Tuesday, June 7, 2011

DONT FORGET RABBI LAZER BRODY ON SHAVUOS PART 2


Having seen and heard the glory of Hashem with their own eyes and ears on the very first Shavuot, when Israel received the Torah from Hashem, the Children of Israel trembled with fear. The Midrash tells us that the angels had to force the souls back into the Jewish bodies; otherwise, the people couldn't have continued to maintain their physical existence in the presence of such super-high-voltage holiness.

The Torah is a blueprint for life. Therefore, the above passage's description of Shavuos and the receiving of Torah carries two particular intrinsic messages that teach an important lesson about the service of Hashem. Rebbe Nachman of Breslev (Likutei Moharan I:116) writes:

"The spiritual forces of severe judgment denounce one who – by virtue of his own deeds – is not worthy of earning proximity to Hashem, and refuse to allow him to connect to a genuine tzaddik and to the path of truth. Hashem loves justice; therefore, He must seemingly agree to prevent that person from reaching the path of life, in light of that person's bad deeds according to justice, for Hashem loves justice. But in truth, Hashem, blessed be He, loves Israel, and His love for Israel is more than His love of justice. So what does He do? Seemingly, He must consent to the demands of justice to disallow a person from reaching the truth, since the person has incurred sever judgment, for Hashem loves justice as already mentioned. But, in the essence of truth, despite a person's past, Hashem desires that he come closer to Him, for He loves Israel more than He loves justice as mentioned above. Hashem therefore consents to enable obstacles to obstruct the person, but He His blessed Self conceals Himself within the obstacles. Anyone with spiritual awareness can find Hashem hiding within the obstacles themselves. In actuality – there are no obstacles at all, and a person can come closer to Hashem by way of the obstacles, for Hashem is concealed within the obstacles!"

No comments: