Time Needed for Creation

There are frum people who find it necessary to distort Torah to fit with scientific theories such as Age of the Universe.  The fact that for thousands of years the Jewish people understood the Six Days of Creation to be six 24 hour periods doesn't stop them from quoting verses, Medrashim and other sources to further their apologetics.  Of course they are aware that the Torah greats of previous generations were well aware of those sources they are quoting.

They wonder:  How could Hashem have created this complex world in only six days?   Even those (not necessarily Jewish) who believe in Intelligent Design maintain that eons were necessary to produce our universe.

The real question is the other way round: Why did Hashem need six days to create the world when He could have done so in an instant?

Don't Limit Him

In a pre-Rosh Hashana call to someone, I made reference to the idea that although I daven for certain things, Hashem knows better than me what to give me.  I have limited ideas and if I limit my prayers to just those items, I will be shortchanging myself. 

The person agreed and responded with two stories.  In the first story, a young man began coughing and when he had it checked out, was told the devastating news that there was a mass on his lungs.  They could not even biopsy it because of the fear that this would cause cancer cells to spread.

He went in for surgery and before long, the doctor came out beaming.  He said, you'll never believe this.  There is a gland called the thymus gland which is right underneath the breastbone.  At the onset of puberty it begins shrinking.  For some reason, in this 25 year old man it had not shrunk and that was the mass that they saw.  No threat to life whatsoever.

In the second story, a mammogram showed a lump.  Another mammogram was ordered.  It still looked problematic.  There is the prayer that it be benign.

Another test was ordered, a rather uncomfortable one.  As it was being done, the technician or doctor seemed to be experiencing difficulties.  What's the problem? Well, there is no lump there at all.

So we daven for surgery to go well instead of praying for no surgery; we daven that the lump be benign instead of no lump; we have kleine kep and we circumscribe G-d in a tiny box and ask for petty results.  G-d has no restrictions; let's not project our restrictions on Him.

A Tip for Optimal Growth

 

In a lecture I heard, the speaker told about being in a fish store and seeing a huge goldfish.  Upon expressing surprise at its size, the proprietor told him that it grows as big as its tank.  The speaker found this remarkable and wondered how this works, how does the fish know (see below *). 

Regardless as to the explanation, the speaker derived the following interesting lesson from the phenomenon:

You grow as big as your vessel, like the clothes growing with the people in the desert. What is a person's spiritual vessel? If a person does a lot of mitzvos, attends a lot of classes, etc. he has created a vessel around him.  If he never exposes himself to anything he can only go so far, which is not far at all.  As much as you expose yourself to things, the broader your horizons, and the larger you can grow. 

***
* Upon doing some research on the subject I read: When properly cared for, goldfish will not stop growing. Most fish are in fact what are known as indeterminate growers. This means that, unlike humans, they grow until they die. What really stunts a fish’s growth is poor water quality and improper care. In smaller aquariums or bowls, water quality is typically very poor. With little or no filtration and infrequent water changes, goldfish suffer. The stunting that results is not a good thing. Rather, it is a sign of ill health.  It is important to know what size your fish will attain before purchase and to make sure you can provide it with the proper care it requires.

We Need Hashem Watching Over Us

A 4 year old in Ashkelon was killed by a mortar shot from Gaza on Friday, Aug. 22.
Two days later, a 5-6 year old was killed in the Catskills after being hit by a car.
Two days later, a 5 year old was killed today in Bnei Brak after being hit by a car.

After the child was killed on Sunday, the thought went through my mind: Even when not in the line of fire in Ashkelon, even when vacationing in the Catskills, a child was killed.  Not that we are allowed to put ourselves in danger, but we shouldn't think we are in control, that if we go to the right places and do the right things, nothing can happen to us.  But I didn't think I should write that here.

