What I've taken away from this semester

Although I haven't blogged much, nor do I seem to be paying attention in class, I have taken a lot away from this semester. I realized the importance of working on yourself, and trying to let go of other people's faults and focus on your own in order to fix problems. It's funny because most people think that Chumash is pretty hard to connect to our lives, but this is a concept that I think each of us should try to achieve.
Another important thing I have learned is the importance of setting up boundaries, yet also integrating aspects of our lives. We need to set up boundaries because we are special and different. And we need to recognize Hashem as all-knowing and powerful and consider our religious lives as a part of our moral lives; and our moral lives as part of our religious lives. They are not two separate things, they do overlap.

Anochi Hashem Elokaychem

These Mitzvot are more religious mitzvot. The world "Elokaychem" gives an authority and an identity. This is showing us that He's a divine G-d. And the role of these mitzvot are more religious demands that Hashem makes of us. There are many different religious laws that we encounter that are followed by Anochi Hashem Elokeychem. This section shows us that even the moral ideas are divinely commanded. It's showing us that even though we are to respect and fear your parents, you can't break a rule of G-d even if they say to. Similar to the sexual boundaries that are set up, we are to create a boundary so that we don't even come anywhere close to violate Avodah Zarah. It includes sharing with others to show the importance of it by tagging it with a religious label. And when it includes Chukim in this group it's to show that Hashem is all-powerful and he has control over things that don't seem like they are religious. We must put all of our power into Hashem, and not focus on ourselves as powerful beings at all. It shows us that we need to separate ourselves from other nations so that we can be Kadosh. Most of these things we expect to be in a set of religious laws, but the few things that seem semi-moral are just to show us how G-d is in control of everything.

Ani Hashem

When the mitzvot are followed by the phrase "Ani Hashem" they are focusing on the mitzvot that establish and strengthen our relationship between mand and G-d. These mitzvot put Hashem at the center of our universe. Hashem is obviously all-knowing, all-powerful, and He's depicted as a paradigm of good. These mitzvot show us that we can strengthen our relationship with Him by being more moral, and spreading ethical monotheism. Establishing social justice and being moral people don't seem like they have anything to do with Hashem because they aren't religious, but in fact it's essential that we carry out the principles that we find in our "religious" lives and incorporate them into our moral, everyday lives. As the perek goes on, there's a progression on how to establish these interpersonal relationships.
For example. the first Mitzvah that we find before "Ani Hashem" is don't steal, don't distort the truth, don't lie, don't swear falsely in Hashem's name in court. These mitzvot are all in how we communicate with our peers. This is setting up a structure for our society. This mitzvah is followed by Ani Hashem because we need to create a society by which we interact in a moral, just way because that's what is right and good. This doesn't focus on a religious practice at all.
We find Ani Hashem after things like treating everyone properly, justice, R'Chilus, Lo Ta'amod al Dam Raecha, don't hate your brother in your heart, rebuke your friends, don't take revenge on people, love everyone like you loved yourself, don't eat blood, can't use a razor, can't make a tattoo, don't let your daughter be a prostitute, and keep shabbos and fear the mikdash. Although it's obvious that most of this is showing that even when no one is around we must act morally because Hashem's watching, and focusing on our interpersonal relationships with each other and how we treat one another. It goes beyond just this by saying that we are going to go beyond just not harming someone, but we want to trea them how we would want to be treated. However there are things that don't seem like they go in this section like not eating blood, not making a tattoo, and not using a razor. However, these things are considered moral because they were things that were commonly found in paganistic societies. They were all about self-worship and we wanted to create ethical monotheism. There are two that are just so obviously religious: Keeping Shabbat and fearing the Mikdash. We aren't focusing on the religious aspects of these Mitzvot. We're using their principles to show how they will help us become a moral person. We want to create this moral compass that is based on a knowledge of what Hashem expects. In order to achieve true morality we must place Hashem at the center of our world.

Part II of Sefer Vayikra (Yud Chet - Chaf Zayin): "V'Goy Kadosh"

The second half of the sefer shows us how to be a Goy Kadosh. It takes the ideas demonstrated in the first half and takes them from our religious lives and puts them into our normal, every day lives. This half starts off with what not to do (the Aryot). Perek Yud Chet is all about not walking in the ways of those that are settled in the lands, but instead we should walk in Hashem's ways. In order to stay in the land we need to act properly. All the people of Mitzrayim and K'naan represent all of the immoral actions that we shouldn't do, and if we fall into them also we will be just like them. It talks about the Aryot which are sexual boundaries that we must have. This shows us that something that seems so ordinary has boundaries, not just religious things. We must be Kadosh because Hashem is Kadosh. We are a separate nation, we have separate standards, requirements, and responsibilities. This focuses on how we interact with others because of this "separateness" that we have. This sefer becomes the blueprint of how to be a good, moral, just person by combining religious and moral practices together.

In K'doshim the Mitzvot that are between man and man focus on how to interact with our peers. Not only for a just society and business matters, but also for interpersonal relationships. The only way to actualize our Tzelem Elokim (the image of G-d that we were all created with) you need to act with ethical monotheism and emulate G-d. We were chosen by Hashem to be the "Chosen People." In order to live up to this, we have to put ourselves above the ordinary people of society. I don't know that it's saying that what they are doing is necessarily wrong.. but more that we want to separate ourselves in order to live up to that idea of being the "chosen people."

