lazy

Well I have been lazy. I lost my notebook for a while, so I didnt take notes for classes during the last few days. i did fortunately find my book, after the tour was over. Im staying at a family's home for 2 days in Har Nof. It is a ton better than staying at a lousy hotel for 40 bucks a night. Im in downtown Jerusalem right now at an internet cafe, and my next program, Yeshiva Light, starts tommorow night. I heard the Rabbi running the trip rented us an apartment so we do not have to stay in the Yeshiva, so I am excited for that. We had an interesting speaker, Gerald L. Schroeder, author of "Science of God" which was the best seller in the science industry for a year. I did not really understand him, as he graduated from MIT with a degree in Nuclear physics or something. But he basically proved, using Ramban (Nachmonidies), NASA, and the British museum and some other stuff that the world is 15 billion years old, and that the torah also claims the world is 15 billion years old. Like i said, I didnt really understand, but I think he claims that the big bang proves the Torah, it has been ~5500 years since God gave man "Neshama" the ability to build large cities and stuff, etc...just read his book if you want to know more. But the part of his speech I liked best/understood was when he quoted Rambam (Maimonidies) as saying ~"If you think the torah and science contradict then you dont understand either torah or science"

Volunteer work

Volunteered today at a place where severely disabled are able to work and gain self worth. It felt pretty good, I helped a mentally disabled blind woman make cookies. She was feeling my hand and my bracelet, and then said in Hebrew "Clock makes tick tock", assuming my bracelet was a watch. What we perceive is not always the truth, eh? Interesting to see how much of a different perspective these people have on life than me.

Classes (May 12)

We had 3 classes today. The first was given by Rabbi Gershenfeld and he tried to convince us that the world has an intelligent designer. He showed that the beginnings of things are often hidden, a seed to a tree, semen and egg to a human, etc. Rabbi Gershenfeld argued that in modern philosophy since Descartes, we use the maxim that all decisions should be based on logical explanations. Meaning, even if we are not 100% sure, that we must choose the more logical choice. He then used arguments from analogy, a waterwheel irrigates an area must have a designer then the world, so much more complex than the waterwheel, must have a designer.

The first argument he talked about that is against design is the common problem of evil, introduced by John Stuart Mill. Mill states that there is evil in the world, disorder in the world, and then there must not be a creator since if something is created by a perfect God, and then the result would be perfect. Therefore, there is no creator. Rabbi G argued that a design in itself proves a designer, regardless of its level of perfection. You cannot disprove a designer based on your own opinion of perfection; if you go into a room and think it is ugly, does that disprove that someone designed the room? I think this argument misplaces the burden of proof, as someone arguing for a designer must prove a designer, as opposed to proving there was no designer.

He said we live in an imperfect world because humans sin and cause problems to the world, i.e. Chernobyl. God gave us free will, and therefore some of us sometimes sin and cause problems to the world. He suggested another possibility, that God made evil so that humans can help. If there as no evil, we could not help less fortunate. Another argument is that humans are not complete, we make mistakes and have to grow and become more refined, or Godlike.

He then went on to argue from a scientific standpoint, that the scientists agree, regardless of whether they believe in God, that the world being here and have life is extremely unlikely considering all the exact levels we must have in relation to electrons, neutrons, ET all. (I do not understand most of this stuff) This leads to 3 common arguments: 1) Infinite Universes, and our circumstance is unusual, but possible since there are so many universes. This is called the multiverse hypothesis. 2) Only our universe, we are just very lucky that it happened to work out for us in our world. 3) Only our universe, and the physical laws, precise turning of physical constants to make intelligent life possible is just a coincidence. All three of these are very unlikely, compared to the possibility of an intelligent designer. Therefore, according to our principle related stated above that we must accept the theory that is more logical, design theory is more logical than any other theory, since the odds of any of the 3 arguments made are extremely small. Stephen Hawking: “The odds against a universe like our emerging out of something like the Big Bang theory are enormous. I think there are clearly religious implications.”