Then I saw the news item today that a child was killed in Bnei Brak.  Apparently the Steipler Gaon promised that rockets and missiles will never fall in Bnei Brak because they are protected by Torah.  And the thought went through my mind, people feel safe in Bnei Brak because of their emunas chachamim and their belief in the Steipler's promise.  Here again, if there is a feeling of being in a safe zone, Hashem sent a reminder that just like a child can be killed in Ashkelon, nebech, a child can also be killed in Bnei Brak.

It's not just their problem, those who live over there, within reach of missiles, mortars and rockets, and we, who live in normal places, are safe.  We need Hashem watching over us wherever we are.  We need to take care of ourselves because that's a mitzva, but we are not in control.  And I thought it was worth writing.

Nobody Can Help or Harm Me

I keep going back to the conundrum of hishtadlus as I wrote about: here.  The Chovos Ha'Levavos in the Shaar Ha'Bitachon says, nobody can do anything to help or harm you other than Hashem, who has complete control over everything.

With the three kidnapped boys on our minds, I thought -  nobody can do anything to harm them unless Hashem allows it.  At the same time, those running the country are obligated to take the necessary steps to defend the people.

The story of how Hatzoloh came to be has to do with a man named Weber seeing that the usual response time of an ambulance was 20 minutes, too long, sometimes, to help someone in distress.  Hatzoloh is a wonderful organization, and one that I've given money to many times, but my same question applies.  Hashem is in charge.  He decides how long someone will live.  Speedier response times don't change Hashem's plans.  We are not in control.  So what is gained with speedier response times?

There are medical referral organizations that guide people so they can pick the best doctor.  Judaism says a doctor has permission to heal, and some of our great people have been doctors, but if only Hashem can heal, then why do look for the best doctor? Why not look for a board certified, decent doctor? It seems to me that we can be much more sincere in our bitachon if we don't seek the best doctor but find someone adequate and truly rely on Hashem.

What Was Gained?

There's a pattern in history which puzzles me. To give some recent examples: Hashem imposes Communism on vast areas which contain millions of Jews. Judaism and its observance is forbidden. This goes on for about seventy years, and countless Jews are lost to their people by marrying out and death. The rest know next to nothing about Judaism.

Then the Iron Curtain comes down and Judaism is slowly being revived.

So what was the point of taking it away, only to bring it back decades later?

Another example: Hashem makes life in Eastern Europe so miserable with poverty, persecution and pogroms that millions of Jews emigrate to America where most of them drop Yiddishkeit. Now we have kiruv organizations bringing back the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those original Jews to Judaism. So why take it away to begin with?

Yemenites and most Jews from North African countries lived religious or at least traditional lives. Then they were taken to Israel or had to flee to Israel and had Yiddishkeit torn away from them by their fellow Jews, r'l. Now we are being mekarev their children and grandchildren. So what was the point in G-d arranging for their Yiddishkeit to be taken away, only to give it back years later after so much fall-out?

 

This is mostly a rhetorical question since we cannot know the ways of Hashem, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts."  There is the idea of a "descent for the sake of an ascent," though I cannot see how it applies here. 

More on Health and Hishtadlus

follow-up to previous post

I have read many times where someone in Eretz Yisrael, when asked about living in a dangerous place or during war time, responded with: If my time is up, it's up no matter where I am.

That sounds correct because we know that Dovid Ha'Melech, for example, was allotted a certain number of years, and so too, for all of us.

However, on Rosh Hashana we say, "You apportion a set time for all Your creatures ... who will live and who will die; mee b'kitzo u'mee lo b'kitzo - who will die at his predestined time and who before his time ..."

Oh, so there is such a thing as dying before your designated time.  How does that happen? By smoking? Not using a seatbelt? By consuming sugar and not enough vegetables? By being sedentary?

"Ein somchin al ha'neis" - we do not rely on miracles.  It is easy to explain this by saying, don't cross a major highway blindfold.  The problem is, when it comes to ordinary activities, we each decide what our definition of "reasonable" is.  For some people, it is not normal to do an activity just for the sake of exercise; they think that going about one's normal activities is enough.  Others regularly walk, swim, cycle, and take an exercise class for their health.  Some people think nutritional supplements are a must; others think it's enough to eat a balanced diet (and they decide what a balanced diet is).  Some think having an annual physical and screening tests are the norm while others don't visit a doctor unless a particular reason to do so arises. 

