April 3rd, 2003
A Witness to History
In Nissan we were redeemed [from Egypt], and in Nissan we will be redeemed in the future.
Talmud Rosh Hashana 11b
The redemption from all the empires [Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman] is in the month of Nissan.
B’nei Yissachar, Nissan discourse 1
With love You led the people You redeemed
With might You led to them to Your holy shrine
Nations heard and shuddered, terror gripped those who dwell in Philistia
Edom’s chiefs then panicked, Moab’s heroes were seized with trembling
Canaan’s residents melted away
Fear and dread fell upon them
at the greatness of Your Arm, They are still as stone
Until Your people crossed [the River Nile], G-d, until the people You gained crossed over [the Euphrates]…
Song at the Sea, 7th of Passover Torah reading, Exodus 15:13-16
G-d will dry up the gulf [lit. destroy the tongue] of the Egyptian sea, with His mighty wind He will shake His hand over the [Euphrates] river and divide it into seven streams.
Isaiah 11:15, last day of Passover haftorah
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and become four major rivers… The name of the third river is the Tigris… the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Genesis 2:10-4
All the rivers are below [and originate from] the three rivers, and the three rivers are below [and originate from] the Euphrates…which is the original river (flowing out of Eden); The Euphrates is the most prestigious and the source of all rivers, and its growth causes all other rivers to grow.
Talmud Bechorot 55a-b, and Rashi and Tosfos
On that day G-d made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the Egyptian river, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.”
Genesis 15:18. See Deuteronomy 1:7. 11:24. Joshua 1:4
Well, the Euphrates is in the news yet again. Yes, the same Euphrates where it all began in the Garden of Eden is now smack in the middle of the battles of our day in the modern 21st century. It’s quite fascinating to see how retracing the roots of an ancient river can illuminate the defining events of our times.
As we enter the new Hebrew lunar month of Nissan and battle rages over the Euphrates, it’s hard for a Talmud student to ignore an otherwise obscure Talmudic passage which suddenly takes on immediate relevance in light of today’s events.
In the month of Nissan another Euphrates ‘coincidence’ jumps out at you: The parting of the Re(e)d Sea on the seventh day of Passover is a prelude to the parting of the Euphrates in the future, as we read in both the Torah reading of that day and in the haftorah of the last day of Passover.
Until Your people crossed [the River Nile], G-d, until the people You gained crossed over [the Euphrates]. G-d will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea, with His mighty wind He will shake His hand over the [Euphrates] river and divide it into seven streams.
In the tractate Bechorot the Talmud discusses the nature of the Euphrates river: Do the waters of this river swell from its own internal springs, or from rainfall. One of the differences is whether a mikveh [a ritual bath] was built in the month of Nissan. If the Euphrates swells because of the rains, then after the rainy winter season, which ends with the onset of spring (Nissan time), a mikveh needs to be built because the Euphrates cannot be used to immerse oneself, since the rainwater may make up the bulk of the river and running rainwater cannot be used for ritual immersion. If however, the Euphrates feeds itself, then its can be used all year round as a purifying force.
This may seem completely obscure, cryptic and even irrelevant to those that have never studied Talmud or are unfamiliar with its method. But remember two things: The Talmud is a comprehensive legal document that lays the foundations of law that regulates all aspects of life. Indeed, the Talmud is the basis for a large part of our modern legal and constitutional systems.
Even more important is the fact that behind/within this large ‘body’ of law lies a soul. Every detail in Torah carries profound spiritual and psychological messages that illuminate the inner recesses of our psyches and the cosmos at large.
The deeper relevance of the Talmud at hand can be appreciated through the lens of current events, and in turn, the Talmud can help us understand and analyze the nature of the Euphrates battles of today.
The Euphrates is a paradoxical river. On one hand we find many references to its glory and power. The Euphrates waters the Garden of Eden. It flows from the supernal Eden – the source of the deepest mysteries of existence, and it is the source root of all rivers. In the future the Euphrates will part, making way for the ingathering of all the exiled people.
Yet, the Euphrates is also the river where the people wept after being exiled to Babylon. And because “you have not merited you were exiled to Babylon and are drinking from the waters of the Euphrates, whose waters are filthy and smelly” (as the Midrash states, Pesichta of Eicha Rabba 19). (see last week’s article, By the Rivers of Babylon).
So, which one is it?
To understand this let us go back and visit Abraham, ‘father of all nations.’ Abraham is promised:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the Egyptian river, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.”
This promise follows Abraham’s mysterious vision:
“As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and a deep dark dread fell upon him. [G-d] said to Abram: ‘Know for sure that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs for 400 years. They will be enslaved and oppressed. But I will finally bring judgment against the nation who enslaves them, and they will then leave with great wealth…’ The sun set, and it became very dark. A smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the animals. On that day G-d made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land (The Land of Israel), from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates’.”(Genesis 15:1-21)
What was the “deep dark dread” that befell Abraham? The Midrash explains that Abraham was shown the future great empires that would control the world and bring terror to it, each in their own way: the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman and Ishmaelite empires. (see article titled Abraham’s Vision),
The great Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria (known as the holy Arizal) explains that these empires – that extend over the entire span of history – represent the different stages of refinement (birur) that we achieve throughout the generations. Everything in our material existence contains ‘great wealth’ of Divine ‘sparks,’ i.e. spiritual energy, and we are charged with the mission to redeem and elevate these sparks, and thereby refine the material universe and transform it into its true purpose: a vehicle for spiritual expression.
Beginning with the enslavement by the Egyptian empire – the archetype and root (‘head’) of all the exiles and empires – each subsequent empire symbolizes another stage of refinement in integrating G-dliness into the material world. The process concludes with the refinement of the last two powers, Edom (Esau) and Ishmael, which leads to the Messianic age – a world where there is no more destruction and terror and all children of Abraham serve the One G-d of Abraham in peace and harmony.
On one hand, Abraham experiences a “deep dark dread” seeing the tragic behavior of all the great empires throughout history, and how his children would suffer as a result. On the other hand, this vision empowered Abraham and by extension, all his children with appreciating the deeper forces at work behind the scenes, and that all these events are part of a larger process, with a light at the end of the tunnel.
Ultimately, Abraham knew that his children would achieve ‘great wealth’ as they would discover and redeem the powerful ‘sparks’ embedded in the darkest places. And that his descendants would receive the land:
“From the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.”
Not just a river, but a ‘great river.’ Because, of all rivers, the Euphrates combines both dimensions: the depths of darkness, and precisely in this darkness lies the greatest ‘sparks.’
After all is said and done, the Euphrates is a silent witness to history. This river has seen the heights to which man can climb and the depths to which man can fall. All the way from the beginning, the Euphrates flowed from a mysterious place called Eden to ‘water the garden’ – a most glorious garden in which Adam and Eve, the flowers of creation, were to beautify with their efforts to “serve and to protect.” The Garden of Eden is the quintessential place on Earth, the place that was to reflect the greatest that man can achieve, the place where heaven meets earth – Paradise.
The river was then to become tragic witness to Mans’ first great fall, when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, lost their innocence and began the decline into human misery and the long tragic history of existential loneliness.
The Euphrates reappears again in G-d’s promise to Abraham, which tells Abraham and his children that all is not lost. The river connecting Eden and the universe is here with us through thick and thin. Yes, at this river in Babylon Abraham’s children would weep, but at this river they should also rejoice.
Perhaps this is the deeper soul meaning behind the Talmud’s two opinions as to the nature of the Euphrates. The opinion that the river’s replenishment is dependent on rain emphasizes the ‘lower’ dimension of the river, because rain is connected to effort from below:
“A mist rose up from the earth.” (Genesis 2:6)
Hence, this river cannot always purify and sanctify. The other opinion that the Euphrates replenishes itself, from its own source, reflects the ‘higher’ dimension of the river, one that is always connected to Eden and can therefore always purify.[1]
The real challenge comes in the month of Nissan – the month we are now entering – when the Euphrates is filled with rainwater that fell in the rainy winter season. Will the river serve as a purifier or not?
Perhaps that is up to us.
The Euphrates provides us, yet again, with a few more dots that connect the patterns of history, and the deeper significance of the battles being waged today. The significance being: Reconnecting our lives – our material, sad and corrupt lives – with the Euphrates River flowing out of Eden, the source of all existence [more on the mysterious Eden in an upcoming article]. The river Euphrates captures the agony and ecstasy of history – and our responsibility to bridge the secular and the sacred, which in the final analysis is the only permanent solution to humankind’s struggles.
The Euphrates reminds us that life can be a ‘deep dark dread.’ Yet it also always reminds us that even as the ‘sun sets’ the deepest sparks of ‘great wealth’ lay embedded in the ‘deep dark dread.” And we are charged with the mission to ‘split’ the archetypal Euphrates in our lives – to separate between the negative and positive aspects of the river and walk through it. In other words: to divide between the secular and the sacred, and then to integrate them.
We are told that just as the splitting of the Red Sea took place in this month of Nissan, so too the Euphrates will finally split in this month allowing the exiles to return home.
“On that day G-d will stretch forth His hand a second time to bring back the remnant of His people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Chamath, and from the islands of the sea.” (Isaiah 11:11)
Read on in Isaiah and let me know how you interpret it:
“They will fly against the Philistines toward the west; together they will plunder the children of the east. They will put forth their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will obey them.”
Will this be the year when the Euphrates finally parts?
No doubt that it’s up to us.
[1] These two elements of the Euphrates [what comes from above and what is initiated by man below] are specifically mentioned in Berochot 59b, in connection to reciting a blessing when you see the Euphrates. The Talmud qualifies this by saying that the blessing is recited only on the part of the Euphrates that is there from creation (as it was in the Garden of Eden), but not the section of the river altered by man. See also Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 228:2.
——-
Some source material on the Euphrates according to Chassidus:
Likkutei Torah Tzav, Maamar V’Hainif (16d). Siddur im Dach 289a. Shaar HaEmunah ch. 52 and on. Hemshech V’Hechrim 5631.
Regarding the two paradoxical elements of the river see: Ohr HaTorah Lech Lecho vol. 4 682b. Maamar Lech Lecho 5738.
Tags: Moshiach, Abraham, war, purpose of existence, Jewish history, purity, Spirituality, redemption, Light and Dark, Talmud, Jewish nation, Garden of Eden, Messiah
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Passover, Soul & Mystical, Months & Holidays, Vayikra, Religion, Beliefs & Concepts, Tazria, Social, Exile, Spiritual, Moshiach & Redemption, The Gulf War 2003, Nisan, Torah, Current Events | No Comments »
March 27th, 2003
He named it Babel, because this was the place where G-d confused (balal) the world’s language, and it was from there that G-d dispersed [humanity] over all the face of the earth.
Genesis 11:9
By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat and wept,
As we remembered Zion.
Upon the willows in the midst of it
We hung our harps.
For there our captors demanded of us songs,
And our tormentors mirth, saying,
“Sing to us of the songs of Zion.”
How can we sing the Lord’s song
On alien soil?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
May my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to my palate
If I do not remember you,
If I do not bring to mind Jerusalem
During my greatest joy.
Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom
The day of [the destruction of] Jerusalem,
Who said, “Raze it, raze it
To its very foundation.”
O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one,
How blessed will be the one who repays you
In retribution for what you have inflicted on us…
Psalms 137
Who is this coming from Edom, with sullied garments from Basra? For a day of vengeance is in My heart and the year of my redemption has come.
Isaiah 63:1; 4
G-d has a sacrifice in Basra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
Ibid 34:6
He [G-d] changes the times and the seasons (Daniel 2:21). If you had merited you would have sat in Jerusalem and drank from the waters of the Shiloach [spring], whose waters are clean and sweet; now that you have not merited you were exiled to Babylon and are drinking from the waters of the Euphrates [Peros], whose waters are filthy and smelly.
Midrash, Pesichta of Eicha Rabba 19
When they entered the exile in Babylon, they thought that would not survive because G-d had forsaken them… at that moment G-d and His entire entourage joined them in Babylon. Because of the great pain and cries they had at the rivers of Babylon they merited that the Divine Chariot be revealed to Ezekiel the prophet in Babylon. This consoled them and they no longer feared the exile because they knew that G-d did not forsake them.
Zohar II 2b. Tzemech Tzedek on Psalm 137
Sandstorms sweep over the Euphrates and paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigadedrop down into the cold rain and mud in Northern Babylon. As the United States and British Armies (or as they like to call it “the coalition forces”) battle the modern-day Nevuchadnezzar of Iraq, the entire free world is becoming steeped in the mire of the Middle Eastern rivers.
Thinking people are thinking ahead. So what happens after Saddam Hussein is removed from power (hopefully with minimum bloodshed)? Will this victory simply eliminate Arab/Muslin animosity to the United States and the West? Will this end terrorism? And what about Israel – will Iraq’s liberation change the attitude to the Jewish land?
Paul Berman in last week’s cover story of the Sunday NY Times Magazine (“The Philosopher of Islamic Terror”) reminds us that the true war is hardly a military one. Citing one of the philosophical leaders of modern Islamic fundamentalism, Sayyid Qutb, Berman demonstrates that that the battle between the Western world and Islam is primarily an ideological and religious one.
Without tooting the horn of this column, those of you reading this column and the new edition of my book, Toward A Meaningful Life, know that this has been my recurrent theme for the last 18 months: The real war – which is going on now for thousands of years, tracing back to the battles between Ishmael, Isaac, Esau and Jacob – is an ideological one: between matter and spirit, between the Divine and the universe – a war to make our peace with G-d and to discover unity between our natural lives and our Divine mission statement. (See the articles of this column).
I greatly appreciate the e-mails some of you sent me pointing out that Berman’s basic thesis was published in these articles. This is not about taking credit; rather it is about recognizing that the roots of today’s conflicts can only be understood in Biblical context. Frankly, this point has been almost impossible to communicate to most people today. Just witness the hours upon hours of ‘military’ news reports on CNN, MSNBC, FOX and so on. Mention – not even one reference – is made to the true nature of today’s conflicts.
Now is not the time to analyze the reasons for people’s absolute resistance to hearing that the battles today are ideological and religious – about a world-view on life and existence (I will try to elaborate on this in future articles). Suffice it to say that this denial says much about our alienation and disillusionment in religious answers to life’s problems. We have grown accustomed and even spoiled by our prosperity. Resultantly, we have mastered the ‘fast food’ life of the moment, and have lost touch with the eternal. No surprise then that we simply don’t relate to the historical, religious and theological roots of today’s global confrontations.
That’s why it is indeed gratifying to see that mainstream NY Times published Berman’s article, finally giving some credence to seeing the deeper forces at work in the Middle Eastern quagmire. What is equally gratifying is to read the quotes of the Islamic intellectual hero, Sayyid Qutb, and see how some of his ideas, despite some of their fundamental distortions, so closely parallel deeper truths, albeit with false conclusions. Indeed, even his distortions can help illuminate truths that eluded Qutb himself.
As I have written here many times, one of the distinctions of the Messianic age is: clarity (“yisbariru v’yislabnu ha’devorim”). Clarity means recognizing the true nature of things, which includes exposing both what is true and what is false. Lack of clarity is when we can’t see our friends or our enemies. Ideas that snowball good ideas and bad ones just confuse us. Qutb’s writings – both his intelligent thoughts and his blatant distortions and falsehoods – can help us recognize the ultimate truth, just as Marx’s writings – both in their brilliant critique of Capitalism and insight on human nature and their equally brilliant failure – can help us better understand and bring us to discover the true way G-d wants us to live.
Qutb writes, that the confrontation is not about economics, politics or military domination; it is theological. The confrontation is to defend against the active efforts of the “Crusaders” and “Zionists” to annihilate Islam. Islam, Qutb insists, is the true religion that corrected the “distortions” of Judaism and Christianity and balances the secular and the sacred.
Christianity, Qutb writes, created a “hideous schizophrenia” between the physical and the spiritual, between religion and science, between the steely impersonality of modern power and technology and the nature of the human spirit.
Berman doesn’t make the analogy, but some of Qutb’s arguments sound awfully similar to Marx’s concept of alienation, how the Capitalist system reduces the worker to no more than a commodity, thus leading to mans’ alienation (Entausserung) and estrangement (Entfremdung) from his essential self.
Though Qutb may have known something about Christianity he sure knows nothing about Judaism. As profound a thinker he may be, his hatred against Judaism is hardly philosophical. Among other ‘brilliant’ theories, Qutb argues that the Jews acquired a ‘slavish character’ during their Egyptian captivity. This he writes about a people who are still here for thousands of years specifically because they did not allow themselves to bow and be enslaved by any people – including Muhammad. Indeed, The Maharal of Prague writes that the liberation from Egypt imbued the Jewish people with an inherent personality of freedom. Nothing would be able to enslave them ever again. So much for Qutb’s Jewish expertise.
Again, here is not the place to demonstrate Qutb’s ignorance about Judaism. But it is no surprise; after all Qutb the Muslim cannot be worse than Muhammad himself who became a virulent anti-Semite after the Jews rejected him.
What I will say is that, the true balance between the secular and the sacred is only possible if all religions go back to the original teachings of Abraham, father of all nations, as they were consummated at Sinai. Every intelligent person should know that when distortions set into any system, the truest way of discovering the real facts is not by adding new theories, but by tracing back to the original roots that preceded human distortions.
I therefore humbly submit that we go back to the beginning and study Abraham’s teachings, and how he passed them on to his children. We need to understand how Abraham’s son Ishmael had extreme energy (of chesed), which needed to be balanced with discipline (of gevurah). Abraham’s grandson Esau also had powerful energy (of gevurah), which needed to be balanced by kindness (chesed). Jacob then ‘redeemed Abraham’ (Isaiah 29:22), because Jacob – Tiferet – balances these two forces.
This in turn sets the stage for the revelation at Sinai, when Moses receives the Torah (called tiferet) – G-d’s blueprint for life, how to transform the material universe into a Divine home.
At the time the children of Ishmael and Esau rejected the Torah. They were not yet ready. Generations later they would begin to embrace the teachings that trace back to their ancestor, Abraham as formalized at Sinai.
In the centuries that followed Esau and Ishmael’s descendants would go through their growing pains in learning how to balance religious beliefs and daily life. This would not be an easy process; history is witness to the devastation and bloodshed wreaked by this journey. But slowly, slowly, Sinai would seep into the fibers of all people.
The process concludes with the refinement of the last two powers, Edom (Esau) and Ishmael, which leads to the Messianic age – a world where there is no more destruction and terror and all children of Abraham serve the One G-d of Abraham in peace and harmony.
Edom and Ishmael are meeting on the banks of Babylon.
By the rivers of Babylon two things are happening at once. It’s a time to weep – to weep over the losses, the razing, the destruction of Jerusalem – the center of existence where heaven meets earth, the force that balances spirit and matter.
The tears come pouring even more when our captors insist that we sing. It’s not enough that the material world is subjugating us and that we are displaced from our spiritual center, but it also demands of us to go into total denial. “Sing – things are great!” – the world yells at us. “Forget about your past, forget Jerusalem – why don’t you perform a concert for us?!” That’s how powerful the pull of conformity can be.
So step one is to weep and remember. Yes, weeping isn’t about sadness; it’s about remembering. Even as we sit at the rivers of Babylon and drink from the unclean waters of the Euphrates we always remember Zion and the oneness it represents. And this memory is our salvation. Through our tears and our awareness we begin freeing the energy that lays trapped – and has been drawn (like rivers) into Babylon (see Siddur, Ha’oro l’Tikkun Chatzot, 152b).
And through our pain and cries we merit to revelation – and we recognize that G-d and His entourage is with us, sitting at the rivers of Babylon.
“[As they were] exiled to Babylon, the Shechina was with them.”
What can we each of us do about this in our personal lives?
Even if we are not personally fighting the physical war on the Euphrates and Tigris, each of us has our own battles by the rivers of Babylon.
Babylon represents confusion:
“He named it Babel, because this was the place where G-d confused (balal) the world’s language, and it was from there that G-d dispersed [humanity] over all the face of the earth.” (Genesis 11:9)
It also refers to:
“[The] soiled garments of mundane matters and worldly desires.” (Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh ch. 4)
The rivers of Babylon refers to the (the rivers) of human reason which is intermingled with lies (Tzemech Tzedek, Psalm 137), the rivers that channel energy and feed the confusion and blind distortions of the material world. Mundane matters and material desires cloud our judgment and don’t allow us to see our soul’s mission.
Our first step in fighting our Babylonian/confusion battles is – awareness: To rise above the confusion of Babylon and recognize that our true home and center is not at these rivers. At times we must also have the courage to weep and remember.
Ironically, confusion itself – the awareness of our confusion – gives us the power to discover clarity. Knowledge of a disease is half its cure.
The Babylon of life reflects our personal and collective confusions, the confusions of history and religion, all the uncertainty and doubts that pervade our lives – the confusion between true and false, good and evil.
As we sit at the rivers of confusion we have before us the unprecedented opportunity to recognize that the distortions that have shaped life as we know it today. We have now an opening – a crack in history – that allows us to see the forces within and the birthing possibilities.
But awareness is just the first step. The most powerful counterforce to confusion is unity. Our mission today is to once and for all figure out how to integrate our lives – what we do and who we are. To fuse your spiritual and material needs – your body and soul, matter and spirit.
