ב"ה
It's been said that if you talk to G-d, you're a religious person; if G-d talks to you, you're crazy. I guess that means I'm crazy. G-d talks to me. Not as frequently as He should, but fairly often.
Jewish tradition ascribes a special value to learning for the sake of learning--to the study of Torah to no end other than to integrate the word of G-d into the student's mind. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi's Tanya explores the uniqueness of the bond created between man and G-d through when a human mind apprehends the Divine Wisdom
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons, Machlon and Kilyon, Efratites from Bethlehem in Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and remained there...
The holy beggar's face was transformed. His eyes began to glow with a divine light, and his coarse features assumed a sublime grace. He opened his mouth to speak; but before a single word emerged from his lips, he suddenly closed them, and with obvious effort, wrenched himself from his seat and bolted from the room. By the time Rabbi Gershon collected his wits and ran after him out to the street, he was gone.
Judaism begins with the most mystical of experiences at Mount Sinai, where we "saw the sounds and heard the sights", and ends with mystical union of all of Creation with its Creator. Everything in between is driven by the drive to absorb the first mystical revelation in order to achieve the final one.
I find this battle terrifying, because I have no idea where it will lead. It forces me to open myself to G-d and allow Him into the innermost, most intimate confines of myself. It forces me to confront the plaguing question: if I truly let G-d in, what will He do to me once He is there? Who will I be? What will the world have become? And what is my place and purpose within it?
 Since the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson of righteous memory, launched this campaign just before Shavuot of 5741 (1981), Rabbi Greisman has successfully completed three Torahs and is working on a fourth one. Each Jewish child is encouraged to purchase his or her own letter in the Torah for the nominal fee of one dollar. |
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