It’s better to give than to receive.

Giving makes you a greater person, for you emulate Hash-m – the ultimate source of giving.

The Foundation of the Torah – Loving Your Fellow
The Mitzvah of Bestowing kindness comes from the Verse “And you shall love your fellow as yourself” (Vayikra / Leviticus 19:18) – One of the great principles of the Torah of which the entire Torah is based.”

A Story on Kindness
Once a gentile wanted to convert to Judaism. He said to Shammai teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot (meaning in one moment). Shammai, thinking he was mocking him, sent him away. Then he went to Hillel, asking the same question. Hillel answered “The entire Torah is ‘whatever is hateful to you don’t do to others.’ The rest is elucidation on that. Go and learn.”

Rabbi Akiva said “You shall love your Fellow as Yourself is a major foundation of the Torah.”

Taking Care of Others Helps You Become a Greater Person
Taking care of another’s material need’s helps your spirituality. A Person cannot be a Judge in the Sanhedrin, unless he has had children, because a judge who never had children lacks the requisite degree of mercy that comes from the personal experience of child-raising, and therefore he may not judge certain matters properly – like those of life and death. (Talmud : Horayoth 4b)

Your intentions can increase the reward of the Mitzvah.

There was once a man, every day he would go to a needy family and drop a bottle of milk by the door.
– If he does it because he is getting paid (ie, he is a Milkman) – he gets a certain reward.
– If he delivers it because it is a kindness (commanded by Hash-m) – and by the way he also is getting paid (ie, he is a Milkman) – he has a much greater reward.

Two people, doing the exact same thing can receive different rewards based upon their intentions. When doing your own job the same applies. If you do it to make money that is one level of reward. If your intention is to help others because of the the Mitzvah of doing kindness and you also get paid for it, you get a higher reward.

It is important to know, why one gives.
Is it because you are commanded, it is your job, you are embarrassed not to give, you want to receive honor for it, your heart feels bad for the person or because the person needs it?

It is a higher level to give anonymously than to give publicly.

There are several levels of charity in Judaism according to the RAMBAM

Maimonides gradations of giving charity in descending order

1. A gift, a loan, a business partnership, a job rendering alms unnecessary.
2. Benevolence in which the giver and recipient are unknown to one another….similar to this is one who puts money in the communal charity box…
3. Benevolence in which the giver is unknown to the recipient (but the recipient is known to the giver)…
4. Benevolence in which the recipient is unknown to the giver (but the giver is known to the recipient)…
5. Giving before one is asked to give.
6. Giving after one is asked to give.
7. Giving less than appropriate, but graciously.
8. Giving grudgingly.

For an Audio on the Subject : By R. Akiva Tatz click Levels of the Spirit – The Real Giving or look up giving on their site or on Aish.com

Some think concern for animal protection is a modern concept. Really it dates back over 5,700 years when Adam, the first man, was given laws to abide by.

When Adam was created, he was an almost perfect being. He was clothed in light. Because of his greatness, it was forbidden for him to eat animals. (Adam was the first vegetarian in the world.) He was given 6 commandments to follow.

One more law was given to Noah. Thus he had 7 Commandments – Laws for all Humanity – the Noahide Laws. These universal laws were taught to Noah when he was to re-establish the world after the flood for world peace. (see The Noahide Laws Card)

The 7th commandment is “Ever Min HaChai” – the prohibition of eating a limb taken from a living animal. Meaning, one must assure an animal is no longer alive before taking parts to eat.

Adam did not receive this law initially – because he couldn’t eat animals anyway. When man was given the right to eat animals, this extra law was given.

The Jewish nation has 613 commandments / Mitzvot – one of them being “Tzaar Baalei Chaim” – Not causing pain to animals. We are enjoined not to cause pain even to small animals. (While some spew hatred against people through inciting pogroms or inflammatory words – we are teaching our children to be kind to animals. 🙂 ) Also, to be Kosher, all animals must be slaughtered in a way that causes no pain to the animal – called Schitah. (Thus electrocution, that causes pain to animals, is ruled out.)

Animal Protection Laws and laws of Kashrut (Kosher) helps give sensitivity to a person to not be cruel with animals or other creatures. Being Kosher – we only eat docile animals that have a positive effect on the soul.