Indeed, of all rivers it will be the Euphrates that will part in the near future into seven streams (Isaiah 11:15). This parting represents the unity of opposites on the highest levels – the power to unite heaven and earth, land and water.
At Sinai (which followed the parting of the Red Sea) we were first given this power. Over the centuries nations and religions have been struggling to find the right equilibrium between individuality and responsibility, between personal freedom and G-d’s will. Finally, now, as we sit at the rivers of Babylon, we can and must make our peace with Sinai.
The nations of the world must and will embrace their legacy — to integrate G-d into their lives, teach G-d’s laws to their children and infuse spirituality into all systems. Jews must fulfill their calling of being a “light unto nations,” bringing Sinai and its teachings to all.
Today, as the nations – especially Esau and Ishmael – confront the world and each other, with Israel as usual in the middle, all on the banks of Babylon we have our opportunity.
From amidst the confusion of our times, we must create a new world, a world in which all nations speak one tongue and serve one G-d – unlike Babylon whose tongues were confused in their defiance of G-d.
I would also like to remind Qutb, that indeed, unlike Islam and Christianity, Judaism categorically discourages conversion to Judaism. Every human being is created in the ‘Divine Image,’ and each has his/her destiny in serving G-d. One need not be or become Jewish to have a relationship with G-d.
Our role today is for each of us to discover our Divine mission and calling, and help inspire others to do the same. We have to prepare the world for the time when the entire preoccupation of the all nations will be to know G-d (Maimonides end of Laws of Kings) – a “world filled with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea.” The entire world will serve G-d in unity:
“I will turn to the peoples a pure tongue that all shall call upon the name of G-d and serve Him with one consent.”
So here we are, at the rivers of Babylon once again. This time, we can part the river and discover the power of one sitting at the rivers of Babylon.
Tags: war, Jewish history, body and soul, Jewish nation, redemption, Christianity, Islam
Posted in Biblical, Operation Iron Swords, Weekly Parsha, Israel, Religion, Beliefs & Concepts, Vayikra, Shemini, Torah Personalities, Exile, Social, Ishmael, Moshiach & Redemption, Spiritual, Torah, The Gulf War 2003, Terrorism, The Inside Story, Current Events | No Comments »
March 20th, 2003
The Writing on the Wall
For behold I am arousing and bringing up upon Babylon an alliance of great nations from the north land, and they will set themselves in array against her – from there she will be taken; his arrows are like those of an intelligent warrior, none will be wasted.
Jeremiah 50:9
The leader of Persia will attack an Arab nation and the Arab king will go to Aram for advice. The leader of Persia will bring destruction to the entire world, and all nations will be outraged and confused… and they will say, “Where shall we come and go?” G-d will answer them: “My children, do not be afraid, everything I have done, I have done for you. Why are you afraid? Do not fear, the time of your Redemption has arrived.
Yalkut Shemoni Isaiah, remez 499
Many Iraqis can hear me tonight in a translated radio broadcast, and I have a message for them: If we must begin a military campaign, it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you.
As our coalition takes away their power, we will deliver the food and medicine you need. We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free. In free Iraq there will be no more wars of aggression against your neighbors, no more poison factories, no more executions of dissidents, no more torture chambers and rape rooms.
The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near.
President Bush in his Monday night address to the nation
On Purim eve (Monday night) President Bush gave Iraq/Babylon/Persia a 48 hour ultimatum which ended on the night of Shushan Purim (Wednesday night).
Unexpectedly, as if a Higher hand was at work insisting that the battle begin on Shushan Purim, the attack began earlier after intelligence reports caused the administration to bomb a leadership command bunker in Baghdad with the hope of killing Saddam Hussein, his sons and some of his inner circle (as of this writing we do not yet know whether the bombing was successful).
Now, we all know that the story of Purim took place in this precise geographic region, which was then under the rule of the Persian King Achashverosh. The Persian Empire had several years earlier conquered Babylon. In the book of Daniel (chapter 5) we read about the fall of Babylon. Babylonian King Belshazzar – a grandson of Nevuchadnezzar (who destroyed the First Temple) – throws a party using the holy vessels that his grandfather had plundered from the Holy Temple. During the party Belshazzar sees the “writing on the wall” (hence the contemporary euphemism for obvious and impending doom), and that same night he is slain, followed by the Persian conquest of Babylon. And this destruction is a result of Babylon’s arrogant celebration:
“Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, robbers of my heritage.” (Jeremiah 50:11. See Malbim)
A few years later Persian King Achashverosh replays the same scenario. He too throws a party displaying all the vessels he had pillaged. Achashverosh is actually compared to Nevuchadnezzar and also to Belshazzar; both Achashverosh and Belshazzar miscalculated the 70 years of the Babylonian exile and thought that the time had already passed for the Temple to be rebuilt; both threw parties (Talmud Megillah 11a-b). By now we know the end of that story – the miracle of Purim. Haman (who plotted with Achashverosh) like Belshazzar is destroyed. Several years later Koresh (Cyrus) gives the Jews permission to rebuild the second Temple (Ezra chapter 1).
And now, on the night of Shushan Purim (Shushan is the capital of Persia), “an alliance of great nations from the north land” (Jeremiah 50:9. See also 50:3), “from the farthest parts of the earth” (50:41) attack modern day Babylon and Persia. Indeed, Saddam Hussein modeled himself after Nevuchadnezzar who destroyed the Holy Temple. On various occasions Saddam considered himself as a successor to the Babylonian king.
In 1979, he was quoted by his semi-official biographer as saying:
“Nevuchadnezzar stirs in me everything relating to pre-Islamic ancient history. And what is most important to me about Nevuchadnezzar is the link between the Arabs’ abilities and the liberation of Palestine. Nevuchadnezzar was, after all, an Arab from Iraq, albeit ancient Iraq. … That is why whenever I remember Nevuchadnezzar I like to remind the Arabs, Iraqis in particular, of their historical responsibilities. It is a burden that should… spur them into action because of their history.”
Saddam Hussein had a replica of Nevuchadnezzar’s war chariot built and had himself photographed standing in it. He ordered images of himself and Nevuchadnezzar beamed, side by side, into the night sky over Baghdad as part of a laser light show. He has spent millions rebuilding the ancient site of Babylon, Nevuchadnezzar’s capital city. He restored part of Nevuchadnezzar’s 600-room palace, and atop some of the original bricks, marked with Nevuchadnezzar’s name, are others that declare, “In the era of Saddam Hussein, protector of Iraq, who rebuilt the Royal Palace.”
The dots continue to accumulate…
If that’s not enough, consider that Iraq is the area where the Garden of Eden was located, as the Bible describes the location in juxtaposition to the four rivers, Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and the Euphrates (Genesis 2:11-14). The area of present day Iraq was called Mesopotamia, which means (in Greek) ‘between the rivers.’
Indeed, the Midrash associates the four rivers with the four kingdoms that would dominate the world, the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires (Vayikra Rabba 13:5).
When you connect the dots it becomes very clear that they lead us back to thousands of years ago, and even back to the beginning of history itself. How fascinating is it that the focus of battle today is back where it all began – with Adam and Eve!
Even the greatest skeptic will be hard pressed to chalk all this up to coincidence.
Thousands of years have passed since ancient Babylon and Persia. Yet, the events are uncannily the same. Same locations, same time of year, same challenges, just different names.
By no means am I suggesting that we just draw a simplistic parallel between the American confrontation with Iraq and the confrontation in the past with Haman and Persia. That would be naive and one-dimensional. Self interest on all sides does not allow us to simply say that one side is all good and the other all evil.
Rather we should be looking to history to understand the true nature of today’s war. Above all, the United States can learn critical lessons from the past – from Purim.
The United States is standing at a crossroads. One rule prevails throughout history: all superpowers and global empires ultimately fall. As great as they were at their peaks, they all collapsed, without exception. Why should the United States be different?
The answer lies in the secret of Purim. The most telling moment in the entire story is the fact that Mordechai refused to bow to Haman. This infuriated Haman to the point that he determined to have all the Jews destroyed. Mordechai was demonstrating the secret to eternal victory: True humility. Not conforming – not bowing to anything except G-d.
Indeed, in the entire Megillah the Jews are called with the unique name “Yehudim,” “Yehudi,” from the word ‘hodaah,’ acknowledgement – the absolute bittul and self suspension to a force greater than your own self. Mordechai ha’Yehudi embodied this personality – the personality that defines true freedom. Nothing, absolutely nothing can intimidate you, because you don’t worship anything man-made. You bow to no one except to G-d.
This is the secret of eternity. When you are dedicated to yourself – as great as you may be, as special as you may be, ultimately you are only as strong as your resources allow you. And since you are mortal and impermanent, your survival will also be mortal and temporary. When you dedicate yourself to a cause beyond yourself – and bow to nothing else, when you connect to an eternal cause – then you too become eternal.
The ultimate reason for the fall of all empires is: Arrogance. No matter how it manifested itself in history, and it clearly took on many different shapes, dominant powers eventually self destructed due to their own arrogance. Occupation, imperialism or just plain tyranny – not driven by any cause greater than individual interests, ego and power – are some examples of this arrogance.
Note the emphasis on Babylon’s arrogance as cause for their destruction in the abovementioned chapter 50 in Jeremiah.
So as America goes to war on Shushan Purim it can learn much from the original Purim. Above all, the need for ultimate humility. The more powerful and dominant this country is – and the more fear and suspicion it arouses in other nations – the more humble this country has to be in appreciating the gifts that it has been blessed with.
President Bush and this entire nation is standing at a crossroads: Will we use our overwhelming military and economic might to create more markets for McDonalds and Coca Cola. Or will we use it to help other countries independently discover their destiny under G-d without the threat and fear of oppressive dictators.
Will we use a shock and awe campaign (or the threat of one) to just intimidate the world, or will we demonstrate that our greatest power is our ability to humbly challenge our power into a force of virtue and equality.
Will President Bush’s words “The day of your liberation is near” be just another cliché or will these words carry the deeper message of the Midrash: “The time of your Redemption has arrived?”
No doubt that self interest – whether financial, leaving a legacy or some other interest – can blind even the most benevolent leader. Using the name of G-d to justify one’s cause can easily turn into a self-righteous arrogance. The challenge here is to learn from Purim and reconnect to the roots of the nation’s hard won independence – recognizing the inalienable Divine right of all human beings, in all nations, of all races, cultures, religions and beliefs.
The Founding Fathers of the United States would have preferred to have lived in peace under English rule. However they were forced – due to British arrogance – to fight for their independence. They did not establish this country merely to create economic opportunities; they wanted a nation that would allow people to live freely – freedom of religion, freedom of expression and all the basic freedoms each person is entitled to. Economic opportunity became a natural result of this freedom, not the other way around.
