A guest post by the Bray of Fundie.
I am fond of Nigunei Nichoach but otherwise am not in any way, shape or form a Lubavitcher Khosid. Still, I want Moshiach NOW...more than ever. There's nothing like the Nine Days to reawaken ones צפיה לישועה = yearning for the salvation.
In honor of these Nine Days I present to all three of you my top Nine list for desiring the Messianic era and the fulfillment of various planks in the Torah Eschatological platform. I will בלי נדר attempt to be honest and forthright and keep them in an order that reflects my own desires as they stand today... if not necessarily what Khaz"l had in mind when they advised us to yearn for the salvation:
Rebuilt Jerusalem should Bnei Beraq, Lakewood, New York, Rome, Venice, Lourdes, Mecca, Uman, Tokyo, Kathmandu, Tahiti, the Alps, Vale, London, Buenos Aires, Silicone Valley and the Riviera. It should be Wall Street, Fleet Street, Madison Avenue, Saville Row and Main Street. It should be Paris, Peoria and the Farm. It should be THE destination for all people to come to learn , work, play, get healthy, and grow. It should have the tallest buildings, the most brilliant scholars, the vastest Libraries the most exquisite music, art, dance and poetry, the greatest housing the cleanest and swiftest transportation, the tastiest food and drink, the smartest urban planning, the highest technology and the deepest mystery and mystique. The liveliest yet safest streets. In short, it should be the most fitting seat for G-d's Kingdom on earth. It should be a Jewish and world capital that we can all be proud of. It should fulfill בני ציון יגילו במלכם...ובעירם בירתם .
4. I long for Elijah the Prophet . Not just as precursor of the Messianic era (not quite sure why the Messiah needs to be introduced and announced anyway ) but as solver of all insoluble dilemmas. To me these are more than just sugyos in the Gemara that culminate in תיקו but also philosophical conundrums like predestination versus free will, אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים and the questions of the skeptics from the empirical sciences that stymie us believers. Elijah will be the ultimate Frum blogger that will wipe the floor not only with the likes of XGH but with Stephen Hawking et al as well. I pray hard for this on the Days of Awe when I say ופתחון פה למיחלים לך and ועולתה תקפץ פיה . I want the nattering nabobs of Qefira and skepticism silenced once and for all. Case in point; the forces of Gay Pride. Homosexuality used to be "the Love that Dared not speak it's name" now it's "the Love that just can't shut it's Trap". There is so much in our current world that my Havdala sensibilities tell me is the insanity, madness and evil of false equations that steamroll Havdala and Qedusha into monotonous desanctified flatness. When Elijah comes it won't be limited to a gut feeling. Elijah will provide the knowledge and wisdom to win the debates and eliminate ambiguity and ambivalence.
3. I don't know the exact sequence of events (בעת שיעלה לרצון מאת הבורא יתברך שמו) but the Resurrection of the Dead is also a plank in the Torah Eschatological platform. I yearn for this not just because of my personal existential angst and terror of death but for many other reasons as well. Assuming (overly optimistically perhaps) that I will be among those to merit the resurrection, I want to know which of the many bodies my transmigrated soul formerly occupied will it be reunited with in a deathless marriage or if it will be some kind of Frankenstien -like crazy-quilt of all of them. I want to plumb the depths of a light suffusing anatomy that can completely resist the souls departure. I want a new consciousness to grasp that death is dead and that life= eternity and to conceive of existence without evil or impurity. I want to understand how serving G-d will be possible (and what it will mean to be human as something distinct from the Angelic) absent the free will made possible by the existence of the unholy trinity of the Yetzer HaRah-Satan-Angel of Death.
I want to be reunited with my dead parents, relatives friends and Rebbeim whom I loved and who loved me and whom I miss terribly. As a G2 I want to meet , for the first time, the Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts and cousins that Hitler robbed me of. As a dabbler in seforim and very amateur historian I want to meet and thank, for the first time, the great figures in Jewish History whose lives and works inspired me, fired my imagination and turned my preconceived notions on their heads.
