Why is the Torah important?

The giving of the Torah to Man equates to granting the responsibility of Man to “represent God” – of admitting that Humans are weak and must use the Torah to save themselves. God offered Torah (i.e. other scriptures) to other people but it was only do’s and don’ts. God gave Jews an interface-able Torah (oral traditions, etc.), of which everything can be elevated through – whether it be business activities, play, whatever. In the most mundane things we do, God is there, which is the lesson of Torah. Torah is about relationships (god, family, friends, enemies, even yourself) and what to do in different situations. Look at the Torah as a goldmine to have more purpose, and not as an obstacle course (see Shabbat for Prohibitions).

Torah, meaning “teaching” in Hebrew, could be used to reference one of the following:

Written Torah – Chumash (first 5 pentateuch old testament books) + commentaries
Tanakh – the previous + Nevi’im “Prophets” + Ketuvim “Writings”
The previous + Oral Torah which comprises of: Talmud (Mishnah – the first Oral Torah document, Gemara – 300 years of commentary on Mishnah) and Midrash (commentary on both Written and Oral Torah)
The previous + the entirety of Jewish teachings and practices.

Importance of Continuously Learning Torah

A fox comes close to the shore, casts a net for the fish, and tells the fish to come to the land, that it’s safer without the predators of the ocean.

The fish responds – “No, silly fox, if I can’t survive in my natural habitat, I would still not go to a new one.”

Like the ocean for the fish, Torah is the Jews’ natural habitat. Study of Torah is the greatest mitzvah a Jew can fulfill. Always be thinking about Torah – as a constant part of your day, a constant endeavor.

It actually does not say anywhere to learn Torah, but it says to teach. Meaning – it is not good enough just to learn it – you need to share it, learn it well enough to teach others. Oral law was not written because Hashem wanted the act of learning Torah to include the act of giving. Additionally, we learn it best through verbal communication – speech is powerful – it has the ability to affect all types of people (i.e. God spoke and created everything).

What are the differences between Jewish denominational movements?

Jewish modern movements in the United States (with foundation from Ashkenazi Jews in Central Europe in the early 19th century) most differ in how they treat the Torah and are Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. Sephardi Jews, descendants of those exiled from Iberia beginning in 1492 and of Jews from North Africa and the Middle East, have mostly remained traditional in observance.

Reform – The largest denomination and most progressively radical. It rejected the idea of the Torah being divinely written and has the most freedom from Jewish law (halakha). For example, saying anyone is Jewish whether their mother or father was Jewish. It was developed out of the Enlightenment that led to the scientific revolution and human rights and tolerance.

Conservative – This movement was a reaction to the Reform movement and developed out of Jewish emancipation (civil rights like other citizens). Although it agreed the Torah wasn’t divinely written, it was divinely inspired and principles and laws come from God. We are bound to the law but it has always been subject to human interpretation.

Modern Orthodoxy was started that called on Jews to acquire a secular education, speak the local language, and also to apply rational methods to Torah study. Ultimately, reconcile between daily life and the Torah. It was an in between of Conservative and Orthodox.

Orthodox – The Torah was divinely written and the rules should be followed. Haredi Orthodoxy goes so far as to make Torah a life-long learning endeavour and separate themselves from other communities by dress and location.

What does the Torah say?

Overview: Hillel explained the entirety of the Torah as the Golden Rule – do unto others as you’d do unto yourself. The reverse – don’t do to others what you don’t want done to yourself – is respect. We see this message in the Commandments – they are all about respect. And respect is the foundation of love.

In this, we see that Torah is about relationships (god, family, friends, enemies even yourself) and what to do in different situations. And why are the 10 commandments written in stone? Parchment decays and stone does not – these lessons are forever, but chiseling takes time, we develop ourselves and relationships little by little.

