“The turbid, stormy waters of secularity roar and foam,
as they seek to swallow up all that is sacred.

In their quaking enormity,
they inundate nations and peoples,

but the strength of Israel
shall never founder.”

(Ma’amarei HaRe’iyah 150)

“The baser a person, the harder for him to distinguish hatred of evil
from hatred for people who do evil…
The exalted trait of people with lofty souls
is their ability to make this distinction.
Their hatred of evil
is trained solely on the evil itself…
and thus the light of loving kindness
illuminates their wisdom.”

(Orot HaKodesh 4:497)

Last post I suggested a definition for Noahide Culture:

The expression of love, admiration, and reverence for the G-d of Israel, His Torah, and His People.

I had begun a camparison of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.  However, I was not successful in clearly bringing out the lessons I thought I could bring out from their biographies.  Both men had greatness and both had flaws.

The point I want to bring across, however, is the following:

America is a religious country.  Statistically, America is by far the most religiously observant country in the Western world.  For that reason, I think that there is still hope for America in terms of her role in the End of Days.

Yes, America/Rome is descended from Esav, but what was Esav’s role supposed to be in this world?

Originally Esav was to be guardian of the physical, while Yaakov would be guardian of the spiritual.  Together they would form a symbiotic relationship, supporting one another.  Only after Esav failed to use his talent for the good did Yaakov have to transform into Yisrael, who can master both the physical and the spiritual simultaneously.

(Second Chance) [The] Netziv [commentary] reminds us of the potentially symbiotic relationship that can exist between the descendants of Yakov and Esav, specifically embodied by Rav Yehudah haNasi (Rebbi) and Antoninus [of Rome].

The spiritual greatness of Rebbi was used to elevate Antoninus, while, in turn, Antoninus could assure much of Rebbi’s temporal concerns (see Avodah Zara 10b). When the latter taught the former, the power and splendor of Rome was placed at the disposal of the Jewish leader. Seforno on 27:29 suggests that this potential symbiotic relationship was what was envisioned by Yitzchak when he wanted to bless Esav with physical wealth and power [in the first place].

Further more, Rashi on Genesis 32:23 brings the Midrash that blames Yakov for not allowing Esav the opportunity to do teshuva!

What’s clear is that the future is not sealed.  Teshuva, returning to G-d’s Torah, is still open for those with a heart beating to the drum of Truth.  I believe this to be true even for Esav, as manifest by America today.

Although, it behooves me to note that my opinion here seems to contradict some of the greatest sages in all of Jewish history, namely Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai t”zl.

So perhaps teshuva for Esav as a nation is unrealistic, but certainly parts of the nation of Esav are changing their ways, as in the beautiful emergence of the Bnei Noach.

I was thinking…

To paint over the color-spectrum of life with simplicity-masks of Black and White is to reject the elegance of Creation.

Better late than never…

Last week’s parsha was parshas Noach.

Question: Why did G-d destroy the world with a flood?  Of all the ways to bring punishment to the wicked people of that generation, why a flood?

Answer: The Lubavitcher rebbe zt”l brings a connection between the 40 days and nights of the flooding and the 40 se’ah (measures) of water needed to create a ritual bath for purification.  Thus, he says, the flood was not just a punishment; it was a process of purification.

Question: Why does the Torah say “And the rain was on the Earth” in one place, and later says “And the flood was on the Earth”?  Was it rain or was it flood?

Answer: Rashi explains that not only did G-d wait 120 years to send the flood, but even if the people had turned from their evil ways at the last moment, when it had just begun to rain, G-d would have turned the rain into gishme bracha “rains of blessing” instead of rains of destruction.  Since they didn’t change, the rains turned to flood.

We also learn from the ritual bath that starting to turn from one’s evil ways requires only a single moment of commitment, just as a ritual bath requires only a single moment of immersion to render the person or vessel purified.  “The Holy One said, open for me a door as big as a needle’s eye and I will open for you a door through which may enter tents…”¹

When a person commits to purify himself or herself, he has to do two things: sur m’ra v’aseh tov.

