Week's Roundup - Morality is an individual Divine choice facing an onslaught of organized anti-morality propaganda and enticement
Highlights from this week's learning and events; An eternal message from the Torah about how G-d Al-mighty wants the Torah message of His Divine Wisdom to reach every single man, woman and child.
Did you know that the Torah has an eternal Divine Message that applies to every single human being? Authentic Torah learning grounds us in reality, both what we can observe and what is beyond our observation, grasp and even understanding, and leads to practical positive action. Positive for us and positive for those around us. Torah reveals our Divine Innate Spiritual Compass and brings our Spiritual Backbone to the forefront of life.
If you have adopted some or all of Enlightenment thinking, learning Torah will challenge everything you believe and hold dear.
In each Week’s Roundup, you will find a special topic, links to this week’s learning, the Torah perspective on current events, upcoming learning and action suggestions. This week we embrace making Divine moral choices. Learn, take hope and take action, and share.
Happy to report that our first podcast will be broadcast next week - special guest Michael E. Gerber, author of the E-Myth Revisited, joins me for special talk on what’s needed to bring the world gracefully to its final destination, and what that requires of each one of us. It will Premiere on YouTube on Sunday, June 11, 2023, at 2 pm Eastern. Here is the link. More details to follow.
Last week we celebrated Shavuous with joy and internalized the giving of the Torah. We added in commitment to keep learning Torah, G-d Al-mighty's Divine Wisdom, because it takes us out of our personal thinking to allowing Divine Wisdom to occupy our mental faculties and to guide us.
We can see how this plays out and the positive results.
We can also see what happens when we lose sight of the Divine Wisdom and get lost in personal thought - that's the lesson of this week's Torah Portion about the Sotah, the Suspected Adulteress (Numbers 5:11 and following).
Women are Divinely blessed with an innate modesty. To unwind the family and civilization, women are the core target to persuade them to bypass that gift and embrace immorality, G-d forbid.
The behind the scenes of the theatre and writers circles in Paris, Bohemia, London and Vienna, in the 1500 to 1700s, together with the Enlightenment ‘thinkers,’ worked to reshape society and demolish morality. Each new novel, play and opera promoted more and more adultery and immorality, often openly and sometimes by intimation. Push back from the local religious leaders often required toning down temporarily until what was too risqué one day would become normalized a few years later.
The English novels that are considered classics, became ‘classics’ because they pushed the limits of their times and Enlightenment English professors cannonized them as ‘classics.’ Each one of those novels promotes immorality either directly or more discretely.
Tragically, today, many Torah observant girls schools, require this reading. Bizarrely, the boys are not allowed to read the books because they are too suggestive but the girls are mandated to read them. Perhaps it’s true that the girls may not fly off the handle from a mere allusion to immorality, but the intention of the books is to erode the reader's morality and the Enlightenment accomplishes its purposes by having them mandated reading for Torah observant girls! Nothing too shocking or apparent in one reading but over years and generations it takes its toll.
Everything that you find objectionable in what is being read to children today, is the intended end-result of the subtle propaganda of immorality from 200 years ago. And, unfortunately, we have not even reached the intended bottom.
‘Woke’ is a decoy
Anyone who tells you that today’s developments are some recent ‘woke’ mob is lying. Today’s ‘shocking’ material is the next step of you what you were being primed for in kindergarten and grade school and high school and college through what you were reading and watching. The reason that you are told to focus on ‘woke’ is because that way you will try to use sandbags to combat a tsunami. You’ll protest the latest Disney propaganda while still fondly reminiscing on the Disney propaganda you innocently consumed as a child and you will still give that propaganda to your children to watch today! If on the other hand you realized that the immorality propaganda is embedded in most of what you have read, learned, watched and listened to since you were a child, then you could take action to uproot it from your life at the core.
So the Torah portion of the Sotah warns us that we are not go even into ‘merely’ shady personal situations because that itself is an attack on the family and civilization.
Watch as explore the campaign to distract women from their innate morality and modesty and de-moralize them. And, see what we can do about it.
After this video was made, YouTube suggested the following excerpt of a talk from the Lubavitcher Rebbe explaining that women have a higher obligation to be modest and are gifted accordingly an extra strength to carry through. Click the photo to watch the YouTube short:
And, as we know, learning is for the sake of taking action - so take action with your family and people around you to spread the message of hope!
Shoot your comments and questions below!