We pick what is comfortable for us, what we like doing, and if we are obedient and disciplined types we do as current medical knowledge advises (although doctors contradict one another), and it's usually a combination of these.  And then we think we are "balanced" and doing the right thing.  And we feel in control.  And we're not.

a related post: here

On Health and Hishtadlus

I've been pondering hishtadlus in health matters.  I know that taking care of one's health is a mitzva (Devarim 4:15) so I do many things in this regard.  At the same time, I know about numerous situations in which a person made efforts to take care of him or herself and they experienced illness or injury in that very area. 

For example, being careful on the steps, holding on to the bannister, and falling anyway.  Doing a screening test faithfully and getting that disease anyway.

Even as Hashem enjoins us to take care of ourselves, He lets us entertain no illusions that we are in control.  Because if we think we are, He reminds us that we're not. 

So where does that leave us? It leaves me feeling unsettled.  I know the proper outlook is to think I do my part and Hashem runs the show.  The Chovos Ha'Levavos talks about this. 

It can be hard to maintain this way of thinking because human nature is such that we either 1) go overboard in taking steps to maintain our health * or 2) we are more lackadaisical about it.  To get it just right, i.e. to take the right steps while believing nothing is up to me; it's all up to Hashem, is an avoda.

So sometimes, when I am careful about how I bend down, for example, holding on and bending carefully, I think how sensible I am; but then I think - who am I kidding? I've heard so many cases of "freak" accidents, of missteps, of unexpected and sudden falls and illnesses.  Do I think I can avoid injury because of my awareness and taking care? But we have to be aware and take care ... And so I keep pondering.

* the same goes for parnassa

From Hopeless to Hope in an Instant

In a recent news item, a man in Ohio, Tony Yahle, was given up by the doctors and declared dead.  And yet, 45 minutes after his heart stopped beating he began to show signs of life. They say he fully awoke at the hospital five days later.

The cardiologist, Dr. Raja Nazir, said, "In the last 20 years, I've never seen anybody who we have pronounced dead ... and then for him to come back, I've never seen it.  Actually, I've never heard of it."

The man's 18 year old son said, his father went "from hopeless to hope in an instant.”

That last line stood out for me.

We have a phrase for that: yeshuas Hashem k'heref ayin (the salvation of Hashem like the blink of an eye).

I looked up how fast is a blink of an eye and found this: On average, a human eye takes between 300 and 400 milliseconds to complete a single blink. That's roughly between three-tenths and four-tenths of a second.

Pesach Pizza

I wrote about the feelings people have, for and against, items that we eat year round that are made kosher l'Pesach: here some time ago.  I've been thinking about the aura we create when we have things that are special for a particular Yom Tov or Shabbos like toys that are only used on Shabbos so children have something to look forward to on Shabbos on their level.

 

What if we had the opportunity to buy year round dishes and Pesach dishes that are identical.  Would we want that or would we want the Pesach dishes to look different? Many of our Pesach memories have to do with the special plates and glasses we used.  But, as far as I know, there is no inyan or minhag to buy a different pattern on silverware or dishes just for the sake of having something that looks different than year round! Yet, it does impart an excitement when you use completely different items on Pesach just like certain foods are associated with Chanuka and make that Yom Tov special. 

So maybe we are still kids at heart, who need these external differences to help get us in the holiday spirit and maybe it is this point that bothers though who speak vehemently against Pesach "pizza" even though their great-grandmothers made kosher l'Pesach versions of chometz foods.  Maybe previous generations, the ones who kashered their year round glasses because they couldn't afford another set for Pesach, didn't need external ways to get into the Yom Tov spirit because they were more spiritually in tune with what was going on. 

