I love Michio Kaku’s books, but I have a problem with his Physics of the Impossible: He discusses phasers, force fields, teleportation and time travel, but he does not even mention the invention for which I am most desperate; a thought grabber. Too many of my thoughts escape through the holes in my brain.

I am not the first to seek such a device. Pascal lamented: “Thoughts come at random, and go at random. No device for holding on to them or for having them. A thought has escaped; I was trying to write it down: instead I write that it has escaped me.”

I empathize with Pascal, but my concern is quite practical: I keep a notebook of all my insights, especially those that miraculously arrive during, and as a result of, my prayers. I can usually remember all the insights I receive over a Shabbat, but a two day holiday often provides too much to recall. I want a device that will capture all my thoughts and insights. I assume that it will be in the shape of a helmet, hopefully not a black hat, battery operated to observe the laws of Shabbat and Yom Tov (Holydays) although it will come in rechargeable form for weekdays. I suspect that the physics will be less difficult than figuring out how to comfortably shape the device to be worn 24 hours a day, even when in the shower when the ideas for my newsletters appear and escape, and to allow a person to wear the headpiece without disturbing Teffilin – phylacteries.

I don’t want to scare you, but I would like to custom order a device that will catch some of the great thoughts that have appeared and disappeared over the ages. I promise not to violate anyone’s privacy. There is one person whose thoughts at a specific moment I must catch in my machine: The guilty Sotah who explodes. This woman obviously does not believe in God, otherwise she would not risk drinking the water. She drinks the water and for just a few seconds before she explodes knows that, oops, she was wrong. The water works. God does have power. (Even our friend Pascal tried to cover his bases: He sewed the following thoughts into the lining of his clothes: “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,” not of the philosophers and scientists. Certainty. Certainty. Feeling. Joy. Peace.) In the few seconds before she dies, this woman has absolute clarity that God exists and that her “miraculous” death will prove God’s power to all who are watching.

I want to use my device to catch that absolutely clear that at that moment.

She may have been a sinner, but she serves as a vehicle to prove God’s Power to others, and I suspect that the clarity of that fleeting thought purifies her soul.

So, dear Dr. Kaku, please suspend your work on String Theory and start working on my device. I want that one thought, even more than all the other thoughts that were part of the great escape!

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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.

Awhile he holds some false way, undebarr’d

By thwarting signs, and braves

The freshening wind and blackening waves.

And then the tempest strikes him; and between

The lightning bursts is seen

Only a driving wreck,

And the pale master on his spar-strew-deck

With anguish’d face and flying hair

Grasping the rudder hard,

Still bent to make some port he knows not where,

Still standing for some false, impossible shore.

Matthew Arnold

“A Summer Night”

We walk together almost every morning. Actually, he runs, I, ahem, walk. He is a marathon runner, so when he disappeared for a week, I assumed that he was running a marathon somewhere out of town. He showed up this morning on crutches. A bike rider rode straight into him, knocked him over, and my co-walker tore his Achilles tendon.

“What are you doing here on crutches? Are you planning on running your laps like that?”

“Yes!” Off he ran. He was still faster than am I. (I already suspected his sanity as he only eats raw vegetables.) The marathon man was as determined as the sailor in the Matthew Arnold poem. The man would not give in.

A marathon man appears in this week’s portion: Shofetim. (Deuteronomy 17:11) He is a great scholar and is absolutely committed to truth. When a local court rules against him, he ‘grasps the rudder hard, still bent on his port”. He is summoned to a higher court, out argues them on every issue, and is incensed when they too rule against his opinion. He courageously takes a public stand. He knows that he is right.

He is summoned from one court to another even higher and he continues to stand for what he has determined is the truth. He refuses to give in, until he finally stands before the Sanhedrin – The Great Court that sits in the Temple Courtyard and they hear his case.

He does battle with the greatest sages of his generation. They argue over a case of serious law, such as whether a specific woman is considered married, and “with anguish’d face and flying hair” he holds true to his course. A torn Achilles tendon will not hold him back, nor will crutches. He is the marathon man who will not give in.

The Sanhedrin rules against him and, frustrated and angry, he leaves the court and sticks to his guns. He refuses to obey the Sanhedrin’s ruling and tells the woman to follow his original ruling.

This Marathon Man is a Zakein Mamrei – A Rebellious Sage – and he will be publicly executed on the next pilgrimage festival.

He may continue to argue that he is right and everyone else is wrong. In fact, he must argue for what he feels is true. However, he may not publicly act against the Sanhedrin’s ruling. We live according to the transmission of the Oral Law and his public actions, not arguments, shake the foundations of the transmission and system of the Oral Law.