They also clearly knew the risks of power, they had seen it first hand, and did everything in their power to ensure that arrogance would not dominate the governance of this country.
Now, 227 years later, the experiment of the United States has succeeded beyond anyone’s imagination. The prosperity of this nation has created an unprecedented force, never before seen in history.
But with this power comes this nation’s greatest challenge. At its inception, the United States had nothing else except its passion for freedom. Now that it has become so prosperous – the danger of arrogance looms, and with it – the destiny and future of this great country hangs in the balance.
For now, we must pray for the success of the war effort for a righteous cause, pray for the safety of all those fighting the war and for protection of all innocent people. May this war end quickly, with the least amount of blood shed.
But our greatest responsibility is to understand the true meaning of this war. As war begins on Shushan Purim, the uncanny timing and location of today’s events cannot be ignored.
Just like in the time of Purim, events today have led us back to the cradle of civilization. To the place on Earth where Adam and Eve began the human journey. To the region where Abraham, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah were born. The events in the first 2000 years of Genesis all take place in this area.
We are led back to this place ‘between the rivers’ for a reason. It helps us connect the dots.
The dots are very clear today: The war began on Shushan Purim. The coming days – that link Purim to Passover are days of redemption. It is on our hands, we are told, to bring the redemption into reality.
It’s interesting to note, that the actual miracle of Purim takes place in a matter of one day – the second day of Passover. On the 13thof Nissan the decree is sealed and sent out to the entire Persian empire. The next three days Esther declares a fast, concluding with Haman’s hanging on the third night of Passover (16 Nissan at night).
We must closely watch the events of the coming days. I don’t mean watch the events as they unfold on the battlefield or watch the endless chatter on CNN or MSNBC – but watch the connecting dots of history and learn from them. But not just watch, but actually connect the dots – and ensure that these events do help bring redemption to the world.
A sound of battle is in the land (Jeremiah 50:22). As we face the sound, may we learn from battles past what constitutes true victory.
So watch closely the events in the coming days leading to Passover.
Can we read the writing on the wall?
Tags: war, Jewish history, arrogance, purim, Gulf War, jewish survival, Babylon, bittul, Persia, Jewish nation, Garden of Eden, humility
Posted in Good & Evil, Purim, Passover, Months & Holidays, Religion, Beliefs & Concepts, Social, Exile, Spiritual, Moshiach & Redemption, Adar, Torah, The Gulf War 2003, Nisan, Current Events | 2 Comments »
March 13th, 2003
Emerging Purim Patterns – Persian Style
Persian Gulf Wars 357 BCE- 2003
With all the upheaval and uncertainty around us, we are now in a time of the year that helps us ‘connect the dots’ in our lives and in world events.
Purim is upon us, and its powerful message of patterns resonates now more than ever.
The Persian Gulf is in the news as we prepare to celebrate Purim, which took place in ancient Persia.
One of the most striking elements of the Megillah (the scroll that tells the story Purim, which we read twice on that day) is not an event, but a non-event: G-d’s name is never mentioned in the entire book! Not once.
The primary reason for this is because in the Purim miracle G-d works behind the scenes. Yet, work He does; it’s up to us to recognize the underlying patterns in the ostensibly random events that led up to the miraculous conclusion.
Purim is a story of extremes. First an impending holocaust is about to decimate the entire Jewish people. Wicked Haman has persuaded King Achashverosh to annihilate all the Jews in his kingdom, which meant the entire Jewish population at the time – who were under the control of the Persian superpower. Then, just as quickly as it came to be the decree is turned around and the Jews are saved, and Haman and his co-conspirers are hanged.
The amazing part of the story is its unobtrusiveness. The entire story from beginning to end takes place in a period of nine years, resulting from events that to the naked eye could have appeared entirely random and circumstantial (see my article one month ago, Inexplicable Yet Again). Persian King Achashverosh happens to throw a party. When he invites his wife she happens to rebuff him, and in his anger he has her killed. The Jewess Esther happens to be chosen to become the new queen (no one knows her true identity). A while later Mordechai happens to overhear and foil an assassination attempt against the king. One night years later the king happens to have insomnia, and he happens to be read the story of Mordechai saving his life. He then happens to suddenly reward Mordechai. When Haman is ready to fulfill his evil plot, Esther happens to be there to thwart it.
Long story short – over a period of nine years circumstances are positioned in such a way where all the right people are in the right place and the right time to ensure that Haman does not exterminate the Jewish people!
If we were living then, all these events – spread over 9 years – could have appeared as random, isolated experiences. When you are too close to the events you can sometimes not see the forest from the trees. But in retrospect, when we read the Megillah on Purim, and we hear the sequence of events, we then can connect the dots and see the greater picture emerging – one that leads to an absolute miracle.
The message is clear, on both a global and personal scale.
Global events are all dots, often appearing disjointed. Every event is another dot in a picture. While we live through these events we only see the dots, the trees, not the forest. It is usually in retrospect that we can see the patterns emerging.
The same is with history as a whole. History is a process, with each respective generation making its contribution to the bigger picture. The achievements of each spoke in the wheel of history accumulates, but only when you recognize the process and the greater whole. This message has been lost on many nations and empires. Instead of seeing their role as part of the past and the future, they indulged in their power of the moment, they basked in the glow of their own achievements, failing to see themselves as dots, as links in the chain of history. Thus, their inevitable demise. A dot will be lost if it does not join its neighbors in creating the greater picture.
Purim teaches us to search for the patterns amongst the dots of our time. And when we see them, the 2360 years since Purim originally took place is not a wide span that separates then and now, but these years – the past and the present – become one continuum. Purim is not just some distant memory that we commemorate, but an event that lives on today just as it lived then.
Patterns create eternity. They connect the details, which are isolated on their own, and unite them in one tapestry.
Let’s look at some of the dots in our times.
Consider:
Persian Gulf War 2003.
Persian Gulf War 357 bce.
Persian Gulf War I in 1991 ended on Purim.
The ultimatum to Iraq today is for Purim eve.
Too many Persian dots to ignore.
What is it about this region – the Persian Gulf, and the Middle East in general – that continues to remain a hotbed in the spotlight?
Interesting to note as well that the Euphrates River, which runs through modern Iraq, is the fourth river running out of the Garden of Eden. This means that the Persian Gulf area is the place where all civilization and history began.
When you connect the dots, you recognize the pattern that this part of the world has some unique power and hold on mankind.
By connecting today’s events in the Persian region to those that took place at the same location in the time of Purim we also can begin to discover answers to many issues that puzzle us about today’s events. Primary among which is that our ultimate power to overcome any challenge is faith.
The story of Purim teaches us that through prayer and connection to Above, Mordechai and Esther led their people to victory. At the time they did not know how their salvation would come to be. But their faith and conviction allowed them the strength to transcend the individual fragmented ‘dots’ and be ready for the unexpected – that the impossible is possible. Not because of some external, sensational miracle, but because of the absolute faith that there is a ‘hand inside the glove,’ and whether we see it or not, behind the scenes there is a greater force at work.
“Mordechai did not bow.” By not conforming to the social standards and pressures of the time, Mordechai demonstrated true leadership and strength to overcome any challenge. Conformity may be the comfortable choice for the moment, but then you give this moment the power to enslave you forever.
Unity is the theme of Purim. “Assemble all the people.” We send each other food gifts and distribute charitable gifts to the poor. We sit together for a festive Purim meal – all in order to strengthen our bonds in one great show of solidarity, to counter (in Haman’s words) “one nation…scattered and dispersed among the nations.” Yet again, the theme of connecting the fragmented dots.
And finally, the children play a prominent role in Purim. Recognizing the power of the children, Haman planned to target them. To counter that, Mordechai at the time gathered the children to teach them Torah.
“Out of the mouths of children and nursing babies You fashioned an invincible might… to still foe and avenger.” (Psalms 8:3)
So too today, we put special focus on the children during Purim.
Unencumbered by their own egos and material involvements, children are a step closer to the truth than adults. Undistracted by the moment, they can often see the bigger picture, unlike adults who are usually so consumed with the moment.
Children therefore, with their faith cultivated, are our source of strength and a power to counter any adversary. They can help us not be daunted by the immediate events, and recognize the historical patterns that are shaping our lives today.
The Purim message of recognizing these patterns allows us to face our Persian challenge today.
One final ‘dot’ should be mentioned – a ‘dot’ that can help illuminate all the other dots and patterns of current events. To quote a fascinating Midrash – cited extensively by the Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson) during the Persian Gulf War in 1991:
The leader of Persia will attack an Arab nation and the Arab king will go to Aram for advice. The leader of Persia will bring destruction to the entire world, and all nations will be outraged and confused… and they will say, “Where shall we come and go?” G-d will answer them: “My children, do not be afraid, everything I have done, I have done for you. Why are you afraid? Do not fear, the time of your Redemption has arrived. (Yalkut Shemoni Isaiah, remez 499)
The Rebbe associated the “leader of Persia” with Saddam Hussein of present day Iraq attacking “an Arab nation” called Kuwait. The Arab kingdom would turn to Aram, the world’s superpowers. Now, in 2003 this confrontation is coming to a head.
Purim today tells us that we need not fear, for a greater picture is emerging. Yes, our confusion and fear is acknowledged, yet we are reassured that the world is poised at the threshold of a new reality, and it is our awareness and actions that help bring it to actualization.
Practically speaking: To connect the dots of global events and of history we begin by connecting the dots in our personal lives:
Each of us in our lives has many dots. More often than not they may appear to be random, circumstantial. Purim teaches us to look closer at our lives; to focus in – it always helps to employ the assistance of an objective friend – and recognize the deeper patterns in our lives. To see your place in this world, your contacts, your profession, all your experiences – positive and negative – as opportunities to fulfill your higher mission, to bring personal and global redemption.
This Purim we must each ask ourselves: What am I doing to see the deeper truths in my own life and in the life of the universe today.
2360 years separate Purim today from the first Purim back in Persia of old. Our power lies in bridging these years by recreating and reliving Purim and its message today.
2360 years then become – not a distancing force – but an awesome power of continuity that has overcome every challenge it has faced. Not only survived by thrived. Ask yourself: Do you have a more powerful force in your arsenal?
Tags: Gulf War, jewish survival, Persia, Jewish nation, Garden of Eden, connection, war, miracles, Jewish history, purim, children, truth
Posted in Purim, Months & Holidays, Faith, Religion, Beliefs & Concepts, Miracles, Social, Exile, Adar, Spiritual, Moshiach & Redemption, The Gulf War 2003, Torah, Current Events | No Comments »
March 6th, 2003
Much talk going on these days about the trans-Atlantic split between the United States and Europe exposed over impending war with Saddam Hussein. The immediate disagreement is over Iraq and over the general approach to terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. But, as experts have already pointed out, the divisions in the West run far deeper.
