Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Shemuel Akhamzadeh
כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֧ה ×Ö¶Ö½×¨Ö¶×¥Ö¾×žÖ´×¦Ö°×¨Ö·Ö›×™Ö´× ×ֲשֶ×֥ר יְשַ×בְתֶּ×־בָּ֖הּ ×œÖ¹Ö£× ×ªÖ·×¢Ö²×©×‚Ö‘×•Ö¼ וּכְמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה ×Ö¶Ö½×¨Ö¶×¥Ö¾×›Ö°Ö¼× Ö·Ö¡×¢Ö·×Ÿ ×ֲשֶ×֣ר ×Ö²× Ö´×™Ö© ×žÖµ×‘Ö´Ö¨×™× ×Ö¶×ªÖ°×›Ö¶Ö¥× ×©Ö¸×֙מָּה֙ ×œÖ¹Ö£× ×ªÖ·×¢Ö²×©×‚Ö”×•Ö¼ ×•Ö¼×‘Ö°×—Ö»×§Ö¹Ö¼×ªÖµ×™×”Ö¶Ö–× ×œÖ¹Ö¥× ×ªÖµ×œÖµÖ½×›×•Ö¼×ƒ . Vayikra ( 18:3)
You shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you; nor shall you follow their laws.
Rashi asks, “What does the last part of this pasuk come to teach that we did not learn from the first part? What is the difference between copying their acts and following their laws?†Rashi answers, “The latter words refer to their social customs — things which have assumed for them the character of a law; for instance, the frequenting of theaters and race-courses (stadiums).”
Shocking!!! Are we not ever to attend a game…?
To answer we can look at the words of Rav Yerucham Libovits which further explain that this (the laws) refers to the depths of the character of a goy which is the root cause of why he acts the way he does. There is a fundamental difference between the goy’s outlook on life and that of a Jew. The following example explains this simply. For a goy, entertainment is an end to itself. It’s the reason why he works so hard, so he can reach the weekend, a vacation, or retire so he can enjoy life.
The Torah’s outlook is that the purpose of a vacation or entertainment is to enable us to become more productive by taking some time off to revive our energy. It is not that we are born to work so we can take a vacation; we are here to better ourselves. If that means taking time off so we can achieve more, the time off itself is for the purpose of growth.
Shabbat Shalom