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Bereshit 5781 BS”D October 16, 2020 Potomac Torah Study Center Vol. 8 #1, October 16, 2020; Bereshit 5781 NOTE: Devrei Torah presented weekly in Loving Memory of Rabbi Leonard S. Cahan z”l, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Har Shalom, who started me on my road to learning almost 50 years ago and was our family Rebbe and close friend until his recent untimely death. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Devrei Torah are now Available for Download (normally by noon on Fridays) from www.PotomacTorah.org. Thanks to Bill Landau for hosting the Devrei Torah. __________________________________________________________________________________ Mazel-Tov to Zev Mendelson on his Bar Mitzvah at Beth Sholom this Shabbas. Mazel-Tov also to his parents, Jesse and Elana Mendelson, brothers Jonah and Gabey, and Grandparents Marilyn & Murray Hammerman and Judy & Abby Mendelson. __________________________________________________________________________________ Much of the inspiration for my weekly Dvar Torah message comes from the insights of Rabbi David Fohrman and his team of scholars at www.alephbeta.org. Please join me in supporting this wonderful organization, which has increased its scholarly work during the pandemic, despite many of its supporters having to cut back on their donations. _____________________________________________________________________________________ It is strange starting a new Torah cycle after having to daven at home for all the Tishrei holy days (let alone every day for the past seven months). We start again investigating the world that God created for us. The Torah covers approximately 3500 years of history with very selective coverage. In two weeks, we cover the first 2000 years. Sefer Devarim, which we read over nearly three months, covers essays that Moshe presented to B’nai Yisrael over approximately five weeks. Whatever the Torah is, we can quickly deduce that it is not a history book. Sorry, kids. Since the Torah is not presenting history, we cannot fault it for determining that the dinosaurs have nothing that God wants humans today to learn from these reptiles. Rabbi Marc Angel’s brilliant Devar Torah, “Torah and Evolution,” reprinted several pages below, is one of the most insightful essays I have ever read on how the Torah relates to science. The Torah tells us that God created the world. Science focuses on the details of the process by which inanimate objects evolved, created simple forms of life, and eventually developed into the complex forms of life we have today. The Torah explains that God created the original inanimate objects and directed the process that led to later forms of life. The Torah is not interested in presenting these details, while science focuses on how each set of details leads to the next. Science does not discuss who created the original items, while the Torah tells us that God created them and set up the process that science studies. In short, the Torah and science focus on different questions and ignore the issues of the other discipline. The Torah is completely consistent with science, properly understood. Rabbi Angel’s presentation is far more sophisticated and beautifully done than my brief summary of some high points. In a brilliant essay (video class), Rabbi David Fohrman (alephbeta.org) discusses the question of whether the big bang theory could have happened by chance rather than by God’s direction. For a big bang to have led to complex forms of life requires a long string of events, each of which would have required precisely calculated events taking place under exacting conditions. For example, for a big bang to have created planets in orbit around the sun without being driven away from the center, or without crashing into the sun, required extremely precise calculations virtually certain not to have occurred by chance. Each of the steps that science says had to be involved in evolution requires similar very precise 1 conditions. All these steps could never have meshed together by chance. Such exacting precision required an incredibly brilliant mind to put the process together. We call that brilliant organizer God, the One who was here first, oversees the human world, and put together the conditions necessary for our world to exist. The Torah investigates the question of why God created this world, what He wants from humans, and how we can relate to God in the world He created for us. In my college philosophy class, the professor taught us that we could neither prove or disprove the existence of God. (My philosophy professor later was the first candidate for US President for the Libertarian party.) Rabbis Angel and Fohrman convince me that a proper understanding of what science and God means enables us actually to provide a convincing proof that God exists. Over the years, I have learned that many of the best