I’m still receiving questions about Halacha’s perspective on the deal to free Gilad Shalit. The answer is, “I’m not sure.” My question is, “Why are you asking now rather than five years ago?”

People are still asking me about the Halacha regarding the community’s response to sex abuse stories from a few years ago. My response is, “Rather than wait for the next tragic case, we should formulate a thorough Halachic system before we again are forced to face the issue.”

I am often asked to rule on complex business arrangements when partners are arguing. My response always begins, “Did you consult a Halachic authority before negotiating the terms of your partnership?”

When couples come to ask for Halachic guidance for their relationship, I ask, “Did you study the laws of marriage before you married?”

Why do we wait until after the fact to consult Halacha?

This is an ancient issue: We find no indication of Noah, during the 120 years he was working on the Ark, and the next year spent inside the Ark, asking God or even considering what he should do after the Flood. How does someone spend more than a century preparing for a Flood not plan for life afterward?

The Midrash teaches that Noah took a vine from the Garden of Eden to plant after the Flood, which is not planning anything other than attempting to recreate the world as it was before. The verse describes Noah as, “The man of the earth (9:20),” another Adam. Perhaps Noah believed that he, described by God as, “Righteous before Me (7:1),” could succeed where Adam failed. How does a man who believes and even plans to be the successful Adam end up, “drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent”? The only thing at which Noah succeeds in contributing to the future is blessing and cursing his children. (Which, of course, raises the question of how does a failed Noah offer blessings that shape the future of mankind?) If Noah possessed such power, imagine what he could have accomplished with more planning, with guidance from God.

“But I will establish My covenant with you (6:18).” “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your offspring after you (9:9).” God repeatedly speaks to Noach of the future, and yet, Noah does not respond with forward thinking. It’s as if Noah is stuck in his role of saving the remnant of the past and is unwilling, perhaps unable to plan. A person who is constantly looking at his previous roles, preserving the past, will not learn how to use the very strengths that allow him to save the world to build a new one. And that, is where the issue of when do we consult Halacha, comes into play.

The same people who wait to ask for Halachic guidance about negotiating with Hamas, responding to sexual abuse allegations, dealing with business conflict, and guidance in relationships, will ask about Shabbat, Kashrut and Family Purity, before a question arises. They approach Halacha that doesn’t challenge them to rethink all they are doing. They hesitate to ask Halacha about how to plan, how to challenge their perceptions, and how to recreate their world.

Couples will come to a rabbi to resolve a conflict about an offer of a new job that will demand more hours at work, allowing less time at home (a serious Halachic issue), after the job has been offered, rather than discuss the question before the husband starts looking for another job. Their decision that he has to look for another job has been made. They have made up their minds, and are unaware or unwilling to submit their decision to a Halachic perspective. They want to protect their decision from being challenged. Halacha is perceived as interference. They are willing to, “Walk with God 6:9),” as did Noah, unwilling to, “Walk before Me (17:1),” as did Abraham. They are interested in keeping their marriage steady. They do not hear Halacha’s call to make marriage extraordinary.

Halacha can be used to “walk with,” to help a person keep his life on a steady course, or it can be used to, “Walk before Me,” to consider new ways to approach life. When we examine a government’s decisions after they are made, we are sending a message that Halacha is another voice of criticism. We are failing to project Halacha as a vision of how we can approach future issues.

The question is not about the Halachic justification of the deal for Gilad. We dare not send him the message that his freedom was bought at the expense of Torah. Our challenge is to formulate a Halachic response that offers a serious option for the future. Abraham, the one who, “Walk(ed) before Me,” is the man of Halacha. Noah was not. He was a great man who saved the world, but he did not know how to build a new one.

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“In the “Judgment” of the Book of Changes, whenever one encounters dangerous circumstances the advice is always: “Cross the river.” One can see from this that the real purpose of boats is to deliver people from danger rather than to provide comfort.” Pleasure Boat Studio by Ou-yang Hsiu (1007 – 1072)

We seem to take Hsiu’s advice quite seriously. We refer to our first patriarch, Abraham as “Ivri” – what Hsiu would call a river crosser. In fact, many people referred to us as Ivrim for a long time.