Gazelles are the animals most loved by G-d . . . because a gazelle harms no one, and never disturbs the peace. – Midrash: Midrash Samuel 9 (For more quotes about animals – click here)

Hash-m’s mercy is upon all of his creatures (see Tehillim / Psalm 145 :9) – like we recite every day twice in the Ashre.

Once, on a windy day, the Baal Shem Tov told his talmidim / students to follow him outside. He said “we are going to follow this leaf.” After moving to and fro in the wind, the leaf landed on a small Caterpillar to protect it from the elements. He said “you see Hash-m has mercy for all of His creatures.”

In the Zohar – Jewish Kabbalah & Mysitical Work – it says when G-d created the world – He looked into the Torah and created the world. The Torah is the Blueprint of Creation.

This means that it is not that first G-d created the world and then He said let us make laws. The Physical and Spiritual Laws were engraved into the Essence of the World.

Meaning: It is not that first G-d Created Parents and then He said we should respect them. First He said – it would be proper for their be a respect for two adults – (ie, the Laws of Respecting Parents) then he created Parents.

Infused in each one of us, therefore, is an innate knowledge of what is right and wrong.
Also, that since our souls are created using this plan, this is what will ultimately make us happy. (See the Gallup Poll Well-Being Survey – which interviewed over a million adults and found that Torah Observant Jews received the Highest Score in Happiness out of any other Group in America).

If this is so, it makes sense that the Torah knows exact facts of science.

Here are some examples:

The Length of a Synodic Month in the Talmud

Jewish months are calculated at 29.53059 days, following the cycle of the moon. This practice is based on the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 25a), according to tradition dating back to Moses and codified by scientists such as Ptolemy.

Incredibly, it took the modern world many centuries to confirm this figure. Only after calculations using solar satellites, hairline telescopes, laser beams and super-computers, did NASA scientists determine that the length of the “synodic month,” i.e. the time between one new moon and the next, is 29.530588 days.

Videos about
Astrology & Judaism
Torah & Science – Part 2 – R. Mizrachi

In the Talmud (Berachot ) it discusses How many Stars in the Universe:
Each of the Zodiac constellations has 30 armies. Each army has 30 legions. Each legion has 30 divisions. Each division has 30 cohorts. Each cohort has 30 camps, and each camp has 365,000 myriads of stars.

Doing the math: 12 x 30 x 30 x 30 x 30 x30 x 365,000 x 10,000 = 1.06434 x 10^18

Scientists at NASA have come up with a similar number.

When in history did people discover the earth was a sphere?

Torah Shleimah (BeReishis 1:1 note 30) quotes the Rama in Toras HaOlah who says that Chazal (Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah 3:1, BaMidbar Rabbah 13, Zohar VaYikra 10, Zohar Chadash 15) knew the earth was round before the world at large (he gives the date that they knew as 5252, i.e. 1492). This was known 3,300 years ago by Torah.

Knowledge about all the Species of Fish in the world.
The Torah Says every Fish that has scales has fins – and are kosher. but every fish that has fins does not necessarily have scales. This was known over 3,300 years ago when the Torah was Given.

Some Books on the Subject
Torah & Science – By Yehuda Levi
The Coming Revolution
Genesis & the Big Bang – Gerald Schroeder

Rational Approaches to G-d’s Existence – Lawrence Keleman

Investigate it Yourself.

When G-d Created Man – He created man and woman as a single entity. He then separated the woman from the man – taking Adam’s Rib.

A couple that is destined together are really two parts of one being that are united.

Their Goal is to Achieve a Higher Purpose Together. A man’s wife helps him to perfect himself. (One Reason why she should encourage him to learn Torah)

The terminology the Torah uses is “He made her a Helpmate against him.”

Why? If a man is fit she helps him. If he acts improperly she is against him. (hopefully in a tactful way)

Man is Ish (Aleph, Yud, Shin) in Hebrew. Woman is Ishah (Aleph, Shin, Heh). If Hash-m (G-d – represented by the Yud and the Heh) reigns between them through acting properly by observance of the precepts of the Torah, then there will be peace. However, if we remove the letters of Hash-m – we have Esh and Esh (Fire).

Thus, Torah helps a family and marriage to be happy.

There are many Torah resources available to make marriage Work like :

Texts
TEN RULES FOR A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE / An Exercise for increasing happiness and confidence – By Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

Sites
Aish Hatorah Marriage Section

Books
Marriage by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin
Hundreds of families rely on him to guide them through the rapids of life. A wise and sensitive guide to making any marriage even better! Rabbi Pliskin shares the common sense, practical approach that has worked wonders for hundreds of families. With his positive attitude and encouraging comments, he illustrates his advice with hundreds of real-life stories.

The River, The Kettle and the Bird. Which explains that there are three stages of marriage. One is when the relationship is like a business deal, another when it is like a joint venture and another when they are like one being.

Each stage requires work and investment.

The Garden of Peace – Men’s Edition
The benefits that a husband will attain both on a spiritual and a material level defy description, once a husband gets to the root of his marital problems and makes his wife first place in his life. The nagging and complaints will disappear, as well as the petty requests and the demands on his time. The husband will feel the benefit of Divine assistance and will succeed in whatever he does. Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody.

Women’s Wisdom – The Garden of Peace – Women’s Edition
There are times when we ask ourselves, “Why aren’t we fulfilling our potential? Are we aware of our own tremendous power?” A person must know their phenomenal intrinsic value and capabilities. Through this understanding, they derive the strength to withstand all of her trials and challenges, and they becomes more effective in building the home, as King Solomon says, “A wise woman builds her home, and the fool, with her own hands destroys it” (Mishlei 14:1). Includes : marriage, successfully raising children, dealing with financial matters, and even food!

Another Book is:

The First Year of Marriage: Enhancing the Success of Your Marriage Right from the Start — And Even Before It Begins. R. Dr. Twersky gives practical self-help advice from the standpoint of the Torah. He is well respected in the Jewish Community.

Artscroll and Feldheim have many books on the subject

The Shmuz has audio on Jewish marriage and Jewish self-help topics
Here is a link to one of their audio lectures on Marriage:
Marriage: I Can’t Respect Him / Her

There are organizations in the Jewish Community to Promote peace

Like the Five Towns Marriage Initiative
Five Towns Marriage Initiative provides educational programs, workshops, and referrals to top marriage therapists. FTMI will help offset counseling costs when necessary and also runs an anonymous shalom bayis hotline for the entire community Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings, 10:00–11:00 p.m. For the hotline or for more information, call 516-430-5280 or e‑mail dsgarry@msn.com.

Some also promote peace and prevent domestic violence

Shalom Task Force – Promoting Healthy Marriages and Peaceful Family Relationships – http://www.shalomtaskforce.org/

Their Hotline Number is (888) 883 2323 or (718) 337 3700

If a woman needs help she should not hesitate to call these services – they can help her receive help, cope, deal with psychologically and overcome the trials of domestic abuse – be it psychological or physical. They are strictly confidential.

Deciding to Observe Torah not only increases happiness between the couple, but helps increase the happiness of the family. Children feel when there is tension between husband and wife.

They are happy when peace reigns. They are happy when the family lives a life of harmony and wholesome goodness together. Peace and Happiness is within reach with the proper effort.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, obm, was a Genius Physicist that wrote articles inspiring Youth and Adults to Understand the ways of Judiasm. One of the Essays in One of His books, the Aryeh Kaplan Reader, treats the Subject of Extraterrestrial life.

Does Extraterrestrial Life Exist?

Other Books from R. Aryeh Kaplan

Aish HaTorah Conducts a Seminar in New York and Jerusalem Called the Discovery Seminar that shows that believing in Judaism is not a matter a faith – it is a matter of Fact.

Many people I know who have attended – were amazed by the material in this seminar. It opened their mind and life to new horizons. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a desire to know the proofs of the veracity of Judaism.

Here are a Sampling of Discovery Classes:

Distinguishing Knowledge from Faith
The Seven Wonders of Jewish History
Information Only the Author Could Have Known
Transmission: Is Today’s Torah the Same as the Original?
Codes: The Hidden Genius of the Torah
G-d’s Hand in History – Divine Providence
Predictions in the Torah and Prophets – Prophecy Fullfilled

Aish Discovery Seminar

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The Hebrew language is different. In other languages words that are usually arbitrary describe an object. In Hebrew, however, the language itself describes the essence of the object.

Man’s Best Friend
Hash-m gave Adam – the first man – the task of naming all the animals. Their names describe their essence. He called the dog – “Kelev” – which is an acronym for “Kulo Lev” – all heart. Recognizing this attribute, some call the dog “man’s best friend.”