This section focuses on us as individuals rather than just society as a whole, which is very important. I think that this is an important concept that we all learn bright and early. You always hear your teachers say as your young "mind your own business," but not until your older do you realize that this truly means that we have to pay attention to our own faults and not others in order to fix things. If you're constantly trying to point out other people's faults you're only making matters worse. Once everyone realizes that what they're doing is just as bad, or maybe even worse, than what they see and criticize in others maybe we can actually start to make a difference in the world.

Part I of Sefer Vayikra: "Mamlechet Kohanim"

The whole first half of Sefer Vayikra (P'rukim Alef-Yud Zion) is about the Mishkan and how it's a place of intense spirituality. It talks about the Korbanot and other rituals that take place in the Mishkan. It speaks about Tumah and T'hora, the things that take you away or bring you closer to the Mishkan. It talks about Avodat Yom Ha'Kipurim. The Mishkan is central in the lives of the Jewish people for religious practices but we are also told that we don't want to become too "familiar" with the Mishkan. We don't want to become too close and G-d forbid take Hashem and our opportunity for a relationship with Him for granted. The first half of this Sefer focuses on the religious experience with the divine, and how one could come to the erroneous conclusion that the only time and place for an interaction with Hashem is the Mishkan. That's what leads us into the second half which is incorporating Hashem in our every day, moral lives.

Moral+Religious=Success.

This semester we've been learning about things that things that make us immoral and acts that go against Hashem and his religious laws. We've learned the importance of not just being a moral person, and not just being a religious person, but the importance of combining the two to become the ideal person that you can be, and create an ideal, just society. I agree with this. Although personally I think that being a moral person is more important than being a religious one, I think that we can take ideas from our religious practices to guide us to becoming a moral person. Although there are things, like Chukot, that we don't exactly see a reason for, but we can understand a lot of things and see that they can clearly have a pathway to our moral lives.

No one person is perfect, it's impossible. You're always hearing the famous line "nobody's perfect," but you never stop to realize how true it is. Obviously, if we know that this famous line is true then G-d does too. I do not think for one second that G-d expects us to be perfect, but I think that He does expect us to try, and make an effort. We're constantly being told that Hashem sees the genuineness behind our mitzvot so I think that if Hashem sees us making strides towards becoming morally just people and more religious, and Hashem sees that we are doing the best that we could possibly do then we are technically fulfilling our obligations. We need to do the best that we can do and constantly push ourselves to become better, and eventually we will finally reach our end goal and society will be as ideal as ever.

Worshipping Facebook?

In perek 19 passuk 4 we learned not to turn to or make idols. We cannot even put ourselves in the situation where we will possibly come to make idols. Since (Baruch Hashem) none of us are literally idol worshippers, I would like to make this passuk seem more relatable (which will also come along with a challenge).

Nowadays, we are all caught up in our phones, computers, and TV's. All of this is great for things like 21st Century Learning and collaboration, but it seems to be detrimental to our relationship with Hashem.

Think about it this way, do you know more about Tim Tebow's outstanding overtime game last night that gave the Denver Broncos a win over the Chicago Bears or about last week's parsha? Do you even know what this week's parsha is? Yet alone, what perek are we on in Chumash class? Do you read more articles from People magazine or perakim of Tehilim? Do you spend most of our vacation days on facebook forgetting to daven since we are not in school?

I think these are some of the many challenges that we face on a day to day basis. We don't intentionally mean to 'worship' our computer screens, but we still have to work on it. My question to you is how, as modern orthodox Jews, can we benefit from these revolutionary innovations without being caught up in its shananigans? It is these shananigans that worsen our relationship with G-d.

Good evening everyone!
I would like to mention how pleased I am with what we have been learning lately. We have seen different examples of Mitzvot that are "Ani Hashem Elokeichem" and "Ani Hashem" and how we can relate to them morally and religiously. We last finished off in class by talking about how recognizing Hashem and His Mikdash as the center of the world will lead to true morality. This proves that as a Jewish nation, we cannot simply be moral or simply be religious. We need both to function as a Jewish nation. It is sad today that some ultra-religious Jews think that they are soooo "religious" because they follow the Torah and all the Mitzvot, but they cheat in business. And it is also upsetting that many of the non-religious Jews are so far from their Judaism and barely know anything about the Torah, but they might be the most moral people in the world. At this point, I personally think that we can only truly function as a nation when Mashiach comes and we are all completely united and know exactly how we are supposed to act. However, I hope that we can all take what we learned in class and try to apply it to our own lives. No matter what the situation is of our nation, we should strive to be both religious, in whatever way we interpret that, and moral because this is ultimately how we are supposed to live our lives.

Two Is Better Than One

Or More Specifically: One Can Not Function Without The Other

Mrs. Perl is always telling Sharon something that cannot be stressed more that summarizes what one must keep in mind when reading the this post: "You cannot learn Judaism from Jews!" Why does Mrs. Perl say this? Its simple: just because you think you're religious doesn't mean you necessarily are. Therefore, if you see somebody who claims that they are really religious but they steal, lie, and cheat- guess what?- they aren't actually religious! It's that simple! They aren't as religious as they think they are. Therefore, when we learn about the concept of "Religiousness" and "Morals" needing to exist as one entity in order for us really to be 'kadosh' don't try to relate this to people you know or have heard of that don't fit the bill!

Perek 19 exemplifies what it means for religiousness and holiness to be intertwined. At the end of segments, the Torah ends with either אני ה' אלקכם or just אני ה' . One interpretation of the distinction between these two endings is that אני ה' אלקכם is written when the mitzvoth are more man-God oriented, when the mitzvoth are religious oriented. אני ה' , on the other hand, signifies ethical or moral mitzvoth. Though there are many mitzvoth that fit perfectly into this patter, there are some mitzvoth that divert a little from what we see as the 'main purpose' of אני ה' אלקכם or אני ה' . For instance, under אני ה' אלקכם we have chukim such as not being able to mistreat women sexually or being nice to strangers because we were once strangers in Egypt. These mitzvoth would usually be thought of as more ethical/moral than religious. Additionally, we have not being able to eat blood or excessively mourn put under אני ה' - wouldn't those usually be thought of as religious?

