Event Date:
Monday, September 7, 2020 - 6:00pm
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Event Type:
Event Location:
Online via Zoom
Event Description:
Monday Night Torah
with Simcha (Phil) Lazzar
September 7th, 2020
6pm-7pm
Labor Day: For Honoring The Workers
Labor Day is a special day set aside to celebrate and honor the workers.
In carpentry there are special tools such as saws for making separations and hammers for attaching things together. In pottery there are special tools. This is true for all crafts, that there are special tools for the workers to use in their craft. Although the activities of the craftspeople benefit people in general, for example, carpenters can build a house and the potter can form bowls, the tools themselves are not at all for the people but rather only for the workers.
The workers must know what each tool is for and how best to use it. Learning to use tools takes time, study, and experience. Oftentimes the workers will have mentors and teachers to guide them in safe and productive ways.
In Judaism, we have our sages of blessed memory to guide us in safe and productive ways. But more than that, they guide us to something we call connecting with G-d.
From the teachings of Rav Yehuda Ashlag ztz'l, we learn that religion, all of it, is solely for the workers. In Judaism we have the Torah and mitzvot and Rav Ashlag explains that these are tools for the workers. Although people in general benefit from the workers using the tools, the tools themselves are not at all for the people but rather they are solely for the workers.
In the article "The Essence of the Torah and its Purpose", Rav Ashlag explains what the tools, the Torah and mitzvot, are for. He explains that their purpose is to purify us and unite us and, through this, to bring the world to the knowledge of G-d, which is the same thing as world peace.
As I understand it, a prerequisite for world peace, is that we transform ourselves, individually as well as communally, from selfishness to selflessness, from self-centered to G-d-centered, and from egoism to altruism. The Torah, the mitzvot, as well as the ma'asim tovim (good deeds) are the tools for this transformation process from which the entire world benefits.
B-H' we'll explore these ideas further in class.