Everything happens by divine providence and is good. Today's young people are often the product of mixed marriages.  They didn't have the Zaidy of the famous Moshe Yess song.  They don't have nostalgic memories of Pesach at Grandma's.  If they find out about the laws of Pesach at all, it's new to them.  Perhaps the reason kosher l'Pesach cereal, ketchup, soy sauce, frozen dinners etc. are available today is because this helps today's generation have a kosher Pesach. 

Nature or G-d?

First in a speech.  Now in an article.  Am I being overly sensitive or is it shocking that rabbis use phrases like "Even as nature demonstrated its capacity for ruthlessness," and "the cruelty of the storm" when talking about Sandy?

Do they really see nature as being separate from G-d or is it just a figure of speech to them?

Is it that they can speak in terms of ruthlessness and cruelty when the subject is nature or the storm, but not if G-d is the one who inflicted the storm?

In the Name of Achdus

I heard a shiur recently in which the speaker spoke about respecting shomer Shabbos Jews with different ideologies and lifestyles than yourself.  In an attempt to promote achdus, problematic ideologies and lifestyles were glossed over.

As important as achdus is, when moral relativism gets mixed in, that spells trouble.  I see this in statements such as, "We need to be able to see people who feel differently than we do, as people with a valid opinion, albeit different from our own ..." without qualification.

Even when referring exclusively to opinions seemingly sourced in Torah, we know that even such views can be wrong! I would give examples but prefer not to be that controversial.

In this era of moral relativism it isn't considered proper to view anything as wrong, but that doesn't change the fact that sometimes, people have wrong views.  We are not allowed, according to Torah, to validate these views! We might try to understand why they hold the wrong views they hold, and love them despite their wrong views, but wrong is wrong!

A similar sentiment is expressed when a frum psychologist writes, "All feelings are legitimate … All feelings are valid."  This is certainly the prevalent view in America today, unfortunately so, but it certainly doesn't reflect Torah values! Regarding anger specifically, rather than say we have the "right" to be angry, the Gemara equates anger with idol-worship!

We are supposed to be work on ourselves to ensure that invalid and illegitimate feelings such as anger, jealousy, hatred, glory-seeking, arrogance etc. do not find a place in our heart.  And if we, or our children or students, experience these feelings, we need to know how to get rid of these bad feelings, not legitimize them.

Our Frum Therapists

I was taken aback to read, in a frum publication, a reference to the "primitive brain" in connection with our self-defense mechanism, the flight or fight response.   That is jargon used by those who espouse evolution who claim it's the oldest  part of the human brain and a piece of brain anatomy that we share with reptiles.  Not something I expect to see in a frum publication or hear from a frum person!

It reminded me of an article I read on a frum website in which the author referred to "our reptilian brain."  In both cases, frum therapists whose books and articles are very popular in the frum world, show how they have been negatively influenced by their secular education. 

It's disheartening because these authors have a lot of good things to say and it's too bad that we cannot rely on frum authors and frum publications and websites to provide us with untainted Torah-true material.  It also belies the claim that frum men and women can study for a profession and somehow (magically?), because of their yeshiva education and allegiance to Torah, remain unsullied by anti-Torah ideas.  We are encouraged to seek out frum counselors and yet, these same frum counselors may promote ideas that are antithetical to Torah.  Caveat emptor.

A Matter of Perspective

Yaakov is punished for hiding Deena from Eisav in parshas Vayishlach.  When you consider that Shimon and Levi were 13 when they killed the city of Shechem and Dina was younger than them; and when you figure out that Eisav was almost 100 years old, you realize that the Torah's idea of marriage and a husband and wife having a "relationship" is far different than ours. 

The most famous example of this is Rivka being 3 years old and Yitzchok 40 when they married.  Yaakov was 84 when he married Leah and Rochel.  The seemingly romantic scene when Yaakov kissed Rochel at the well occurred when Yaakov was 77. 

Our modern, Western sensibilities look askance at "child brides," and yet, Jewish girls in Yemen and Morocco were often married by 11-12.  The Chofetz Chaim married at 17.  It was commonplace for Eastern European Jews to marry in their mid-teens.

