Land and See
If Moses would have crossed the Jordan, that would have been the end: the end of the struggle, the end of history.
G-d wasn't ready for the end yet, so He decreed that Moses remain in the desert. But He did allow him to see the Promised Land. And because Moses saw it, we, too, can see it.
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| THE PARSHAH IN A NUTSHELL |
Va'etchanan
Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11
Week of August 6-12
In which Moses implores G-d, describes the Exodus and the Giving of the Torah, predicts Israel's abandonment and return to G-d, and summarizes the fundamentals of the Jewish faith.
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| FROM THE CHASSIDIC MASTERS |
At the Threshold
To an ecologist, nothing is as interesting as the foothills, where two ecosystems meet. An exciting field today is that of "human interface"--the place where people and their machines meet. And then there is the study of chaoplexity--the fascinating border between rigid order and total randomness where things such as amoebas, bond traders, Chabad House rabbis and the like occur.
The Chassidic masters take us into truly fascinating territory when they contemplate the dualities that define our existence-- Heaven and Earth, Creator and created, Nothingness and something--and ask: Where do they meet and what happens there?
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From Under The Covers
The G-d with whom I am present is the One who asks me to embrace not only the fact of my illness, but every ugly moment of it. It is the G-d that asks me to find Him as the needle is placed in my arm to deliver my four-hour dose of chemo. It is the G-d that asks me not to forget Him when I have become so weak that I can no longer fight against my fear of death and abandoning my children too soon. It is the G-d that asks me to open my heart in love to every thing around me, even though I may face losing it all earlier than I thought.
You see, this is what I’m after. I’m very greedy, and I'm concerned about the growth of my soul during these times. Yes, I want to physically heal; but I want also to allow the expansion of my soul to where there is no longer fear of the future, no dissection of life into this or that, where I am so in touch with G-d and His omniscient presence that I can encounter each dimension of life with grace and a full, easy breath.
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Perspective
"How can a human being possibly react to what he experiences as bad in exactly the same way he responds to what he experiences as good? How can a person be as grateful for his troubles as he is for his joys?"
"To find an answer to your question," said the Baal Shem Tov, "you must go see my disciple, Reb Zusha of Anipoli. Only he can help you in this matter."
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A Taste of Future
The transition from an industrial to an information society has had a profound effect on the "selfishness" of wealth. When wealth comes from materials, it is hard to deviate from the basic conception that when a piece of the pie is given to somebody else, your share is less.
But it is becoming more and more evident that, today, it is knowledge and creativity, not materials, that produce wealth. Statistics bear this out. The weight in tons of U.S. gross domestic product has dropped 25% in the past two decades, while its value has more than doubled. Today’s millionaires are people with ideas that have benefited others, not yesterday’s gold miners and oil tycoons.
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As the two Chabad Yeshiva students Elly Andrusierr and Moshe Fox were setting out for their journey in the former Yugoslavia in early July,
reminders of the recent war in the region were everywhere...
For eight hundred and thirty years there stood an edifice upon a Jerusalem hilltop which served as the point of contact between heaven and earth. So central was this edifice to the relationship between man and
G-d that nearly two-thirds of the mitzvot are contingent upon its existence. Its destruction is regarded as the greatest tragedy of our history, and its rebuilding will mark the ultimate redemption-the restoration of harmony within G-d's creation and between G-d and His creation.
A full three weeks of our year-the three weeks "between the strictures" of Tammuz 17 (July 20) and Av 9 (August 9)-are designated as a time of mourning over the destruction of the Holy Temple and the resultant galut-physical exile and spiritual displacement-in which we still find ourselves.
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