2. To solve any and all challenges to Theodicy. I yearn for the day when I can understand why apparent innocents suffer, how transmigration of souls and the dispersal of Israel among the Nations was not throwing good money after bad and how the Holocaust was not only just... but kindness concealed under cover deeper than that provided by any witness protection program. I yearn for a new mind that can wrap itself around these truths. I yearn for the day when the prophecy of "When G-d returns the returnees of Zion we will have been as dreamers (of nightmares)" will be fulfilled.
1. To make sense / success out of my inscrutable / failed life. Somehow I have this deep seated feeling that the atmosphere in the Messianic era will clarify to me both why I failed and that, on some deep and currently unknown level, that I succeeded. Maybe it's that I learned that Prophets had the power to look at a person and tell them what their specific role in life was and that I associate the Messianic era with the return of prophecy. Maybe it's that in some vague Izhbitzian way I hope that just as the "mystery" of Divine "Evil" (unjust punishment, Theodicy) is not merely solved...(see number two) but exposed as a sham, smoke and mirrors wielded by the Yetzer Harah, so much stuff and nonsense, so too will the mystery of Human Evil, of not enough love that equates to too much cruelty, of squandered talent, of blown opportunities, of roads not taken (including and especially my own) be exposed as a mirage.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha". .
I am fond of Nigunei Nichoach but otherwise am not in any way, shape or form a Lubavitcher Khosid. Still, I want Moshiach NOW...more than ever. There's nothing like the Nine Days to reawaken ones צפיה לישועה = yearning for the salvation.
In honor of these Nine Days I present to all three of you my top Nine list for desiring the Messianic era and the fulfillment of various planks in the Torah Eschatological platform. I will בלי נדר attempt to be honest and forthright and keep them in an order that reflects my own desires as they stand today... if not necessarily what Khaz"l had in mind when they advised us to yearn for the salvation:
9. I long for the empowerment, justification and exaltation of the Nation of Israel that will be the result of the ingathering of the exiles to our natural habitat, our Garden of Eden take-two. I want all negative anti-Jewish stereotypes debunked and relegated to the dust-bin of history. I want Jewish fiscal and spiritual poverty to end. I long to see how ישראל על אדמתם will solve the crises of Shiduchim, Assimilation, Intermarriage,Pedophilia, Financial Chicanery, Ignorance, Right and left Extremism, One-Size-Fits-All Education, Kashrus et al. I yearn to see more Jews than Indians and Chinese combined. I want to see Israel as numerous and as luminous as the stars. I want to see Israel as numerous and as resistant to the waves as the sands of the seashore. I want to see Israel as numerous and as fertile and productive as the dust of the earth .
8. I want Torah Law re-instituted in a one world government. I want whichever Havdolos still pertain in this תורתו של משיח (if any) to be manifestly just, fair and kind. No head-scratching. No sense of inequity borne of inequality. Thus will our anguish and groaning be eliminated once and for all.
7. I long for a liege and a leader who is THE GREAT Philosopher King. A Prince of Peace. A Consoler and Restorer of my soul. A champion of the underdog. A radical revolutionary who turns this world of lies upside down. A Robin-Hood-like figure who brings comfort to the oppressed, insecurity to the secure and discomfort to the comfortable. A ruler who is just, benevolent and has a weltschmerz that bleeds and bleeds until the last of the suffering have been made pain free. A ruler whose heart is my own, and everyone elses as well. A unifier of Israel and of humanity. A pedagogue who teaches the Truth and it's beauty, who ends the era of שקר החן והבל היופי . A Leader who improves all his subjects and is a giver and not a taker. A King whose Reign somehow reflects the Divine King and unifies and integrates all and everyone in G-d's Oneness and Uniqueness. A king who rules over a Kingdom of Heaven. A Governor and Government in Israel that we can glory in instead of one that we must sometimes hide our heads in shame over.
