Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The Jews Achilles Heal, part 2
Rabbi Motty Berger said in the name of the Chiddushei Harim and Sfas Emes the same medrash and explained that "do not approach the mountain" relates to the first two commandments. Us Jews have trouble with "I am G-d" and "You are not!"
The question
Was the Torah given to us by Hashem, or was it made up by the Jews? If it was made up, the authors certainly have a lot of blood on their hands. Hitler thought that the Torah was made up by the Jews, and thought that its effect on his society was such a "disease" that every person with at least 1/4 Jewish ancestory needed to be killed to eradicate its influence. Western (secular) society today believes the Jews made it up, but that to a certain extent (less and less each year) we need to pretend that it came from Hashem. Most secular Jews act like they believe their (our) ancestors made it up. They think that the more outragous and weird the culture becomes, the better it is, so they lead the charge, in many cases. But G-d forbid when the pendulum swings the other way, and our society looks to find those who were responsible for the outragousness and weirdness. Woe to the Jews who never deeply investigate this question.
A Jew who believes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Torah was given by Hashem can either strive and struggle to serve Hashem, or can commit suicide, either quickly or slowly. There is no middle ground. If Hashem "divinely influenced" the Torah, that is another way of saying that the Jews made it up.
A Jew who believes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Torah was given by Hashem can either strive and struggle to serve Hashem, or can commit suicide, either quickly or slowly. There is no middle ground. If Hashem "divinely influenced" the Torah, that is another way of saying that the Jews made it up.
Why should I have hakaras HaTov to Hashem?
Why should I have hakaras HaTov to Hashem? After all, he created me! Yes, he freed me from slavery in Egypt, but he also made me a slave in the first place. I didn’t ask to be created.
It seems to me that the world we live in presents an ideal “playing field” or “movie set” for the battle between our Yetzer HaTov or intellectual desires or “best intentions” and our Yetzer HaRah or physical or emotional desires. I would be hard pressed to say that the world is very well designed for any other purpose that I can think of. It doesn’t seem well designed for hedonism, since we quickly get bored with any particular kind of pleasures, and we often get hurt or burned. It doesn’t always reward the person who plays by the rules or puts in the most effort, although I think that effort in the right direction is often well rewarded. Striving for money…there are plenty of rich people out there who are unhappy. Depression and anxiety are very common.
However, since Hashem gave us the Torah, we can serve him no matter what situation we are in. All a person has to do is 1) know the halacha and 2) implement the will and strength to do it. There are people alive today or who were alive in the recent past who are or were like angels, following the will of Hashem with beautiful middos and assuredly not suffering from depression or anxiety.
I believe that we chose this life, or we would choose it if we had complete information. I believe that Hashem created us to benefit us by letting us “play the game” or “be in the movie”. Life is a benefit when one strives to be an eved Hashem. He has given me many benefits, advantages and blessings, from before I was born until now. I choose to have Hakaras HaTov, because I believe that Hashem has decided to benefit me by putting me in the life situations that I am in.
It seems to me that the world we live in presents an ideal “playing field” or “movie set” for the battle between our Yetzer HaTov or intellectual desires or “best intentions” and our Yetzer HaRah or physical or emotional desires. I would be hard pressed to say that the world is very well designed for any other purpose that I can think of. It doesn’t seem well designed for hedonism, since we quickly get bored with any particular kind of pleasures, and we often get hurt or burned. It doesn’t always reward the person who plays by the rules or puts in the most effort, although I think that effort in the right direction is often well rewarded. Striving for money…there are plenty of rich people out there who are unhappy. Depression and anxiety are very common.
However, since Hashem gave us the Torah, we can serve him no matter what situation we are in. All a person has to do is 1) know the halacha and 2) implement the will and strength to do it. There are people alive today or who were alive in the recent past who are or were like angels, following the will of Hashem with beautiful middos and assuredly not suffering from depression or anxiety.
I believe that we chose this life, or we would choose it if we had complete information. I believe that Hashem created us to benefit us by letting us “play the game” or “be in the movie”. Life is a benefit when one strives to be an eved Hashem. He has given me many benefits, advantages and blessings, from before I was born until now. I choose to have Hakaras HaTov, because I believe that Hashem has decided to benefit me by putting me in the life situations that I am in.
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