My biggest problem with any of his arguments, even though I do think there is a creator, is his arguments from analogy. A friend and I tried to find a premise to connect designs we witness to the design of the world, but failed. Just because things we see being produced must have a creator, does not mean we can make assumptions that a thing like the earth, has a creator. We have no reason to compare the earth to a thing created, since the creation of the earth is incomprehensible to us, especially compared to the making of a waterwheel.

The second class was given by Tom Steinberg about Teffilin. He made a very inspiring speech, saying that true happiness is needs 3 aspects: Intellectual through the mind, emotional through the heart, and physical through the body. He starts by showing 2 examples in the Gemara, where Rabbis generally supported not being overly happy, but in these 2 circumstances they showed great happiness and it was accepted because they were wearing Tefflin. The main prayer we say when wearing these Tefflin is the Shema:

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

(Praised be the name of the glory of God's sovereignty for ever and ever)

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This paragraph has many words which show unity, such as love, one, etc. A sign is often a symbol for something much bigger. A sign with an arrow pointing to New York represents something much larger than the sign itself, and wearing the Teffilin and praying is a sign for our connection to god. It is to remind us that we can have this special relationship with God emotionally, physically, and intellectually. Also, the letter on the head part of Tefflin is a Shin with numerous branches, supposed to be representing the different branches of our thoughts and hidden brain, and much as a tree’s core is hidden in the ground, our core is hidden in our head. This stuff is very far fetched, but is still inspiring and definitely a cool topic to think about. I doubt I will lay Teffilin on a regular basis, but maybe sometimes. The last class was a group Talmud discussion with Rabbi Fully Eisenberger. We dealt with a circumstance where a Jew was negotiating to buy a piece of land, and another Jew, without the knowledge of the negotiation, swept in and bought the land. When he found out that the other Jew was in negations, he offered the land as a present. He did not want to sell it, as it is bad in Judaism to sell the first piece of land someone buys in Israel, but he can give it as a gift. The Jew who was in negotiation refused to accept it as a gift, as it is said, “He that despises gifts shall live.” Neither ended up benefiting from the land, and was called the land of the rabbinical students as it was an issue they argued over. There are some interesting things to consider in this story. Was the 2^nd Jew wrong to buy the land? Should it be accepted as a present? Who is the just owner? I think that the 2^nd Jew is the owner, but he took it upon himself when hearing that someone else was in negotiation, to give the land as a gift. He became a more special person by rising to this level, as did the original one in the negotiation. Out of this seemingly bad experience, two Jews were able to rise above their own material desires to become more “holy.” I think this shows how we can benefit from bad experiences, and that bad things happen for a reason.

Activities (May 10-11)

Saturday night we went to Tiberias, a city of 50,000 in the northern Israel on the Sea of Galilee. It has a very beautiful shoreline and many tourist shops along the piers. I did the same boat ride last time, but it was till fun. People danced, drank, and sang for about an hour. We then had a pretty good dinner at a beachside restaurant which has beautiful waitresses and solid food. After dinner we walked around the small tourist area for a little before heading back. I saw a couple friends from MSU who are on Mayanot. The we had to stop at a hospital to pick up a student who has migraines, and by the time we got back it was around 2 30 AM, and we had to be on the bus 9 AM the next morning. Not a pleasant experience.

On Sunday we went to a winery in the Golan Heights, which I also went to in the winter. It is still pretty cool to see it again, and taste a couple of wines. We went jeeping in the Hula Valley, land conquered by Israel in the 1967 6 day war. Saw some old bunkers and battle sights, but there were these annoying bugs like I have never witnessed before. Literally hundreds of bugs were on or near me the entire time. I actually wanted to hear the guide’s talking about the battles but could not as a result of the bugs.

