A Retrospective Pesach

Last week, while preparing my Seder Plate, many fmilliar thoughts and memories came to me – much as they do each Pesach. I recall sitting at my father’s Seder table. I can see the memories flooding his thoughts as he reads aloud from the Haggada.

I wonder. Are they memories of Pesach past? A Seder night in Siberia during the war? How? Where did they get the Matzah? Who prepared the meal? Maybe there was no Matzah or any food at all to prepare. I want to ask these questions but I dare not.

He was a teenager then, a refugee from Poland enjoying the hospitality of the Soviet Union in the frozen wasteland of Siberia. His mother had died before the war leaving his father with three children to raise, and with Nazis threatening to invade Poland, they had crossed the border into Russia. His father was frail, a scholar by nature, but uncompromising; Pesach was a holy day and nothing would prevent him from observing its laws. Thus, while the world was at war with itself they sat at a table, the four of them, in that barren strange land and made a Seder.

This may in fact be the question of the wise son: "What are the laws, commandments, and statutes that G-d our G-d commanded you?" Unlike the wicked son this son is not excluding himself when he says "commanded you". He is marveling at his father's generation and wants to know what made them so strong. He is asking, "What did you see in the Mitzvot that made them non-negotiable?" “How did we lose that conviction? Why are Mitzvot which we observe a matter of choice for us but not for you? You didn't need the mitzvah to appeal to you, inspire you. You didn't need to see some spiritual benefits derive from observing Torah. You needed no reason to do what must be done; what is right, good and holy.”

The answer given the wise son is, "We don't eat or drink after the Afikomen." The Matzah eaten at the end of the meal - the pieces that were hidden for the children to 'steal' - need not be enjoyed. After a full meal we have no appetite for that Matzah. We don't enjoy its taste. It's a Mitzva, so we eat it. Yet we don't eat or drink after the 'afikomen' allowing the taste of it to linger.

This represents a great form of divine service; A Mitzva is best observed for its own sake - G-d asked us to do it so we do.

How do we do the mitzvah? With pleasure! We let the 'taste' linger.
We celebrate our Jewish-ness and the feel of it.

Thus we have the best of both worlds. We choose to do the mitzvah knowing that no choice is necessary. We have the PLEASURE of SERVING.


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A Mitzvah of Intoxication?

"One is obligated to drink on Purim until one doesn't know the difference between "Cursed is Haman" and "Blessed is Mordechai"

Q. What does it mean when the sages 'pass a law' saying "One is obligated'? Who is obligating us? The authority of the Rabbis? The authority of Torah that tells us to obey the rabbis? Or possibly reality itself?

In the example of Purim it is Purim itself that 'obligates'. It is the quality of the day. If you felt the energy that Purim produces you would feel 'obligated', compelled, moved to get yourself beyond 'cursed' and 'blessed'; you would come to a place where Haman is despised and Mordechai is adored for their essences, ABSOLUTELY, even if they were both cursed or both blessed.

True is true. Nothing matters beyond the truth. For example: there are no other gods besides G-d. So I don't worship idols. Is G-d more powerful than the idol? Irrelevant. Idols are not true. Is idol worship cursed and damning? Irrelevant! If idols were beautiful, meaningful and inspiring, if they brought rain or made you fertile, if it could heal sickness and bring bliss, I still do not worship them because they are not true. Like the false prophet who impresses with unusual talents and psychic ability, he is still a false prophet if he contradicts the truth of Torah.

Are we too confused to know simple truths? Are we too sophisticated to appreciate that right is right and wrong is wrong?

Sin is sin. Must it also be too expensive before I reject it?

Sin is sin. Must it also be unnatural? Perverted? Unhealthy? Distasteful? Pig is forbidden but what if it is the healthiest meat? What if it is cheaper, cleaner, more tasty than kosher food?

Would that change the truth?

A Jew can not marry a non-Jew; It is not a marriage. But if he is a doctor? Nicer than any Jew you've met and more spiritual? What if he is “blessed” and Jews are "cursed"? Then what?!

And this is the message of Purim and the Mitzvah to not know the difference between "Cursed is Haman" and "Blessed is Mordechai": Regardless of all other considerations, Haman remains Haman and Mordechai is still the Yehudi.


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The Audio Is Here

Here's the recording of the class we broadcast the other night.

Enjoy!

~The BlogMaster


Click to play:




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On Happiness

Here's a thought that came up in a conversation the other night after our broadcast Bais Chana class:

The simple truths in life are what brings happiness. This means focusing on simple realities: life is good, being a Jew is good, having my family is good, etc. This enables you to be happy. However we need to distingush happiness from contentment. To be content is different from being happy in the following ways. Contentment must be earned - happiness is free. Happiness is related to gratitude - contentment is related to satisfaction. Happiness is the absence of doubt - contentment is the successful resolution of doubts.

Therefore, simple truths will produce happiness, but only achievement will bring contentment.

So I am happy to be what I am, to be included in G-d's vast eternal plan. A part of the chosen people, able to serve Him at any time. But if I don't actually serve Him and accomplish some good in my life I will not be content. Contentment is measured by effort. The harder I try the more content I will be.