But we do not cross the river to avoid dangerous circumstances. We actually cross towards them: “For you are crossing the Jordan to come and possess the Land that God, your Lord, gives you.” We are certainly river crossers, not to avoid, but to confront.

Our definition of Ivri is not “from the other side” but one who can bridge both sides of the river. Our challenge is to stand on both sides of the river – to bridge the spiritual and physical worlds.

We also differ from Hsiu’s definition of a boat’s purpose: “This world is like the shore and the World to Come like the sea.” (Kohelet Rabbah 1:36) The Midrash compares the World to Come as a journey on the sea. There will be no dangers to escape. The journey will be filled with joy and comfort.

We are Ivrim – River Crossers and Bridges – in order to prepare for the ultimate journey on the sea of the Coming World. No wonder we live by Halacha – Instructions for Journeying!

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“Understand the years of generation after generation (Deuteronomy 32:7).” In each generation, and in each age, there comes from Heaven a new understanding of Torah that speaks to that generation. The righteous of each generation understand how to teach Torah to their generation, and it is for this that we request on the High Holidays, “Write us in the Book of Life,” and it is written, “It is a Tree of Life for those who grasp it (Proverbs 3:18).” [Chiddushei ha-Rim, page 266)

The Torah speaks in a different voice to each generation. Torah is renewed for each age to communicate in an appropriate voice that will resonate with the generation. We tend to think of the power of Chiddush as the ability to come up with new ideas. The Chiddushei ha-Rim tells us that the true power of Chiddush is the ability to communicate the Torah’s teachings in a new voice.

There is an interesting Responum of Rashi (262) that offers an additional aspect of Chiddush: Rashi’s students noticed him raying without a belt. They did not understand their great master as the Talmud (Berachot 24b) teaches, “It is prohibited to pray without a belt so that the heart does not see the lower body.”

Rashi offers a simple answer: People in Talmudic times didn’t wear pants (Shabbat 120a lists 18 garments; no pants), but robes. There was no separation between the upper and lower body. However, we wear pants that separate, hence, there is no need for a belt!

Rashi examined the Halacha through the eyes of his generation. This too, is part of the power of Chiddush; to see an established law through new eyes.

Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi (1513 – 1586) a prominent student of Rav Yosef Karo and Rav Moshe Alshich writes: “Do not think that it is arrogance that allows me to raise my head among these lofty mountains, for whenever we speak of our belief in God, the Torah says, ‘For you to pass into the covenant of God, your lord,..not with you alone do I seal this covenant and this imprecation, but with whoever is here, standing with us today before God, our Lord, and with whoever is not here with us today (Deuteronomy 29:11-14).’ Everyone of us, our children and grandchildren until the end of Time, are part of this covenant, and are obligated to delve into the secrets of the Torah to fortify their faith. We accept the teachings of the earlier masters, but know that they did not write to insist that their’s was the absolute truth, and there is no other perspective. We gather opinions, consider on our own, and further our studies, applying their teachings in new ways. If we only accept what we have been taught and do not explore further on our own; we are sinning, lazy, failing in our Torah study (Ma’asei Hashem, Balak).”

Chiddush is demanded of us. The Covenant of Torah obligates us to be Mechadesh, to study and think and arrive at new approaches (consistent with what former generations have taught) and consider new ways to transmit the Torah’s wisdom. Rabbi Ashkenazi describes the Alshich as hesitant to write down his thoughts for fear that people would simply accept them without searching for their own insights and new ideas!

The Chidah (Birkei Yosef, Yoreh Deah 244) rules that in our times most scholars do not have the status of a Talmid Chacham in terms of the strict rules of honor and respect, except for one who is a Mechadeish!

Chiddush demands that after we have absorbed and reified our teacher’s Torah that we apply those ideas in new ways, search for new insights, and find ways to communicate those ideas in a way that will resonate with our generation.

The concepts of Hachodesh expand and apply to all areas of Torah: It demands Chiddush, a new perspective, a fresh outlook, a quest for even more meaning, and finding the right way to communicate those ideas to our children and students.

