Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Re'eh ראה – Tests of Faith

Parshas Re'eh deals with three severe tests of faith, a false prophet, seduction, and an apostate city. In the case of the "false prophet" the person is in fact a prophet who performs a miracle. He uses this to tell people to abandon Hashem and his Torah in favor of idolatry. With seduction an attempt to turn somebody to idolatry is made by a close relative or friend. In the case of the apostate city a person faces strong social pressure to accept idolatry because everybody else is doing it.

Concerning the false prophet the Chumash explicitly says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and all your soul. The idea is that if somebody does not love Hashem and dedicate their life to His service, they will use this miracle as an excuse to abandon the religion, or at least find the arguments of the false prophet convincing. One can extend the idea of love of G-d countering idolatry to seduction and social pressure. The test of the false prophet may be the most difficult because it suggests that the Torah is not true, ,חס ושלום and that the G-d of Israel is not the king of the universe.

Today we have no prophet who can say to the nation of Israel, "Thus speaks Hashem". However it is possible to hear the whispers of the voice of G-d in the recesses of our hearts, in depth of perception of the Tanach, and in our relationship with our surroundings. Nevertheless our conscience can be in error, our understanding of scripture faulty, and at times bad things happen to good people. This test is the subject of Psalm 73. It describes the doubts that arise when the vain and wicked succeed and in contrast hard work and purity of heart seem to be pointless. The Psalmist does not achieve peace until he enters into the sanctuary of the Almighty. There he sees that the malevolent will eventually slip and fall to destruction. He then desires the counsel from Above and his body and heart yearn for G-d.

After describing the test of the false prophet, the Chumash exhorts one to walk with G-d, fear Him, keep his mitzvahs, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him (Devarim 13:5). These are the the actions that will allow us to stand on tests of the faith. Walking with G-d suggests traveling a common path. This means common goals. These are the testimonies, included in the message of the Jewish holidays. For example Pesach advocates human freedom, Shavuos represents subservience to principle, Yom Kippur is forgiveness. The conclusion of the path is an ethical world at peace based on truth.

Fearing G-d basically means believing that there is a force of retribution in this world. Part of this is seeing the hand of G-d in the downfall of the wicked and the punishments of those that trespass on His will. More broadly it is the concept of reward and punishment based on a person's actions and character.

Keeping the mitzvahs would be fulfilling the 613 mitzvahs. More generally it means living according to the precepts of the Tanach. This presupposes listening to His voice. This voice of G-d is to be found in a number of places. It is most explicit in the Five Books of Moses. It is found as well in other religious texts. It is also to be found in the humanities and the sciences in that we should be at peace with our fellow man and live in harmony with nature. As it says in Ethics of our Fathers (3:12), "One, who is pleasing to the creation, is pleasing to G-d. But one who is not pleasing to the creation, is not pleasing to G-d". The voice of G-d is also to be found in man's soul and at times can be accessed through quiet meditation.

Serving G-d often refers to tefilah (תפילה). Prayer is often understood as requests we make from G-d. It does include that, but it is more precisely self judgment. Specifically were are called on to understand the words of the liturgy and strive to internalize them and live according to them. This service also includes all efforts to fulfill the mitzvahs whether they are in attitude, mentality, word, or deed.

Clinging to Hashem can be learned from clinging to a friend. So to speak we are asked to be a friend of the truth, a friend of benevolence, a friend of morality, and a friend of religion. This includes sharing common interests which can take various forms. For example being a member of a synagogue, enjoying religious music, art and literature, financial support and personal involvement with religious causes, and a personal relationship with the Almighty. It comes out that if one is engrossed in religion they will develop deep roots that are watered by the rivers of the faith and when the storm comes it will not move him from his place.






To view on YouTube click:
Shalom Aleichem at 8:10
Link to Wikipedia article with Hebrew/English lyrics with transliteration 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalom_Aleichem_(liturgy)


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