Many reasons are being given to explain the underlying differences between Europe and the United States – from the historical to the political, from the balances of power to the differing views on G-d and religion.
During the cold war the West was united against their common enemy called Communism. With the fall of the former Soviet Union over ten years ago, the same ties no longer bind the West and their deeper rifts are now beginning to surface.
Robert Kagan, in an article published last summer in Policy Review, and now expanded in a new book, Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order (Knopf, 2003), attributes the great divide to two primary factors. One is that America’s enormous power allows it the confidence to take on any global challenge, presently, Iraq. Europe on the other hand does not wield such power, so they inevitably take on a more conciliatory and compromising stance. Second, due to Europe’s unique experience in World War II, Europe rejected balance-of-power politics and instead embraced reconciliation and multilateral cooperation as the principal means to maintain peace following the world’s most devastating conflict. With time Europe came to see this approach as its new mission. America’s power and its willingness to use it “constitute a threat to Europe’s new sense of mission.”
Some have applauded Kagan’s thesis, while others have criticized it as a form of caricature (“Americans are from Mars, Europeans from Venus”) and over-generalization.
Other theories about the rupture of the West have been posited as well. In the last issue of Newsweek, Christopher Dickey presents the religious angle. Europeans simply cannot comprehend the religion of America. Religious faith in America is increasingly tied to individuality and freedom of choice, while in Europe the exact opposite is true: Religion has always been state imposed. Dickey writes – citing various European scholars and writers:
“To most Americans it seems natural enough that President Bush…would incorporate religious references into his speeches. His Manichean descriptions of good versus evil, with us or against us, are rooted in his reading of the Bible and strike many in the U.S.A. as strong, righteous and decisive. But all this sounds to Europeans very much like the kind of theology – or ideology – that led then to slaughter each other for centuries.”
I would like to submit a few thoughts on the cultural divide between the USA and Europe by addressing some of the roots of their conflict, not just their symptoms.
To do so we must first go back to a wedding that took place 3,615 years ago.
In Genesis 28:9 the Bible tells us that “Esau went to Ishmael and married Machlath daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael.” Esau’s intention in marrying Ishmael’s daughter was not that simple. The Midrash explains, that Esau’s plan was to ensnare Ishmael in a plot: “You – Esau said to Ishmael – kill your brother Isaac. I will kill my brother Jacob. Then we will become one nation and remain sole heirs to Abraham and inherit the entire land! Ishmael refused: ‘Am I then like Cain who killed his brother?! No, I will not do as you suggest.’” Esau’s intention was to then kill Ishmael, and he would remain the sole heir. When Esau sees that Ishmael declines from joining him in the plot against Isaac and Jacob, he refuses to go to the ‘chupah’ and abandons his bride and his own wedding! Only to return 23 years later (after Ishmael’s death) to go through with the marriage.[1]
This strange wedding – among all the other aspects of the tense relationship between Ishmael, Isaac, Esau and Jacob – plants the seeds of the interactions and battles that their children would encounter through the ages. Just imagine the psychological implications of Esau’s encounter with Ishmael on his wedding day!
The entire history of confrontation between the Arab-Muslim, Western/Christian and Jewish worlds can be understood by tracing back to the roots of their conflict in Biblical times, the battles between Ishmael (father of the Arab/Muslim world), Esau (father of the Christian/Western world) and Jacob (father of the Jews) – as I discussed at length in my articles last year, following September 11th (see 2002)
By no means was the conflict isolated to Isaac and Ishmael or Jacob and Esau. As Esau’s infamous wedding attests, Esau and Ishmael had their own share of differences, besides their commonalities. Both their mutuality and their conflicts would affect their future progeny and the wars they would wage with and against each other.[2]
Esau was clearly a cunning warrior. But as terrible as Esau was, he also had another side. Being the son of Isaac, Esau in his soul had powerful strengths. On a root level Esau was directly bound to the tzaddik Isaac, and by this virtue he maintained a profound spiritual integrity.
Esau in other words had two faces, two sides. His material side was an aggressive warrior, ready to kill and destroy. His other face was connected to sanctity.[3]
Now, let’s turn the clock forward. Isaac and Jacob’s children go on to receive the Torah at Sinai, the blueprint of how G-d wants us all to live. The process that begins with Abraham comes to fruition seven generation later at Sinai, and then consummated and implemented in the Temple, which is erected in this week’s Torah portion.
1,300 years later, in the 1st century of the Common Era, Esau’s descendants (Rome) would begin to return to Abraham’s original teachings, as documented in the Bible. Six centuries later, so would Ishmael’s children with the birth of Islam in the year 622 c.e.
Yet this was just a start, barely. The conflicts between these nations – children of Ishmael, Esau and Jacob – was just to begin. History is witness to the massacres carried out in the name of religion. No one will ever know how much blood was spilled in the European rivers all in the name of faith. Yes, originating in Rome, all of Europe became the source of so much destruction, spreading to the Middle East, and of course Israel.
Centuries upon centuries passed. Despite all the persecution and darkness, the Torah values of Abraham endured, flourished – ultimately refining the world. Finally, after all these years, Esau/Edom was beginning to be tamed. With the American Revolution – with the support of France, mind you – a new stage in history began. Esau finally began to embrace the true values of freedom and justice. After years of despotism and monarchial control, the fundamental equality of all human beings was being recognized. Esau established a country built on the Divine right of each human being to be free – as declared at Sinai a little more than three millennia earlier!
But the other part of Esau’s personality was not gone. People don’t change that quickly. Esau’s second face reared its head from time to time, or perhaps more often than that. European Esau was still to perpetrate its greatest assault against the children of Jacob – with the genocide in the 20th century, using all the tools of modern technology.
Yet Esau is as complex as he is enduring. His two faces keep emerging.
Perhaps the time has come to finally tame all of Esau. This is possibly the root cause and deeper meaning behind the deep rift in The West – the split between Europe and the United States. After years of celebrating their alliance, Esau’s both faces are emerging, instigated by Esau’s confrontation with… Ishmael!
Perhaps the West today – children of Esau – is suffering from the anguish Esau felt on his wedding day so many years ago. The effects of Esau’s confrontation with Ishmael – whether to align himself with Ishmael or not – still linger on today.
The two faces of Esau surface yet again. On one hand Esau wanted to betray Ishmael. On the other hand he did offer to join forces with him, but it was Ishmael who refused the offer. Then again, Esau ultimately did marry Ishmael’s daughter. What offspring were born of this union? What forces were unleashed by this marriage?
Sooner or later everyone has their day of reckoning. Esau has to now account for the fact that he “went to Ishmael” – for his alliance or battle with Ishmael. Which one will it be?
The divergence of the United States and Europe is an unprecedented opportunity for both sides of the ocean to do a sincere soul searching in understanding their true roles in history, and finally make peace between both sides of Esau and with his brother Jacob, his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham.
Balancing power, justice and peace has been a struggle that has plagued nations throughout history. How do we reconcile between a higher moral standard while leaving room for diverse approaches? The struggle has also included the battle between religion and science, between faith and individuality – between G-d and the universe.
The West has split into two camps – the two faces of Esau. Two views on politics, power, justice and even G-d and religion.
Europe is still holding on to one face of Esau – the one that is still struggling with G-d and justice. Europe, perhaps as a result of their long bloodstained history, is still afraid of addressing these issues head on. Instead they opt for ignoring G-d or just making Him irrelevant to daily secular life. After seeing how religion can be a destructive force, when abused and controlled by the corrupt, this side of Esau is terrified of addressing good and evil and is afraid of confronting Ishmael for its iniquities after Esau has wreaked so much havoc and shed so much blood in the name of Christianity.
The second face of Esau – emerging in the New World, on the other side of the ocean in a new hemisphere – this side is not afraid, and on the contrary proudly carries the banner of G-d together with freedom and liberty. [America, unlike Europe, had to fight a war for its freedom of religion and expression. Europe fought a war for its life, but has yet to fight for its own true beliefs]. Indeed it is because “in G-d we trust” that we have the guarantee that “all men [read: people; hey this face of Esau is also still in need of some market corrections…] are created equal.” It is precisely this faith in G-d that gives us the right to defend freedom and not allow any tyrants – religious or not – and any religious fanaticism to dictate the terms and kill whomever they consider to be ‘infidels.’
Is it possible that in America Esau has finally evolved and matured to the point that G-d and right and wrong can be integrated into life without compromising our diversity and personal liberties? Is it possible that this above all things is America’s true calling?
How interesting it is that after all these thousands of years Esau and Ishmael resume their negotiations that began on their marriage day 3,615 years ago. And that it is Ishmael who is forcing Esau today to confront himself and his attitude to G-d, justice and truth?
And in turn, Esau is impelling Ishmael to confront his beliefs as well.
Esau and Ishmael are both compelled to ask the question: What would our father Abraham say to us today? Is our father Abraham proud of our behavior? What would he want us to do, how would he want us to behave?
And how appropriate is it that we read this week (Pekudei) about the erection of the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the wilderness, which was the precursor for the Holy Temple in Jerusalem?
Following the exodus from Egypt and the revelation at Sinai, the children of Jacob build the Mishkan, from the cedars planted by Jacob years ago.
We don’t really know where the children of Esau and Ishmael were at the time. What we do know is that years later, Rome – the children of Esau (Edom) – destroyed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. And we know the immortal and powerful words of the Midrash:
Had the nations of the world known how much they benefit and are blessed by the Holy Temple they would have surrounded it with legions of armies to protect it from any harm.[4]
The Temple in Jerusalem was a window between heaven and earth. It infused us with the power to integrate spirit and matter – G-d and the universe. Had the nations known that, they would have appreciated how much they were in need of the Temple – how it could have helped Esau and Ishmael to find their way to G-d.
Yet they didn’t consciously know, so they destroyed the very force that would have been their salvation. But they only destroyed the physical structure, not its spiritual essence. The holiness of the Temple remains on that spot forever. This eternity is manifested in the Western Wall [West yet again, hmmm]. Especially evident when it snows over the Wall (as I can testify).
And this eternal sanctity works its way, perhaps slowly, but persistently throughout history.
The nations may not have known the power of the Temple, but something in them sure does sense the power of Jerusalem. Just witness the battles Ishmael and Esau have fought for control of the center of the universe.
Today there are children of the West that stand firmly behind Israel. In Israel I met an entire group of Christians who came from Texas and Oklahoma to help the Israeli army and show their support and solidarity for Israel. Yet we need no reminder of Esau’s other face…
The split between Europe and the United States gives us hope that Esau is coming around. Like all rifts, this one has the power to reveal a deeper truth.
