Project Genesis, Leaders in Online Jewish Learning

TweetShare via email

As mentioned previously, the 50 days between the holidays of Passover and Shavuos are known as the time of “Counting the Omer.” Today is the 33rd day of the count, the holiday of Lag B’Omer, which is notable for two reasons. Twenty-Four thousand students of Rabbi Akiva, the great Talmudic sage, died during the Sefira period, and our tradition is that this tragic plague ended on Lag B’Omer. This day also commemorates the passing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (often known as “Rashbi”), one of Rabbi Akiva’s few surviving students, and whose piety served as a blessing to his entire generation. Our tradition is that on the day Rashbi died, he revealed the hidden teachings of the Torah known as the Zohar, the basis of Kabbala, to his students.

The classic ethical work, Chapters of the Fathers, Pirkei Avos, lists 48 ways to acquire the knowledge of Torah. Each of the 48 ways – Purity, Peace of Mind, Limiting Earthly Pleasure, etc – stresses a virtue for personal growth. The commentaries note that these 48 ways correspond to the 49 days of the Sefira cycle, the last day serving as the culmination of all 48.

Interestingly, according to many sources, the 33rd day of Sefira corresponds to the virtue of “Loving Rebuke.” The Talmud and Midrash attribute the death of Rabbi Akiva’s students to a lack of respect or generosity towards each other. How appropriate it is that the 33rd day, the day the dying ceased, represents the polar opposite – showing love for another to the extent of loving their rebuke!

The theme continues with Rashbi himself. The Talmud writes that Rashbi spent 13 years with his son in a cave, evading a death sentence from the Roman government. He subsisted on the bare minimum of food, shelter, and clothing. Living under such conditions serves to erase any form of personality, of self. During this time, Rashbi did nothing but study Torah with his son. With all remnants of self erased, their Torah study was an absolute connection with G-d and His word.

What process is necessary to move from the vices of disrespect and greed, to the virtue of receiving rebuke with love? It’s the process Rashbi underwent in the cave – diminishing the self. Once we break from being absorbed by ourselves, we can be open to loving others and embracing even their criticism.

Rashbi experienced an intense level of spirituality during those 13 years, an experience through which he merited the advanced spiritual knowledge of the Zohar. The same process holds true for us. When self-centeredness fades, our soul then has room to welcome others in, especially G-d. Lag B’omer and Rashbi present the movement out of self, the key to spiritual existence on earth. (Based on Ohr Gedalyahu and Nesivos Shalom)

Happy Lag B’Omer and Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Mordechai Dixler
Program Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org

TweetShare via email

On Monday, Paul Miller, a Senior Editor at a “technology-focused news publication” called The Verge, announced that he was quitting the Internet for a year. He’s switched to a “dumb” phone, and has pledged to neither use the Internet nor ask others to use it for him, if he can.

His reasons for this drastic move are informative. He hopes that “leaving the internet will make me better with my time, vastly more creative, a better friend, a better son and brother… a better Paul.” He said that he was spending an average of over twelve hours each day using some sort of device with an Internet connection, not even including his smartphone.

By separating myself from the constant connectivity, I can see which aspects are truly valuable, which are distractions for me, and which parts are corrupting my very soul. What I worry is that I’m so “adept” at the internet that I’ve found ways to fill every crevice of my life with it, and I’m pretty sure the internet has invaded some places where it doesn’t belong.

This is a profound statement for a person who makes his living as a technology writer, a job that will be far more difficult without the ability to research new devices online, see what others have written, and even exchange e-mail to share ideas. His previous weekly column was entitled “The Verge at work: sync your text everywhere, never lose an idea again” — which, of course, requires the Internet.

Yet after his first day, he described the experience in glowing terms. “The moment I reached down and unplugged the ethernet cable from my computer, I felt like school was out for the summer, and the simultaneous relief and boredom that last bell brings. I stood up, and I realized that I’d been anticipating this moment for ages.” The rest of his day was relaxing — including hours spent playing local multiplayer video games with colleagues.

At home I listened to records with my roommate and the peaceful boredom continued. I found myself really engaging in the moment, asking questions and listening closely, even more than if I’d just closed my computer or locked my phone, because I knew neither of those things could demand anything of me.

What I suspect he will discover is that Day 31 isn’t nearly as enjoyable as Day 1, especially given his career. But he has clearly recognized that it takes a complete disconnect in order to avoid distractions, and that other areas of our lives suffer when buried under a flurry of text messages, interesting articles and more.

