The Final War and The Final Test

4 Tishrei 5779

From all that I know, from all that I have learned and from all that I have experienced, I have come to these two conclusions which I believe are reliable, as they comport 100% with our Torah and Mesorah. And I believe further that if we can just keep these two things uppermost in our minds - the final war and the final test - and judge everything we are encountering by how it fits into this picture, we can easily determine the right and the wrong of it.

The Final War: A war for hearts and minds, fought on an emotional as well as a philosophic level - it succeeds where confusion, doubt, fear, pride and ignorance hold sway. Therefore, it fails in the presence of confidence, trust and faith in HKB"H, humility of spirit and a firm foundation of Torah knowledge. 

What does the Torah really say and what does it really require of us? Do we have the freedom to reinterpret it in accordance with our own inner spiritual sensitivities, our own "moral compass?" 

The Final Test: The task is to OBEY the commandments!  The temptation is to make our own calculations and follow our own reasoning which leads to deviation from the commandments. 

Twice before in human history, we've faced this test and failed. Only by confronting the same test and succeeding, where in the past we failed, can a rectification be made.

Scenario #1 - Gan Eden - The Loyalty Test: Follow Hashem's command or listen to the voice of the serpent planting doubts about God's motives and urging us to make up our own mind. 

Scenario #2 - Har Sinai, the Midbar - The Loyalty Test: Follow Moshe's instructions to wait until he comes back down the mountain or listen to the voice of the Erev Rav planting doubts whether he will really return and urging us to make a golden calf as his replacement.

Scenario #3 - Eretz Yisrael among the Global Human Community - The Loyalty Test: Follow the Torah's demands to remain separate from the nations or listen to the combined voices from within and without telling us that the path to redemption is to be found in unity with the nations of the world. 

The Doubt-and-Confusion Tactic for this scenario: We need not wait to be redeemed. We can redeem ourselves. And we will do it in partnership with the nations of the world.  

That's it in a nutshell, but there is much more to be said. Hopefully, it will become clearer in the coming days.

Think about this. What are two of the hardest things for human beings to do?

1. Give up control. 2. Admit dependency. This was the stage we finally reached when we cried out to Hashem at Yam Suf and that is the place we have to find again before we will be redeemed at the End of Days. And the reason is, it is a place where the Ego is completely nullified!

To be continued, iy"H...