The Commandments

The Commandments break down into 5 Meta-commandments (2 Commandments fall in each, for 10 total):

- Do not deny the existence of others

#1 – Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [Belief in god]
#6 – Thou shalt not kill

- Do not deny any aspect of others

#2 – Thou shalt have no other gods before me [No idol worship]
#7 – Thou shalt not commit adultery

- Do not deny the respect of others

#3 – Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
#8 – Thou shalt not steal [Even don’t kidnap and sell – slavery is disrespect]

- Do not deny the past of others

#4 – Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy
#9 – Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour [Don’t testify falsely – Kiddush is a testimony]

- Do not deny your own existence

#5 – Honour thy father and thy mother [Honoring your parents and what created you]
#10 – Thou shalt not covet [Don’t be jealous of another’s existence]

The 1st tablet of commandments (#1-#5) is commandments between man and god, 2nd tablet (#6-#10) is between man and man

Rules and Mitzvuot (Commandments)

A Mitzvah (or mitzvuot plural) is not solely following a rule but a chance to connect with God and to build your relationship with him. There are 613 mitzvot in total.

Children – Be fruitful and multiply (one of the first commandments in the bible) because religion is built out of the home. Additionally, home is always more important than the synagogue. Biblical obligation is at least having one girl and one boy. The synagogue is not necessarily against contraceptives if:

You have a boy and a girl, or
The body needs to heal (6 months after a baby). Past 1 girl and 1 boy, there is no obligation but still good to have as many as you can take care of and give good upbringing to.

Maimonides encouraged Charity (tzedakah) – The different levels of giving:

Lowest form is to give to a person angrily, then
Give to them nicely, then
Give anonymously, then
Give anonymously unknowing of who is receiving it, and highest is
To give them not money but dignity – i.e. job or loan for them to get themselves back on their feet. Also, make sure you live comfortably yourself, but law is to give 10% of income back to charity.

Three Main Mitzvahs – Kosher (Kashrut), Shabbat, Tefillin

Kosher food

As junk food clogs your arteries, non-kosher food clogs your spiritual arteries (hurting connection with God). When you make a blessing, you pull out the spark of food and add it to your soul. But with non-kosher food, the spark cannot be extracted, you’re only eating the husk.

In this regard, it takes the exercise of discipline to keep the Jewish soul healthy. 50-60% of foods in grocery stores are kosher, so it’s more of a social challenge (i.e. hanging with people who are kosher or others who respect your lifestyle) than availability.

Cheese needs to be kosher because most are made with a pig enzyme (not artificial enzyme like kosher). Sinai – Shavuot holiday – didn’t have time to prepare meat so we only eat dairy.

“Fleishig” (meat), “Milchigs” (dairy), and “Pareve” (neutral)

Being kosher involves ritual slaughter, minimizing suffering. Additional requirements include a specific hooves types (pork being banned) and fish being the only seafood allowed.

Labels –
“K” is not kosher, “Triangle K” is iffy i.e. Hebrew nationals.

Additionally, “Milchigs” (dairy) cannot be in contact or consumed in the same meal as meat, as it is not respectful to a consume an animal and its products at the same time (or “boil a kid in it’s mother’s milk”).

Everything besides meat and dairy is neutral (“Pareve”) which could be eaten anytime (i.e. Pareve cookies or Pareve ice cream as dessert right after meat).

Koshering a Kitchen

In order to create a kosher kitchen, pots and utensils must be koshered (after being unused for 24 hours, rinsing them with boiling water or boiling them submerged in water) – Because molecules can get absorbed by the pot and utensils when touching non-kosher food of boiling temperature, when cooking and if used again within 24 hours. Stove top is always kosher – flame koshers things. To cook food in any oven or microwave – Oven – aluminum foil on bottom (to prevent leaking) and kosher pot on top and cover it with foil, same with microwave – paper plate over your food which is already on top of a plate. Color coded sponges – red for meat, blue for dairy.

Shabbat

See “Shabbat & Prayer“.

Tefillin

See”Shabbat & Prayer“.