Shabbos is coming, a reminder for every human being that they are an intentional creation of G-d Al-mighty right now and a continuing beneficiary of His Love, His Joy and His Abundance! What an incredible moment to increase even more in joy!
Action: Use the link above to check Yom Tov and Shabbos Candellighting times in your city around the world. Yom Tov and Shabbos Candlelighting time in New York City this week (6/2/23) is 8:05 pm and Shabbos ends at 9:13 pm.
Here is some of the learning we did this week:
These videos are available in the content library at RabbiSmith.org (in parentheses) and also on YouTube by clicking the name of the learning. When you watch on YouTube please like, share and subscribe so the message of hope reaches more and more people. See below at the end of this article a list of upcoming classes both in person and on Zoom.
Check out our new YouTube shorts here. Make sure to subscribe while you are there so you get notified as new ones come out.
Sunday Learning
👉 2023-05-28: Mitzvos Hashem: Rabbi Steif #62: Being whole-hearted with G-d Al-mighty
Wednesday Learning
👉 Zecharia 8:23: Parshas Naso - Staying on track with focus
Thursday Learning- Cancelled due to travel(Emunah (Faith) in Action Playlist)
👉🌟🌟🌟Parshas Naso - the war on morality
👉The Unstoppable Soul - Run for the hills or safety in numbers?
On Substack this week:
On Substack, I write about the practical implications of Torah learning, and how to keep our thinking clear, grounded in honesty and common sense. Here’s The Rabbi Smith Bulletin for this week: A lot of great activity on Notes. Check them out on my Substack Profile1 or at the The Rabbi Smith Bulletin.
A Torah perspective on the world around us…
Ask in the comments below about topics and news you would like the Torah perspective on.
A peek ahead…
What’s going on in the Holy Land
Restarting the Rambam Mishnah Torah
A thought in concluding for now…
Thank G-d, we live in the most inspiring and incredible times in the history of the world. We have a great and beautiful mission before us. The need in the people is great, time is of the essence and the undertaking is massive, but eminently doable with the help of G-d Al-mighty. Please consider a generous gift to bring this message of hope to thousands more people, by clicking here.
May G-d Al-mighty bless you and Gut Shabbos!
See more actions further down. Torah learning and positive actions are the key to our future.
Upcoming Learning:
All learning uses the following Zoom link: https://bit.ly/BeisMedrash. Sponsor learning in honor or memory of a loved one.
👉Yeshiva Shem V'Ever
Shabbos Afternoon (Saturday) 4 pm Eastern
We will be learning Torah relevant to non-Jews with Jews and non-Jews.
Tanya: Sha'ar Hayichud v'HaEmunah - the Gate of Oneness and Faith
In person in Passaic, New Jersey, only.
👉Rabbi Steif Mitzvos Hashem
SUNDAY 7 am Eastern (1 pm Germany time)
Rabbi Steif wrote this holy book to avert the Holocaust by making sure that both Jews and non-Jews should know clearly G-d Al-mighty's rules for non-Jews.
👉Zecharia 8:23 - Weekly Torah Portion, Prayer and Talmud
WEDNESDAY 8:00 pm Eastern
Learn the week's Torah Portion (parsha) as it is relevant to every man, Prayer for every man and portions of the Talmud that are relevant to non-Jews
👉Emunah (Faith) in Action
THURSDAY 10 am Eastern
Only with tranquility of the soul can we hear G-d Al-Mighty's voice clearly, know what to do and have the strength to do it effectively
👉Gate of Oneness
Words on the Torah Portion
The Torah Experience - Life Fully Lived
THURSDAY 8:00 pm Eastern - Not this coming week due to Shavuous
Study the Gate of Oneness (Sha'ar HaYichud) by the Mittler Rebbe which teaches us how to think clearly. Delivered by Rabbi Shimon Chyrek. Rabbi Smith speaks on the weekly Torah portion at the end of the class.
Actions:
Take stock of modesty in your life. It’s innate and it brings positive results.
Let go of the attachment to Enlightenment ‘classics’ and the modern presentation of immorality - both for you and your family.
This message of Hope can and must reach even more people, with you help. Please gift generously to propel this message to more people. Time is of the essence. The mission is monumental, but with G-d Al-mighty’s help it eminently possible. May G-d Al-mighty bless you for your generosity.
Share this post and click below to gift a subscription to three other people. Thank you!
👉Dedicate a future edition of the Week’s Roundup by clicking here.
Click on the ‘Notes’ tab in the Latest Section next to ‘Posts.’
Which books from 200 years ago do you consider inmoral for example?