Ep. 450: Was the Rebbe Loving?

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics: Chassidus Applied to Shavuos  What exactly is the Torah and what happened at Mattan Torah?   When was the Torah written? Did it always exist just as G-d always existed, or did G-d write the Torah when He decided to create the world?  Does the Torah contain all of G-d's knowledge, or just the parts that relate to creation and to us?  If we were able to travel to a distant planet, would we be responsible to observe Torah and mitzvos there, or was the Torah only given on Planet Earth?  Was the Torah written all at one time or did it evolve and grow as a document and get edited into what it is today?  What exactly was given at Sinai – the written or the oral Torah?   Why is there a written and an oral Torah?   Why was it okay for the rabbis to write down the oral torah when it was prohibited to do so?  Why then can’t we change other prohibitions?  Can there be mistakes in the oral Torah?  Since rabbinic Judaism in the oral Torah is filled with disputes, can we say that those that did not hold by it were on a higher state of Ahavas Yisroel, devoid of arguments?  Why don’t the disputes indicate that there are mistakes in the oral Torah?  Since we ignore certain opinions in the Talmud could it be that we are mistaken in our practice?   How did the Avos do the mitzvos before they were given at Sinai?   How did they know Torah before it was given?  If Abraham performed all the mitzvos, why did he wait until age 99 to do a bris?  How could the Jews sleep and need to be awoken for the giving of the Torah?  Why is it considered special that the Jews said naaseh v’nishmah?  Did they say naaseh v'nishmah out of their own free will, or were they compelled to do so?  Why don't we count the 50th day of the Omer?  Why do we sing and dance on Simchas Torah and not on Shavuos when the Torah was given?   Why do we need two separate commandments, one to believe in Hashem, and another not to believe in false gods?  Why does G-d get so angry about idolatry, if other gods don’t even exist?  Was the Rebbe loving?        Torah         Mattan Torah