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Halacha (Jewish law) As A Symphony ( 90 Minutes )

by Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes-Cardozo || d [mp3 download]

An Oral Essay on why is Judaism full of detailed rules.
The deed is far more than just a deed ... deed creates mentality.

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Main Points || Stories and Parables told in this Class

01:00 The Jewish religion is very focused on jewish law ... it is above all a religion of action.

Why is it that the Jewish religion is focusing on the external side?

Story. Student says he went through Talmud three times

The externality of the Jewish religion has bothered ... Philosophers throughout the ages ... the reason there is such a thing as ... Reform Judaism

Paul (of the New Testament) waged a war against Halacha(jewish law).

One of the most famous philosophers ... Baruch( Benedict) ... Spinoza ... harsh on the religion ... because of Halacha (jewish law)

Don't you think it is neccessary to have some law?

Pesach ... If you would have asked Spinoza "Do you think it's a good idea to have such a night?"

In fact the only Jewish book he ever had in his library later on was a haggada (a Passover prayer book).

You have to eat a certain amount of matza ... and how much time you have to eat the matza

Experience. Young man comes wants to change tefillin (phyllacteries)

Another example. Sukkot - someone wants to change etrog (citron) to different fruit.

Statement of Midrash in Eicha (Lamentations) ... "Look that they (Jewish people) have forsaken me and do not keep my Torah."...(G-d is saying that the fact) that they are not keeping My Torah is what bothers Me.

Moses Mendelsohn (says) Spinoza seems to be a great danger to the Jewish religion ... (Mendelsohn) writes ... "The spirit of the Jewish Religion is freedom in doctrine and conformity of action"

The statement that many people believe came from the New Testament, but came from the Torah ... "You should love your neighbor as you love yourself" seems to be an emotional statement.

Does it mean that I should walk in the streets of Cleveland and kiss everybody? ... The effect is that ... you have to do an act of love towards that person... help that person.

The Jews should be a Holy Nation ... How shall I become holy?

You look afterwards in the Torah ... you want to become holy - keep Kosher ... observe Shabbat ... pragmatic

What is holiness? ... A lot of discussions.

I would say (something) like this ... Holiness is that what emerges from allowing G-d to answer everything you ...

There's more to life than life alone.

Comparative study ... What is the relationship between body and soul?

Everybody agrees about one thing , giving (in) just to the body is a total disaster it makes us into ... animals.

How do you get the body to agree ... with the requirements of the soul? Not only Judaism has been busy with that problem but also Christianity ... and the Secular Humanistic attitude, which was probably started by the great Greek philosopher by the name of Socrates

(The early) Catholic thinkers ... would have answered ... it is basically a hopeless undertaking to get the body to agree to the conditions of the soul ... because of Adam and Eve ...they created such a disaster that since that moment the body and the soul are total enemies of each other

here the tape turns to side 2 and part of side 1 is repeated

... the Greeks are very strong in intellect and ... feel that if you get the mind to think straight, everything will follow

Judaism says you are on your own

Christianity ... you are absolutely right that it(connecting the body to the soul) is a big problem ... but you are absolutely wrong when you say it (the conflict between the body and soul) is beyond repair... Then the Jewish religion would focus on Socrates ... it (connecting the body to the soul) can be done ... but you are absolutely wrong when you say that it (making a bond between the body and soul)can so easily be done

Everybody agrees about this ... The soul does not need to be educated .. what needs to be educated is the body ... How do you make the body receptable ... to the conditions of the soul?

Let us look into a way that we are educating our bodies ... two examples ...(first example) How do you learn to swim?

(By the) repetition of things it slowly becomes part of your personality

Another example:A person wants to learn to become an artist ... what does he do?

I think one of the great things that Judaism has been saying ... is that there is a tremendous connection between body and soul

I spoke once to a group of American soldiers about being in Vietnam and I asked them one question How difficult is it for them to kill? ... They were forced into it ... and got totally used to it

The deed is far more than just a deed ... deed creates mentality

Why are we indeed having so commandments that have us do external things? ... because it slowly begins to ... penetrate our hearts

The positive commandments can be easily explained like that - we do them because we want to create spirit within us ... but what do we do with all these prohibitions?