Stories, Lessons, and Explanations from the Torah

Creation of Light and Day from the Darkness

The Greek world looks at life starting in the mornings – you have energy and life, and night is regeneration when you’re tired. However, Judaism is the opposite – at night we are not complete, we have to plan what we’re going to do tomorrow. Like God created day from the darkness, we start with night and go to day. We are incomplete at night – it’s dark outside because we have to create something new. I.e. circumcision – I have to perfect myself. We start confused (night) and we have to move towards the light. “Evening” in Hebrew means confusion. Going from night to day is like going from the spiritual to physical → night is for thoughts (plan to connect thoughts to action) and day is for building the world (taking action and doing)

Why is everything in twos? Night/day, land/water, land/sky, man/woman, man/angels. But there is only one singular entity – God. We should not worship the things that come in twos (i.e. land or water).

In addition, words are powerful, God created the Light and the Universe using speech. People say “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,” but the opposite is true – words are powerful, they create. They aren’t just hot air. Everyone has been hurt with words and has hurt others with words. Words have tremendous power / level of weight. A good word goes a long way and a bad word goes a long way. Words are the building block of civilization (communication) and mankind’s existence in the world with words. Speech is in the neck – connection between head and heart – physical expression of our intellectual being.

You lose your balance if your physical, mental and spiritual is pulling you off balance. Expression of uniqueness of our experience. Partner w/ god in creation. Yates (creativity) of harrar – we can either express creativity positively or negatively. It is our job to express ourselves through thoughts, speech, and actions. Speech bridges the integration of who we are.

Garden of Eden

Garden is more organized than a jungle. Eden means pleasant joy. First mitzvah given was “eat from all the trees” and first obligation was “work it and guard it”. The first mitzvah was to “enjoy the world”, and first obligation is to “put in effort and value it”. The foundation of saintliness and root of complete service is to know what one’s obligation in the world is, and the rabbis taught us that man was not created except to get pleasure from god and to enjoy his splendor. Judaism is not about living a spiritual ascetic life – it’s good to see the world, make the world a better place, have kids. If you don’t see and appreciate the world (ie meditation), you are missing the world.

Original Sin

Fruit (either wheat bread – affects intellect, wine – magnifies emotions of the heart, figs – its honey is delicious if left out in the sun). The actual fruit of good and evil is non-existent in this world. They realized they were not innocent. They realized all the bad things they could do (i.e. with their private parts) – that’s why they covered up w/ fig leaf. They realized the bad starts with the loins, covered up so they won’t be titillated all the time.

To be a Jew

Control yourself to get to joy. I.E fig leaf covering up because it’s sweet. The reason you’re controlling yourself is to get more joy. The sin that makes us lose paradise is not accepting responsibility.

Description of the Chumash and Creation

Chumash means 5 for 5 books of the Old Testament. Why 5? Every creation has to go through 5 steps. God wants us to be creative – God created us in his image – when we’re creative we feel good, when not – crummy. Yatsor harar / yatsar tov – yatsar means creation, NOT inclination. We can create for bad or good. All creation happens in two stages – plan/think it then do it.

Chumash is 5 for the 5 steps of books and steps of creation / being creative – There is a secret flow (kabbalah) i.e. kayaking – going with the stream is what we try to go for. Chumash is giving you the energy to be successful (i.e. being in a jungle vs being the lion). Chumash means passionate enthusiasm. The light reveals the hidden secrets. 5 is a codeword to be passionate and creative. Jewish hand necklace (5 fingers) – remember so you will create. I have the power to connect with God and build a great life.

“God said Let there be light” – Creation in Theory (1st stage of creation) – Genesis
“And there was light” – Creation in Physical (Completion of “creation” with added next 3 stages) – Exodus
“And God saw that the light was good” – Evaluation of creation (Knifesh) – Leviticus
“And God divided between the light and the darkness” – Simplifying (Rashi – Light was too good so divided it, made it more relevant so that people could connect) – Numbers
“And God called the light day” – Name it to make it user friendly (Get into other people’s shoes, connect via name) – Deuteronomy

Summary of Events of the 5 books

Genesis – What are righteous people
Exodus – Practical plan – Give Torah
Leviticus – God is in the world, Mishnah exists
Numbers – God takes care of our physical needs, only living on Torah all day long we realize we need Israel and to work the field
Deuteronomy – Moses repeating and teaching the Torah

Next Life

Year 6000 – Messiah is projected to come