Each generation is like a link in the chain of history. Each generation has its role in the unfolding drama of integrating the material universe with its purpose and mission statement. The United States today can play a special role in this work. The foundations of this country are built on absolute principles of faith and trust in G-d. The USA is not just a country of economic opportunity. The success of corporate America and unprecedented prosperity is a result of an unwavering mission statement: All equal, in G-d we trust, diversity and individual, e pluribus Unum – under one G-d.
This country must align itself with its mission – the business of this nation must reconnect to its higher calling. Then and only then does this country earn the right to hold itself out as an example to the world. Simply being a nation of great wealth and enormous military muscle does not by any means give it the moral high ground. Other nations, religions and peoples have much longer traditions and histories than the relatively new world of the United States. But this country can demonstrate something unique to the world. As a country, it can rise above its own national issues and serve as a beacon of light teaching the world the universal principles of all humankind – the principle upon which this nation was founded – how to live in peace with G-d.
Not its firepower, but its selflessness earns this country the right to serve as an example to other nations.
After all the years of American prosperity and resulting complacency, perhaps the United States is on the threshold of a new revolutionary war – the final frontier. And it is indeed a great honor and merit and responsibility and gift to be part of this drama and affect its destiny.
Had the nations of the world known how much they benefit and receive from the Holy Temple in Jerusalem they would have surrounded it with legions of armies to protect it from any harm. What a haunting question: Had they only known?
But do they know today?
[1] Midrash Or Ha’afeilah at the end of our portion (cited in Torat Shleimah note 27). See also Bereishis Rabba 67: 8. Midrash Tehillim 14:2.
[2] See Abarbanel, Mayonei Yeshua (intro to Daniel), 2:3.
[3] See Likkutei Sichos vol. 15 pp. 192.
[4] Bamidbar Rabba 1:3. Tanchuma Bechukosei 2. See Talmud, Sukkah 55b.
Tags: ancestry, arrogance, government, conflict, marriage, religion
Posted in Biblical, Weekly Parsha, Shmot, Religion, Beliefs & Concepts, Torah Personalities, Social, Exile, Ishmael, Spiritual, Isaac, Torah, Government, The Gulf War 2003, Esau, Jacob, Pikudei, Current Events | 1 Comment »
February 27th, 2003
You’re not going to believe this.
Just coming off my words last week about the Eastern US snowstorm, off I go to Israel, and guess what? A major snowfall hits Jerusalem – one not seen in 50 years – dropping over 30 centimeters (around one foot) of those heavenly crystals.
Divine Providence dictates that I share with you my encounter with Jerusalem dressed in white – a mystical experience unparalleled by anything I have ever seen.
As we dig out from layers of white
And we sing praise in words of light
(that seem somewhat tight, if not trite)
Off I fly to Yerusholayim
On an evening flight
Only to see it covered in mayim
With no sky in sight
Sheets of rain greet me
As I enter the Old City
Rain, rain, what a pity
Little did I know the lessons so pretty
And witty
I would learn and see
From the weather in this gritty city
(not to mention how water every itty bitty
is in this country so nitty gritty
a blessing of grand enormity)
Friday it rained
Shabbat it poured
In the afternoon it waned
While snow was being stored
In the heavens over this city of the Lord
It’s been many years, I’m told
since we’ve had such rain and bitter cold
But this is just the beginning of my stay in Jerusalem
With the best yet to come
[So little time
To share the message of white Yerusholime
I must apologize for the crime
That from here on my words may not all rhyme
Yet I will try to make it chime
If not mime]
Sunday was silent and clear
The quiet before the storm
Monday morning – oh my dear
The heavens were asunder torn
No place to keep warm
Trees, men, birds crouched in fear
Mixed rain, hail and snow
Sleet, slush and wo…
You see, Jerusalem closes down
With no plow in stow
To tow and mow
Cabbies just say no
I guess they just expect us to… row
Traffic jams the hills of Jerusalem
Everyone’s rushing home
Bread and food are selling out
As the city is ready to go numb
And then, on Monday night, it finally comes
A glorious snow blankets Jerusalem
Falling in a silent hum
At first only some
Only that much greater to become
I awake at four
see 5 inches or more
Yes, it’s only 4 AM
But how could I miss the Divine realm
So I wander down overwhelm
to see the wall braided in a mystical helm
Majestic, awesome —
There are no words
To capture the falling herds
Zeh Shaar HaShomayim
The mount of Yerusholayim
A gate to heaven
As Jacob said leaving the fountain of seven
As morning breaks
And the first (netz) minyan wakes
The snow and its flakes
Assume a new take
What’s so special you may strum
About the snow in Jerusalem
Why all this pomp and drum
About an event so humdrum
Something very strange in this city of towers
The weather, the snow which falls like flowers
Only to be seen in the wee dawn hours
As you look at the Temple Mount
The heavens open up and surmount
All that is around
Suddenly you see blue sky
Peeking out from threatening, billowing
Dark gray clouds
Is this the gate to heaven opening up
Do I see Yerusholayim crying
sighing?
The snow falls like feathered bricks
Heavy at times, it even sticks
Yet every hour or so
It abates to a fall very slow
The ground melts even as it accumulates snow
Only to begin falling again
With even greater intensity like an ocean floe
Clouds move quickly
It’s as if everything is traveling in fast motion
I never saw anything quite like it
A strip of white light
Sandwiched between two bands of clouds
Three layers
Dark above
Dark below
Light between
A lull in the storm
Snow paused on hold
Suddenly the lower band releases its load
Flakes begin streaming down
I see a frown on a clown
Who thought he’d been around
Partying on the town
Only to find out
that he’s always been drowned
While above rises the crown
Like a bridal gown
Is this the message of Jerusalem
Are the layers really gates
For our prayers
They open up in the snow
only to let us enter
On a secret hardly seen
In the universe’s center
When it snows in New York
It is steady and strong
No breaks no openings
The snow buries the city
Icy streets keep it frozen in place
Not so in Jerusalem
The gate to heaven is telling us something…
The Wall that is usually Wailing
In the snow seems to be sailing
Have you ever wondered what makes a gate unique
Snow in Jerusalem can give you a peek
Jerusalem is a portal between opposites
A gate that can’t wait
And won’t sate
A controller of fate
Obliterates hate
Threatening skies over the Wall in Jerusalem
Captures the story of our lives
Casting shadows over the Wall
The mosques and the churches
Darkness descends over Ishmael, Esau and Jacob
The center of the universe is astorm
Dark clouds hover above
Yet there is a crack
A break
An opening
This is the heavenly gate
Through which our prayers elevate
Snow is a message from home
A mystical transmission
The one of ancient years sits on his throne
His garments are white like snow
The gate is beckoning us
Welcoming us in
Allowing us a glimpse
Into the beyond
Are we listening to its call?
And the people are the people
Children frolic about
pelting snowballs aflight
Building snowmen so bright
The charedim trudge through the streets
Plastic garbage bags
Cover expensive hats
Ironic and funny
As they often hover above rags
And the soldiers oh the soldiers
Nineteen year old innocents
Abruptly thrown into war and death
How unnatural
The soldiers clad in green fatigues
Wielding Uzis
Are having a snowball fight near the Wall
Gleefully laughing, like little children
The white covers all the crimson
They may tragically witness in their young lives
May all our red sins be cleansed white
Like the snow that arrives
White tears of Yerusholayim
Covered in mayim
The tear engulfs the fear
A respite hopefully forever
From all the crying
It snows all Tuesday
The thirteenth of Adar One
With bizarre moments of glimpses of sun
But even as the snow falls
And the blizzard intensifies
The warm earth works its way
Melting, leaving slushy puddles
Apparently the earth upon which
The Temple stood
Retains its warm sanctity
Not allowing the snow to quite freeze
A frozen death
Only allowing enough of the snowy message
From above
To remind us
Of the gateway, the door
The entry through which we pray
A dance between heaven and earth
Death and life
Ice and fire
I will be for you a wall of fire
Never tire
Jerusalem of fire
Not for hire
Not stuck in the mire
Nothing is a no
In Jerusalem of snow
My flight
is scheduled for Tuesday night
Nesher won’t travel
The tires need gravel
Some regal eagle!
I try to inveigle
Wheedle and finagle
A way out of the city so regal
Finally the highway opens up
I barely make it out
Shlep my luggage with a blush
Through water and slush
Snow turned mush
By Jerusalem’s lush
Feeling the crush
In a total flush
I run into a taxi far from plush
only to have a brush
With the cabdriver in a mad rush
Who doesn’t stop to fuss
The snow is still agush
As we descend the mountain slush
It turns to flurries as we reach Abu Gosh
And finally to rain at Beit Shemesh
As we enter the airport
One final reminder
Of brilliant lightning
and thunder
Not snow whitening
But still quite frightening
As it dropped a dramatic down pouring
We have arrived due course
From the center and the source
Met with winds of gale force
With lessons learned perforce
And even as we sit on the runway
Seatbelts fastened, antifreeze aspray
We hear the pilot’s announcements
Due to severe weather disturbance
And atmospheric (barometric) turbulence
Overhead
We are delayed once again
I feel like Jonah on the boat
Am I not heeding my call
Escaping my mission
Yes, I visited the wall
But is there more…
That I need to be reminded
I commit, I yell, commit
Let me go
I am out of the pit
And will carry the snow
Wherever I go
As we climb the sky
I look out the window on high
Straining myself to see the clouds that fly
Over Jerusalem’s eye
I let out a sigh
My oh my
I wonder why
The clouds from above
Seem to wave goodbye
Are they that sly
Those clouds that cry
Much as a I try
I cannot lie
I feel I must pry
Into the Jerusalem sky
Dropping snow so spry
Do the clouds separate
Or unite
Heaven and earth
I wonder why
In this great city
A thin line emerges
Where paradoxes meet
Just between
Dry and wet
Snow and rain
Sky and land
Heaven and earth
It truly gives hope to know
That in this locked world
There is after all
Somewhere
An opening, a door,
Through which we can soar
It makes me roar
When I hear it pour
And what is more
Is that whatever your score
Whether you are bubbling or a bore
Sweet or sore
Rich or poor
The snow spilling out the gate
Equalizes our fate
In one spate
Never too late
With a clean or unclean slate
No need to wait
Transcending trait
Providing all that’s great
On a silver plate
So, goodbye Jerusalem
The world in microcosm
Yerusholayim
City of extreme
Oh, Jerusalem
Now I must go
Not to leave your snow
But to bring your glorious show
To all who know
Even those that are slow or low
Or don’t yet know
And even your foe
I want you to know
That though I must go
I will share your glow
To make all things grow
And inanimate things flow
So let your wind blow
As children snowballs throw
Always know
That we are but dough
In need of snow
To become alive and aflow
So this is my hymn
To white Jerusalem
Thank you Yerusholayim
for your nurturing mayim
And your life affirming chayim
I return with my feet
To walk your white street
I reaffirm that whomever I meet
I will commit to greet
And entreat
To listen to your call
And enter you open gate
Only forever to elevate
So lift your eyes to shomayim
Over Yerusholayim
and let it bring the mayim
Into your chayim
And I hereby am mesayem
With a toast of l’chaim
To white Yerusholayim
~~~~
Afternote:
So what do you know
As I arrive in New York
And say hello
I hear it will snow
What an end to the tableau
That the Jerusalem snow
Is being brought back to the hemisphere below
To raise the plateau
Who is following whom
Is the snow following me
Or I the snow
Who can know?