It is possible, though, to take a less extreme approach and enjoy the same benefits: a weekly disconnect. It is as if the Laws of the Sabbath, which G-d called a special gift thousands of years ago, were expressly designed for our era. Now, more than ever, we need to turn off these devices in order to tune in to what really matters.

In our world, that doesn’t mean spending hours playing video games with colleagues, but devoting that time to family, friends, and spiritual growth. You, too, can experience Day One of “Life without the Internet” — each and every week.

TweetShare via email

One finds an interesting theme in regards to the Metzora, one physically stricken with the spiritual disease of Tzara’as which causes blemishes to appear on skin, clothing, or the walls of the home. The word “Metzora”, the Talmud writes, can be understood as a contraction of the words “Motzi” and “Rah,” [one who] spreads negativity. Spreading negative details about another, Lashon Harah, is the prime cause of the spiritual malady of Tzara’as. Telling a friend about someone else’s mistake, negligence, or limitations, reveals unknown faults to the public. It is fitting that the Metzora be visibly exposed as one guilty of spreading evil. His personal shortcoming is also made public, through his Tzara’as.

The secrets of the Metzora are not only made known to others, but to the Metzora himself. Before the disease, he lived undisturbed, spreading rumors and slander without considering that his behavior was spiritually destructive. Tzara’as forces him to put life on hold and consider his hurtful ways. In essence, the disease is a gift (and so it is portrayed in the Midrash), since it served to rehabilitate the tale-bearer and motivate him to change for the better, to make “healthier choices,” as it were.

In our time, this disease does not appear for various reasons. G-d, however, has ways of letting us know that our souls are unhealthy. The difficulties we encounter, the Sages teach us, are Heaven-sent opportunities for introspection. The mistakes we make, the failures we face, make it clear that we have flaws in our inner system that need improvement. As difficult as the messages may be to accept, they are gifts from G-d that have the potential to set us on a new, healthier course. We decide whether to toss the gift in the back of the closet, or use it in good health.

Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Mordechai Dixler
Program Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org

TweetShare via email

This week, I cannot refer to “this week’s reading” and be universally accurate. The Torah portion read this week in Israel is “out of sync” with the rest of the world, a phenomenon that will continue for another month. This is because while Israel celebrates the holy days of the three festivals on one day each, those living outside Israel celebrate them for two. Since the last day of Passover was on Friday this year, in Israel they read Parshas Shemini on Shabbos, while outside Israel, we read the special reading for the eighth day of Passover, and will read Shemini this week.

This causes a minor inconvenience for many people. Many apps and webpages written in Israel, for instance, refer to a different Torah reading than those written outside it. This week, many who are about to travel to Israel will walk to places where they can listen to Israel’s reading in order to “catch up.”

Now of course, you can find some people today who say that we really should only have one Passover Seder. This usually comes from the same sources that claim that Ashkenazic Jews shouldn’t care about eating kitniyos (legumes, rice, etc.) on Passover anymore — and that oh, by the way, the traditionalists are so monolithic! As I have written before, we should celebrate the diversity of customs that have developed over thousands of years of Jewish history, all surrounding a common core of Torah and Rabbinic legislation designed to encourage us to come closer to G-d.

For the record, I recently saw a webpage which explained accurately that the reason why Jews outside Israel observed two days of the holidays was because the community in Babylon could not receive timely word from Jerusalem concerning which of two possible days was consecrated as the new month, because this was done only based upon eyewitness testimony before the Sanhedrin, the supreme religious court. The same page, however, also asserts that this practice “continued even after mathematical models made it possible to calculate the date of the new moon.”

This latter statement is inaccurate: the mathematical models were in Jewish hands from the time that the Torah was given, to a degree of accuracy that required NASA to replicate. That is why we can still rely upon the calendar established by Hillel Sheni (the second Rabbi Hillel), although it is nearing two millenia since his lifetime. He created a set calendar not because he had developed a mathematical model, but because he recognized that there would soon not be a Sanhedrin to receive witnesses! The festivals still carry with them the message that the Jewish people has the ability to affect the entire world, spiritually, by affecting the time when the spiritual powers encapsulated within the festivals come into the world once again.

One day soon, we should hope to see the day when everyone returns to Israel, observes one day of all holidays, and a cloudy evening might affect when they are!