Water
“Mayim” means water in Hebrew. Water in it’s natural state on earth has no definite form. It takes the form of the container. Thus the Hebrew word for water contains the word “what” (“mah” – what in Hebrew). Since it has no form – What is it?

Hebrew is also the “Mother of all languages.” Take the word Mayim – it is related to the English – for water also has the English word “what” in it. In old French water was called Aqua – which also contains the word for what in French – “Quoi?”

The Hebrew word for water is “mayim” it is spelled mem – yud – mem. There is a mem in the beginning. A yud in the middle. In the final mem at it and. So if you were to imagine that it is two same letters attached by one letter in the middle. This is similar to the chemical composition of water – H2O. There are two hydrogens attached to one oxygen atom.

Fruit
The word for fruits in Hebrew is “Perot” – the letter Peh in Hebrew is synonymous with the letter Pheh. Peh is a Pheh with a dot in it. Thus fruit comes from Perot. In French also fruit is fruit. There are many other examples in which words from other languages are based upon the Lashon HaKodesh – “the Holy Tongue”.

Sound waves and Letters
The letters of Hebrew create sound waves that look like the letters that are pronounced. There was a study done by Yakov Guggenheim – that used software to discover this phenomenon. See the wonders of the world – by R. Zamir Cohen or Read His Book – The Coming Revolution – Science Discovers the Truths of the Torah

Your Hebrew Name and Your Essence
The Hebrew name of a person also describes their essence. If a person is interested in finding out what their essence is and what their particular purpose is in life – one can examine their Hebrew name to see if there were famous Jewish Torah personalities that also had the same name and a similar goal. Also a person’s Hebrew name is also encoded in a verse of the Torah that may describe them. The Vilna Gaon mentioned that every Jewish person’s life is described in the Torah.

Codes in the Torah
An article in “The Journal of Statistical Science” spoke about this – that many contemporary rabbis names and dates of their birth or deaths are found encoded in the Torah. Several books have also been written on the subject.- like – Cracking the Bible Codes by Jeffrey Satinover. For more info on Bible codes click here

An example:

— The Name RaMBaM (Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon or Maimonides – a tremendous Torah scholar) is encoded in the Torah. The first letter in four consecutive words starting at R’voth in Shemot 11:9 spell RaMBaM. Passage 11:9 in Shemot talks about Moses and wonders done in the land of Egypt. Moses Maimonides also lived in the land of Egypt and did wonders there also.

Also starting at Shemot 11:9 is encoded the name of one of Maimonides’ works, the MiShNaH TORaH. From the Mem in the name Moshe in Shemot 11:9 count 50 letters to find a Shin. Another fifty letters you find a Nun and another fifty, a Heh. So where is “TORaH”? Count 613 letters from the Mem in Moshe, you find a Taf. From that Taf keep counting every fifty letters, to find the rest of the word TORaH. There are also many other encodings including names (Adam, Kain, Abel, Aaron etc.), places (Israel, Babylon etc.), plants, as well as many other words. In many instances the encoded words are related to the subject ot the paragraphs that they are in. There are also other ways in which information is encrypted in the Torah.

Gematria – The Numerical Value of words
The value of a Hebrew word can be calculated using Gematria – A method of disclosing the hidden meanings of a Torah or text according to the numerical values of Hebrew letters or of substituting other letters of alphabet for them in accordance with a set system. (ie, aleph =1, yud = 10, Kuf = 100) The numerical sum of the letters in the Hebrew word HeRaYON (pregnancy) totals 271, which is the length of a normal pregnancy in days.

Other examples:

— The numerical value of YaYiN (wine) and SOD (secret) are both equal to 70. Hence the saying, “when wine enters, secrets are out.” (Talmud)

— Jacob in his dream saw a ladder which reached from earth to heaven (Genesis 28:12). The ladder is SINAI, for SULAM (ladder) and Sinai have the same numerical value, 130 (Midrash Genesis 68:12). Thus, the Law revealed at Sinai is the ladder which leads from heaven to earth.