Rabbis are also extremely fine scientists. My beloved Rebbe, Rabbi Leonard Cahan, z”l, started studying science before switching to Rabbinic studies. Anyone reading or listening to Rabbi David Fohrman’s exposition of the virtual impossibility of a big bang leading to life as we know it will realize that Rabbi Fohrman would have been a brilliant scientist. Our teachers fifty years ago might have told us that religion and science are inconsistent with each other. When I was in college and graduate school, many of my professors were Jewish – and only one of them was religious. I agree with Rabbis Angel, Cahan, and Fohrman that advances in science have made it easier than ever for scientists to be religious Jews. As we study the Torah this year, may we keep in mind that God’s lessons for us are consistent with science, as long as we learn both Torah and science correctly. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Please daven for a Refuah Shlemah for Nossan ben Pessel, Hershel Tzvi ben Chana, Eli ben Hanina, Yoram HaKohen ben Shoshana, Gedalya ben Sarah, Mordechai ben Chaya, Baruch Yitzhak ben Perl, David Leib HaKohen ben Sheina Reizel, Zev ben Sara Chaya, Uzi Yehuda ben Mirda Behla, HaRav Dovid Meir ben Chaya Tzippa; Eliav Yerachmiel ben Sara Dina, Amoz ben Tziviah, Reuven ben Masha, Moshe David ben Hannah, Meir ben Sara, Yitzhok Tzvi ben Yehudit Miriam, Yaakov Naphtali ben Michal Leah, Ramesh bat Heshmat, Rivka Chaya bat Leah, Zissel Bat Mazal, Chana Bracha bas Rochel Leah, Leah Fruma bat Musa Devorah, Hinda Behla bat Chaya Leah, Nechama bas Tikva Rachel, Miriam Chava bat Yachid, and Ruth bat Sarah, all of whom greatly need our prayers. Note: Beth Sholom has additional names, including coronavirus victims, on a Tehillim list. _____________________________________________________________________________ Hannah & Alan _____________________________________________________________________________ Drasha: Bereishis: Spreading the Fate by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky © 1998 [Please remember Mordechai ben Chaya for a Mishebarach!] What began as a good-will gesture turned terribly sour. Worse, it spurred the first murder in history. It could have been avoided if only… The Torah tells us of Cain’s innovation. He had all the fruit of the world before him and decided to offer his thanks to the Creator, albeit from his cheapest produce — flax. Cain’s brother Hevel (Abel) imitated his brother, by offering a sacrifice, too, but he did it in much grander form. He offered the finest, fattest of his herd. Hevel’s offer was accepted and Cain’s was not. And Cain was reasonably upset. Hashem appears to Cain and asks him, “Why is your face downtrodden and why are you upset?” Hashem then explains that the choice of good and bad is up to every individual, and that person can make good for himself or find himself on the threshold of sin. Simple as all that. (Genesis 4:6-7) Many commentaries are bothered by what seems to be another in a litany of questions that G-d knows the answers to. Obviously, Cain was upset for the apparent rejection of his offering. Why does Hashem seem to rub it in? 2 The story is told of a construction worker who opened his lunch pail, unwrapped his sandwich and made a sour face. “Peanut Butter!” he would mutter, “I hate peanut butter!” This went on for about two weeks: every day he would take out his sandwich and with the same intensity mutter under his breath. “I hate peanut butter sandwiches!” Finally, one of his co-workers got sick and tired of his constant complaining. “Listen here,” said the man. “If you hate peanut butter that much why don’t you just tell your wife not to make you any more peanut butter sandwiches? It’s as simple as that.” The hapless worker sighed. “It’s not that simple. You see, my wife does not pack the sandwiches for me. I make them myself.” When Hashem asks Cain, “why are you dejected?” it is not a question directed only at Cain. Hashem knew what caused the dejection. He was not waiting to hear a review of the events that transpired. Instead Hashem was asking a question for the ages. He asked a question to all of us who experience the ramifications of our own moral misdoing. Hashem asked a haunting question to all whose own hands bring about their own misfortunes. Then they mutter and mope as if the world has caused their misfortunes. “Why are you upset, towards whom are you upset?” asks G-d. “Is it not the case that if you would better yourself you could withstand the moral failings and their ramifications? Is it not true that if we don’t act properly, eventually, we will be thrust at the door of sin?” Success and failure of all things spiritual is dependent on our own efforts and actions. Of course Hashem knew what prompted Cain’s dejection. But there was no reason for Cain to be upset. There was no one but himself at whom to be upset.
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