Self control is a pre-condition to creativity ... clay ... when is the creativity? when you know how to move your fingers.

One of the most important painters is Rembrandt ... How did the man do this? ... He could paint every hair

I'll take you to a different world which I think explains it better ... I had a neighbor ... playing months and months a beautiful symphony by Beethoven.

After I heard it many times ... I read in the paper that a very great violinist was coming to town by the name of Yehudi Menuhim and he was going to play the exact symphony.

So I said to my wife "Let's go. I want to hear Yehudi Menuhin play it because in case he makes a mistake I can tell him ... I know the whole thing by heart"

So I went and I came home very disturbed so I knocked ... on the door of my neighbor ... "It was a completely different symphony" ...

If Yehudi Menuhin takes a violin in his hand ... because he controls his ten fingers in an incredible way he can bring out of that particular instrument feeling... in which he completely rewrites the whole symphony.

Another great man Issac Stern was coming to town ... complete different symphony than Yehudi Menuhin ... because it is an interpretation ... he is playing out his soul through the notes of a person named ... Beethoven.

You can take the same notes ... because they're played a little differently ... can lift a person out of this world

Three thousand years ago Somebody wrote an incredible symphony and this Somebody said one day the Conductor to come to the top of the Sinai ... and called to the Conductor "Moses, come here I have a fantastic symphony for you it is written for six hundred thousand musicians ... there's only one thing ... Don't change any of the notes." ... Just play it with your souls.

In this world, music is played on instruments. To the Jews, Halacha, Jewish law, is the instrument on which we place the spiritualness

Imagine ... ask Yehudi Menuhin ... Is he not getting bored with the same symphony?

He would get ... upset ... he would answer "I have never repeated it ... the emotions that go into it are totally different

Why is there so much detail in Jewish law? Because life consists of an endledss opportunity to sanctify

Experience. A group of young men came up to me and complained ... why do we have to say the same prayers? ... Tommorow we will pray our own prayers ... I walked around ... it took exactly six minutes. I said to them What's going on? "we want to say more but we don't know exactly to say it". Then we opened the prayer book ... If you do it the way that it should be done then everytime it should be a new experience.

Let's go back to the statement we made in the beginning. When it says that G-d comes and complains to the Jewish people ... "they have fosaken Me and they did not keep according to my Torah" ... If they kept my Torah then everything would have been fine ... How does it make sense? ... the Talmud says ... by occupying themselves with Torah ... they would find their way back to G-d.

01:22:05 The moment that you start to play a great symphony ... once you get engrossed in it , you say ,"By the way- which genius wrote it?" ... I recognize the ... author ... by what he has produced ... in the Jewish religion the same thing

01:23:07 If there's anything true about halacha it is that it allows you tremendous creativity ... it creates creativity ...you have another moment to encounter G-d just know the art how to do that.

01:23:31 G-d in His great mercy said " I will give you a great symphony" ... but each one(plays it) in his own way ... we are not all Yehudi Menduins or Issac Sterns, but each of us has a certain spark in our soul ... that we can play it exactly that way like nobody else can play it.

01:24:03 That can mean only one thing. If there is anything spiritual or great then no doubt it is found in Jewish law.

Main Points

The deed is far more than just a deed ... deed creates mentality.

Three thousand years ago Somebody wrote an incredible symphony and this Somebody said one day the Conductor to come to the top of the Sinai ... and called to the Conductor "Moses, come here I have a fantastic symphony for you it is written for six hundred thousand musicians ... there's only one thing ... Don't change any of the notes." ... Just play it with your souls.

Why is there so much detail in Jewish law? Because life consists of an endledss opportunity to sanctify.

Stories and Parables in this Class

Story. Student says he went through Talmud three times

Experience. Young man comes wants to change tefillin (phyllacteries)

I'll take you to a different world which I think explains it better ... I had a neighbor ... playing months and months a beautiful symphony by Beethoven.

Experience. A group of young men came up to me and complained ... why do we have to say the same prayers? ... Tommorow we will pray our own prayers ... I walked around ... it took exactly six minutes. I said to them What's going on? "we want to say more but we don't know exactly to say it". Then we opened the prayer book ... If you do it the way that it should be done then everytime it should be a new experience.

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