More Questions Answered

I have been asked several questions on Email (three different Email accounts), Skype, telephone, and in person that I thought would be good to share with you on this blog.

 

Question:  One thing I never understood is I thought the Talmud was the oral law and the oral law as given to Moses with the written Torah at Sinai. But, the Talmud is discussions by real people. So, no one knows what the oral laws, and therefore the Halachah, which was given us by G-d really says.

Answer:  The Talmud consists of two parts.  The Mishnayot which were all the laws handed down from Sinai, and Gomorrah which is the detailed discussion and analysis of the Mishnayot.  It is all more miraculous than I am talking about; since, Yehudah HaNasi, who compiled the Mishnayot, brought together Rabbis from all over, who did not know each other, and they all had the exact same information.  Also, Hashem told us to listen to the Rabbis, that they will continue to give us Hashem's word.  There is more outright prophecy in Gomorrah than can be read in Tenach  Were writers of Gomorrah prophets?   No, but their words were definitely from Hashem since they said many, many things that would have made no sense to them, but are profound, clear words to us.  It is also said that Moshe Rabbeinu saw in the spaces between the words of the written Torah all the information of the Oral Torah  With Hashem everything is possible; and, there is no doubt that the Talmud is miraculous and Hashem's word.

Be aware that the Talmud does not establish Halachah; it is merely extensive discussion that argues how we go from the Torah mitzvah to Halachah and even minhagim (customs).  Over thousands of years the Halachah was codified by the Rabbis.  The Shulchan Aruch and in more modern times the Mishna Berurah are the standards for Halachah  It even gets more complicated since the Ashkenazim may use one authority such as Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt"l; while, the Sephardim may lean more to the Arizal or more modern Sephardic Rabbaim.  Then there is regional minhagim (the US, Europe, Israel) all have their own take on the fine details.  Hashem wants us to study Torah and therefore made it much deeper and not a simple solution.  There is commentary by the R' Moshe Dovid Valli, a student of the Ramchal, who tells of how climate and the environment at different parts of the world causes differences in the Neshama and, therefore different requirements in our daily activities.  It is the reason that the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim have differences in Tefillah.  This gets very deep, but extremely interesting.

Since I am one that topic of Halachah, I thought I would make one more attempt at answering Mr. Anonymous who insists that I am not answering him but avoiding him.  Even though he had not been nice to me, the Torah tells me that I am required to help every person that I can and not just ignore them.  The question about me saying not to do any particular Halachah is a very big misunderstanding.  First of all, I have asked several times: what is the Halachah that you feel that I am violating?  It can’t be that I am telling people not to vote, since there is no such Halachah.  But, as I have said before, any Halachah that presents a danger is not to be done.  A medical emergency, for instance, on the Shabbat allows me to make a phone call or even drive a car.  To save a life it is considered a sin if I keep the Halachah instead of saving a life.  In our case of voting, If the only candidates that I have available to vote for are evil man, I should avoid voting.  My evidence of their evil ways I could write a book about.  In other words, if there were such a Halachah that requires me to vote and the only candidates that are available have an agenda to kill me and my family, I am obligated not to vote.  That is not me deciding Halachah, but following the ways of Hashem.

When I stated that the rabbis are saying “it is time to move to Israel,” I am referring to all Rabbis -- thousands throughout the world.  If you want the list of all of them it will take me a couple months to compile.  If you have paid attention to the blogs that have discussed this, you would have seen just about every Rabbi mentioned in the blog has talked about it being time and making an effort to make Aliyah.  We also have the autistics.  They have all said it is time.  Why are they saying this?  Because, it is throughout the Tenach that in the end of days all Jews will return to Israel.  Everyone is convinced we are in the end of days and since the world has become so chaotic, it is good advice – to move to Israel.  It's no coincidence that it just happens to be in this week's parsha of the Torah, Lech Lecha, that Abraham was told to leave his home and go to the place that Hashem will tell him.  This was not just instructions for Abraham, but was prophecy for us.  The meaning of Lech Lecha is not just to go, but go for yourself.  That means that we are being instructed to go to Israel for our own benefit, for our own safety.  The world is a dangerous place.  The message throughout Scriptures is that Israel is the only safe place in the world for a Jew.  If you don't believe that then you are lacking faith and trust than Hashem.  Check statistics as to your chances of getting hurt or killed outside of Israel versus in Israel.  It is an eye-opener.

It is very unfair to me if you ask a question that is not a real question.  As an example if you ask me why I am telling people not to do a Halachah that doesn't exist (except in your mind); how should I respond to that?  It's like me asking you the question: Have you stopped beating your wife yet?  You may answer “I'm not even married” to which I would answer that wasn't my question; I asked “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?”   In other words to ask a totally non-relevant, nonsensical question and demand three times an answer is unfair to me and is very contrary to Torah.  To bother Yaak on his blog is even more nonsensical; he has nothing to do with our discussion.   Use some common sense and put yourself in my shoes – being nasty to a fellow Jew (if you are even Jewish) is against Torah.  To debate Halachah when you have obviously proven your lack of scholarship on the subject is weak at best, and is a waste of time – mine and my readers.  I’ve said it before; the fact that I am more concerned about your welfare than you are is very troubling.  Reconsider your priorities and do the right thing – help yourself understand the reality here.   Get a name since Anonymous is mostly used by those who are ashamed of their lack of scholarship (I am not talking about very good people who signed in as Anonymous and put their names at the end of their comment.  I am still making an effort to eliminate the Anonymous possibility on the comment posting; but, I did not design the blog template so I don’t expect to succeed on that one.

Another comment that needs to be said is according to Pirchei Avos, I am old enough to give Mussar and you are probably young enough to listen and learn.  It is important to know that whether you agree or not with anything that I say is irrelevant, the truth doesn't go away.  If you can prove me wrong, not with your opinion but with your scholarship – showing me in scriptures exactly where I am in error – I will change my statements immediately.  I am interested in helping everyone who reads my blog and leading no one astray.  I am always, always ready to learn (and I have from many of my readers) but only what is the Absolute Truth not the opinion of a person who has flawed logic – no matter how good it sounds.

Be nice.  And you will find me to be exceptionally nice in return – it’s the Torah way.