6. I yearn for a world in which the Wise Men of Israel are held in the highest esteem. Not just by our own co-religionists but by consensus of all the nations of the world and their wisest men. כי היא חכמתכם ובינתכם . I yearn for a world in which all of Israel is held in the highest esteem for their wisdom morality and unique Havdala-Qedusha informed G-d relationship. אשר ישמעון, את כל-החוקים האלה, ואמרו רק עם-חכם ונבון, הגוי הגדול הזה. כי מי-גוי גדול, אשר-לו אלוקים קרובים אליו, כה' אלוקינו, בכל-קוראנו אליו. ומי גוי גדול, אשר-לו חוקים ומשפטים צדיקים, ככל התורה הזאת, אשר אנוכי נותן לפניכם היום.
5. I would love to see Jerusalem as the capital of the world not as the flashpoint of geopolitical instability. I'm not satisfied with the current rebuilt ruins of Jerusalem. I want it to have the synergy of all the very best of the aesthetic, spiritual, artistic, architectural, academic, scientific, medical, financial etc. elements of the current world capitals rolled into one... and then some! I want her to reclaim her rightful legacy of 90% of the worlds beauty.8. I want Torah Law re-instituted in a one world government. I want whichever Havdolos still pertain in this תורתו של משיח (if any) to be manifestly just, fair and kind. No head-scratching. No sense of inequity borne of inequality. Thus will our anguish and groaning be eliminated once and for all.
7. I long for a liege and a leader who is THE GREAT Philosopher King. A Prince of Peace. A Consoler and Restorer of my soul. A champion of the underdog. A radical revolutionary who turns this world of lies upside down. A Robin-Hood-like figure who brings comfort to the oppressed, insecurity to the secure and discomfort to the comfortable. A ruler who is just, benevolent and has a weltschmerz that bleeds and bleeds until the last of the suffering have been made pain free. A ruler whose heart is my own, and everyone elses as well. A unifier of Israel and of humanity. A pedagogue who teaches the Truth and it's beauty, who ends the era of שקר החן והבל היופי . A Leader who improves all his subjects and is a giver and not a taker. A King whose Reign somehow reflects the Divine King and unifies and integrates all and everyone in G-d's Oneness and Uniqueness. A king who rules over a Kingdom of Heaven. A Governor and Government in Israel that we can glory in instead of one that we must sometimes hide our heads in shame over.
6. I yearn for a world in which the Wise Men of Israel are held in the highest esteem. Not just by our own co-religionists but by consensus of all the nations of the world and their wisest men. כי היא חכמתכם ובינתכם . I yearn for a world in which all of Israel is held in the highest esteem for their wisdom morality and unique Havdala-Qedusha informed G-d relationship. אשר ישמעון, את כל-החוקים האלה, ואמרו רק עם-חכם ונבון, הגוי הגדול הזה. כי מי-גוי גדול, אשר-לו אלוקים קרובים אליו, כה' אלוקינו, בכל-קוראנו אליו. ומי גוי גדול, אשר-לו חוקים ומשפטים צדיקים, ככל התורה הזאת, אשר אנוכי נותן לפניכם היום.
Rebuilt Jerusalem should Bnei Beraq, Lakewood, New York, Rome, Venice, Lourdes, Mecca, Uman, Tokyo, Kathmandu, Tahiti, the Alps, Vale, London, Buenos Aires, Silicone Valley and the Riviera. It should be Wall Street, Fleet Street, Madison Avenue, Saville Row and Main Street. It should be Paris, Peoria and the Farm. It should be THE destination for all people to come to learn , work, play, get healthy, and grow. It should have the tallest buildings, the most brilliant scholars, the vastest Libraries the most exquisite music, art, dance and poetry, the greatest housing the cleanest and swiftest transportation, the tastiest food and drink, the smartest urban planning, the highest technology and the deepest mystery and mystique. The liveliest yet safest streets. In short, it should be the most fitting seat for G-d's Kingdom on earth. It should be a Jewish and world capital that we can all be proud of. It should fulfill בני ציון יגילו במלכם...ובעירם בירתם .