What do you think?

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Yesterday's Broadcast

I just wanted to say how wonderful the turn out was for yesterday's broadcast! We were very complimented by your participation. And, we'll do it again soon!

Did you miss it? Not to worry. We've got it recorded for you and we hope to have it up here very shortly.

~The BlogMaster

click here

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What Do We Know About Creation? - - Part VI

Purpose?

To make a dwelling place for G-d in the lowest world (that's our world) is the reason for which He created the universe.

A dwelling place means a place where you can be yourself, let your hair down.

The first requirement for a divine home is to accept G-d as He is: infinite or finite, kind or stern, forgiving or punishing, caring or distant, demanding or indifferent. He can be whatever He chooses to be and I'm comfortable with that. Worshipping other gods would mean making conditions for G-d: I can see G-d as a saviour when I need saving; I see G-d as punishing when my enemy needs 'killin'; He is the G-d of fertility when I need to be fertile. So I'm believing in one G-d, but only in bite size pieces as I feel the need. But to allow G-s to be whatever He wishes?! That's too scary, too humbling. That's not a 'home'. We are treating G-d like a guest or visitor or worse.

So the first thing is - let G-d tell you what He is, what He wants, what He needs from you. He does this in Torah.

The second requirement is 'light'. A home must be illuminated. Brightly. 'Light' here refers to relationship. Example: a marriage essentially involves a husband and wife living together. In the olden days it was, "I have a son, you have a daughter. Fine. They will be married." What else do you need? And that would be a marriage. In point of fact it would constitute a sacred institution, inviolable. But the two people must also relate to each other, 'know' each other. Otherwise it will not be a complete home.

That is the light of the home that G-d desires: where He is Himself and we know Him, take pleasure in Him, love and fear Him, serve Him.


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Rabbi Friedman Live - - Tonight

9:30 pm EST (7:30 Mountain, 6:30 Pacific)

To listen, either:
- Enter TorahChat here (may require plugin,) or
- Download Java Player here

See full article for more information.

If you choose to click to enter TorahChat, this will take you to one of the “study rooms” at VirtualYeshiva.com. You may be prompted to install a PlugIn. This is safe for your computer. You will then be asked to login with your name and taken into the “room” where you will be able to hear the class.

If you choose to click to download the Java Player, the player will automatically begin to install. You will be asked whether you trust the software from “jlGui Team”. Click “Yes”. The download will complete and the player will open automatically.

Enjoy!


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What Do We Know About Creation? - - Part V

Continuing on yesterday's thoughts...

I recall a particular afternoon some years ago, in the early 1960s, when thirty Jewish scientists from various Eastern universities attended one of the Rebbe’s Shabbat afternoon gatherings (called farbrengens.) The scientists sat among the Chassidim and listened while the Rebbe spoke in Yiddish, which they did'nt understand. During the break for singing, one of the Chassidim gave them a synopsis in English of what the Rebbe said. Even in English it didn’t mean much to them.

When the Rebbe resumed the discourse, he dedicated the next portion of his talk to the visitors, and for the next forty minutes he described the mystical Chassidic view of the universe. During the next break, the Chassid again translated the Rebbe’s words; “The Rebbe said that all matter is behavior, and we can see this behavior by observing nature closely”.

“Did he really say that?” one scientist asked. “Physics also defines nature as “observable behavior patterns.” The scientists who had come as curios observers began to wonder if the mystical and physical are compatible after all. Certainly, in the Rebbe’s world, the two are one. Of course, there are significant differences between the scientists’ view and Chassidus' view. The scientist saw a mechanical universe. The Rebbe saw a warm, responsive universe with a beating heart.

Chassidus' view of creation sheds new light on the phenomenon of miracles. The Rebbe pointed out that the miraculous events described in Torah are G-d doing what He always does, only varying the routine.

For instance, G-d usually tells water to flow downward, an instruction so familiar that we call it natural law. Then one day, somewhere in the Sinai, G-d told water to stand still: The water behaved like a wall to their right and to their left. This instruction happens so infrequently that some people call it a violation of natural law, and others call it a miracle. In truth, both standing still and running downward are miracles.

The Talmud tells the story of the sage, Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa, who arrived home one Friday evening, just as the sun was setting. As always on Fridays, he found the table set and his daughter preparing to light the Shabbat light. But something was amiss.

“Why do you look so unhappy?” he asked.

She answered that she had accidentally added vinegar to the oil in the Shabbat lights. “The vinegar will surely extinguish the flames,” she said.

“He who tells oil to burn will tell vinegar to burn” her father answered.
That Shabbat evening, vinegar burned.

Was it a miracle? We assume that oil burns because of its chemical properties, meaning, “I don’t know why, that’s just how it is.” Although we can see oil burning, there is no reason that oil must burn. The Rebbe, a mystic as well as a man of science, said that oil burns because G-d tells it to.

The same is true of all natural laws. We know that aspirin relieves a headache and we may even know how it does the job. Yet we’ll never know why. The Healer of all flesh instructs aspirin to subdue pain, usually. And usually, He tells water to flow downward and oil to burn. It’s all the same to them.