The answer, in my opinion, is both useful and meaningful. First of all, yes, there are good explanations for why each individual mitzvah was placed under their specific category. But, once you have that figured out, you are left with the big picture- put everything into perspective.The big idea is that Hashem is kadosh and we should try to emulate him in being Kadosh also. We should be a mamlechet kohanim and a goy kadosh and a light onto the other nations. We also need to be separate from other nations. There are actions that we need to carry and things that we aren't allowed to do in order for this to become a reality. True, there are both religious and moral things that we need to carry out, but at the end, they too are combined. You cannot be religious without being moral and you cannot be moral without religious. Because, in order to be a model for other people, we need to behave in an exemplary way. And in order to make sure we're separate, we have to do other things- and we especially cannot do things that they do (hedonistic).

Although we all were kind've disappointed in having to learn Vayikra, it really does teach us many life lessons that we can take away with us for our futures!

Limits and a Higher Authority

This week we learned something that I found very interesting and would like to share with everyone.

We learned that people cannot mourn excessively (Pasuk 28). Why? Shouldn't people be able to be sad when someone they know has died? We learned that in old pagan cultures, when a person died people would go crazy. They would cut themselves and cry for days and be excessive. This was because they did not believe there was an afterlife, and the people were gone forever. The pagans were a very self centered people, and by mourning excessively they showed that they thought people were the most important thing. It was a practice that totally lacked anything to do with G-d.

I thought that this was a nice idea because people shouldn't think that they are the most important things, and there should always be this idea that there is a G-d and we have to answer to a higher authority.

It is important to note that religion is important in many ways, and one such way is that it kind of puts us in our place. We should try to realize that we are only human, and that we are not the highest power or the greatest beings. Something needs to limit us and we need something that will remind us that we are not all that. Even if, as some people say, there is nothing after we die, we need something to keep us in line, and that something is the fact that we have to answer to a higher authority. Religion can help limit us, even when it makes no sense. Like kosher- it doesn't make sense to us, but in a way, even though it's annoying, it's good because it gives us a boundary. We should have limits even on good things because it helps us focus on what is actually important.

"Noachide Laws"

Since we have been learning about moral commandments and the different kind of laws, I began to think about the Sheva Mitzvot bnei Noach. These laws are directed towards non-Jews, but how would they know about them unless they learned the Torah? I assume that most Non Jews have not read the Torah, therefore if there are obligated to follow these seven laws, how can we expect them to if they cannot even find out about them?

I began to do a little research on these seven special laws. Apparently the U.S. Congress recognized these laws in legislation, passed by both houses, in March of 1991 under President George Bush. Congress acknowledged that the world was founded upon these very laws, and the day that these laws were passed was deemed Education Day, U.S.A. - March 26, 1991. (I really hope this is true because it sound a little odd to me personally. If it is not true, I apologize and blame the website I used)

These laws are known as Universal Laws or the Seven Laws to many people so apparently my problem with how people know about these seven commandments does not apply anymore. These seven laws represent a civilized society and try to promote social justice, which is why so many people accept them. Christians sects respect these laws and see them as religiously binding. I think this shows us something very important.

Although sometimes we may think that as Jews, we are the underdogs of the world, it is simply not true. Yes, our history shows that we have faced persecution time and time again but our religion is still alive today, and that is the most important factor. We have a very strong influence on the world around us although our population is tiny compared to the world's population. Although it is debated among historians, our religion was first. We were the first people to promote "ethical monotheism" as Mrs. Perl has mentioned before and that is why other religions, like Christians, use the laws that Hashem made such as the seven laws. They were not intended for us but other people still respect these commandments and do honor them. This shows us the influence that our religion has on the rest of the world, and that is something that we cannot forget.

Love everybody like you love yourself

Today in class we learned a very nice idea. Included in pasuk yud zayin and yud chet, we learned that we must not hate our brothers in our hearts, we must rebuke our friends and keep them from sinning, we must not take revenge, and we must love everybody like we love ourselves. This concept is very important. We learned that at the end, it says "Ani Hashem," showing that we are not only focusing on the moral and ethical aspects here. We are also focusing on the fact that Hashem wants us to go above and beyond what we are NOT supposed to do. For example, it is not enough just to NOT be a tale bearer, we must take it a step further and go out of our way to create positive relationships with others. This is an important idea for everybody to recognize. If we were moral people and did not speak badly about people or take revenge, we would would still be considered "good" people. However, if we take it a step further and try to form relationships with people, and treat them properly, (because we know we do not appreciate it when others treat us badly) society in general will be a lot better. Especially as a Jewish nation, it is crucial to stay united as a nation and stick together, and creating these positive relationships will help us accomplish this.

Hello my dear fellow classmates,

This week we learned that Hashem wants us to be moral and religious. We can’t be one without the other if we want to follow in the ways of Hashem. Personally, I think that it is so much more important to be a moral person rather than a religious one. If you are not a moral person, you might actually harm another human being emotionally or physically. To me, that is simply unacceptable. The world is a dark and terrible place (sometimes) and if we had more moral and ethical people we would be able to make it a better place for everyone in many different areas of life, even if those people lack religious belief. They would still improve our world. However, if we have religious people who are extremely pious, they would probably not be as effective in improving our world if they lacked morals. I was just trying to make a point here. I would like to know if you agree or disagree and why?

