4 Nissan 5781
Believe it or not, the Master of the Universe relates differently to Jews as to Gentiles and He relates differently to Eretz Yisrael as to the nations of the world. He also relates differently to Jews living in Eretz Yisrael as to Jews who live among the nations of the world. Among the Jews in Eretz Yisrael, HKB"H relates more favorably to those who do their best to fulfill His will by keeping His mitzvot than He does to those who are in outright rebellion against Him.
That is not to say that the Creator of the world does not care and provide for all His creations, but there is most definitely a hierarchy, which is why in our prayers, we appeal so many times in the name of the patriarchs whom HKB"H bore special love for as a result of their strivings in this world to come close to Him.
One of the drawbacks of growing up in a democracy is that everyone feels it is their "right" to be treated equally regardless of personal merit. That can make the idea of God "having favorites" very unpalatable. Think, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
If we try to understand this from the perspective of HKB"H as our Father, we see from our own human interactions that while a father loves all his children, he, by necessity, relates differently to the compliant, obedient child versus the rebellious child. The same holds from the perspective of HKB"H as our King. An earthly king has a different relationship to his loyal subjects than he does with the criminals who break his laws, and even more so with those who rise up in insurrection to overthrow him.
Western norms and values have corrupted the truth and caused most people to believe in another god - one who loves everyone no matter what they do and rewards everyone equally regardless of their merit. It is important to examine ourselves and judge where we stand with the Master of the Universe and decide on ways to improve our standing with Him, to more closely resemble Him and come closer in relationship to Him.
Moshe Rabenu the greatest of all prophets couldn’t make it to Eretz Israel.
ReplyDeleteHis was a unique situation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, at least Moshe tried his best to come into Eretz Yisrael. That is all Hashem expects of us. To try our best to fullfill his chukim and mishpatim. Sometimes He prevents us from succeeding in certain endeavors, and sometimes he helps us succeed. As long as we do our best we get the merit for it.
ReplyDelete- The original me
Great post of what needs to be stated.
ReplyDeleteThe confusion of Jews' understanding between what is Torah and what are Western values and sensibilities (Esau / Edom / Rome) is an understatement.
I heard that a rabbi at Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem said, "The Torah is not politically-correct; it is absolutely correct!"
Good one!! :-)
ReplyDeleteIn a way, the Torah is completely 'politically incorrect', so of course, it is Absolutely Correct!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you write about the corruption of our Torah in this modern era. You hear even Orthodox rabbis preaching this love of everyone as if murderers are on the same level as your average person. Political correctness and almost complete control of speech has corrupted everything because the control of speech always leads to the control of the mind. We arrive at a new mindset with the indoctrination from all sides. This probably has been the greatest battle since WWII. Today's battles are more on a spiritual and mental level than a physical one. Even though immorality is, of course, also one of the big components of this war.
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