About a month ago, we had a discussion on Areivim about the value of appreciating nature. It started with discussion of the famous quote by Rav Hirsch. At one point, Rav Hirsch decided to go on a trip to visit the Alps. He explained that he needed to go on the trip because one day when he reaches the next world God was going to ask Him, "Did you see my Alps?" and he wanted to have a satisfactory response. Danny Schoeman, a South African turned Israeli who spent a week skiing on the Alps as a teenager, claimed that the mountains in Eretz Yisroel (EY) are just as beautiful if not more so. That claim was debated, and some people questioned whether one even may leave EY to visit the Alps, basing themselves on the Gemara in Moed Katan 14a and the Shulchan Aruch in OC 531:4. Here's my take on the question.
As someone who grew up in Colorado, I must say that the mountains in EY are simply not the same. Much as I try, I can not honestly say that the mountains in EY are as beautiful as in Colorado.
But do they need to be? Must one have the ultimate physical experience to have the spiritual experience? I am perfectly happy having chicken served in my college dining hall on shabbos, and don't think my oneg shabbos suffers at all because I'm not having beef. One must experience beauty, but the height of the spiritual experience is limited not by the physical limitations of the beauty but by one's appreciation.
This also relates to the thread on ugly kallahs - everyone has some natural beauty, and if it's not immediately apparent, the chassan has to discover it. We help him by pointing out that she is a "kallah na'ah", and if not, then at least she's "chasudah". I never thought of it in this way before, but Moshe Feldman prompted me to think that maybe looking at mountains outside EY is like looking at other women - you can appreciate the beauty, but who says the appreciation is necessarily what God wants? While I don't know how far I would extend this comparison, I think it's very easy to apply to someone for whom the halacha states that it's assur for him to leave EY. Violating G-d's wishes so that you can have what you feel is a greater appreciation for His beauty seems quite off. (And brings to mind, "Mi shedar bechutz la'aretz harei hu c'mi she'ein lo eloka.")
EY has a wide variety of climates, terrains, and areas to experience God's beauty in different ways. While I grew up with a mountain view from my bed room window, it was not until I was 18 that I got to say the bracha of "She'asa es hayam hagadol." EY affords opportunities to experience every aspect, in a way that doesn't exist anywhere else. True, harei Yehuda aren't the rockies, and it seems silly to call the Mediterranean the Yam Hagadol next to the majestic Atlantic and Pacific, but it has everything we need to experience God's greatness. Yaakov's attitude, and this is expressed in EY as well, is "Yesh li kol." The Rockies can have the "Yesh li rav," we can be perfectly happy with the "everything" that we have.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
How not to win an argument:
Practical lessons learned from shabbos in Flatbush
Practical lessons learned from shabbos in Flatbush
- Insinuating that someone's opinions are not their own ("Your girlfriend convinced you of this, didn't she?") or that someone will grow out of their opinions ("Let's have this conversation again when you're 50"), is very insulting. Even if it might be correct, it's not gonna successfully convince the people you're insulting of anything. Treat me like an adult and maybe I'll treat you likewise.
- If you want to make negative comments against a group and have me believe you, call them by a nice name. If the guy making observations about black politicians during kiddush had said "black politicians" instead of "shvartze politicians", I would have been much more believing that he had correctly interpreted his experiences with those politicians.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Yerushalayim Oro shel Olam
At Meir and Yitty's wedding tonight, they sang the song "Yerushalayim Oro shel Olam." "Jerusalem is the light of the world, and Who is the light of Jerusalem? The Holy One Blessed be He."
What does this mean?
Jerusalem, as the center of the Jewish people (and as drawn on some medieval maps, the center of the world), is supposed to be the city from which Torah, including ethics, shines to the world. "Ki Mitzion Teitzei Torah, uDvar Hashem miYerushalyim - For from Zion will come forth Torah, and the word of God from Jerusalem." People look to the Jews, especially those in their "home turf", as a paragon of right and wrong. When we do the right thing, or the wrong thing, people look to us as an example. Sometimes, especially in the diaspora, we only have the chance to be an example as individuals; when we exist in Jerusalem, in a country with Jerusalem as its capital, we are a national example.
This week, Israel, and thus the entire Jewish people, are under the spotlight for our actions in Gaza. When people see what Israel does, they see it as reflecting the Jewish people, the Am Hashem. When Israel acts in a moral and ethical way, that creates a kiddush Hashem, a spreading of G-d's light from Jerusalem. If they act otherwise, it creates a chilul Hashem, a darkening of that light.