We are encouraged to be Marathon Men in our arguments, but there is a point at which we may not practice against the rulings of the greatest Torah authorities of our time.

The greatest of the Marathon Men is the one who will not bend intellectually. However, he will submit to the structure of the Oral Law. That takes strength, at least from those of us who are fighters for truth. Our greatest moments are when we continue to fight for what we believe is true but will not publicly practice against the Oral Law.

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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

Author Info:

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 are happy to update the weekly essays on The Foundation Stone:

Life Lessons: Do Miracles Matter by the Heileger Chana Chaya: Healer, Life Coach, Story Teller and Teacher.

Haftarah: Beha’alotecha: Walkers

Table Talk: Beha’alotecha

The Music of Halacha: Shabbat 27: Speech

Haftarah: Shelach: A Partnership With God

Table Talk: Shelach

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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.

Torah Study:

If you are not participating in a program: Divide the night into two main parts:

1: A Celebration of your learning of the past year.

2: What you hope to learn between now and next Shavuot.

1: Make a list of the favorite things you learned this year. Spend the first half of the night reviewing and applying the practical lessons of your studies.

2. Are there books or areas of learning you would like to study? Bible, Prophets, Proverbs, Psalms, Midrash, Philosophy, Talmud or law? Choose two of the areas that most intrest you and study them for the rest of the night.

Relationships:

Preparations for Sinai included the purification of relationships between husbands and wives.

First Day: Have an honest and open evaluation of your relationship and what each can do to improve the marriage.

Second Day: Together, study the story of the Covenant of Sinai that appears at the end of Mishpatim: Exodus, Chapter 24.

Conversion:

All the laws of conversion are derived from the preparations for Sinai.

Day One: Consider and/or discuss whether, if offered the choice, you would choose to be part of the Covenant of Sinai.

Day Two: Consider and/or discuss which aspect of Torah would compel you to convert.

Teshuva

“Just as they left Rephidim in Teshuva, so they arrived at Sinai in Teshuva.” (Rashi, Exodus 19:2)

Day One: Ask two people you respect and trust to pinpoint two of your positive qualities and to suggest two areas you can improve.

Day Two: Review and discuss the Six Constant Mitzvot and how you can improve your incorporation of those commandments.

Prayer

Shavuot is more about relationship than laws.

Day One: Spend extra time reciting the blessings before Torah study.

Day Two: Spend extra time reciting “Ahavah Rabbah” the blessing immediately before the morning Shema.

Perform a Post Shavuot Evaluation, preferably with a partner, of what you gained from the Chag.

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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.

I confront the same problem each week: Shabbat has begun and there are piles of books spread all over the desk, chairs and floor of my study. I need all the books in order to learn and to prepare my classes, columns and podcasts. However, things pile up. I may have used five or six sefarim to prepare an answer to What is the Reason and simply added them to the Reason pile on my floor. I still have my Purim books out, just next to my Parah books. Can I replace the piles of different books into their proper shelves? Perhaps not!

One of the 39 Categories of Thoughtful Creative Action on Shabbat is “Borer”, or Sorting. After the wheat was threshed, a mixed pile of waste matter remained on the threshing floor together with the grain kernels. There would often be pebbles and similar debris mixed in. The pebbles were too heavy to be separated by winnowing, and too small to be sifted out. They had to be sorted and removed by hand. This process is “Borer” or Sorting.

Any form of selecting from, or sorting of, a mixture or combination, may be Borer. This includes removing undesired objects or matter from a mixture or combination.

As I reach for each book and sort one from the other I am treading on Borer.

The Talmud, Shabbat 73b, clarifies the distinctions between Borer – Sorting, Zoreh – Winnowing and Merakaid – Sifting. They all deal with different forms of separation between what I desire and what I do not. I believe that each of these Melachot deals with a different aspect of decision-making and choice.

I hope to use the next series of The Music of Halacha, with a break for the laws of Passover, to focus on these three Melachot and the lessons they can teach us about making choices.

My basic premise is that Choice is actually considered a creative act. The physical action of sorting between what I want – Ochel – and what I do not want – Pesolet, and between good and bad is sufficiently creative to be considered one of the 39 categories of prohibited work on Shabbat.

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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.

He is a gifted musician. She is a master horsewoman. They live in a very hot part of Florida.

The musician cannot play his piano nor can the rider ride her horse. The swimmer may not swim. The sages considered these activities dangerous. The musician would never try to fix his $25,000 piano himself. The horsewoman will never break a branch and the “human fish” will never build a raft. The sages will not bend. Each of these artists will have to find other expressions than their greatest passions to connect to God on the day of connection.

I quote from the future classic, Shabbat: Gateway to Transcendence, by Professor Yeshayahu Vernoff:

“Creation is the greatest of all actions. We were granted Bechira – Free Choice – in order to become creators and, thereby, emulate God, the Ultimate Creator. We are preoccupied with exercising our own creativity – our own maipulation of the forces and substances of the world toward actualizing our own purposes.

So deeply preoccupied are we with our own creating that humans easily lose sight of the living background Reality of God, the Creator. How can we resolve the apparent paradox that the Divine Will toward human creating results as a byproduct in the dangerous obscuring of Divine creating? How could God will that humans, made in God’s image to be His children, not be able to know Him? Is it possible, on the other hand, that human creating need not obscure the Divine activity occurring at every moment?

The resolution of this vexing paradox could only be a partial abstinence from human creating sufficient for humans to become sensitized once more to the Reality of Divine Creation. If periodically humans fully lay aside their own creative activity, Divine Creating could gradually move from the unconscious background to the foreground of awareness – could come into actual focus. Human beings could come to know the world as Creation, testifying to the reality of its Creator. This awareness would profoundly illumine human creating when it resumes.

What we are talking about, then, is not the abolition but a regular fast from human creating, a periodic cessation, which is exactly the meaning of the Hebrew word Shabbat.”

We are on a “Creative Action Fast” on Shabbat. This is the day when we do not emulate the Creator with our Melachah – our Thoughtful Creative Work – but by glimpsing the transcendence of the Creator, Who stood back, so to speak, from His active involvement with His Creation and sanctified His work and set it apart.

We, too, step back from our creative powers and connect to the transcendent; we set ourselves apart from the world of our creativity, and submerge ourselves in the world of the Creator.

He is a gifted musician, a sweet soul, who is constantly searching for God in his life. He loves Shabbat and inspires many others to learn about this special day. He feels closest to God when he uses God’s gifts, his musical abilities, to connect to his Source. A magnificent grand piano stands in his living room waiting to vibrate with his music. His fingers itch to play; his soul thirsts to compose and sings songs of praise to the Creator. The only day he has time to sit at his piano is Shabbat. The sages of the Oral Law, with great regret, do not allow him to play his precious piano on Shabbat, no matter how admirable his intentions. “Sorry! Your piano is a finely tuned and valuable instrument and something may go wrong. A string may break. You may feel that it needs some adjustment or tuning. You will be so involved in your playing that you may forget that it is Shabbat and unconsciously violate the Shabbat, and repair your instrument.”

She is a master horsewoman. She won literally tens of ribbons, medals and prizes for her skills. She only feels free when she rides. Her spirit soars as she flies on the back of her horse. She fills with joy as her horse gallops through the fields and hills of Connecticut. She is free of the distractions of the world as she rides what she calls “her wings”. Her soaring spirit, joy, freedom allow her to connect with the infinite as she rides. She is so attuned to her horse that she can feel his energy and power flowing through her as she rides. These are the moments when she feels closest to God. This is how she would celebrate Shabbat, her day for closeness to God. The sages of the Oral Law regret her terrible loss, but they will not allow her to ride her beloved horse on Shabbat. She will have to find other ways to discover the joy, spirit and freedom that only surge through her as she does what she does best and loves most: when she can ride. “Sorry! You may ride past a tree; break off a branch to use as a whip. That would violate Shabbat.”

There are no trees where she lives. She would never hit her horse. She never has to. They ride as a unit, his power controlled and directed by her will. She is desperate, but the sages stand firm, she may not ride on Shabbat.

They live in a very hot part of Florida. They swim everyday. They are miserable on Shabbat when they cannot swim. Their son is more fish than human. He is happiest when he swims, but he cannot swim on Shabbat: He may forget that it is Shabbat and build a raft. He hates rafting. He only wants to swim. His mother would kill him for even considering building a raft in her gorgeous pool. He has never even thought of building a raft during the week. Why be concerned that he will on Shabbat?

The musician cannot play his piano. The rider is not allowed to ride her horse. The human fish may not swim. The sages considered these activities dangerous. The musician will never try to fix his $25,000 piano himself. The horsewoman will never break a branch and the human fish will never build a raft. The sages will not bend. Each of these artists will have to find something other than their greatest passions to connect to God on the day of connection.

The sages love and admire our creativity and passion. They celebrate the musician’s music, the rider’s riding and the boy’s swimming. The sages encourage creativity. They also understand that Shabbat demands a certain state of mind, one that is fragile and easily lost. The sages remind us that we can momentarily forget, even if only for a moment, that it is Shabbat. Our passions can distract us. Part of Shabbat is guarding its integrity.

The Sages are challenging us to take out the time and listen to the music of Halacha even when at first it seems so unexplainable. How can we protect Shabbat? How can we apply this concept to other areas of our relationship with God?

We have already explained that there are certain conditions that allow us to separate food on Shabbat. One of the conditions is that the separation takes place by hand and not by means of an instrument designed for that purpose. This does not literally mean that the selection may only be done by hand. There are times that a utensil can be used. It depends on how we use the utensil. A person may use his fork or spoon to eat from a plate even though he is selecting from a mixture on his plate. This is because the fork does not make the selection any easier. It is simply cleaner, and more polite, to eat with a fork than by hand. The fork does not enhance or expedite the selection.

However, if the utensil makes the selection any easier than by hand, the person would be Halachically considered to be Borer – Selecting – with a utensil: We may not pour soup from a pot while holding back the noodles with the lid. The combination of the pot and lid is considered as separating with a utensil, and is prohibited. We could use the rim of a pot to pour the soup – what is desired – away from the noodles – what is undesired – by tilting the pot so the soup slowly runs over the rim.

A Brief History Lesson:

In 1004 Maria Argyropoulina, Greek niece of Byzantine Emperor Basil II, showed up in Venice for her marriage to Giovanni, son of the Pietro Orseolo II, the Doge of Venice, with a case of golden forks—and then proceeded to use them at the wedding feast. They weren’t exactly a hit. The local clergy roundly condemned her for her decadence, with one going so far as to say, “God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks—his fingers. Therefore it is an insult to him to substitute artificial metal forks for them when eating.”

When Argyropoulina died of the plague two years later, Saint Peter Damian, with ill-concealed satisfaction, suggested that it was God’s punishment for her lavish ways. “Nor did she deign to touch her food with her fingers, but would command her eunuchs to cut it up into small pieces, which she would impale on a certain golden instrument with two prongs and thus carry to her mouth. . . . This woman’s vanity was hateful to Almighty God; and so, unmistakably, did He take his revenge. For He raised over her the sword of His divine justice, so that her whole body did putrefy and all her limbs began to wither.”

Doomed by God for using a fork. Life was harsh in the 11th century.

While the church was responding to the new invention of the fork with fear and disgust, Halacha saw a challenge: “What would be the Halachic issues that could arise from a fork?” The first response was: The laws of Borer.

I love looking back in history and studying Responsa as part of history. Inevitably, the masters of Halacha saw each new invention as an opportunity and challenge to understand its place in the vast world of Jewish Law. This perhaps is the most essential instrument in the symphony called The Music of Halacha. The “new” demanded engagement, not fear or hesitation. Halacha does not begin with; “When in doubt – do without”, but with let’s understand how we can best use the new invention.

We can study cutlery for more insight into Halacha and the world.

Knives: Sharp or Rounded

The new shape and function of the fork led to a remarkable change in the design of table knives, which led to a dining divide between Europe and American that continues today.

The rift started, by some accounts, with Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister to France’s King Louis XIII, who was so disgusted by a frequent dinner guest’s habit of picking his teeth with his knife that l’Éminence Rouge, as Richelieu was known, had the tips of the offender’s knives ground down to prevent it happening. Always desperate to follow fashion, others in the court soon did the same. Whether the story is true or not, once forks began to gain popular acceptance there was no longer any need for a pointed tip at the end of a dinner knife to hold and spear the food. In 1669, King Louis XIV of France decreed all pointed knives on the street or the dinner table illegal. Not only were new knives to be made with rounded tips; all existing table knives were to be rounded off to reduce the potential for violence. The new style of knife rapidly spread to other European countries, including England.

Halacha, in a very unRichelieu manner, discusses sharp knives in the context of Birchat Hamazon. However, it is important for us to understand how easily a simple, or even silly, decision by one person can shape so much of our lives. I never expected to find a result of Richelieu’s influence on my table, except, of course, when the children were younger and The Three Musketeers could be found on at least one lap, but there it is in the table knives.

I remember a young woman who would not eat in our home on Pesach because we served chicken. Her family would not eat chicken on Pesach because on their last Shabbat in Europe the local rabbis prohibited the sale of chicken on Pesach in order to punish the butchers for price gouging. Interesting beginnings can create new laws. When that happens, the music ceases to play, and Halacha becomes a long list of laws that have lost their meaning.

We risk losing our seat at the concert when we do not pay attention to the development of a Halacha or custom. Halacha demands attention, not only to its laws, but to its development and messages in order for us to hear its music.