Parshas Naso and Chag Shavuos

"Your Rabbi's Rabbi must be over 100 years old and still dynamic!!"
"Actually, his Rabbi is dead for over 50 years, but my Rabbi still lives and breathes the Kaminetz Yeshiva." (Kaminetz was a great Yeshiva in pre-WW2 Europe.)

"And afterwards the Nazir (one who vowed to abstain from drinking wine for a period of time) may drink wine." (Bimidbar 6:20). Why does the Torah still refer to him as a Nazir at the time that he can drink wine? The Alshich explains that since he did it to elevate his spirituality, when he stays on that level, the Torah still refers to him as a Nazir. Similarly, the spiritual growth we get from learning Torah, doing a mitzva, or observing a holiday, is meant to be permanent !!

A Jew can come out of Shul, but can the Shul come out of the Jew? Hopefully not.

Have a good Yom Tov and Shabbos !!

Rabbi Chaim Flom

Dear Rabbi Flom,
Awesome D'var Torah!!!..I have a question/thought....I know that any mitzvah or Torah learning that we do is counted and is permanent. But how do we feel that inside of us? It's so frustrating that anytime I learn or do a Mitzvah I very often feel empty a little while later and/or I don't feel so very spiritually uplifted. Especially when I am at work all day with non-jews i.e., I am not in Yeshiva anymore Toto. I know the answer lies in the fact that we have to learn to say to ourselves and believe that any mitzvah or Torah learning we do is so important and that we are doing what Hashem wants from us, and hopefully that will infuse a long lasting spiritual feeling.....But that is so hard sometimes!!....O.k. thanx for letting me vent........
Mark

Dera Rabbi Flom,
Dear Rabbi Flom,
Can the shul remain with the Jew who doesn't bring it to him/her? How can one seriously find the shul means anything to them when they come in and talk during davening? Where is the meaning to them, where is the feeling for Hashem? Just my thoughts.
Have a very good yom tov.
Lynn

Just a thought...(i have not read the thread or the vort, apologies to Rabbi Flom, i'm just responding from reading the last post or two...) Shouldn't the Jew coming into Shul, be bringing HaShem with him? In this week's portion we have HaShem telling Moshe that the Ruah upon him will increase and spread (awtzel) to the 70... in another place we read that HaShem tells us (Klal Yisrael) that He will dwell in-among us, meaning in each Jew and among the Klal... if the shul is the only place you encounter HaShem something is deficient in your spiritual perspective on life. Likewise if you don't experience HaShem's Presence in a shul then consider what the Baal Shem Tov said to one his talmidim... "The Besht upon enter a shul to daven said, "it is very crowed in here we should go...' the talmid stated, "yet Master, the shul has only a minyan present, and it is a large room how could you say it is crowded?" 'the Besht amswered, "this shul is filled with tefilot that have not been elevated".... what's the point? not that the Baal Shem Tov "saw the prayers" yet he saw that the attitude of the people there was self-directed, it was only about themselves, whether it is talking during the minyan or speeding thru tefila so that you can return to your studies, or just having attitudes such as being "holier than thou" or "cliche" or not accepting of others (regardless of their dress, or observance level), prayer is suppose to be both a conversation with our Source, our Abba ba'Shamayim v'Haeretz, AND it is the recognition that we exist only because of Ayn od milvado, therefore tefila is so much more than an obligation, it is a necessity (at least for me)... Shavua Tov/Shabbat Shalom.

quote:

Originally posted by Fine:
Dear Rabbi Flom,
Awesome D'var Torah!!!..I have a question/thought....I know that any mitzvah or Torah learning that we do is counted and is permanent. But how do we feel that inside of us? It's so frustrating that anytime I learn or do a Mitzvah I very often feel empty a little while later and/or I don't feel so very spiritually uplifted. Especially when I am at work all day with non-jews i.e., I am not in Yeshiva anymore Toto. I know the answer lies in the fact that we have to learn to say to ourselves and believe that any mitzvah or Torah learning we do is so important and that we are doing what Hashem wants from us, and hopefully that will infuse a long lasting spiritual feeling.....But that is so hard sometimes!!....O.k. thanx for letting me vent........
Mark

Dear Mark,
Thanks for the note.
Sometimes it is very hard to feel ruchnius (spirituality)while doing mundane things. I think that if while doing mundane things we realize that we are doing it as Torah Jews, it helps. For example,we think that when are doing are job properly, we are preventing ourselves from stealing, by not cheating the boss.Also, when I am doing my job properly, I am doing a chessed for the customer that he is getting exactly what he wants (also not stealing). Being careful the way I speak in business, no loshon horah, no foul language etc. I have a friend who told our Rosh Yeshiva that he wanted to quit his job, because whenever he came into the office and people were discussing off-color topics etc, they would stop out of respect for him, and he felt uncomfortable about that. The Rosh yeshiva said, that that was a great accomplishment, to be able to influence people like that. His co-workers obviously felt that he was the real thing !!
Also thinking that earning a living will give you the ability pay for all sorts of Mitzvos etc, is also helpful.
Of course you should always make sure that you set aside time for somereal learning and real davening.
Take care.
Rabbi Flom

Dear Lynn and Yonatan,
I agree wholeheartedly with both of you, that what you "get out" of shul depends greatly on what you bring into shul. Obviously, if one goes to shul to talk and socialize, davening will just be, at best,a by rote experience.(Therefore by definition, I firmly believe that the shul isn't the only place you encounter Hashem.)
Take care.
Rabbi Flom

"The Rosh yeshiva said, that that was a great accomplishment, to be able to influence people like that. "

Dear Rabbi Flom,
Just because people stopped speaking bad things when he came into the room, so what ?? The second he left it probably started again.
Thanks.
Mark

Dear Mark,
As the Chofetz Chaim supposedly said about a person buying his Shiras Halashon and not really learning it --"if he spoke loshon horah one time less, because of the sefer, it was well worth the investment". And besides, if the next time they say "Oy, I shouldn't have done that", it is certainly good. And a lot more scenarios.
Thanks.
Rabbi Flom