1. Turn away from the bad
2. Do good

Usually this is thought of for the individual person.  However, we also see this in the process of purifying the world.

Everything that happened outside of the ark was sur m’ra Turn from evil.  The generation of the flood were destroyed because of their behavior in three ways:

1. Ervah - Licentiousness (to put it lightly)
2. Gezel - Theft
3. Avodah zarah - Idol worship

Flooding the world, literally wiped out the entire culture of the people of the world, including the animals who had also become corrupt and started interbreeding.  This is sur m’ra Turn from evil.

Everything that happened inside the ark was aseh tov Do good.  For more than a year Noah and his family are charged with the tremendous responsibility of caring for the animals in the ark.  There was no vacation or days off in which they could rest from the kindness needed for the animals.

However, the chesed kindness of Noah and his family toward the animals in the ark exceeds any kindness that we see today.  Whereas we can care for our pets or farm animals, Noah had to care for the only remaining creatures of each species - thus the fate of each species was in his hands.  Caring for even two lions can be said to have been caring for the entire species of lions.  Since G-d does not watch over individual animals, but does watch over their entire species, this is a true life-saving chessed on Noah’s part.

The other Good that was done in the ark was the separation between men and women.  Whereas today many people hear the phrase “separation between men and women” and automatically think: “sexist!” - let’s think about this for a moment.

Why did Noah have to care for animals and do kindness for over a year? Why didn’t God have him do some other good, such as prayer or study Torah?  The answer is that the kindness towards the animals was a type of Good that was a tikun a rectification for the evil of theft and violence that led to the flood.

Since the generation of the flood was corrupted with immoral sexual behavior, the rectification for their behavior was made through the separation between men and women in the ark.

We are told that immersion in the ritual bath is similar to a baby leaving the mother’s womb.  Thus the ark was the a new creation of the world in the “womb.”  This new world was founded on a proper balance between kindness and self-restraint that is necessary for all new relationships and endeavors.

Thus we learn three main lessons here:

1. G-d is open to us up until the latest moment, waiting to turn our “flood” into “rains of blessing.”
2. When we want to purify ourselves, we have to sur m’ra “Turn from evil” and aseh tov “Do good.”
3. When we want to establish a new relationship, or create a new organization or project, it must be founded with a proper balance between kindness and appropriate self-restraint.

May we find that healthy balance, and may we merit the final redemption through G-d’s true kindness. Amen.

I sit across a bulky, ogre-looking young man on the subway.

He’s got a gold chain bracelet and a scragly beard.
He wears a red baseball cap tilted to partially cover his face, which slightly frowns seriously.

His greasy hair hangs out of his cap like Medusa tentacles reaching past his ears which are clogged with iPod ear buds blasting rap music we all hear.

His facial expression mimics the mood of the man spewing (expressing?) anger in the rap lyrics.

This man is a vessel reflecting the contents he contains.

L’havdil¹, when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai after Hashem revealed Torah to him, his face glowed to such an extent that he had to cover it with a mask so that the people would be able to approach him.²

What you contain, the music you take in, the TV you watch, the stories your friends tell you, the books you read, the things you see, the imagination you play with in your mind all reflect in your face³ (and all affect your soul).

The word face in Hebrew “panim” has the same root as the word “inside.”  And our sages teach us that the face reflects what is inside.  When we’re happy (inside), we smile (outside).  When we’re sad (inside) we frown (outside).

However, just as a pathogen, a virus, that enters our body is a foreign entity not from our body, not natural to our body, so too the anger that such rap music can imbue is not real.  It is false anger.  It is false seriousness.  It is a foreign entity, a pathogen, and therefore I knew that this young man wasn’t really angry.⁴

And then the woman sitting next to him, suddenly terrified that she stepped onto the wrong subway train asked him, “Is this train going uptown or downtown?!?”

