The "Birur" Continues...

8 Kislev 5774

The Creator made order among His creation, separating light from darkness, day from night, land from water and each living thing "after its own kind." Man came into the garden and mixed everything up - mixing good together with evil. This is also what the Erev Rav - the mixed multitude - came to do; to mix us up with the other nations and their inferior laws and cultures. It's what the Maccabim came to root out "in those days at this time."

In this final stage before the complete redemption, the "birur" process comes to clarify what is "good" and what is "evil" and to separate between the two. This process is clear and known to all and is referred to often in the secular media as "the polarization of society."

You can see a prime example of it in today's YWN article:

The IDF May Lose its Finest Combatants

...the IDF is rapidly becoming an environment that is incompatible for religious soldiers and officers. For the dati leumi community this would spell disaster as military service is not viewed as a responsibility, but a privilege, at the core of the dati leumi hashkafa.

If Chief of Personnel Branch Major-General Orna Barvibai continues as planned, some prominent religiously right-wing dati leumi rabbonim may instruct their talmidim not to serve while the more liberal dati leumi community will find a way to make it work. This will result in the IDF losing some of its finest combat soldiers and officers as well as causing a major split in the dati leumi community.

...the fact that there are religious Zionist colonels is reason for panic, and these folks will do whatever it takes to prevent too many religious officers from reaching the control level of the military. For them, a religious General Staff is their worst nightmare. While the religious Zionists have truly sacrificed in their military service, all of the discipline and exemplary service does over the years will do nothing against the Hellenists whose biggest fear is a religious chief of general staff.

There is a story I remember hearing. I think it was from Rebbe Nachman. It was about a cup of flour that a Master Baker began to sift in order to make a very fine bread.  

As grain after grain of flour began to fall into the bowl, the larger and fatter pieces along with the chaff began to gloat.  "Look at those poor grains discarded into the bowl while we remain up here looking down upon them.  Surely, the Baker is preserving us in order to make His very fine bread."  The grains which had fallen through the sifter into the bowl below bemoaned their fate.  "Look at them sitting up there high and mighty in the sifter.  Surely the Baker is preserving them in order to make His very fine bread while we who are lowly have been discarded here below."

But, they were all surprised when the Baker took the remains inside the sifter and tossed them onto the garbage heap.  It was those very grains of flour which had been deemed lowly and discarded who were worked into the dough to become the Master Baker's very fine loaf of bread.

At the end of the "birur" sifting process, the world will essentially turn upside down and those who were on top will go to the bottom and those who were on the bottom will rise to the top!

Everyone is being forced to choose a "side" at a level appropriate for them.  This is a test, but not only a test!