With this in mind, I would like to share a story about the famous Kotzker Rebbe.
On one occasion, at the the Seudat Shlishit, the Rebbe turned to his disciples and asked "Where does G-D live?" They were stunned by such a question. "What does the Rebbe mean when he asks, where does Hashem live? Where does G-D not live? Surely we are taught that there is no place devoid of His presence. Hashem fills the entire world with His being."
"No," said the Kotzker, "You do not understand.
G-D lives where we let Him in!"
The answer may seem so simplistic, and yet if we truly think of the reply, we begin to realize that Hashem waits for us to let Him into our lives. To accomplish this we need to search for Hashem in all the vicissitudes of our life.
When we begin to know where we are, I sense we will be able to know where we can find Hashem.
Our Torah reading this Shabbat, Parshat Ekev, reflects on Moshe's reminder to בני ישראל, regarding their heinous crime with the golden calf and how he attained forgiveness, for them, from Hashem.
The Torah reminds us that after Moshe broke the first set of Luchos he was instructed by Hashem to hew out a second set. פסל לך שני לוחות הברית ,"Hew out two tablets of stone like the first ones."
The word that intrigues me most at this directive is פסל, hew out. This word פסל, is written in another place, but there the context is different and the pronunciation is not the same. In the Aseret Hadebrot it states, "לא תעשה לך פסל, You shall not make a graven image." Here the word פסל, is spelled the same way, but the pronunciation is very different.
We may ask, "When does the word פסל, have the meaning hew and when does it mean an idol?"
The answer lies with the word לך that is attached to it. When the לך, the 'you' comes first before anything else then it is , לא תעשה לך פסל. Then the meaning is an idol. However, when the לך comes after everything else, then it is פסל לך. Then we are not the center of the universe and we are subscribing to a world of concern and respect for others.
What a glorious message to live by, and what a wonderful way to find and have G-D in our presence all the time.
In order to make our Jewish identity relevant for us today, we must shift our attitude from the 'Selfie' concept to one of appreciation and association with others and live a life of reaching out and embracing others in a more spiritual and caring way.
These are times that we need to be more open to other Jews, whatever their observances may be. I am sorry to say that we are becoming too much exclusive in our Jewish way of life, when our times demands more inclusivity.
There are Jews out there who are searching and as the Kotzker said, "They are hoping to let G-D in."
But they might not know the combination to the lock of Judaism, and are waiting for someone to unlock the spiritual doors for them so that they may enter the precincts leading to the beauty of Yahadut.
The problem may be that we are waiting for them to come to us. We need to stop waiting and begin to take the initiative and approach them.
The Baal Shemtov, to get people involved, used the following parable, "Many people were standing under a tree, and were trying to catch a beautiful bird on the top of tree, but could not reach the top. In order to catch the bird, they decided that each person will stand on the other׳s shoulder, until the one on top will reach the bird and catch it."
"The same with us,"said the Baal Shem Tov, "The only way we can reach to the higher spiritual spheres is when we place each other on the other one's shoulders. When we do so it will be a פסל לך, a new hewing out of our Ten Commandments. As we grow together we will then be in a position to welcome the Moshiach into our presence."
שבת שלום ומבורך
No comments:
Post a Comment