (which we are taught is metaphoric for spiritual contaminents; ever wonder why we throw bread into the water for tashlich...) we change over our homes, but we are still in our homes. On succot we don't just remove the Chametz from our homes so we can dwell in them for the Regel, we remove our homes from our homes and dwell outside, rather than making our home fit for the Regel to join us inside, we go outside to greet it. This is the secret of these two holidays, Pesach is the first holiday, the holiday of the body (Guf) we were physical slaves to Pharoh and God saved us, it focuses on the physical things in life, we drink many cups of wine, eat a lamb, etc. Succot is the holiday of the soul (Neshama) we take ourselves out of the physical "clothing" that wraps our souls, and go outside to dwell in temporary structures, re-emphasizing that the "clothing" (body - Guf) is only temporary, but the soul is permanent...

To end, I want to tell a riddle that the contractor told me, which I think holds deep secrets: When is the only time we build succas when it is not succot? On Pesach! (ie. the first time during yetziat mitzrayim when we lived in succot the entire time)

This contractor's wife is due (be'sha'ah tove u'mutzlachat) to have a baby this coming week, may this Dvar Torah and the light it has brought to the world serve as a zchut that she should have an easy labor and birth and may the baby be healthy, and grow into a wonderful Jew, full of Torah knowledge, good deeds and merit finding his or her spouse easily and without pain. May the child be close to God always and find meaning in our beutiful religion and help share it with others.

Nothing to do with Prop 8

2008-11-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

I got to thinking about this weeks parsha and the "Keshet" or rainbow that God shows to Noach as a sign of the covenant between God and the creation. I was just wondering what the significance of the rainbow could be...and it struck me, what is a rainbow? White light enters a droplet of water and the 7 color spectrum leaves. Now let's analyze this a little more deeply...It is said that God created the world using the Torah as the blueprint, and that in a way (kiv'yachol) he shone his infinite light through the torah and the world is what comes out the other side, along the lines of the concept of Tzimtzum that God somehow filtered Himself and the void that is left is physicality and again that this filter that he used was the Torah...so imagine the infite light of God (which often refered to as the White Light) shining through the Torah and the outcome is the physical world...

As we know "ain mayaim ela torah" "whenever water is mentioned it means the Torah" I would like to suggest that this is the Rainbow, the white light (of Hashem) passing through a droplet of water (The Torah) and what is left is 7 rays of color (in the Kabbalistic sense, 7 represents the "tevah" or natural world, for example the world was created in 7 days) or the physical world.

To take this to the next level, we can posit that perhaps this is the covenant we are to be reminded of...God created this world with the Torah as its blueprint, the Torah and its ways are at the very root of the world, and we must not forget that! And if we do, I don't want to think of the concequences...God was saying to Noach, remember why the world was created! Teach it to your children and so on...don't forget that or the contract will be broken and I will not withhold myself (mabul comes from the root yaval or free flow)...

Lulav and Esrog

2008-10-23T04:52:00.000-07:00

Why do we always refer to the "four species" which we are commanded to take by the Torah during succos as the Lulav and Esrog (Etrog)? Why are they not commonly refered to as the four species or lulav esrog, hadasim and aravos? Why are the aravos and hadasim left out of the coloquial term used to describe this mitzvah?

The medrash tells us that each of the arbah minim are representative of a certain type of Jew. The esrog has smell and taste, the lulav only taste, the hadasim only smell and the aravos nothing at all. Each of these traits represent something, smell is good deeds and taste is Torah learning. So the esrog represnts the complete Jew, with both good deeds and Torah learning, the lulave represents he who learns but has no good deeds, the hadasim has good deeds but no Torah and the aravos are the simple Jew with no Torah learning and no good deeds.

So why jus the lulav and esrog? Becuase they have Torah, and we know that for Torah we get reward in this world and the next (ele dvarim she'adam ohel perot be olam ha zeh ve hakeren kayam le olam haba) Torah get honor in this world as well as the next, and so the Lulav and Esrog are ascribed honor by having there names represent the rest...

But it was just a joke!

2008-10-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

It says in the Gemura (source pending) that one who jokes around about what happens on the night of the wedding will be cursed for seventy years. The question was posed to me, "Why Seventy?" After a little thinking I came up with what I think is an OK answer. Sound off and let me know if you agree.

What goes on on the wedding night is the very act of creating life. One who jokes about this is taking life lightly, and is therefore punished middah kenegged middah as the mishna in pirkei avos tells us (5:21) that at age seventy one reaches his full years. Many have the custom of making a seudat hodah upon reaching the age of seventy. Seventy years is the time frame that represents a complete life and so, one is cursed for a complete life in exchange for mocking it.