Tags: rain, poem, Jerusalem, poetry, Clouds, weather events, Israel
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Israel, Shmot, Personal Life, Nature, Spiritual, Vayakhel, Personal Stories, Current Events | 2 Comments »
February 20th, 2003
As Iraq, terrorists, economic unknown
rock the world into global instability
While events in the past two years
all contribute to our profound insecurity
As we stare blankly, silently
into a future uncertain
Blinded by a prosperous past
Heavily veiled behind the curtain
As upheavals shakes the ground below
And chaos unfolds on Earth
After years of so called success
Yet, of impermanent worth
The heavens opened up over the East
Unloading, whirling, dropping,
Two, three feet, at least
Of angelic whipped cream topping
Demonstrating our vulnerability
Yet, also our strength and might
Creating support and stability
Inspired by a halo of white light
Let us not ignore the message
Floating from the sky
Blanketing us in its white coat
A hushed lesson from on high
Let our hearts not grow haughty
Let our minds not turn to stone
Raise your eyes to heaven
And glimpse the flakes beneath the throne
As the crystals silently fall
Landscape and pavement become one
Child and adult, young and old
Revel together in fun
But then a moment later
See the stark contrast
The struggle between nature and man
Whether the Divine call will last
As landscapes sparkle
City streets turn slushy black
They trash away the purity
Even as it brings hope back
Si’eu morom aynaychem u’riu mi boroh aleh
Hear the call, feel the love
See the bright light
A reminder from above
Heed the glorious snowfall
Brightening the night
A pure and friendly wake up call
Dressed in bridal white
——–
See Bereishis Rabba 13:9. Pirkei D’Rebbi Eliezer ch. 3. Deuteronomy 8:14. 11:11.
Tags: weather events, poem, poetry, vulnerability, strength, conflict, divine providence
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Shmot, Personal Life, Nature, Spiritual, Torah, Emotions & Psychology, Ki tissa, Personal Stories | No Comments »
February 13th, 2003
A Miracle in our Times
As I finished writing last week’s article citing a great leader that “as a global revolution brews and a new age dawns, we need to ‘open our eyes’ and see its reality” a very interesting thing happened. I received a phone call notifying me that someone I know well had her ‘eyes opened’ after years of them being tightly shut.
Here’s a miraculous story as I just heard it first hand from the person with whom it occurred.
Let me begin by introducing my friend the same way I introduced her to my Wednesday night class 6 years ago:
“I am honored to introduce to you Marcia, a very special soul who has had to face many serious challenges in her life. Her words will speak for themselves; the only thing I want to add is that Marcia sees more than most people do.”
So here’s the story:
I first met Marcia 6 years ago. It was a warm June evening in 1997 when she came to visit me, escorted by a friend. Marcia shared with me her life story. Briefly: As a child she became very disillusioned with her education and her Judaism and began her search through many religions, finally turning at age 17 to… Christianity. After 10 years she became a teacher, then a lecturer and finally 30 years later reached the pulpit. She spent 40 years in the church, before her Judaism came back at her, beginning with her cousin wishing her “Good Shabbos.”
One thing led to the next. Marcia began reading and exploring. “A few months ago,” Marcia tells me, “in February of 1997, my cousin gave me a series of tapes that changed my life. That is why,” Marcia continues, “I am sitting here with you today.”
As she spoke these words, I suddenly realized that this story actually began a year earlier. After one of my weekly Wednesday night classes in New York City an elderly woman approached me and asked me for permission to record my book Toward a Meaningful Life on audiotape. She wanted to give the tapes to her cousin in Boston who happens to be blind. She assured me that the tapes would not be reproduced or sold, but are simply being copied to allow her cousin to benefit from the teachings in the book. Needless to say, I heartily agreed.
Her cousin was Marcia – the Jewish woman sitting before me today, telling me how these tapes turned over her life… for the better.
At the time she was based in Boston, preaching church doctrine. “These Toward a Meaningful Life audiotapes,” Marcia tells me, “amateurly recorded, with all the rasps and coughs, made me rethink all that I was doing, and essentially brought me back to my Jewish roots.”
“I am here tonight,” Marcia says, “to thank you. I spent 40 years in a wilderness. Now I am ready to enter the Promised Land.”
I was profoundly touched by Marcia’s story. Obviously touched by her dramatic journey, and the power that brought her back to her Jewish roots. I was naturally moved by the fact that the Rebbe’s teachings in the book Toward A Meaningful Life – in a rough audio version – had such an impact on her. What a testimony to the eternal power of Torah!
But something even deeper stirred me. Though Marcia was blind, she carried herself with such dignity and grace. As she joked with me,
“I don’t have the liabilities that you seeing-eye people have. Darkness doesn’t frighten me. I don’t need a light to read. Superficial material sights don’t distract me. All I have is spirit; the only thing I see is the soul in myself and in others.”
Awesome…
During her adult years Marcia began losing her eyesight and was diagnosed with a genetic illness that left her totally blind in 1991. Yet, Marcia sees more than most of us. The material world does not distract her. Perhaps she can see G-d better than those of us who have to struggle with the sensory sights that conceal the truth within. For the first time I truly understand the meaning behind the fact that “all the people saw the sounds” at Sinai (Exodus 20:15), “they saw what is ordinarily heard, and they heard what is ordinarily seen” (Rabbi Akiva – Mechilta on the verse). Sight perceives the physical. Sound comprehends the ethereal. At Sinai, there was a crossover: “they saw what is heard,” what is ordinarily abstract and spiritual, and “they heard what they saw,” they perceived the inner spiritual reality within the physical. At Sinai the people were not blind or mute. Yet, for a moment they were allowed a glimpse into a deeper reality. Today apparently, only when undistracted by the physical, Marcia could see what others can only hear and theorize about. And she hears the inner dimension of the sights.
As Marcia continued on her journey, she moved to Crown Heights, changed her name to Lieba and began lecturing and writing her inspiring story. She titled her talks and articles: “More than the Eye Can See: A Journey from Darkness to Light.” [Her articles were published in the N’shei Journal].
Marcia/Lieba’s story would be an eye-opening inspiration even were it to end at this point.
But I have the privilege to share with you a miraculous sequel.
This week Lieba regained her eyesight!
No joke.
Here’s what happened, as I heard it from Lieba just this morning.
Some sensitive caring young girls in the Crown Heights community visit Lieba frequently. They read to her, help her with various chores and assist her in any way she needs. One day Lieba hears one of the girls praying quietly. She asks her what are you praying for. The little girl replies: “I am praying that Hashem [G-d] return your eyesight to you.” A discussion ensues, and Lieba, motivated by the young girl’s sincerity decides to open up a book of letters by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The book (volume 1 of the English letters) opens up to page 115, where the Rebbe writes ‘in regard to the question of your eyesight, you should consult a good specialist who should give you the proper instruction as to what you have to do in this connection.”
No joke.
Lieba decides to visit a local doctor who refers her to an eye specialist. Yet she voices concern to the girl that visits her that she has no money to pay for a doctor. What do you think happens next? A few days pass and the girl presents her with an envelope containing $154 that the girls collected for her!
She visits the specialist, who for a period of 4 hours subjects her to a battery of eye tests, and then finally tells her, that her eyesight can be restored through surgery. Apparently her condition was misdiagnosed as a genetic illness. She takes out the envelope with $154 and tells the doctor how she received the money. The stunned doctor says, “the girls will not put me to shame. I will do the surgery at no cost.”
And so, last week Lieba’s left eyesight was restored, and this week her right eyesight is being restored.
This is exactly what happened as it was told to me first hand!
So now, I ask the question: Do you believe in miracles?
* * *
Despite the deep sadness I always felt for Marcia/Lieba, the only redeeming factor was that she could teach us all about the true ‘sights’ we should be looking for in life. Lieba’s strength and dignity – never the victim – always inspires everyone she meets.
I always felt that it would remain this way. A profound loss, yet doing our best to face the challenge with dignity and determination.
Now a miracle has occurred. And it couldn’t have happened to a better person. Lieba’s journey from darkness to light is not just a spiritual one; it has now manifested itself in a very physical way. With Lieba’s return from physical darkness she can now teach us how to bridge both worlds: the world of sight and sound, the world of spirit and matter – to perhaps see what is usually heard and hear what is ordinarily seen. To truly see more than the eye can see.
And what timing?! Today more than ever we are in need of precisely such vision to see behind the scenes if the chaos our world is experiencing. We need to be able to see the forest from the trees and connect the dots to make sense of all the earth shattering events of our day – as I elaborated in last week’s article.
“The world is undergoing fundamental changes. As a global revolution brews and a new age dawns, we need to ‘open our eyes’ and see its reality” – said a great leader, who by the way is, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (for those of you who were wondering).
‘Open our eyes’ – what an interesting expression.
Frankly, I have often wondered what it would take to get most people to ‘open their eyes.’ After all, history is fraught with but few ‘seers’ while the mainstream remains blinded and clueless to the bigger picture.
The miracle I share with you today gives us all hope. Hope that anyone and everyone’s eyes can indeed be opened.
More than the Eye Can See: A Journey from Darkness to Light indeed.
Tags: Christianity, personal growth, Power of Prayer, Mt. Sinai, spiritual and material, miracles, sight
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Shmot, Religion, Beliefs & Concepts, Miracles, Personal Life, Spiritual, Torah, Tetzaveh, Personal Stories | No Comments »
February 6th, 2003
Inexplicable Yet Again
Inexplicable.
September 11
Anthrax
Corporate meltdown
Middle East turmoil
Global unrest
And the latest – the Columbia space shuttle disaster
Over Palestine, Texas
Due to a ‘left wing’ failure
With the first Israeli astronaut, eating kosher, with a mezuzah and Torah scroll aboard.
“Not again” was Newsweek’s headline. I am not sure what the editors meant with ‘not again.’ Did they mean: not another space shuttle disaster following the Challenger explosion in 1986, or not another tragedy after all the catastrophes we have endured in the last two years – the sinking feeling each of us has when we hear of yet another senseless loss, yet another tragic death.
Not again indeed. Unfortunately, it’s yes again. Yes, yet another one of our infrastructures – the infrastructures we have come to rely upon as invincible and invulnerable – crumbled, yet again.
