by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Today\u2019s drash has advice\nfrom God and Thomas Jefferson about how to lead our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Movie trailer that we\nheard about a number of years ago. Congregant to Rabbi \u201cEven though I am\nobservant, I am not happy all the time\u201d. Rabbi to congregant \u201cThat\u2019s okay.\nThomas Jefferson wants you to be happy. God want you to be productive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2022 But first — a commercial for Hebrew Free loans, which come\nto us from Ch 22, v 24 [read].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Just how important is\nthis verse? According Sefer HaChinuch there are 53 commandments in this\nparsha. In his compilation of the\nchazal, Studies in the Weekly Parsha<\/em>,\nNachsoni allocates 32 pages to Mishpatim. \nIf each of the 53 commandments were equally important, there would be\nabout half a page of commentary per commandment (0.6 pages per commandment if\nyou want to be precise).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Nachsoni gives 6.5 pages\nto the commandment about free loans \u2013 about 10 times as much as we would expect\nif all the commandments were equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Imagine if everyone\nwent home today committed to making a\ndonation to the Hebrew Free Loan Association in SF after Shabbat, with the\ncomment \u201cThis is part of the Mishpatim movement\u201d. They\u2019d wonder what is going on in Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Lest you worry about the\nsize of your donation, I wrote to Jamie Hyams, Development Director of the\nHFLA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Me: \u201c[At my drash] I would like to say “no size of donation is too\nsmall” but is that true? That is, is there a minimum below which you\nfind it uneconomical to process a donation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jamie: \u201cThank you\nfor reaching out and good luck on the drash this weekend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n No donation is too\nsmall. Everything is appreciated. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 You can take it\nfrom here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Now to the advice. \nIn Ch 23, v 29-30, God says to the Israelites \u201cI will not drive out the\ninhabitants in a single year\u2026I will drive them out little by little\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Now clearly God\ncould have driven them out all at once and miraculously had the Israelites\nreproduce to fill the land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 What do we learn\nfrom this? From commentary in the Rebbe\u2019s chumash: \u201cWhen we are trying to change\u201d, patience is\nindeed the greatest virtue. Trying to tackle all of our obstacles at once will\nalmost certainly end in failure; the methodological and gradual line of attack\nhas much greater hope for success. We\nmust begin with the easier steps..only then moving on to more subtle\nstruggles. Similarly, we should first\nattempt to avoid whatever is bad before striving for perfection in doing all\nthat is good\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 That\u2019s the advice\nfrom God. The advice related to Thomas Jefferson comes from the famous\nverse Ch 4, v 7: [Read in Hebrew] \u201cWe\nwill do and will learn\/hear [as in \u2018I hear you man\u2019 that we said in the\n60s]\/understand\/obey everything that God has spoken\u201d. First we do, then we\nunderstand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 1981, Davis\nCA.. I walked into bookstore and found\nDumas Malone\u2019s biography of Jefferson, who wrote to his daughter \u201cIt is amazing\nhow much may be done if we are always doing\u201d. I thought that this is a good\nidea, so have been pretty much doing since then. Thomas Jefferson, like God, wants us to be\nproductive by always doing. First we do,\nthen we understand<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Shabbat shalom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Marc Mangel \u2022 Today\u2019s drash has advice from God and Thomas Jefferson about how to lead our lives. \u2022 Movie trailer that we heard about a number of years ago. Congregant to Rabbi \u201cEven though I am observant, I am not happy all the time\u201d. Rabbi to congregant \u201cThat\u2019s okay. Thomas Jefferson wants you … Continue reading