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Torah Portion -
eikev
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Written by d fine
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You'll notice that throughtout sefer devarim, Moshe repeats the history of the last 40 years and much more to the Bnei Yisrael. The question is why exactly repeat all this; at it's base, what exactly is the role of history!?...
Ever wondered why the word history is called His-story? In Hebrew it
spells out 'The hiddenness of G-d.' Mysterious! Well, it's not so
mysterious, because history, like more than we think, is a great lens
through which to look at the Divine Hand. This is essentially what we
do on pesach seder night; the central focus is to retell the story of
the Exodus, and some even act parts of it out!
In fact, the sfas emes raises a similar point about a certain
contradiction in the shemoneh esrei; first we say 'elokeinu velokei
avoteinu' ie our g-d and the g-d of our fathers - we go
chronologically backwards in time from us to our fathers. But then we
say 'g-d of avraham, g-d of yitzchak, and g-d of yaakov - going
chronologically forwards in time? The sfas emes answers beautifully
that there are two types of Jews; some are inspired by looking first
at the present; eg at HaShem's wonderful natural world (do you know
how complicated the human body is; there are a thousand million
million connections in the brain's 1300-1400g!). Other Jews are
inspired by looking at the past; at our amaing history; how we have
survived persecutions and exiles just as HaShem promised us - we are
the only nation is their history of the world to have returned to
their homeland 3 times after exile. These 2 phrases in our amidah are
so both of these Jews may gain inspiration. In fact, these are the two ways the Rambam says (hilchos teshuva) one comes to ahavas HaShem - via looking into His Deeds or His Creations.
In the sedra of ki tissa, HaShem tells Moshe in a very deep
pasuk "You will see my back but not my front" (33;23). The Kotzker Rav
explains that HaShem here is giving a timeless message to the Jewish
People - 'you will see Me when you look backwards [in time] but not
when you look forwards.' Often we don't understand the reasons for
some events in life, and only later with hindsight do we appreciate
their significance. Our job is to realise that we have an obstructed
view and cannot see the entire picture. This also means on the
positive side that we should try and grab every opportunity we get
presented with.
Let's end with a (true) story...There is a small shul in the centre of
New York City with a regular shacharit minyan. Now one morning a few
years ago a highly unusual thing happened; there were only 9 men
there. So they waited a bit for a tenth man (remember they needed to
get to work) until after several minutes, an old Jew showed up. He
insisted he'd lead the davening, and the others agreed. However, he
was taking such a long time the other 9 were starting to show
frustration. 'who does he think he is? Does he not realise we have to
be at work already? Suddenly they hard a massive explosion and an
overwhelming crashing sound. They went towards the door to see what
had happened. It was September 11, and the nearby World Trade Center
Towers had been attacked. Some of the people at this minyan would have
been inside if shacharit had been on time. They felt the relief as
they had realised their lives had been saved by this 'new chazzan.' As
they turned around to thank him, they realised he had gone. And he has
not been seen since. (The gemara says that spending increased time in
the shul causes a long life by the way)
HaShem is guiding the plan and we can be rest assured we are in strong
hands and outstretched arms waiting to receive His people.
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