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The majesty and music of Halacha is evident in every detail of the Chanukah laws. The laws designed by the sages afford us insight into their understanding of the Chanukah battles, victories and miracles. We should begin by clarifying what is law and what is custom.

“Our sages taught that the basic Mitzvah of Chanukah is one candle for each household. Those who want to beautify the law light one candle for each person. Those who want to add even more beauty: The House of Shammai taught that he should light eight candles, decreasing each night of the holiday until he lights only one candle on the eighth night. The House of Hillel taught he should light one candle the first night, adding one candle each night, until he lights eight candles on the final night of Chanukah.” (Shabbat 22b) The Mitzvah of the Chanukah menorah is fulfilled with a single candle and any additional candles are simply to count the days.

We mark the miracle with the Menorah in the Temple with our menorah and yet, rather than light seven candles, as they did in the Temple, we light only one. The sages went to great lengths to create parallels between the Chanukah menorah and that of the Temple. (Ran, Shabbat, Chapter 2) Yet, we do not make any attempt to recreate the Menorah with the number of candles. We are remembering a solitary candle, not a single jar of oil, but a single candle, perhaps a particular candle.

There was a distinct candle on the Temple menorah. The “Ner Ma’aravi”, or the westernmost candle was different from the other six candles of the menorah. The Torah refers to this candle as “Ner Tamid”, or the “Eternal Light”. The Kohanim would relight only this candle in the morning if it went out after burning all night. The other six candles only had to burn through the night. The Ner Tamid was constant. The other six were not. The Chanukah candle is to remember this specific candle.

The Temple candles were understood not only as a symbol of God’s light, but also as an actual source of light in the world. The light of the six candles was considered the source of prophecy. Prophecy was present in the world as long as the light of the six candles burned bright. Samuel could receive his first prophecy only as long as the light of the menorah was still burning.

There was another source of light on the menorah, the Ner Tamid. This light was more constant and more permanent than the other light. This light was the light that is granted to the wise. It is the source of perception and insight. It is illumination that goes far beyond any wisdom. It is the ability to see the essence of the world, the light of clarity that was present only at the beginning of Creation. This light is constant. It did not disappear with the destruction of the Temple and the loss of the menorah. (Zohar, volume 2, 6b)

The Chanukah candle recreates the light of wisdom, not the light of prophecy, so we light only the one, our celebration of the Eternal Light of the Temple menorah.

The Chanukah laws teach us that we celebrate the gift of wisdom on Chanukah. It is not enough to light the candle; our festival must be a celebration of the wisdom we have been granted in the Torah. The candles point us in the direction of wisdom and the light we can discover and apply from within the wisdom of the Torah.

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The mounds of garbage left by Sunday revelers colored my Monday morning hike around Van Cortland Park. One large square of the park was obviously the scene of a child’s birthday party. There were balloons, broken toys, an abandoned grill, Dora the Explorer cups and plates strewn all over the park. I walked a little further into the park and saw an inebriated swan swerving among the leftovers of a serious beer party. They use the park. They love the park, but they do not follow its rules.

How can people expect the city to provide a safe and clean park for their parties if they ruin the park when they use it? They are even worse than my children!

I wonder if the Jerusalem sanitation department had to worry about such things after the three Pilgrimage Festivals when the entire nation would gather in Jerusalem.

I wonder because, although the people are warned in this portion that once the Temple is built we may not make offering on private altars (Deuteronomy 12:13) the people never stopped. They continued to have private places of worship all through the First Temple period. They did not feel a special attachment to Jerusalem. I suspect that people who did not feel drawn and connected to God’s Temple did not respect the Temple and its surrounding area. So, I wonder if the JSD – Jerusalem Sanitation Department – had experience dealing with the kinds of messes that were all over Van Cortland Park.

“Three times a year all your males should appear before God, your Lord, in the place that He will choose.” (Deuteronomy 16:16) The Temple was a place where we came to be “seen” by God. We would celebrate. (Deuteronomy 16:14) We would celebrate the opportunity to strengthen our relationship with God, to be ‘seen” by Him, as it were. People continued to observe the Pilgrimage festivals even as they maintained their private altars. They understood the power of the place, yet they did not experience a sense of connection.