— The Torah says that we should give one-tenth (TaASeR) to one-fifth of our earnings to tzedakah (charity). TaASeR is spelled Taf-Ayin-Sin-Resh valued at 400, 70, 300, 200 respectively. Take a tenth of each letter thus getting 40, 7, 30, 20 or mem-zayin-lamed-chaf (MaZaLCha – luck). Thus if you give a tenth to charity, you will have luck. – (The Gaon of Vilna)

Hebrew – The Power to Create
Hebrew has the power to create. Hebrew is the language that Hashem used to create the world. Like it says in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) – Chapter 5:1 “With 10 utterances was the world created; what does the Torah come to teach? And could it not have been created with the one saying? Rather, it was done to collect [payment] from the wicked that they destroy the world that was created with 10 sayings. And to give great reward to the righteous that they uphold the world that was created with 10 sayings.” We see from here that Hebrew words can also create.

There is a pleasure that some have overlooked lately – for it has taken a backseat to the entertainment industry. The pleasure of thinking.

Go to the Beit Hamidrash / House of Study in a Yeshiva to see partners debating fine points in the Talmud. They question their partner’s point of view, their initial understandings and even their own point of view to determine whether they make sense or not. They ask “is it logical?” The Talmud is the ultimate masterpiece of logic of all time.

Questioning is never inhibited because the entire goal is to get to the truth. Please don’t believe because of faith – believe because of fact, actual experience and logic – Judaism encourages questions.

When falsity exists people push questions under the rug. The truth is not afraid of questions.

At times, people would rather stick to their guns and accept things absurd because it interferes with their pleasures or their lifestyle.

This is not the way of Judaism. Judaism is open-minded in that it discusses all matters of life and delves into finding the truth of ethical, philosophical and legal issues.

All issues are evaluated thoroughly to assure that all the ends are tied.

The question we’re treating today is : Does Evolution Makes Sense?

It’s a very important question to ask because children in schools are are indoctrinated (… oh, sorry, that wouldn’t be politically correct …) I mean taught it daily – without protest or the bat of an eyelid. Respected Scientists and news media take it for granted, they quote – “a new incredible fish was discovered that is covered with eyes …” – a wonder of billions of years of randomness??!

Let’s look at it in a mock conversation that illustrates the point of view of evolution according to evolutionists:

The first two amoebas in the world were talking together.

They got into an argument.

Amoeba A – “I’m telling your mother”

Amoeba B – “I have no mother – I was formed through random molecules that just happened to form me and my perfect DNA Helixes. so what are you going to do now – you one celled creature

Amoeba A – “That’s interesting the same exact thing happened to me. What a coincidence?! You better apologize – because if not in a billion years i am going to become a lion and you will will see.

Ever think of the following…

If the first amoeba was formed through random molecules – it wouldn’t be alive. It would be a physical object like a chair without life.

The probability of a random creation of actual bacterial product is greater than 1:10^120 (1 with 120 zeros following it) (text 2001principle.net site) Would you bet a million dollars on a horse that had those odds of winning?

Statistics prove the probability of evolution decreases the more cells there are because the probability of 2 cells being created by randomness is much less. Multiply that by all the cells in the world from the beginning of time and you find evolution is impossible.

Perfect DNA strands that are similar in all life forms formed by random molecules?

Where did these molecules come from? Who created them?

Do Amoebas have a will to evolve?

Do inanimate cells have a will to form into different parts of the body?

Can something physical have a will? Or can a chair want something?

What is the physical difference in something that is living and dead?

Can uniformity and beauty in all nature come from randomness?

What about a perfect balance between the whole natural ecosystem?

What about all the other creatures in the world, their existence and development – through randomness?

Perfect interaction between male and female genders through randomness?

Creation of a male and the perfect counterpart – the female – with randomness?

Perfectly formed Babies through randomness?

The conception, incubation and birth process perfectly coordinated through randomness?

Body parts and systems (respiratory, circulatory, nervous, skeletal, etc.) perfectly formed through randomness?

Body parts and systems (respiratory, circulatory, nervous, skeletal, etc.) perfectly functioning through randomness?

Einstein knew this scientific problem. He said “G-d does not play dice with the universe.”

Darwin himself – said that his theory is difficult to accept because the complexity of a human eye cannot be explained by randomness.

So some scientist will say that aliens came from outer-space to plant seeds here. So where did the aliens cells come from? And their seeds? You have the same question.

Still make sense to you? Draw your own conclusion – you are intelligent.

The lost art of thinking.