Non Jews do not have to follow moral laws.

In class we are learning about all the moral laws that Jews have to follow. Then someone asked a question, if this is only addressed to the Jews or the whole world.
We also know about the "7 mitzwot bnei noach", the 7 laws that every Non Jew must follow.

It is right that the non Jews do not have to follow the moral laws? But they are so important and improve the society so why is it not a must for them too to follow them?

The mitzwot benei noach.. why exactly these 7 laws and not any others, is there a special significance to them?

Ani hashem ELOKECHEM

We have learned that "ani hashem elokechem" are the more religious mitzwot that one must follow and "ani hashem" are the moral mitzwot.

My question is, why does it say "elokechem" particularly for the religious mitzwot, and why does it leave it out in the moral laws? Is there a reason behind this?

Chizkiyahu: It needs to be both

Context: The Jewish people are in serious need of a religious revival. Their fate hangs in the balance.


Last year, our navi class began to examine חזקיהו in a deeper manner. We asked if he was a good king/person, or a bad one. How does one decide such a thing?

ספר ישעיהו stresses the lack of צדק ומשפט, and how the people had a problem with hubris. A religious revival would include the restoration of צדק ומשפט and the self removal of hubris. However, when we read about the religious revival in חזקיהו's time, we do not see that. We see that he got rid of the במות so that people would go to the בית ימקדש. We said that perhaps חזקיהו has a bit of arrogance in his personality, and is a double sided personality. He has a religious side and then an everything else side, and he only goes to ישעיהו for religious help. Then later when Hashem saves them from אשור, he does not thank Hashem.


In Perek לט, we saw that after the sick king,  חזקיהו , was saved by Hashem,  the king of Babylonia heard that he had recovered and sent him a gift. And then  חזקיהו showed them every single treasure of his house- his silver, gold, spices, oil, and treasures. That doesn't seem like something a modest guy would do. Somebody comes to give you a "yay you're alive present", and you show off how wealthy you are. It's not the best thing to do.

ישעיהו asks חזקיהו what he showed the Babylonian messengers, and he tells him that he showed them everything. Then ישעיהו tells him that Hashem said: One day all of your riches will go to Babylonia, and your sons will work in his palace. And in response חזקיהו says, "Good is what Hashem has said, because there will be peace and truth in my days."  It seems that he is saying he does not care, because he'll be dead by then.


How does this relate to Chumash? This past week we said that some commandments apply to our religious life, and other commandments apply to our moral lives. You must have a mix of both religious and moral to be a good person. If you are religious you are not automatically good and G-d does not automatically love you. As we can see with Chizkiyahu, who brought about a religious revival, you can still be religious and yet not completely moral. 


Some questions I would like to pose:
Do you think that it is enough to only be moral and not religious? If yes, why?


Do you think it is enough to be only religious? If yes, why? If no, why?


If you answered that it is enough to be moral but not enough to be religious: Why do you think it's okay to only be moral and forget religion when you can't have religion and forget moral? Is it because you feel that the Torah is restricting and it should be a choice- I'm interested to know what you think.


--Just another random thought that I had while writing this
Sometimes we get set on our opinions, and when people disagree we get highly offended. And yet, when we disagree with other people we can become hostile toward them and not respect that they are entitled to an opinion, and that sometimes we might A) learn from their opinion B) they might have more knowledge on the subject.
Part of being moral is to not judge, so everyone in the world should be less judgmental when it comes to others and their religious views/interpretations.

Religiousness and Morality

As I'm sure many of you have realized, I have been truly fascinated during our recent chumash classes. (and frustrated since I'm dying to just know all of the answers already!) What I found so beautiful today was the fact that in Judaism there must be a mix of the "religious" and the "moral." There is no such thing as having one and not the other. It simply cannot happen. I think this is very important for many of us in the class (including me) because sometimes we get so bogged down on the "religious" side of things that we forget about what sometimes seems obvious, the morality. When we look at someone who is dressed modestly we automatically think that she is a "religious" person. However, if she is a nasty person who treats her friends terribly, she cannot be classified as "religious." The following example is regarding the new dress code. Ever since the new dress code system has been put in to effect, there is a noticeable difference in people's skirt length. This is fantastic! However, I also hear people comment on the longer skirts and in some way ridicule the "frum look" or even "frum" people. (By the way, I'm totally including myself in this. I'm guilty of it too!) Some people might say that she is "religious," but she is not because she is not acting in a moral, appropriate way. This reminds me of the Ramban we learned on "Kedoshim Tehiyu." Ramban says that we need to make sure that even if we keep the rules technically, we shouldn't act in a refined way. We should act in an appropriate way in the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.
Another thing I would like to discuss is the overused word: "religious." When classifying or talking about Jewish people, we often use the term "religious." However, we always say it with quotes around it or point out that it is in fact not the right word. I think this is because people classify people who wear a black hat as "religious." However, as I discussed before that shouldn't be the criteria of "religious." There is the moral realm that plays in it as well, and I think we often forget that.

Do You Worship G-d or Your Religion?

And Religious Tolerance

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The following post was inspired by the article "Are Mormons Any Weirder Than The Rest Of Us?" by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. Click here to read the full article.

I would like to start off this article by asking you a question: Do you think you are better than anyone because you are Jewish (or to make it even more specific: an Orthodox Jew)? 

What spurred the article is that there has been much debate over the fact that Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are Mormon. A lot of people don't like that.  Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association said that the "ideal profile of the next president of the United States" should be "a man of sincere, authentic, genuine Christian faith." Pastor Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas called the Mormon faith "a cult" and said he would prefer "a competent Christian to a competent non-Christian."

