Parshas Chukas - Don't Become Part of the Problem, Become Part of the Solution 6 Tammuz 5784
07/12/2024 08:50:00 AM
Author | |
Date Added |
Throughout my teaching career I have been privileged to teach many topics and areas of Jewish learning: Talmud, Chumash, Halacha, many areas of Jewish law, Hashkafa (Jewish philosophy and outlook), and Musser - self-improvement. Every teacher has his or her own style and methodology of teaching, regardless of the subject or level of the class. Within certain subject matters, the focus of the learning will vary depending upon specific goals. For me, one of the primary goals of a class is to develop a clear process of thinking and understanding the reasons for learning that subject.
Every Rabbi has a particular area of teaching preference, whether it be a class on the weekly potion, a Gemara class or an area of Halacha. I personally especially enjoy giving classes in Jewish law (halacha). My style is to discuss cases, presenting students with the law, the situation, and then challenge them to try to figure out how the halacha applies to that specific case. More often than not, the students make suggestions of how to avoid the problem in the first place. My automatic response is “I am not looking for outside-the-case solutions”. I can always suggest ways to prevent a problem from coming up. A simple illustration is “if a person does not have wine or grape juice on Friday night for kiddush, what are his options?” Invariably, someone will suggest “make sure you get wine or grape juice before Shabbos” thereby obviating the question of should I make kiddush on bread? The point of teaching halacha is to learn, to fully understand the law and its applications to each specific situation.
This method of figuring out the halacha rather than ’simply’ providing a solution works well in the world of academia and intellectual mindset, but it also works quite well in the practical sense. Life is full of situations that are usually an after-the-fact issue that needs to be solved right now rather than making use of hindsight regarding how the person should have acted beforehand. For example, if there are only nine people who show up to the minyan and we need one more to complete the minyan, we can’t go back (at this very moment) and suggest every member should commit to two days a week to go to minyan. The action needed now is to call someone to get over to the Shul immediately to complete the minyan. Ultimately, the tenth person who needed to be called was a part of the solution. All those who are not part of the solution are contributing to the problem.
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver, a controversial political activist once stated, 'If you are not part of the solution, you must be part of the problem. Some say this is a misquotation and the full correct quote is: 'There is no more neutrality in the world. You either must be part of the solution, or you're going to be part of the problem. We find several examples in the Torah where being part of the solution will prevent a person from becoming the problem. An open, obvious example is if a person gives charity, he will not come to need charity himself. On the other hand, someone who does not help someone in need will eventually become the one who is asking for help. In essence, if we become part of the solution, we won’t become part of the problem. (This is somewhat counter intuitive, yet the Torah’s principles don’t operate on the same plane as the human mind.) Another prime example is the process and procedure of the Parah Adumah, the Red Heifer. Clearly, the Mitzva of the Parah Adumah does not make sense to the human mind yet it is the mechanism the Torah describes as the ultimate ‘Chok” – a law that we do not comprehend. What is this illusive understanding of the Parah Adumah?
In this week’s Parshas Chukas the Torah states in Bamidbar 19:7 "וכבס בגדיו הכהן ורחץ בשרו במים ואחר יבא אל המחנה וטמא הכהן עד הערב" “The priest [the Kohein] must then immerse his vestments and his body in a mikvah and remain unclean until evening, after which he may come into the camp”. The Torah continues and states the one who burns the cow must also immerse his clothing, etc. and remain unclean until the evening. Finally, a ritually clean person shall gather up the cow’s ashes and place them outside the camp and again this ritually clean person becomes impure until the evening requiring immersion of his body and clothing as well.
We clearly see that sometimes all of us must give of ourselves - either by giving the charity, or, in the case of the Red Heifer be willing to become impure by helping someone else remove his impurity. This is an example of Law of the Torah which is considered completely above human comprehension. In the Yotzros (additional prayers) of Shabbos Parah it says to purify the impure and to defile the pure ones by saying “Kadosh” Holy. The paradox is that those who are involved in the preparation of the ashes of the cow become ritually impure, while the sprinkling of water with those ashes is used to remove contamination! It is an example of a Law which must be accepted on faith alone. This is finalized by the word Kadosh/Holy at the end of the procedure. The Admor, Reb Yisroel from Ruzhin, explains the meaning of the anomaly with the last word ‘kadosh’. It is exclusively the result of the recognition “it is holy” because Hashem said this Mitzva and is above human comprehension. Hashem will cleanse those individuals who may think they are impure because they have sinned, and yet still confess their misdeeds. When someone comes to the realization that they sinned, they come clean and even if they had committed a sin it will turn into a Mitzva.
Ultimately, it takes a person to jump in and sacrifice a little of himself to avoid being the problem, instead focus on creating solutions before and after the issues arise. By doing so, we can and will both avoid and eliminate the greater challenges facing the Jewish people of today.
Ah Gutten Shabbos
Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky
Thu, November 7 2024
6 Cheshvan 5785
UPCOMING EVENTS
-
Saturday ,
NovNovember 16 , 2024
Shabbos, Nov 16th 11:00a to 1:30p
-
Thursday ,
DecDecember 5 , 2024
Thursday, Dec 5th 6:30p to 7:30p
The first 10 teams to sign up are free. Otherwise, the cost is $10 to participate. Prepare your Cholent entry at shul on Thursday evening, December 5th. We provide potatoes, onions, barley, beans, ketchup, mustard, salt and pepper.
General Davening Schedule:
Weekday Shacharis
Monday-Friday - 6:15am
Shabbos Shacharis - 8:45am
Sunday Shacharis - 8:00am
Daily Mincha/Maariv -per Shkiah (Approximately 20 minutes before Sunset)
Monday-Friday - 4:35pm
Shabbos Mincha - 4:20pm
Sunday Mincha/Maariv - 4:30pm
* Please view The Weekly link above for Afternoon times and/or special davening times.
Sign up For or manage Your Email Subscriptions
Zmanim for San Diego
Alos Hashachar | 4:57am |
Earliest Tallis | 5:26am |
Netz (Sunrise) | 6:12am |
Latest Shema | 8:51am |
Zman Tefillah | 9:45am |
Chatzos (Midday) | 11:32am |
Mincha Gedola | 11:59am |
Mincha Ketana | 2:38pm |
Plag HaMincha | 3:45pm |
Shkiah (Sunset) | 4:54pm |
Tzais Hakochavim | 5:30pm |
More >> |
- HOME |
- Donate
- | CONTACT US
Privacy Settings | Privacy Policy | Member Terms
©2024 All rights reserved. Find out more about ShulCloud