After this we went kayaking/tubing on the Jordan, something I had also done exactly, this time a year ago on birthright. I noticed some interesting things this time. First of all, most of the people on this little trip are Israeli Arabs, and the rest are tourists. There are almost no Jewish Israelis on the river or near the river on the beaches. When on my tube there were 2 dads with their children, obviously Arab, and the dad tells the kids to say hi to us. I thought this was very cool. We hear so much about the hatred towards Israel, Jews, and America, but this dad wanted his little boy to say “hi,” not shalom, or salem alekem, etc… I just found this interesting. But to counter this, when the girls in our trip were on their tube, an Arab in his underwear on one of the beaches along the river flashed them his penis. Obviously, this is interesting in another way, probably just a teenager being a boy, but still disrespectful. I do not know anyone personally who flash random women their penis.

We went back to Jerusalem, about a 4 hour drive, after this long day. I had to use the trees on the way to excrete my waste, since there was no bathroom anywhere near where we were. Definitely more in touch with nature now. We are staying at a very nice hotel, the Olive Tree, located between Me’ah Shearim (religious Jewish area) and East Jerusalem (Arab area). You can notice a lot of tension in the area, but nothing too serious.

Discussions (May 11)

There is a law school student on the trip who also enjoys discussing philosophy and politics, something that most students on vacation in Israel do not care to talk about. On Shabbos we started our conversation with, well I do not remember exactly, but it was not related directly to Judaism. We discussed Nietzsche and his Genealogy of Morals, how he believes that the Jews changed the entire idea of morals from master morality (Good/Bad) to slave morality (Good/Evil). It got into a discussion, inevitably, regarding the truth, behind Judaism, God, and the divinity of the Torah. I was generally arguing that it does not matter so much the truth behind these things, if one who follows them lives a fulfilling and happy life. Then he asked me to prove how I believe in God, and I was like I don’t know, ask Yoni. Then Yoni, who is running the logistics of the troop, happens to randomly walk into the lobby. He first argued that nothing can be proved 100% outside of math, then demonstrated why he thinks with 99.9999% certainty in a God, or creator during this time, for argument’s sake I generally argued again him. His 3 premises for a Creator were 1) the world around us, 2) what has happened to him, and 3)What has happened/is happening to the world in general. He argued his first premise by some of the typical arguments that nothing can be created from nothing, Aquinas’ watch argument on a beach (If you find a complex watch on a beach is it there randomly and formed by waves or put their and designed by an intelligent creator?). Obviously there are well known arguments against these, which I do not use because, well, I do not know them off the top of my head. His second premise he really did not argue, but I assume from the conversation it meant his wife, daughter, job, family, etc. And his 3^rd premise he argued by the existence and support for Israel; how when one Israeli is killed it is reported on the cover of the biggest newspaper, and when thousands die in other places, like Myanmar, it is back page news He said these 3 things give good reason to believe that there is a God. Naturally, this leads to the question: why did God create the world? And, if there is a God, when did organized religion come into effect?
This is where the Torah comes in, as Judaism believes it is the guidebook given by God to the Jewish people how to live life. He argued the divinity of Mt. Sinai with 3 premises. 1)3 million people were there, 2) History repeats itself, and 3) Past, present, future. The first two are directly related, as Judaism and much of the world believes that 3 million Jews saw/felt God’s presence when he gave us the Torah. Obviously people will say it could have been a conspiracy amongst a few wise men or something, but he countered that by saying that historians generally agree that history repeats itself. But, if you accept that maxim, then why does no other religion ever claim even five people, let alone 3 million to have witnessed God at the same time and lived? He answers that if multiple people made up a story like this, then it would lead to disagreements and the parents would not strongly uphold the laws and traditions that remain in Judaism today, over 3000 years after we received the Torah. His 3^rd premise is pretty self explanatory. The torah, assuming it was given to us at Sinai, talks in detail about the past, present (the actual giving and receiving of Torah) and the future. Therefore, he concludes that it is very likely that the Torah is a divine document.