What is it with other groups hating on other groups? I know that there's not much we can do about other people's prejudices, but the least we can do is make sure we don't have any of our own. We should try to be open minded and see a person for who they are and what they've done. Every religion has weird things that people can point at and say "that's weird" and make fun of it. It's not like people haven't been making fun of Jews for forever. We should try to be more sensitive and make sure that we don't accidentally say something offensive.  I think a lot of us are all guilty of it sometimes. We find ourselves making sweeping,  offensive, generalizations about other religions (or anything that is different) without realizing what is so bad at the time. We should be more careful about what we say. 

Rabbi Boteach brings up an interesting commentary on the Akeida from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson. He says that the key to the story is to see Isaac not as an individual but as a religion. Yitzchak was Judaism- the person who would continue Abraham's belief system. With his death, everything that Abraham had taught in terms of his rejection of paganism and the belief in one G-d would be lost.

"The test, therefore, was this: Would Abraham follow G-d's commandment to kill off his religion or would he put his religion before G-d's will? What really mattered to Abraham? G-d or Judaism? And if they were to be put in conflict, what would he choose? The religious fanatic is the man or woman who has ceased to serve G-d and has begun worshiping their religion, making their faith into yet another false idol. Religion is solely the means by which by which we come to have a relationship with our Creator. But when it becomes a substitute for G-d it becomes soulless and fanatical, seeing as there is no loving deity to temper it. It is in this light that we can understand why an Islamic fundamentalist is so deadly, seeing as he is even prepared to go against G-d's express commandment not to murder in order to strike a blow for the glory, not of the deity, but Islam."


... "It does not matter if they are Jewish, evangelical, Mormon or Muslim.What does matter is whether their faith is focused on relating to G-d and, by extension, caring for G-d's children, or whether they see the purpose of their high station to promote their particular religion. It is easy to identify the difference. People who are in a relationship with G-d are humble and do their utmost to refrain from judging others. Their proximity to a perfect being reminds them of their own fallibility. Their experience of G-d's compassion leads them to be merciful and loving. But those who worship a religion are arrogant and think they have the only truth. They are dismissive of other people's beliefs and maintain that advancing the cause of their religion is more important than life itself. The rabbi in Israel who recently made the strange comment that soldiers should face a firing squad rather than listen to a woman sing is a classic example of this heresy.
Those who worship their religion evince the classic characteristic of cult members. Whereas a real faith system is empowering and makes one strong and capable of operating outside their own faith community, cult members can only identify with other members of their group and require the environment of the cult in order to function. They don't have beliefs. Rather, they take orders."

Okay, so I know that Rabbi Boteach said some pretty major things. But looking back and really thinking about it- do you happen to agree with him? If not, what are some arguments you would respond? Do you agree with what he said about people worshiping their religion? Which one is more important to you- Hashem or your religion? I know they both come hand in hand, but at the end of the day, our practices are just a means of getting closer to Hashem.

Making Connections: This article, in many ways, relates to what we're learning in Kedoshim at the moment. Here are some things to consider:
Letter of the Law vs. Spirit of the Law: People who "worship their religion" instead of worshiping G-d may have a case of following the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law. Just because you are following the laws doesn't give you the right to act like a bad person.
Kedoshim T'hyu ki kadosh ani: Be holy for I am holy. We want to emulate G-d and be good people. Yes, we want to make sure we are separate from other nations, but we also want to try to be accepting. You can be separate and still be able to function together.
Can't have one without the other: We learned that you can't be a G-d fearing person without also being a kind person.

Assimilation

Part of Sefer Vayikra has showed us the dangers of following other cultures and religions, such as Mitzraim and Ca'naan. Therefore we have many laws or chukim that separate us from other religions and set apart our religious practices from their religious practices. In the days of the torah, there was clearly a constant threat of assimilation based on the laws found in the Torah. The religions of other nations were appealing to the Jews so therefore Hashem made specific laws which show Jews that they are separate from other nations and establish barriers and boundaries between the different religions. There is such an emphasis in the Torah on the "kedusha" of the Jewish people - their holy quality that sets them apart as a separate nation.

Today we have this same problem of assimilation. Since the Enlightenment in Europe in the 18th century, Jews have been choosing to forget their faith and assimilate into the secular cultures. In the year 2000, the assimilation rates are astounding: 55% for Europe as a whole, 50% among Jews in America and France and close to 40% among British Jews. These numbers are insane. When the number of Jews drops in the world, it is not because of death - it is because of assimilation. This is a topic that I think should be on all of our minds, and I was reminded by these disturbing figures during Chumash today because we spoke about other nations who had laws that the Jewish people might have found appealing. As a Jewish nation, we need to find a way to lower these percentages because they are a threat to the existence of the Jewish people.

Hello my dear fellow classmates,

We have had many discussions in class and there is something that I have always wondered about. Do you sometimes think that the Torah is outdated?

There are so many things in the Torah that don’t apply to our lives anymore today. Can you think of a few examples? Does it bother you? Would you like to change it? Im very interested to see what you think!

Survey

Since I do not have much time due to the sickness of my little John (my computer's name) I am going to create a little survey just to find out what you guys think about Chumash in general:

1. What is your favorite from Bereshit Shmot Vayikra Bamidbar Dvarim and why?

2. What do you like most about the Chumash?

3. What important lessons have you learned from the Chumash?

4. Do you understand most of the things you read in the Chumash? What about Commentaries?

5.So far, what was your favorite thing that you learned in Chumash class until now?

