tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008074.post116478291921599442..comments2023-10-28T05:25:19.884-04:00Comments on Cause Today is Also Purim: Contemplating the Nature of BrachaPurim Herohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15580933686736335799noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008074.post-1164893529895532952006-11-30T08:32:00.000-05:002006-11-30T08:32:00.000-05:00My, you are a deep thinker. Refuah shelaimah to yo...My, you are a deep thinker. Refuah shelaimah to your father very soon.<BR/><BR/>Here are some thoughts to wrap your mind around. Unfortunately, I forget where I heard this from but here goes.<BR/><BR/>Moshe Rabenu had an incredible bredth and depth of knowledge. Not only did he know all of the written Torah, but the oral Torah and kabballah as well. He needed to be an expert on all of the above, if he was going to transmit kol hatorah kulah to Klal Yisroel. He asked to see Hashem, and Hashem showed Moshe the knot in his tefillin, whatever that means (I won't go into it now, I'm sure you've heard some of the commentaries on it). At around this point, Hashem offered Moshe the ability to know why good things happen to bad people and why bad things happen to good people - not in the abstract philisophical sense, but in a very clear, specific way. Moshe rejected this offer, because he wanted to be able to judge people favorably and to pray for mercy even for those who do not deserve it.<BR/><BR/>This world is olam chesed yibaneh. God created this world as a 100% altruistic act. He gets no benefit from our existence. Everything we own and experience in this world is a gift, even if we cannot understand why it is good. Kol davar rachmana li'tava. All things which happen in life are for the best; they are part of the Divine plan and therefore are good.<BR/><BR/>I'll end with a mashal: A mother takes her infant for shots to prevent disease. The infant has a very limited knowledge of the world around him, but he knows that she loves him and takes care of him. One day, she takes him into a foreign building, where she hands him to a stranger in a white coat. That man takes a massive sharp object and stabs the infant with it. The infant does not know that it is a doctor innoculating him. All the infant is capable of understanding is why did my mother do this? He can either hate her for putting him in harm's way or he can say "mom knows what is best for me, even if I cannot understand."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com