4. I long for Elijah the Prophet . Not just as precursor of the Messianic era (not quite sure why the Messiah needs to be introduced and announced anyway ) but as solver of all insoluble dilemmas. To me these are more than just sugyos in the Gemara that culminate in תיקו but also philosophical conundrums like predestination versus free will, אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים and the questions of the skeptics from the empirical sciences that stymie us believers. Elijah will be the ultimate Frum blogger that will wipe the floor not only with the likes of XGH but with Stephen Hawking et al as well. I pray hard for this on the Days of Awe when I say ופתחון פה למיחלים לך and ועולתה תקפץ פיה . I want the nattering nabobs of Qefira and skepticism silenced once and for all. Case in point; the forces of Gay Pride. Homosexuality used to be "the Love that Dared not speak it's name" now it's "the Love that just can't shut it's Trap". There is so much in our current world that my Havdala sensibilities tell me is the insanity, madness and evil of false equations that steamroll Havdala and Qedusha into monotonous desanctified flatness. When Elijah comes it won't be limited to a gut feeling. Elijah will provide the knowledge and wisdom to win the debates and eliminate ambiguity and ambivalence.
3. I don't know the exact sequence of events (בעת שיעלה לרצון מאת הבורא יתברך שמו) but the Resurrection of the Dead is also a plank in the Torah Eschatological platform. I yearn for this not just because of my personal existential angst and terror of death but for many other reasons as well. Assuming (overly optimistically perhaps) that I will be among those to merit the resurrection, I want to know which of the many bodies my transmigrated soul formerly occupied will it be reunited with in a deathless marriage or if it will be some kind of Frankenstien -like crazy-quilt of all of them. I want to plumb the depths of a light suffusing anatomy that can completely resist the souls departure. I want a new consciousness to grasp that death is dead and that life= eternity and to conceive of existence without evil or impurity. I want to understand how serving G-d will be possible (and what it will mean to be human as something distinct from the Angelic) absent the free will made possible by the existence of the unholy trinity of the Yetzer HaRah-Satan-Angel of Death.
I want to be reunited with my dead parents, relatives friends and Rebbeim whom I loved and who loved me and whom I miss terribly. As a G2 I want to meet , for the first time, the Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts and cousins that Hitler robbed me of. As a dabbler in seforim and very amateur historian I want to meet and thank, for the first time, the great figures in Jewish History whose lives and works inspired me, fired my imagination and turned my preconceived notions on their heads.
2. To solve any and all challenges to Theodicy. I yearn for the day when I can understand why apparent innocents suffer, how transmigration of souls and the dispersal of Israel among the Nations was not throwing good money after bad and how the Holocaust was not only just... but kindness concealed under cover deeper than that provided by any witness protection program. I yearn for a new mind that can wrap itself around these truths. I yearn for the day when the prophecy of "When G-d returns the returnees of Zion we will have been as dreamers (of nightmares)" will be fulfilled.
1. To make sense / success out of my inscrutable / failed life. Somehow I have this deep seated feeling that the atmosphere in the Messianic era will clarify to me both why I failed and that, on some deep and currently unknown level, that I succeeded. Maybe it's that I learned that Prophets had the power to look at a person and tell them what their specific role in life was and that I associate the Messianic era with the return of prophecy. Maybe it's that in some vague Izhbitzian way I hope that just as the "mystery" of Divine "Evil" (unjust punishment, Theodicy) is not merely solved...(see number two) but exposed as a sham, smoke and mirrors wielded by the Yetzer Harah, so much stuff and nonsense, so too will the mystery of Human Evil, of not enough love that equates to too much cruelty, of squandered talent, of blown opportunities, of roads not taken (including and especially my own) be exposed as a mirage.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha". .
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