Attention: these results might be skewed due to the fact that I did not use a random sample of the population of the school, but at least we will know what the results of our class to these questions will be like :)

2 Perushim

We have learned that there are two perushim for "Kedoshim tihuyu"
One being that we will be Kedoshim if we build a fence around the things that are prohibited
And the other perush is that we should be careful and know the limit with the things that are permitted.

Personally, I loved the second perush for several reasons.
The first one being that I was raised to believe that many concepts in Judaism were created because we need a limit in life and we are human beings who are supposed to be able to live with having certain limitations and not simply following our animal instincts.

I think that putting a fence around the things that are prohibited has very different opinions since we already see that in this day and age the different groups of Jews that have emerged because some believed we must make more fences than others (and other reasons). For example the Charedi, who have much more strict fences than other people. It is therefore hard to set the fence without being too extreme since we do not know where to place it.

On the other hand, putting a fence around the things that we enjoy is much easier since it tells us that we mustn't overdue things even though they are technically allowed. This is then much easier to follow since it is not an actual law, but it is to improve man and help him overcome his weaknesses, while putting a fence around the things that are prohibited just simply admits that we will fail from the beginning which does not give a human hope to improve, but just an easy way out since it won't be as bad if he sinned (since he only sinned about the fenced law and not the actual)

Importance of every word in the torah

There is this concept that every word in the torah has
importance to it and that it was written for a reason.

Having learned in Chumash that there is a kind of a repetitionof the ten commandments, before having learned this I want to ask you why you think there is that repetition, and how that concept can be applied to this. Some can argue that this shows that not every word in the torah is significant and some can be left out. Tell me what you think!

Honoring Your Parents and Shabbat

The following post will be devoted to trying to better understand passuk gimel on our own (and using commentaries) without learning it in class. Let's see how much we can figure out on our own!

Vayikra Perek 19 Passuk 3 reads as follows: 

אִישׁ אִמּוֹ וְאָבִיו תִּירָאוּ, וְאֶת-שַׁבְּתֹתַי תִּשְׁמֹרוּ:  אֲנִי, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם. 

You shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and ye shall keep My sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. 

אִמּוֹ וְאָבִיו תִּירָאוּ
Rambam: Reverence or fear means that one should act toward his parents as he would toward a sovereign with the power to punish those who treat him disrespectfully.
Rashi: Prohibits children from: sitting in his parents' regular places, interrupting them, or contradicting them in an abrupt or disrespectful manner. Honor, like it says in the ten commandments, refers to a general serving of one's parents (such as assisting them when they have difficulties).
וְאֶת-שַׁבְּתֹתַי תִּשְׁמֹרוּ
Rashi: If your parents tell you not to keep shabbat, you're not allowed to obey them. So the two commandments flow well: you have to fear your parents but Hashem's commandments still take precedence over the wishes of your parents'. 
Sifra: God, father, and mother are all partners in a person's existance. 

 שַׁבְּתֹתַי 

I didn't exactly understand this, but it speaks of shabbat in plural. It might be referring to the "higher" and "lower" Shabbat, but I am unclear as to what is the difference. Feel free to fill in the blank.

What other questions do you have about this passuk?

These commandments seem too familiar to the ones in the 10 commandments. Why does it have to be restated? If it is because they are a little different, why isn't everything just included in the first one? 

Is there any significance to the commandments being followed by  אֲנִי, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.?

Torah and Thanksgiving

This past Thursday we had Mrs. Amara Levine Reich as our mishmar speaker. Mrs. Reich's shiur was about giving thanks. When we were split into chavrutas I was very excited because I got to teach my group all about the korban todah which we learned in Chumash class. I was even more excited when Mrs. Reich gave over Rabbi Leibtag's commentary on the Korban Todah that we all learned. The Korban Todah has some unique laws. First, the Todah is brought along with forty loaves of bread. Four of which are given to the Kohen and the rest are eaten by the non-Kohen. The normal shelamim can be eaten over a period of two days and one night, but a Todah offering has only one day and night for consumption. This means that the person who brings the Todah offering has a shorter amount of time to eat his animal and an additional 36 loaves of bread to eat.
Rabbi Liebtag explains that the only way that this could be done was to share the Korban Todah communally with as many friends and family members as possible. This way it would be eaten within the allotted time. So the Korban Todah was designed not just as a personal offering of thanksgiving, but to inspire others to share in a communal offering of thanks.
Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I would like to pose a few questions. Do you think it is 'okay' or appropriate for Jews to celebrate Thanksgiving? Why or why not? Besides for the Korban Todah, are there any other places in Tanach or davening where giving thanks is mentioned? (hint: think about shemona esrei and what we say when we first wake up in the morning!)Do you think a day like Thanksgiving is important or should every day be a day of thanks? Is Thanksgiving a personal or communal holiday?

What Was Life?

Hello,
Every week we all post basically the same exact post, and I just could not think of what to write about (other than the same thing that has been posted). So although we did not go over this in class yet, I thought I would bring up something new.
In the pesukim we were reading, it said that a man could not allow his daughter to be a prostitute in order to get money. When I read this I was shocked. Why did G-d even have to tell them not to do this? It seems to me that it should not even have been a question. It makes one wonder- what kind of society were these people living in? The Jews weren't such good people back then either, if they had to have been told not to do this.

A few questions to ponder that I thought when reading the pesukim:
1. Were the Jews doing the things that G-d was forbidding, and that's why they had to stop, or was G-d just stating it for the future?

