Thursday, August 22, 2024

Fwd: The Consuming Fire


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman <webadmin@kehotpublicationsociety.ccsend.com>
Date: Thu, Aug 22, 2024, 8:20 AM
Subject: The Consuming Fire
To: <agentemes4@gmail.com>


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I S S U E 835

Parshat Eikev / August 22, 2024 / Menachem-Av 18, 5784

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Dear Friend,


An insight by the Rebbe on parshat Eikev, selected from our Daily Wisdom, by Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky.


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The Consuming Fire

You must know today that it is G-d, your G-d, who passes

over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them

and He will subdue them before you. You will drive them out

or destroy them quickly, as G-d spoke to you. (Deut. 9:3)


The imagery of G-d as consuming fire in this verse can be understood as follows: Fire ascends; flames look as if they are trying to break loose of whatever they are burning. It is only the burning

matter that keeps the flames anchored, whereas once it has been

consumed, the flame dies out.


Similarly, since G-d is non-corporeal, it is not "natural" for Him to be revealed in our physical world. What enables G-d to be miraculously revealed in our world is the performance of the commandments, all of which involve some form of physical matter. The commandments act as the agent of combustion. By consuming the materiality of physical matter, revealing its Divine element, the Divine flame can burn – and continue to burn.


Furthermore, just as a thick tree produces a bigger fire than a small wick, the more commandments we perform, the more we refine and elevate the materiality of the physical world. This enables a bigger, brighter, and warmer flame of Divinity to blaze in our lives, manifest as enthusiastic love and awe of G-d and passionate devotion to our Divine mission.


--Daily Wisdom Volume 3


May G-d grant resounding victory and peace in the Holy Land.


Gut Shabbos,

Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman

Kehot Publication Society


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Inspiring insights on the Torah Portion from the Lubavitcher Rebbe.


Translated and adapted by Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky, and produced by Chabad House Publications of California, Daily Wisdom summarizes each daily Torah reading and presents an original insight based on the Rebbe's teachings.

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