“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Emor
33rd day of the Omer – Avos perek
4
Lag baOmer
[1]13 Iyar 5781/April 30, 2021
To be added to
my “Striving Higher” WhatsApp chat with periodic chizuk clips, or
my “Power Parenting” WhatsApp chat with weekly ideas about parenting,
text me at 845-641-5094.
לרפואה שלימה נטע יצחק בן רחל
WHAT’S THE BIG
DEAL?
Ever
hear anyone as “what’s the big deal?” If you’re a parent or a teacher, chances
are one (or more) of your children have asked you that when you were annoyed
about something they did or didn’t do. Truthfully, you may have asked the same
question to someone else who was annoyed at you for something you did or didn’t
do. (Word of advice: It’s probably not a good idea to ask your spouse what
the big deal is when he/she is upset about something.)
As a rebbe,
I’ve heard the question asked when learning certain areas of halacha, particularly
specific laws of Shabbos. Sometimes a student has a hard time understanding
that there may be a borer issue when sorting books, sports cards, or
cutlery on Shabbos.
Another
example is when students learn that making a salad can involve some halachic issues,
such as cutting vegetables too small can be an issue of tochen[2].
It also can only be done shortly before the meal in which it will be eaten.[3]
Sometimes
these concepts sound foreign to one who has been observing Shabbos his whole life
yet wasn’t aware of these issues. It can lead the person to wonder, “What’s the
big deal? It’s not like I’m driving a car or turning on a light. I just want to
dice a pepper or put my cutlery back in the drawer!”
A few
months ago, I was reviewing our bank statement and I discovered some charges
from a computer game. They weren’t significant charges, but I didn’t recall
purchasing them. My wife immediately realized that one of our children (who
shall remain anonymous) had clicked on a couple of options from something open
on the computer, not realizing that he was purchasing it and that it was
incurring charges.
It
reminded me that a few years ago, a similar thing happened with one of our
children who was a toddler at the time. After his Mommy got up from making some
purchases on the computer, he decided to click, just like Mommy did. When he
was done, we had to cancel charges.
These
days it’s not hard to understand how a few nonchalant and effortless clicks can
have tremendous consequences. Clicking on one part of the computer screen may
be completely innocuous, while clicking an inch over in a little box on the
screen can cost you big time, in more ways than one.
As Torah
observant Jews, we believe that halacha is a real commodity. It’s not just
something we observe because it’s a matter of custom or tradition. Rather, we
observe it because we believe it is G-d’s Will and we are bound to it.
Does it
really matter on Shabbos whether I diced a tomato into a little piece or
whether I cut it into bigger slices? And does it really matter if I did it five
minutes before the Shabbos seudah or if I did it that morning?
Well,
does it really matter if I unwittingly clicked on something that costs $10,000
or if I clicked on the line underneath that merely takes me to the next page?
The
answer is obviously a resounding yes!
What we
do matters and what we say matters. Our words and actions have value! I guess
that means we are much more important than we realize or give ourselves credit
for.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
[1] selecting - one of the 39 forbidden melachos on
Shabbos
[2] grinding
is another one of the 39 forbidden melachos on Shabbos
[3] As this
is not a halachic forum, I only mention these concepts to bring out a point.
There are permitted manners to do the above actions, which are important to
become familiarized with.