2. Were the Jews even good people/ deserving of the Torah at that point in time?

Fences

Hello everyone! This past week we learned the different opinions of Rashi and Ramban about the arayot and aveirot. Rashi mentions that it is important to build fences around the arayot and aveirot because simply mentioning that we re forbidden to do them is not enough. I liked this answer because sometimes we need something extra to remind us not to do these things. However, this bothered me a little bit because how are we supposed to know what these fences are? How can we determine what to put a "fence" around? This also lead me to think about us as Jews today. It i difficult for us to follow the mitzvot, as Sade pointed out in her post, so would these special fences even make a difference in our lives today? We know that we are supposed to follow the Torah and we learn the consequences for not doing the mitzvot, but does this stop people? Where are these fences when we need them?? Every single Jew today seems to choose what they want to follow and what they are going to completely disregard. This is not the way we are ideally supposed to live, but we do anyway. Does anybody have any idea as to where there are certain fences around aveirot or arayot that could be helpful to us when trying to perform or even understand the mitzvot?

Letter vs. Spirit

So today in Chumash Mrs. Perl brought up a concept about the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law. I think this is fascinating concept that is prevalent in our lives today. Not only according to the law in terms of the government or the justice system, but even with simpler things like when our friends or parents ask us for a favor. We may just literally do what they ask or do it with more care and thought. It's all about intentions. There are so many examples that I'm sure we could all think of but here's an easy one. When we know we have to come to davening at school: if we literally follow the law (letter of the law) we could just show up. But if we follow the spirit of the law, we can come to davening and actually daven to Hashem. That is the spirit of the law. So here's my question for you - do we do things in the letter of the law or the spirit of the law? I do not think that we often consider the spirit of the law, and we more than often focus on just completing the task at hand or maybe even not following the law in the correct way.

I also think we can connect this to a concept in Judaism about "lifniim mishurat ha'din" which is a phrase that refers to going above and beyond the law of the Torah. When we do things in this manner, we do more than is required when following the law. This is kind of related to the idea of letter vs. spirit because it allows us to reflect on the true intentions of our actions. What is the purpose of everything we do? Do we consider our intentions before we do thinks? And to make this even more general, do we think before we speak or act? These are the kinds of things I love learning about in Chumash because it is so easy to relate it to our lives. These kinds of concepts seem so simple and natural, but in reality they are not easy to do at all. They are the minor things in life that we may neglect or overlook, but the truth is that they are very important and substantial to the way we live.

Fences

Today in Chumash we learned about the importance of establishing fences around the mitzvot, specifically the Arayot. Not only do these fences help us keep these laws and maintain our status as a "kadosh" nation (using the many definitions of kadosh that we have: separate, holy, pure, etc.), but they also add kedushah into our lives. I was wondering what life would be like without such fences. How would society work if we didn't have such fences around the mitzvot and the Torah? How would our perspective change towards the mitzvot, the Torah, and perhaps the entirety of Judaism if we did not have these fences that some of which were established by the rabbis?

Scenario: There is no such thing as traffic lights. There is a set speed limit, lanes on the street, and policemen to pull people over if they do not comply with the laws of driving. However, the government has decided that traffic lights are no longer necessary. Would this work? Would the roads be safe for cars to drive and pedestrians to walk? Personally, I think this would be a tremendous failure. Maybe it is not fair to equate traffic lights with the fences around the mitzvot but it is an example that could be a little bit relevant to the subject at hand.

Hello my dear fellow classmates,
so lately we have been having discussions in class about how the forbidden relationships which obviously led us to further discussions. I would like to bring up something very important that our dear Mrs. Perl said(whom i miss greatly!!) We live in a western society that is very concerned with individualism(which is also what we learned in Psychology!!) Today, we are very concerned about what will personally benefit us.Therefore, many people in our society seem to have issues with the Torah today. We fail to recognize that we cant just always do what pleases us and must understand that we have to make personal sacrifices for our G-d.
Here are a few questions i have to this topic:
1. Is it outrageous taht G-d asks us to sacrifice aspects of your life for Him?
2. Is our society today immoral because its so focused on the individual? Does that make us egocentric?
3. Is the Torah perhaps outdated because in the past people were willing to sacrifice so much for their gods whereas today it is not so?

Of course the topic in class this week on the blog has been about forbidden relationships, as we have been discussing them in class. I am not sure what I am able to add to this really. I think that what we have been learning has helped to increase my knowledge on these forbidden relationships and why they are not so great. It was cool to me that we could connect the concept of Avodah Zarah to this topic as well. I also wanted to point out, like Alexa said, how nice our class discussions have been. I understand that not everybody has the same opinion, but it is nice to be able to have a calm discussion and I think we should have these more often!

Other Religions and Homosexuality

So as the focus of our chumash blog for the past few days has been gay people, I guess I will write about this very subject. We all have very different opinions in our class regarding the Torah's treatment of gay people. Some of us may think that the Torah is oppressive of gays or perhaps unfair towards them because they cannot control their own feelings. I don't think we realize that Judaism is not the only religion that is ostensibly against gay people. The three primary religions of our time, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity all have negative opinions of gays in their main texts. While the reaction ranges from trying to teach the gays to overcome such harmfulness in their lives to punishment by death, both Islam and Christianity do not approve of homosexuality.

In Islam, homosexuality is considered unlawful. The different sects of Islam differ in reactions towards homosexuality, with one sect opting to enforce a physical punishment and another choosing not to inflict pain on gay people. (I have a source if you're curious: http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/homosexuality.htm) Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, a Muslim doctor, of the ISNA, an Islam organization, is quoted to have said that homosexuality is a "moral disorder..a moral disease, a sin and corruption..People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and eduation." And this is beyond crazy - in Afghanistan, the Taliban army has publicly executed 10 people who were accused of performing homosexual acts. Now I know what the justification for this may be: radical Muslims have different standards in regard to society. But nevertheless, I think we can all agree that THIS is oppressive - and the Torah certainly isn't.