Looking back at the events of the last two years something startling jumps out at you: Every one of our material infrastructures is crumbling.
Are all these recent events a coincidence?
13 years ago a great leader dramatically stated, that the world is undergoing fundamental changes. As a global revolution brews and a new age dawns, we need to ‘open our eyes’ and see its reality.
Dramatic changes have shaken the world in the last 13 years affecting all levels of society – technological, political, economic and global stability. The fall of the Soviet Union, the advent of the Internet for the masses, and other major events in the 90’s have reshaped the world we live in. But in the last two years, completely unexpected upheavals have abruptly changed a certain and confident future into an insecure nightmare of uncertainty.
Beginning with the Internet bust and punctuated by September 11 and Middle Eastern terrorism, disaster after disaster, blow after blow, has traumatized the fibers of our beings. Though not to be compared to the lives destroyed, the corporate meltdown of the last year is radically affecting our economic future, leaving the landscape in ruins. CEO after CEO resigning in shame, with the latest stunner: $100… billion (not million, billion…) write-off loss by AOL Time Warner (where did they even stash away $100 billion, and how can they write it off and still stay afloat?! – so much for equal distribution of wealth…)
And now, the high profile Columbia catastrophe in the very heavens we thought we had conquered – 17 years almost to the day of the Challenger explosion in 1986.
What do all these successive events mean and how do we ‘open our eyes’ to see their significance?
History can help us. Over 2300 years ago Persia was the superpower that controlled the world. A cruel minister plotted with the Persian leader (king) to annihilate all the Jews in the empire, in effect a total genocide of the entire Jewish people! Miraculously, due to a set of circumstances the people were saved.
This miracle mind you was not an apparent supernatural event. Actually, if we were living in that time we could have easily written off the events as completely circumstantial. Persian King Achashveirus happened to throw a party. When he invited his wife she happened to rebuff him, and in his anger he had her killed. The Jewess Esther happened to be chosen to become the new queen. A while later Mordechai happened to overhear and foil an assassination attempt against the king. One night years later the king happened to have insomnia, and he happened to be read the story of Mordechai saving his life. He then happens to suddenly reward Mordechai. When Haman is ready to fulfill his evil plot, Esther happens to be there to thwart it.
Long story short – over a period of nine years circumstances are positioned in such a way where all the right people are in the right place and the right time to ensure that Haman does not exterminate the Jewish people!
If we were around at the time all these events – spread over 9 years – could have appeared as random, isolated experiences. When you are too close to the events you can sometimes not see the forest from the trees. But in retrospect, when we read the Megillah on Purim, and we hear the sequence of events, we then can connect the dots and see the greater picture emerging – one that leads to an absolute miracle.
Same thing today. Current events are dots in a bigger picture. Experiencing each of them individually leaves us confused, disoriented, uncertain. Each incident can appear as a self-standing isolated incident. But when you step back and look at the juxtaposed chain of events, a larger picture emerges.
The common denominator of all the recent events is: the breakdown of our existing material infrastructures. Opening our eyes means to recognize this truth, and above all, to recognize that we stand poised at the threshold of a new beginning, a new world order.
And it is up to us to write the script of this new order. We need to revisit and rewrite the mission statements of our infrastructures. Instead of them serving selfish needs, we need to redirect them to a greater good – to a divine and sacred cause.
Revolution is in the air. We need to ensure that it is directed to a spiritual awakening – a spiritual revolution that will create an internal transformation of our attitudes, that instead of seeing materialism as an end in itself we will see it as a means to G-dliness. A world filled with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea (see Maimonides end of Mishne Torah).
May this most recent tragedy be the last ‘yes again’ as we usher in a new era of unity. Let us demonstrate that we do not need any more breakdowns to realize that an old age is dying, and a new one is dawning.
Yes, revolution is in the air.
Tags: terrorism, spiritual evolution, purim, tragedy, conflict, unity
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Shmot, Beliefs & Concepts, Social, Moshiach & Redemption, Torah, Terumah, The Gulf War 2003, September 11th, Current Events | No Comments »
January 30th, 2003
Leadership & Delegation 2
You must be kidding if you’re asking whether I received any response to last week’s article. Response is not the word. Hundreds of responses are more like it. A few want to ‘kill’ me. Others want to hug me. 98% of the responses have been extremely positive. Quite a number wrote to me about their newfound respect for the Rebbe and his shluchim (emissaries); they now appreciate more than ever the great challenges and accomplishments of their local shliach. But the few critics argue that my premise undermines all authority. I never received such two opposite reactions to one and the same article!
Allow me to share with you one example of this week’s correspondence, which captures the essence of what many others have written to me.
“… I must commend you for a brilliant and powerful article. I have discussed the piece with many of my colleagues and friends and they too share my feelings. Though I am sure that some in the ‘establishment’ will initially criticize your words (for obvious reasons), and I too have some questions which I will address later, it is obvious after reading your article that we must first acknowledge your courage and clarity in addressing these issues from a Torah perspective – issues that have great bearing on all of us.
I also appreciate the fact that you cited sources that can be corroborated and invited others to do the same, so that we can perhaps all gain a better understanding as to the Rebbe’s intentions in the shlichus system he built.
What really made me think – and I heard this from some others as well – are the words you wrote that the Rebbe’s approach to shlichus provides us with a blueprint for future infrastructures. I would appreciate if you could elaborate on this point.
Now, so as to ensure that you don’t allow my compliments to get to your head, I will say this:
Notwithstanding the merit of many points you make, the question is: do shluchim have accountability only to themselves, the Rebbe and Torah, and not to any other hanhala (authority)? Isn’t it true that the Rebbe wanted that shluchim send reports to central headquarters? What role does headquarters play?
Also: Shliach oseh shliach means that the first shliach appoints the next one. What responsibilities do they have to each other?
Needless to say, much more can be said on this topic, but I will suffice with these questions for now.
Keep up the excellent work. We avidly await your weekly e-mails, which bring much inspiration to our community, as I am sure to many others.
Brocho v’hatlzcha…”
My reply:
Thank you for your very kind and moving words.
Before further addressing these issues, I want to qualify my thoughts with the following disclaimers:
My objective in writing the article was in response to the request of many to try bringing some clarity in understanding the Rebbe’s intentions, based on his words and teachings. I attempted to do so to the best of my ability by searching in the Rebbe’s talks and writings. By no means should this be seen as the complete picture – it was really about putting the main issues clearly on the table, with the invitation to anyone that has more facts to come forward and share any of the Rebbe’s writings or public talks that can help shed more light on these issues.
Even after reaching a measure of clarity in the Rebbe’s approach, there inevitably will still remain questions and issues that may arise case by case. As the Rebbe directs us, these issues should be addressed amongst Chassidim, and being that they are interested in the truth, they will surely be able to resolve any questions. Should the need arise Rabbonim can be consulted, as is the Jewish way in all matters of life.
Now, to the questions you pose, beginning with the model for the infrastructure of the future. One of the defining features of the future – ‘l’osid lovo’ – is that “the world will be filled with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9. See Rambam at the end of his Mishne Torah). The prophet Jeremiah elaborates:
“I shall put my teaching in their inward parts and write it in their heart…They shall no longer teach one another… saying ‘know G-d,’ for they shall all know Me – from the least of them to the greatest of them” (31:32-33. See also Joel 3:1-2. Vayikra Rabba 1:14. Tanya ch. 36).
If “they shall no longer teach one another… for they shall all know me” why does the verse say that there will be a distinction between “the least of them” (“ketanom”) and the “greatest of them” (“gedolom”)? Explains the Rebbe that diversity will remain, there will be both young and old, smaller and greater, yet each will know Me – G-d’s Essence (“Oisi”) will permeate each according to his/her level (see also Likkutei Levi Yitzchak on Zohar vol. 3 p. 210).
And even then there will be a need for a teacher and leader (Moshiach) who will reveal even deeper dimensions (see Tzemach Tzedek, Derech Mitzvosecho, the end of Mitzvat Minui Melech).
Today, we have obviously not yet reached this level of equality and balance, but it does it give us insight into the infrastructure of the future: Individuality – and avodah b’koach atzmo of each individual – will be integrated with the Divine Will. In less perfect times individuality can contradict the common goal of the community. Not so in the future. [More on this, see Individualism and G-d]
A foretaste of this is in the shlichus infrastructure, with each individual location becoming so permeated with Torah and Mitzvot that each place itself becomes like an independent, self generating source of light (similar to the concept of ‘metziuso m’atzmuso’ of the yesh ha’nivra) – see Sichat Parshat Vayeishev 5752.
This leads us into the other issues you raised. There is no doubt that central headquarters can play a key role – as we see the remarkable results of their dedicated work in the new Chabad centers springing up in Europe and Asia and many other locations around the world. Witness also the great Kiddush Hashem at the annual International Shluchim and Shluchos Conference.
Central headquarters can additionally offer a powerful service by helping shluchim with funding, provide them with materials and services, coordinate efforts between shluchim and more.
The same is true for ‘shliach oseh shliach’: Enormous credit must be given to the first shluchim who pioneered the way by selflessly and without question accepting the Rebbe’s mission to become shluchim – they took the lead, broke the initial ground and helped forge the way for those that followed through their initiative of building institutions in their respective communities. Further credit is due to them for not sufficing in transforming their own territories, but in expanding the work – as the Rebbe instructed – by recruiting new shluchim, who in turn built additional new communities.
The Rebbe clearly wanted and expected warm cooperation between shliach and shliach and between shluchim and headquarters. But the Rebbe trusted his shluchim, and did not impose authority. His deepest wish is that Chassidim – shluchim – would be united, and be able to get together, with true bittul, and address all issues that may arise. Not through force and litigation, but in an environment of chassidishe warmth and compassion.
The pioneer shluchim, precisely because they came first and have the experience of seniority, should lead the way as role models demonstrating this Chassidishe bittul. I submit here that the greater the shliach – the more bittul he has to the meshalayach – the more compassionate he will be, the more loving, the more he will motivate others, including the shluchim that came after him, the more he will be loved and respected.
Obviously, shluchim need to work well with each other, and when one shliach brings out another there must be healthy coordination and cooperation between them, which is built on a fundamental trust. Their detailed responsibilities to each other have to be worked out between them at the outset, but it will always be successful when built upon mutual trust and confidence.
May we all learn from the Rebbe how to lead with love – how to inspire and motivate with passion and compassion.
May we all together reach a true clarity – ‘yisbariru v’yislavnu ha’devorim’ – in understanding what is expected of us.
Finally, may we refine our existing infrastructures and align them to the infrastructure of the future, thereby helping prepare for the world that “will be filled with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea” and “they shall no longer teach one another…for they shall all know Me – from the least of them to the greatest of them.”
Tags: chabad, unity, leadership, warmth, community, Rebbe, accountability
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