The ogre looks to her and pulls out one of the headphones from his ear, and the toothpick from his mouth:

“What? Where do you need to go?”

“I need to go downtown?  Is this going uptown?”

“Um…I think, downtown.”  And he wasn’t sure of himself, and he had a face of sadness that he couldn’t offer better help!

What did I learn from this?

I learned that helping another person in their moment of need brings a person back to their true self.  To return to who you are is do to teshuva (repentance).

Did you ever notice that life repeats the same challenges over and over?

Except that today, I might be able to behave better, or speak calmly, or think less judgmentally.

I’m being given the choice of self perfection every single day.

The challenges stay the same, at least in their core.  The conflicts are the same as they were last year.  The troubles are the same as they were for my great grandmother.  The questions are the same as they were 2,000 years ago.

It’s me and you who have the choice to strive for perfection every day.

It’s not too late to show up to the Noahide Sukkot celebration in Oklahoma!

(source: Aish.com)

The Talmud relates that in the future, when the pagans will complain to G-d about His preferential treatment of the Jews, He will tell them that this is because the Jews accepted and followed the Torah. They were not so much the “chosen people,” as the “choosing people,” so to speak; they chose to follow G-d’s law.

The pagans will then plead, “Offer us the Torah anew and we will follow it.” “You foolish people,” G-d will answer, “he who prepares in advance of Shabbat can eat on Shabbat, but he who made no preparations, what can he eat? Nevertheless, I have an easy commandment called Sukkah, go and fulfill it…” Why is it called an easy commandment? Because it has no expense. Immediately each one will build a booth, a Sukkah, on his roof, but G-d will cause the sun to blaze as if it were the summer solstice. Each one will then kick his Sukkah, and leave… Thereupon G-d will laugh, as it is said, “He that sits in heaven and laughs.” (Talmud - Avoda Zara 3a)

Although this passage is difficult for several reasons, I would like to focus on one of its main themes: that pagans will not be able to keep the commandment of Sukkah. The reason this is so strange is that of all the holidays, Sukkot has been perceived as the most universal, encompassing all the nations of the world.

The Talmud teaches:

Rabbi Eliezer said: “Why are 70 offerings brought on Sukkot? For the (merit of the) 70 nations of the world.” (Sukkah 55b)

Rashi comments:

To bring forgiveness for them (the 70 nations which comprise the world), so that rain shall fall all over the earth.

The Sages stress that Sukkot has a universal element which is clearly absent in the other festivals: Passover represents the exodus from Egypt and the emergence of a Jewish nation; Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jews. It seems paradoxical to find this expression of the inability of the pagans to relate to G-d specifically in the context of Sukkot.

For the rest of the article, go here

Chag Same’ach - Happy Holiday!

Wow…

http://www.whoshalllive.com

Thanks for the embed tip DJ!

כבד את ה’ מהונך –– ממה שחננך
Honor G-d with the gifts with which he has endowed you!
(Pesikta d’Rav Kahana, based on Mishley 3:9)

“For every man has an instinctive liking for certain kinds of work or business. It is comparable to the cat’s instinct for catching mice…the heron’s for catching fish…where each living creature is endowed with those physical attributes which are appropriate to it’s means of obtaining food…In this same way each person’s individual nature is attuned to the kind of activity which G-d has in mind for him.”
(Chovos HaLevavos: Shaar HaBitachon, Chapter 3, Hakdamah 5)

…Awareness of particular gifts will deny us the comforts of conformity.  But we must dare to be different because we are different.  Each of our particular mix of quirks, feelings and dreams is as unique as our features¹.  Bland uniformity must not be tolerated.  It squelches the spark, dulls the cutting edge of creativity, and impugns the צלם אלקים,² the G-d-like singularity with which we have been irrevocably stamped.³