Christianity is a little kinder to homosexuals. Many sects accept homosexuals and accept them in their churches. However, the Roman Catholic church views homosexuality as sinful. Also, many American Christians today do not want homosexuality to be an accepted part of society and believe that homosexuality contradicts God's vision for humanity as outlined in the Bible. Christians are sometimes the primary protestors at anti-gay marriage rallies because of their interpretation of the Bible.

The point of this post was not to condemn homosexuality. I just want everyone to see that Judaism is not the only religion that does not approve of homosexuality. Because these three religions originated in ancient times where most people did not accept gays, they each seem to discriminate against gays. Although the punishments vary, both religions, Islam and Christianity, for the most part, look down on homosexuality.

Here's a fun fact: Israel is the only country in the Middle East that does not discriminate against gays, despite the fact that it is the Jewish state.

Gays, Bullying, Christianity: In The Media

It seems that we might be going really harsh on the Jews with all this homosexuality business. Perhaps we are forgetting all the other religions out there. I am not saying that two wrongs make a right, I'm just saying, there's more out there. Anyways, I was just watching TV when this issue came to my attention. What a coincidence that the Leviticus passukim I saw on the screen were very familiar...

"Matt's Safe School Law" is supposed to be an anti-bullying law in Michigan. It is named after a student, Matt, who had committed suicide some years ago because he got bullied because he was gay. How odd, then, that the legislation against bullying named after him seems to have all too many loopholes.

I have researched the Issue and have pulled up some articles. I'll put in little blurbs but you're welcome to click the links and read the full articles.

Huffington Post:

"Michigan's recent anti-bullying bill debate has moved one step forward and two steps back for actual protection against bullying in the state's schools. The anti-bullying bill, is named "Matt's Safe School Law" for Matt Epling of East Lansing, Michigan who committed suicide after being bullied. Like all anti-bullying efforts, the goal of the bill is to protect those who are vulnerable to attack and create a safer and more humane environment for all children in schools.

Unfortunately, the state's Senate Republicans added language to the bill to establish that schools could not prohibit "a statement of a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or a pupil's parent or guardian."

What kind of 'sincerely held belief' would lead someone to bully? The clause added by the Republican Senators is none-too-subtly coded language specifically aimed at protecting anti-LGBT intimidation and hostility; cloaked in the rhetoric of freedom of religion.

...

Laws to protect religious freedom should be aimed at leaving religious people alone to practice our beliefs in what ever way we choose. Yet they must simultaneously protect the LGBT school child to practice his or her beliefs in whatever way he or she chooses -- including ways that others may disagree with. Nobody has the right to harass and bully.

Any anti-bullying legislation must be the same for all people. Get rid of the loophole for religious beliefs. It is insulting and wrong."

Time Magazine:  

"Michigan is already one of only three states in the country that have not enacted any form of anti-bullying legislation. For more than a decade, Democrats in the state legislature have fought their Republican colleagues and social conservatives such as Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, who referred to anti-bullying measures as “a Trojan horse for the homosexual agenda.” In that time, at least ten Michigan students who were victims of bullying have killed themselves.

This year, Republicans only agreed to consider an anti-bullying measure that did not require school districts to report bullying incidents, did not include any provisions for enforcement or teacher training, and did not hold administrators accountable if they fail to act. And they fought back Democratic attempts to enumerate particular types of students who are prone to being bullied, such as religious and racial minorities, and gay students. But it was the addition of special protections for religiously-motivated bullying that led all 11 Democratic senators to vote against the legislation they had long championed

...

To understand what happened in Michigan, it’s important to know that social conservatives consider themselves the real victims. At the federal level, they unsuccessfully fought for the inclusion of a provision protecting religious freedom when Congress expanded the definition of a hate crime to include crimes motivated by a victim’s sexual orientation. They also strongly oppose legislation that would prevent discrimination against gay individuals in the workplace, charging that such a law would endanger religious freedom. A report on the Christian Broadcasting Network outlined one such concern: “The special protections for gay and transgendered teachers will make it extremely difficult for [public school] districts that might want to remove them from the classroom.”

In other words, social conservatives believe that efforts to protect gays from assault, discrimination or bullying impinge on their religious freedom to express and act on their belief that homosexuality is an abomination. That’s stating it harshly, but it is the underlying belief.

This belief, however, relies on a warped understanding of religious liberty. Freedom of religious expression doesn’t give someone the right to kick the crap out of a gay kid or to verbally torment her. It doesn’t give someone the right to fire a gay employee instead of dealing with the potential discomfort of working with him.

It’s also a highly selective conception of religious liberty. The same religious conservatives who applaud the religious exemption in Michigan’s anti-bullying bill would be appalled if it protected a Muslim student in Dearborn who defended bullying a Christian classmate by saying he considered her an infidel."

 Here's another Huffington

If anyone got this far, God bless. Additionally, I have some questions

- America: I thought you were supposed to be a place of equality and acceptance? Remember when you guys wanted a separation of church and state? Lies!

-See. Well, here is some proof for you guys that it is difficult to be gay. I know there was much debate in class about, you know, "Does it really ruin your life?" Well, it does. And it starts early on. Kids are stuck with the choice: come out and be tortured or stay in and feel empty? Either way it's bad, whether on a social level or on a religious level. Oy vey.