That is not much different from people who religiously attend synagogue but do not feel connected to their place of worship. These are the same people who would drop garbage in synagogue or even speak during prayers. We do not always connect. Perhaps the issue is rules vs. connection:

It is unlikely that I will feel connected to prayer if I pray only because it is the rule, because I must. How will I ever feel connected to the place I pray if I cannot connect to my prayers?

People who kept a private altar in their backyards would not experience the Temple as their place of connection with God. They had a strong awareness of God’s Presence, so strong, in fact, that they felt they could connect with God anywhere. They did not need the Temple. They traveled to Jerusalem for each of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals because they “had to”: it was the rule.

No wonder God asks us to view the Torah as offering a path filled with blessings: “Re’ei” – See the Torah as an opportunity to discover the blessings it offers. The Torah wants us to feel connected and attached to her. It is not a list of rules, but a relationship workbook, a treasure map of the wonderful opportunities that enrich a life lived with that attachment.

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Rabbi Katz zt”l was my rebbi in the laws and practice of Shechita – Ritual Slaughtering. He was a magnificent human being in many ways. He always spoke gently. He never spoke negatively of anyone or anything. He spent every moment possible studying Talmud. He felt and acted as if he was sitting in the Telshe Yeshiva Beit Midrash each time he sat before an open Gemara, a volume of the Talmud.

I learned a lesson from him about Halacha, Jewish Law, on the day I first actually slaughtered an animal. I had not been able to eat meat since I began spending my days in Shamrock Meats in Los Angeles. Rav Katz repeatedly spoke of compassion for each animal before and during Shechita. He even cared about the care and dignity we gave the animal after Shechita. On the day I first actually shechted, he invited me to eat dinner at his home. Rebbitzen Katz served steak, and I was so shaken by my experiences that day that I didn’t want to eat.

“Did you shecht or did you kill?” he asked. “I can understand that if you killed those animals that you would not want to eat. Shechting however, is a Mitzvah, and if done properly was a holy act. Halacha transformed the act of killing the animal into an act of making it holy. If that is what you did, you will not have a problem eating.”

I ate.

Rav Katz reminded me that Halacha is not a series of prescribed acts. It is a way to transform everyday actions into something holy. It had never been as clear to me as it was at that moment.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

The fruit on the left is known by a Jewish name: Mangosteen, although some pronounce it Mangostein. No matter the pronunciation, this magical, tasty and wonderfully shaped creation, one of the benefits of globalization, has challenged my choice of blessings. I will make the blessing for fruit: “Who creates the Fruit of the Tree”. I play out the blessing in my mind: 1) Wonder: The four buds at the bottom of the stem. The reddish-brown-black speckled color of the shell. 2) Wonder #2: Observe and admire whole, garlic-shaped fruit inside thick container. 3) I will check the fragrance of the outside and then the inside of the shell. I will then sniff the fruit, and if it has a special fragrance, I will recite an extra blessing: “Who gives a good fragrance to fruit”. 4) I will take my time opening the fruit into pieces. I will pay careful attention to texture and moisture.

The problem occurs at this point: I must recite a second blessing after “Who creates fruit of the trees”: “Shehechiyanu”: The blessing we recite over a new fruit. The problem, specifically because of globalization is this:

The fruit on the left is a Noni. Just a glance at this fruit and its flowers and buds catches my attention, even before I consider its taste. I want my “Shehechiyanu” to be on the best fruit in front of me, and the Noni certainly offers serious competition to the Mangosteen. You have small, light-green buds, and slightly larger white buds that have yet to unfold, and then you can see the flower with the little world inside its petals. When placed just next to a ripe Noni, as in the photograph, you can see how each buds enlarges as it ripens. I wonder if it is a form of cactus. How shall I choose between the Mangosteen and the Noni for my “Shehechiyanu”?

Just as I am about to flip a coin: which is not a very good way to choose a fruit for this important blessing, some chocolates appear.

One minute: They look like chocolate truffles but they are not. They are Acai berries. I can’t flip a coin between three possibilities of “Shehechiyanu”.