We seem to think we have some sort of monopoly on what is "proper" and what isn't, what is a perversion and what isn't.  Our views are colored by the culture we live in.  We would do well to remember that.

Inconceivable!

What a medical oops this was! A woman underwent IVF only to be told that the baby she was carrying was not her own, but someone else's embryo! She sustained the pregnancy because she believes in the sanctity of life.  This was a tremendously difficult challenge since the baby wasn't hers and she wasn't going to keep it (although she would have loved to).  The baby went to its genetic parents immediately after it was born.  The book is appropriately named, Inconceivable.

The couple who tells the story, alternating between the husband's voice and the wife's voice, are Catholic.  They wanted a large family and they are devoted to the church, giving it their time, energy and resources.  Interestingly, they defied the Church's position on IVF which is that IVF is morally unacceptable. 

Despite being religious people, they have ideas about G-d that are not what I would call "religious."  She says she does not believe "G-d only gives you what you can handle."  She does not believe G-d tests people.  She does not believe that G-d is in charge of His world, "that He sits up in heaven and decides who gets what tragedy or blessing."  She says, shockingly, "We are certain that G-d didn't do this to us.  We just know it happened."  And she doesn't believe in "gam zu l'tova," that something good will come of this. 

I don't know how widespread these beliefs are among Catholics or Christians in general.  I find it so surprising when these ideas are the bedrock of our emuna.  If she doesn't think G-d is running the world, what does she think G-d is about? That He created the world and retired? I don't want to get into Christian theology but I'd be interested in knowing whether this couple's belief system is shared by many church goers and what they think about reward and punishment. 

An Extra Kidney?

The frum media has had many heartwarming stories lately, about people donating kidneys to those in need, strangers to the donor.  Poskim have ruled that it is permissible to do this.

What I wonder about is the comment, often made by those promoting kidney donations, that perhaps this is the reason why Hashem gave us an "extra" kidney, so we could donate it.  This is predicated on the view that we don't need two kidneys and that we can function perfectly well with one.

This pronouncement does not sit well with me.  Is this really the case, that for millenia, billions of people were given two kidneys by Hashem, so that in our generation, a few people can donate a kidney? It is reminiscent of the medical wisdom of yesteryear in which tonsils and the appendix were considered superfluous and were frequently surgically removed without a compelling reason to do so. 

I'm sure it's true that as of now, with the medical knowledge we have today, it looks as though a person can manage just fine with one kidney, and since a person in dire need of a kidney is in a state of pikuach nefesh, poskim have ruled that a person can donate a kidney.  However, to say that Hashem created us with an extra, unnecessary organ? I'm not convinced.

Anthropomorphising Weather Reports

As heard on the radio:

Tomorrow, it's going to try and brighten up.

It's supposed to be ___ (sunny, rainy).

As the skies try to clear ...

We'll start to nudge the clouds out .

We'll try to get a little above freezing.

Temperatures are struggling to reach the freezing mark.

Some rain tomorrow unfortunately.

We may get rid of the warm weather.

Jack Frost is still in a fierce mood.

We'll have to watch that off the coast.  It shouldn't be there.

Meteorologists anthropomorphise (attribute human characteristics) to the sky and the temperature; They sound like they are in control when they are anything but; they introduce negativity into our lives with their negative commentary (rain unfortunately). 

You would think that a weather report should be harmless and not an attack on our Torah values, but no ...

One Day to LIve

Long ago, a famous teacher was asked what she would do if she knew she had one day to live.  She said she would cook a big pot of vegetable soup for her family.  Her point being, she would nurture her family which is her primary role.

A famous rav and teacher was asked what he would do if he knew he had one day to live.  He said he would do whatever he was up to in his daily schedule.  In other words, he would do nothing different.  He was a disciplined person with every hour of his day accounted for, and if in his schedule it was time to give a shiur, he would teach; if it was time to eat lunch, he would eat lunch.