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fyi: Rabbi Friedman Live! - - Tonight!!

Join Rabbi Friedman online live from Bais Chana, Tuesday night, March 7th at 7:30 pm Mountain [9:30 pm Eastern Standard, 6:30 pm Pacific]

The talk:
Back to Basics - - In so many ways, all we want are the simple things in life: good health, happiness, love. How did things get so complicated?

Rabbi Friedman's talk will be broadcast using the Virtual Yeshiva's Torah Chat Radio Network. To listen, go to: www.VirtualYeshiva.com

Or you can use their a state-of-the-art interactive Jewish voice chat system. To participate, all you need is a computer and a easy-to-install spyware-free browser plug-in (PC, MAC, or Linux) using Internet Explorer, Avant Browser, Netscape, or Mozilla Firefox. You need only do this once, and you don't even need to reboot! Press Allow, Accept or Always, if prompted. It's quick, it's safe and it's free! To participate in this on-line event, link to www.TorahChat.com.

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What Do We Know About Creation? - - Part IV

I recently addressed a non-Jewish audience on this very subject - "Creationism" or "Intelligent Design"

Here's some of how I presented it to them:

He alone exists and there is nothing besides Him.

Some people imagine G-d to be something like a cosmic sculptor chiseling away at a chunk of primal stuff until it assumes the form he has in mind. Then, he polishes it, puts it on display, and then he walks away.

Unlike a sculptor, G-d creates the world out of nothing. He has no chunk of anything, and the entire effect of existence is the result of His effort. Nor can the new creation maintain its shape if G-d steps back from it.

Chassidus uses simple metaphors to explore the mysteries of the Unknown and the Unknowable. Imagine throwing a stone into the air. The force behind your throw give the stone the properties of flight; but no matter how often you throw it, no matter how often it soars through he air, it never becomes a flying stone. If you see a stone flying past your window you don’t marvel at the uniqueness of that particular stone. You simply wonder, “Who’s throwing stones?”

Just as a stone, even as it flies, is incapable of flight, the universe – even as it exists – is incapable of existing. If you stop throwing the stone is once again immobile. And if G-d stops creating, the universe will return to nothingness.

He is the only anything. Everything else is being “existed” by Him.

Let’s peel back another layer: G-d created the world out of absolute nothingness, meaning that G-d does not produce the world like a chicken produces an egg. Before being laid, the egg exists both in principle and in potential: In principle because a chicken is designed to lay eggs; in potential because an egg already exists in an incipient form long before you see it.

The creator and His creation have no such relationship. Physical matter does not preexist somewhere inside G-d. Nor is G-d programmed to produce universes. So how does G-d do it?

G-d calls the universe into existence with His words, “Let there be….”

Every created being, from angel to electron, obediently responds, then, unable to maintain its own existence, slips back into nothingness. G-d repeats the command and the being responds again, constantly. Creation recurs so rapidly and seamlessly like the frames of a motion picture, that we barely detect the blip of nothingness in between.

In the Tehillim, King David marvels at the beauty of constant creation: The heavens tell of G-d’s glory and the firmament speaks of His works. The cow in the meadow speaks of His works by being a cow every moment of its life. The electron tells of G-d’s glory by behaving like an electron every second of its existence.

The universe derives its energy from tension between being and not being. As matter pulses across the divide that separates existence from extinction, the world hums with the word of G-d, thus singing His praises.

This futuristic analysis of the cosmos was first described by the Baal Shem Tov almost three hundred years ago, when he called nature, “Matter behaving in the pattern assigned by G-d’s word.”

More of this soon...

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What Do We Know About Creation? - - Part III

Before we move on to the more distant origins of the universe, let’s look again at words and thought.

Words are necessary only when communicating with something outside of yourself. Words are revealed. Thought is for yourself, remaining inside and concealed.

G-d’s words are revealed to us. What they create we can see. We see grass, sky, water, stars etc. G-d’s thoughts are mysterious. We can’t see what He is thinking and we don’t understand what His thoughts create: suffering, death, evil, galus (exile.) These we don’t understand. Why? What is He thinking?

So we know what is happening but we don’t know why. Only with great effort and sensitive feelings can we learn something of His thoughts as stated in Torah, Chassidus, Kabbalah, Midrash.

One other distinction between words and thoughts: everything has both mass and energy. The energy of words is the meaning that they convey or what they tell you about the speaker. If the words reveal the speaker a lot, as when they come from the heart, you can feel the energy. But this energy is distributed into many words made of even more letters, and vocalized through the five organs of sound: lips, tongue, teeth, etc. This is why the world, created through words, has so many creatures so different from one another - a world of countless little beings all separated by their individual properties. Just like words.

Thought, on the other hand, is more inclusive. We think in general pictures, not in
pixels. Maybe this explains the difficulty in concentrating. Thought sees the whole picture without its minute details and can get impatient with the little pieces of the puzzle.

So the universe in G-d’s thought is much more beautiful, peaceful, and whole.

More to come…


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