The next interesting conversation I had was with the same Meor’er, on the way to the beautiful shore side city of Tiberias. He was asking me why I support Ron Paul, and our conversation got into healthcare. He is one of those people who strongly believe that the government should be involved in supplying and regulating the healthcare industry. I am happy to say that I, at the very least, got him to question his own theories. I told him that one of Obama’s biggest financial supporters is the healthcare industry. When someone gets something for free, they want the most expensive possible. This would mean that the healthcare companies could give expensive procedures, prescribe the most expensive pills, etc. without the individual caring in the least bit, since the government is paying through the theft of working citizens. The example of Lasik surgery, something that insurance (and it is easy to compare insurance to government, since the patient does not pay the costs directly in either circumstance) does not cover, is one of, if not the only, part of the medical field that has increased in quality and decreased in price over the last decade. Why? When someone has to pay for a service out of their pocket they look for the best possible quality with for the least possible price, very simple stuff here. If people had to pay for a check up, then they would look around for a cheaper one than just go to any doctor and not even ask the price. This is a very simple argument that socialist idealists do not even consider.

First Shabbos (May 10-11)

It was pretty similar to the shabbosos of the past that I have experienced in Israel. On Friday night we prayed for a good while, mincha, kabbalos shabbos, and maariv. It was kind of fun, a lot of dancing during kabblos. We had a decent dinner, with most of the usual mass produced shabbos food. Afterwards we had an oneg, which consisted of everyone drinking beer and a shot or two of Jack Daniels. Good times, just relaxing and talking. I ended the night playing a bunch of games of Gin Rummy with some kids.

Saturday I was pretty sick from the bad meal in Zefat and since I was up a good portion of Friday Night, I ended up sleeping in until 3 PM, so I felt very good all. However, I regret missing two classes; especially the one given by Tom Steinberg, the major donor for our trip, on his business experience. I also missed a speech by Rabbi Gershenfeld, regrettably. When I finally woke up I saw my old roommate who is in Israel on Birthright through Mayanot. We chatted for a while till he had to go to his group. I then wandered into the lobby where I had an intense discussion on a variety of topics with a fellow Meor’er (my group). Then one of the leaders joined in on the conversation (I provide what details I can remember in my next post). We eventually had 3^rd meal; a light meal consisting mostly of vegetables and pastries. I then showered and accidentally missed a speech by Rabbi Gershenfeld again! I had no idea he was speaking at this point, when I went to shower. We had a short Havdalah and headed for the evening activities, where I once again had some intense conversations.

Mystical Zefat and Preparing for Shabbos (May 9)

We had to wake at 6:30 this morning and be on the bus at 7 to head north to Zefat (pronounced Tzfat). This city is one of the oldest and holiest in Israel and has been the home to numerous famous rabbis. Zefat is also famous for its kabalistic presence and unique art galleries. We prayed in the shul of the late Rabbi Yosef Caro was the author of Shulcan Arooch, a condensed version of the Halacha, Jewish law. When we were done praying, we walked down to a mikvah (purity bath), but I did not go in as, to be honest, it was pretty disgusting. It looked very spiritual with candles and was filled with water from an active spring.

I then went to a semi famous, tiny restaurant stand where a man makes this food that is a combination of a pancake and pita. He then puts some local herbs and common vegetables on the pastry. The atmosphere and watching him cook was better than the actual food, but it tasted fine. I walked around Zefat for about an hour looking at the art and the unique people. There are Jews from a specific sect or orthodoxy, called Breslov that live mainly in Zefat. They are kind of wacky, often referred to as “hippie Jews.” Some believe that if every Jew says the name of their founding Rabbi, Nachman Meuman, than the Messiah will come. Some of them also smoke a lot of weed, but hey, whatever makes them happy. And that is was Rabbi Meuman’s main point was; that all Jews should always be happy.

We are now in the Galilee, northern Israel, at a very nice kibbutz resort for Shabbos. I am kind of feeling shitty as I left my glasses on the bus, lost all my lip balm and my lips are very rough now, I have had a ringing in my right ear since I got here (this is the worst, I understand why Van Gogh cut his ear off now), and I am extremely tired. But Shabbos is coming and hopefully all these minor problems will go away. I am looking forward to sleeping in a little tomorrow and just relaxing. Hopefully some of the things that are out of my control will go away soon and I can fully enjoy my experience in Israel.