I don't know enough about the situation to make an intelligent comment on what they've done, but I know that appearances are important too. You can't create a kiddush Hashem by acting ethically and looking like a sleazeball. This just creates the obligation for us, as Am Hashem, even if we are not generally political people, to do what we can in the area of hasbara, explaining to people how Israel's actions are not just morally justified but morally positive so this light can continue to go forth.
My tefilla as I sang the song (and now as well) is that as we do the right thing, Yerushalayim should be the Oro shel Olam, and HKBH should be seen as Oro shel Yerushalayim.
At Meir and Yitty's wedding tonight, they sang the song "Yerushalayim Oro shel Olam." "Jerusalem is the light of the world, and Who is the light of Jerusalem? The Holy One Blessed be He."
What does this mean?
Jerusalem, as the center of the Jewish people (and as drawn on some medieval maps, the center of the world), is supposed to be the city from which Torah, including ethics, shines to the world. "Ki Mitzion Teitzei Torah, uDvar Hashem miYerushalyim - For from Zion will come forth Torah, and the word of God from Jerusalem." People look to the Jews, especially those in their "home turf", as a paragon of right and wrong. When we do the right thing, or the wrong thing, people look to us as an example. Sometimes, especially in the diaspora, we only have the chance to be an example as individuals; when we exist in Jerusalem, in a country with Jerusalem as its capital, we are a national example.
This week, Israel, and thus the entire Jewish people, are under the spotlight for our actions in Gaza. When people see what Israel does, they see it as reflecting the Jewish people, the Am Hashem. When Israel acts in a moral and ethical way, that creates a kiddush Hashem, a spreading of G-d's light from Jerusalem. If they act otherwise, it creates a chilul Hashem, a darkening of that light.
I don't know enough about the situation to make an intelligent comment on what they've done, but I know that appearances are important too. You can't create a kiddush Hashem by acting ethically and looking like a sleazeball. This just creates the obligation for us, as Am Hashem, even if we are not generally political people, to do what we can in the area of hasbara, explaining to people how Israel's actions are not just morally justified but morally positive so this light can continue to go forth.
My tefilla as I sang the song (and now as well) is that as we do the right thing, Yerushalayim should be the Oro shel Olam, and HKBH should be seen as Oro shel Yerushalayim.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
This is piece 1 of an essay I'm planning to write on the topic of Judaism and humanity.
I heard a dvar Torah last night at shul between mincha and maariv by a rav, perhaps a Rabbi Feiner. Young-ish rabbi with a trimmed beard. When I go to the white shul again, I'll ask someone so I have his name.
This week's parsha includes the story of the meeting between Yaakov and Yosef after 22 years of separation. It describes how Yosef hugged and kissed Yaakov, but strangely, does not describe Yaakov reciprocating. The Midrash says that the reason is that Yaakov was busy saying krias Sh'ma and could not interrupt.
This is very strange - if it was zman krias sh'ma, why wasn't Yosef also saying krias sh'ma? And if it wasn't the zman, why was Yaakov saying it? Couldn't he wait a few minutes?
The Maharal (which I should probably look up at some point while researching this essay) explains that indeed it was not the zman, but Yaakov wanted to channel the intense emotions of the reunion with his son towards a lofty goal, and there is no loftier goal than yichud Hashem.
He told the story of how, lehavdil, when a certain Giants player got a touchdown in the ___ Superbowl (two times ago when the Giants won the Superbowl), rather than doing a crazy dance or sumersaults or whatever it is they normally do, this player got down on one knee and prayed. Take that moment of high energy, and channel it toward something Higher.
More coming tomorrow....
I heard a dvar Torah last night at shul between mincha and maariv by a rav, perhaps a Rabbi Feiner. Young-ish rabbi with a trimmed beard. When I go to the white shul again, I'll ask someone so I have his name.
This week's parsha includes the story of the meeting between Yaakov and Yosef after 22 years of separation. It describes how Yosef hugged and kissed Yaakov, but strangely, does not describe Yaakov reciprocating. The Midrash says that the reason is that Yaakov was busy saying krias Sh'ma and could not interrupt.
This is very strange - if it was zman krias sh'ma, why wasn't Yosef also saying krias sh'ma? And if it wasn't the zman, why was Yaakov saying it? Couldn't he wait a few minutes?
The Maharal (which I should probably look up at some point while researching this essay) explains that indeed it was not the zman, but Yaakov wanted to channel the intense emotions of the reunion with his son towards a lofty goal, and there is no loftier goal than yichud Hashem.
He told the story of how, lehavdil, when a certain Giants player got a touchdown in the ___ Superbowl (two times ago when the Giants won the Superbowl), rather than doing a crazy dance or sumersaults or whatever it is they normally do, this player got down on one knee and prayed. Take that moment of high energy, and channel it toward something Higher.
More coming tomorrow....
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