To make things even more confusing, some Goji berries appear.

Each deserves its own “Shehechiyanu”. How shall I choose? That is my problem with globalization!

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

This Week On The Foundation Stone:

Haftarah: Chukat – Balk: Variations on a Theme

Table Talk: Chukat

Parah Adumah – Links to Essays and Podcasts

Table Talk: Balak

The Torah Connection: Rabbi Yaakov Shlomo Weinberg

Life Lessons: The Heileger Chana Chaya: Chukat: Are You Missing The Miracles? and Do It Anyway

The Music of Halacha: Telling it Like It Is – An Introduction to the Laws of Rebuke

Bentzion of Medziboz’s Stories of the Baal Shem Tov: The Well of the Baal Shem Tov

Keter Shem Tov: Chapter 145

Forms of Prayer: Using the Siddur As A Workbook

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

We have posted the essays for this week:

Haftarah – Nasso: Identity

Table Talk – Nasso: Impressions

The Music of Halcha – Shabbat 26: Fire

The Voice of The Torah: Rabbi Chaim Goldberger

The Torah Connection: Rabbi Yaakov Shlomo Weinberg

Words Can Heal: Rabbi Irwin Katsof: Your Kids May Be Armed and Dangerous

Stories of the Baal Shem Tov: Bentzion of Medziboz: Nasso

Keter Shem Tov: Bentzion of Medziboz: Chapter 140

For Our Members in Israel we have posted:

Haftarah: Beha’alotecha: Walkers

They can also review the Haftarah for Shabbat Chanukah:

Table Talk: Beha’alotecha: The Challenge of Change & The Vocabulary of Evil

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

It’s Your Choice

The teenager finished high school and is home, bored out of his mind. He has nothing to do. He spent a day or two pounding the pavements of the city looking for a job.

Unfortunately, he failed to find one. So, he spends his day sitting in his room and doing something on his computer. (His parents don’t want to ask.)

My perspective is that he is choosing not to work. He feels that it is not his choice because he cannot find a job. “I want to work,” he claims. “If you wanted to work, you would be out there everyday, looking for work,” I respond. “OK, maybe I don’t really want to work, but I want to make money.” To which I respond, “You would look for work if you wanted to make money. I believe that you want to have money without working for it. Your parents are giving you spending money so you have money. You are choosing to spend your day hiding from life in your room, rather than face the frustration of looking for work and then actually working.”

His parents are also making a choice: They are choosing to provide him with all his basic needs despite the fact that serves as a disincentive for him to go out and look for work. His parents are choosing to not ask him what he does on his computer all day.

We all constantly make choices. We don not necessarily articulate them as choices because we are not aware that we are making choices. Please note: I am not referring to Bechira Chofshit – Free Choice, which is an entirely different level of choice. We choose what to eat. We choose whether we want the immediate pleasure of a piece of cake rather than watch our waistlines and health. We choose to speak in anger. We choose to say destructive things. We choose to waste time. We constantly make choices. We won’t necessarily acknowledge them as choices, but we are always choosing.

The Shabbat laws insist that we understand that we are constantly making choices and that choosing is creative, or, in the context of Halacha, choosing is self-defining.

When I have a bowl of mixed peanuts and raisins before me and I prefer the peanuts and reach for one, Halacha says that I am choosing. The Shabbat laws teach that if someone puts a bowl of good old-fashioned chicken soup in front of me, and I see a large piece of chicken and want to select it from the soup, I am choosing. Halacha warns me that if I allow all my paperwork and books to pile up during the week waiting for Shabbat to organize everything, that not only am I choosing to use my Shabbat in a certain way, I am making a choice with each piece of paper I pick up and decide where to place it in my file cabinet. Halacha treats the decision where to place one piece of paper from a pile of papers as a choice, a creative act, that may be prohibited on Shabbat.

The Shabbat laws want us to understand and appreciate that we are constantly choosing. It wants that teenage boy and his parents to understand everything that they are doing as choices. When people understand that they are making choices, and that those choices are self-defining, they will rethink their actions and words.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.