Who Gets to Decide?

12 Iyar 5774
Day 27 of the Omer

Those who imagine themselves to be in control, to have the right, even the responsibility, to decide for the rest, because they perceive themselves to be in the majority, to have the power, have presumed to define who is an "extremist."

Those who have invested themselves completely, body and soul, in The Lie, have presumed to rule and to dictate and to label anyone who disagrees with them, who stands in the way of realizing their twisted goals as an "extremist."

Do you believe in submission to the Almighty and to His laws above and beyond the dictates of mere mortals?
You are an extremist.

Do you believe that the Almighty is so personally involved in the world He created and in the lives of the mortals who inhabit it, that He actually is personally responsible for the direction a storm takes or how much money you will make this year or whether you will catch a cold... or a bus?
You are an extremist.

Do you believe there was a literal worldwide flood? a confusion of the world's languages? an actual splitting of the Red Sea? An true experience of hearing the voice of G-d at Har Sinai and that the covenant forged there is still binding on the progeny of those who made it?
You are an extremist.

Do you believe that the Jewish People were given a specific mission which gentiles cannot fulfill and were uniquely gifted to accomplish it by the Almighty?
You are an extremist.

Do you believe that the borders of the Land of Israel were described by its owner - Almighty G-d - and that it was entrusted to the Jewish People in its entirety?
You are really an extremist.

Do you believe that two Jewish Temples once stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and that a third one is destined to be built there and that it is an obligation on every Jew to do everything within his own power and realm of influence to accomplish it?
You are really an extremist.

Do you believe so much in the actual arrival of a real Messiah that you scan the news every day for any reportage on the event?
You're worse than an extremist. You're delusional!

Do you talk to G-d and does He answer?
Bring the straight-jacket and ready the padded cell. You are beyond extreme. You are so delusional that you are now a threat to "normal" people everywhere.

But, who really gets to decide who is "normal" and who is "extreme?" From where I sit, it is The Powers That Be who are the extremists. Despite all historical accounts to the contrary, they continue to believe that they can rule in place of G-d, that they can somehow overcome Him and escape any judgment. How much more delusional can a human be?

Ultimately, it is He Who created it all Who decides. As long as a person is aligned with His wishes and desires as expressed in the instruction book which He gave to us, you can be assured that it is all those who deviate from it who are the real extremists, not those who conform to it.