A wonderful young bachur became a chassan and on the day of his wedding he was in the beis medrash, learning as he usually did. 

Each of these people sounds special and yet each story bothers me.  I will try to articulate why.  I think it's because it seems to me that under extraordinay circumstances, you do the extraordinary, not the ordinary, as special and important as the ordinary is.

What do you think?

A Study in Contrasts

I cannot vouch for either of these two stories, but the message they convey is powerful.

Story #1

Salach Taomri was a heroic figure for the Palestinian world. He received his recognition before the Lebanon War–1982 when he managed several big terrorist attacks against the Israeli army.  There isn't one single Palestinian child that hasn't heard about Salach Taomri. By the time he turned twenty-four, his picture was hanging on the wall in almost every Palestinian household.

At the time that this story takes place Salach had already given up hope. He thinks, despairingly, that the Palestinians will never rule over the Israelis, never get even and never get their own Palestine. The only hope that he had left was that, if he fights, the Palestinians might get a tiny portion of land of Israel.  He was convicted for his terrorist attacks and became a prisoner in an Israeli jail where he stayed for many years. 

Salach Taomri says, " I was in solitary confinement, absolutely closed off and disconnected from the rest of the world. Only through the bars that divided me from the long hallway was I able to look out. In this hallway, for twenty-four hours a day walked an Israeli guard with his arms full of guns and ammunition. I called him to me, because I had noticed that he was eating a pita sandwich, with great gusto and relish."

"Are you Jewish?" I asked him. He shook his head yes, his mouth full with the pita. " If so, why are you eating Chametz on Pesach? Don't you know that Jews are forbidden to eat Chametz on this holiday?" The guard was astonished and shocked to hear these words coming from a top terrorist. There was a moment of silence and then he replied." I am not obligated to the wonders that happened to my people more than two thousand years ago. I am secular, I have nothing to do with that."

Salach Taomri continued "...I sat on my dirty mattress, absolutely in shock. I said to myself, " A nation that has no connection to their history and past, and is capable of publicly desecrating its own credibility and beliefs, is a nation that has cut their roots from the land. Therefore, we, the Palestinians can achieve our goals."

The next day, the guards allowed me to go to the regular prison room. I gathered together all the leaders of the Palestinian prisoners that were there. I told the story of what had happened to all those who knew my opinion that we had no chance to win the war against the Israeli's. I told them about the shocking event that I went through and my conclusions.

"We are changing our approach," I told everybody. "From this very day on, we are going down a new path, a new war. We want everything. We shall demand everything. Not just a little percentage of Israel, not just the little bones that they throw down to us when they feel like it. We want all of the Holy Land, because standing against us is a nation that is not connected to its past. We will fight against the Jews in Israel for amongst them there is no concern for their history. We are fighting against the Jews in Israel, because they don't care about their roots anymore. Since the Jewish people don't care about their religious laws and traditions, they will have no strong motivation to fight and to go to battle. Therefore, we are going to win."

Story #2

The story is told of Napoleon walking through the streets of Paris. As he passed by a shul, he heard the sound of people weeping inside. He turned to his assistant and asked, "What's going on in there?"

"Today is Tisha B'Av," came the reply, "and the Jews are mourning the loss of their Temple."

Napoleon looked toward the shul and said, "If the Jews are still crying after so many hundreds of years, then I am certain the Temple will one day be rebuilt!"

Who By Water; Who By Fire

We bentched Rosh Chodesh Elul the day before Hurricane Irene struck.  Boruch Hashem it was much more mild than anticipated.  However, two tragedies in the frum world were reminiscent of the tefillos we will soon be saying on the Yomim Noraim.

A man was electrocuted by fallen live wires as he was helping a child, and a woman drowned when the motel she was staying in was flooded.  In וּנְתַנֶּה תּקֶף we say מִי יִחְיֶה וּמִי יָמוּת (who will live and who will die) and specifically, מִי בַמַּיִם. וּמִי בָאֵשׁ (who by water and who by fire). 

May the new year bring only simchas to Klal Yisrael.