Nachamu – V’Etchanan #BibleInsights
The Pasha (weekly Torah portion) started with Moshe pleading to G-d to allow him to enter the land of Israel. It’s hard to understand the desperation of a man who saw heaven and conversed with angels to enter a land I get to live in every day. I love Israel, but I somehow get the sense there must be so much more to this place that I have not even begun to imagine. Considering all the disagreements about what the State of Israel means politically and religiously, both within and without Judaism, for a moment, all that becomes irrelevant. Even if Israel will suffer a catastrophic attack, or if the Jewish people will again become scattered across the globe; for this moment in time, I live an experience that Moses and many Rabbis in subsequent generations only dreamed and yearned for, and in this moment I thank G-d for the privilege.Another theme I have been thinking of that feels connected here, is the idea of living in this land being a greater experience to Moses than even the experience of being in Heaven with G-d; the latter experience was not enough for him. It would seem that a certain level of spiritual fulfillment and pleasure could only be obtained through the effort and the journey here on Earth.
Some people have a theory that the World to Come is the Ultimate, the ultimate goal and the ultimate location. To reach heaven.
To put it simply, Classic Christian theology teaches that abstinence from physical pleasures of this world will lead to rewards of spiritual pleasure in the world to come. Islamic traditions guide a path to physical pleasure in the world to come. Even Jewish literature is sometimes misinterpreted as the world to come being the highest value. “This world is an entranceway to the world to come, prepare yourself in the lobby so you can enter the main ballroom.”However, heaven is never once explicitly mentioned in the Five Books of Moses, rather, the text focuses on all manner of physical and spiritual behavior and thought here on this earth. In the book” Ethics of Our Fathers” it is said that one moment of repentance and good deeds in this world yields a greater pleasure than the pleasure that could be amassed in all of eternity in the world to come.
Synchronicity can be found between these two dichotomies and understood through several theoretical frameworks and the process of philosophical analysis.
One way to explain is through an analogy. Consider that you are playing a video game. Of course your goal is to reach and conquer the highest level, but while on level three, for example, all your focus and concern is on that level. In that moment, level four is irrelevant. Yet the joy of the game is having a purpose, a path, a destination, and a goal. One serves the other. When we reach the world to come: when we die, as all people one day will, or in the times of Messiah, when we will rise from the dead, in that time, the past years of trials will recede to the background as the enormity of G-d’s love and salvation will overpower everything else. We also have that end time destination as our goal to strive for and to hope for in the hear and now. Yet right now in this moment, this life is not just our focus, it is our ultimate location to be.
I once read a Medrash about Moshiach Ben Yosef, who is believed will come before Moshiach Ben Dovid. He asked G-d for life, not to live in the flesh, as even a tiny insect does, but to live in the heart of each Jew through the exile. He wanted the Jews, and humanity as a whole, to live with hope and joy, in the exile. Hope there will be a redemption, joy in the pursuit of purpose and comfort that in this moment we are exactly where we are supposed to be. Tisha B’av, the time for mourning, is over, and now we can allow ourselves to fully embrace the now, without reservations or hesitations.
Another interesting concept that specifically contrasts with the idea of this world being insignificant in comparison to heaven is the teaching taught to me by Rabbi Eliyahu Ellis that refutes the premises of Christianity and Islam of forfeiting worldly pleasure in the hope of heavenly pleasure in another lifetime:
Judaism is a guide for how to create heaven, here on Earth.
On Erev Shabbat, the first of creation, G-d created a beautiful, yet hidden, light. It is our job here on earth to claw away the darkness so the light can be revealed. Alex Epstein, a philosopher who combats the dogma of global alarmists, advocates for a world view where humans are not a destructive force on the world, rather, to understand that through creativity and ingenuity we invent solutions and advancements that make the world safer, cleaner and better.
Think of all the advancements in medicine; we have total cures today for diseases that once seemed insurmountable such as several cancers, pneumonia, and Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, and we are closer than ever to cures for diseases such as HIV, Alzheimer’s, and Osteogenesis Imperfecta. We have developed the technology to recycle and desalinize water, call internationally for free or pennies, we soar the skies, and some have even traveled to space. With regard to Tikun Olam (the mandate to fix the world, some translate this as “Social Justice”) it is clear that man’s purpose is to develop and fix a broken world and become a part of creation. Moshiach is the promise that when the journey is arduous and the effort seems futile; in the end, the light will conquer darkness and the human spirit will triumph.
There is a story of a Jewish boy in the Ghetto that illustrates this point. Passover Eve, with all his family except him and his dad having perished, he asked his Father, can I ask you a fifth question? (Following the traditional “Four Questions”.)
“Will I survive another year and be here next Passover seder to ask you the Four Questions, and will you be here to answer them?”
The father honestly answered, “I don’t know. But I will promise you this: next Passover, there will be somewhere in the world a Jewish boy who will ask his father the Four Questions, and his father will be there to answer them.”
Dr. Jordan Peterson often says that the joy of meaning is necessary to offset the tragedy that is life. To me, it seems he has it backward. The joy of meaning is found precisely within the tragedy of life. The struggle of each individual and in partnership with the whole of humanity, and the creator of all, is where we find ourselves connecting to a larger and eternal mission. “Tikun Olam, the mandate to fix the world, presumes the world will be broken.”
A few more words on this week’s Parsha:
The Ten Commandments were told again. We stand for this part of the Torah Reading.
In this week’s Parsha we also read the Shema prayer, declaring a belief in one unified incorporeal G-d. In this chapter is the commandment to teach the next generation. When you know you have a legacy and a mission, it becomes vital to pass this on to children and grandchildren who can carry on the legacy and bring the mission to completion. The Torah does not use the verb למד, rather the root שננ, ושננתם. Teaching should be an active and interactive process, if sharing information, listening to questions and creating a living, breathing back and forth dialogue. During a dispute between sages of the Talmud, one Rabbi stated, “לא בשמים היא.” The Torah is not in heaven. G-d gave us the Torah so that we can live it in our lives and our hearts and teach our children to do the same.
The Thirteen Attributes of G-d are listed and enumerated in this Parsha. Beyond human understanding, G-d is one unified entity that we can experience through various different attributes. This is the Middot Moses was taught to use to intercede on behalf of the Jewish people, yet here, in Moses request, he was told, “Stop praying.” G-d reassured Moses a much greater reward and a greater plan was yet to come.
Every time the Torah is read, when it is returned to the Aron Kodesh, the parishioners declare: “This is the Torah that Moses placed before the children of Israel.”
This verse is found in Parshat V’etchanan: Chapter 4, verse 44.
This article helped me understand the meaning and purpose of my brother’s short and painful life. The story of the four questions in the holocaust especially helped me see the beauty in being a cog in the wheel. Each moment of each person’s life has a greater value for being a part of something bigger than we can even imagine.
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