Posted: 16 Jul 2020 09:38 AM PDT
24 Tammuz 5780
Posted again 1 Av 5780 because the first one didn't work!
Life’s Journeys
“These
are the journeys of the Jewish People that left Egypt ….” (Bamidbar 33)
The Baal Shem Tov taught that these 42 journeys that the People made
from the time they left Egypt until they arrived at the Promised Land
correspond to the 42 Spiritual Journeys that we make throughout our
lives. We begin from birth, just as the Exodus from Egypt is the Jewish
Peoples national birth. The final journey is to the spiritual Promised
Land and to the life that awaits us in the World to Come.
Although some of the intervening journeys during the trek through the desert were accompanied by setbacks, also all the stops on our spiritual journey through life has it’s ups and downs.
If we choose good over evil, we will live through these stages of life as G‑d intends. Just like the Jewish People in the desert, if we make some wrong choices, we will experience them as temporary setbacks.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that in every step of the journey of life, we strive to make the right choices. But we should also recognize that even spiritual setbacks can be transformed into positive growth experiences. As the Kabbalah teaches, Yeridah v’Tzorech Aliyah, Sometimes in life You have to go down spiritually in order to ascend higher and higher. On the long and winding road through life, sometimes we descend and sometimes we ascend, just like the Angels going down and up the ladder in Jacob’s dream.
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Nourishing God?
“G‑d
tells the Jewish People “You must guard My offering, My FOOD for My
fire offering.” (Bamidbar 28) G‑d calls the offering His daily “food”,
for just as food sustains the body, so did the offering draw sustaining
Divine life force into the world.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that the constancy of the daily offerings express the eternal bond between G‑d and the Jewish People. Today we have no offerings. Thus the daily prayers were instituted to parallel the daily sacrifices and substitute for them in the absence of the Beit HaMikdash.
Thus, explains the Rebbe, our daily prayers also “sustain” G‑d. If we ever doubt how important our prayers can be, we should recall that G‑d considers them vital to the world’s existence and maintenance.
Therefore, prayers are as important to G‑d as our daily food is to us. Prayer is the original soul food and is essential for our well being as well as G‑d’s!
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Note:
Rabbi Sprecher's students and friends are raising money for him because
he lost his paying job at the OU Center and because his health is worse
than we had thought. The link will be coming soon, and I will post it
under the "Pray for the Sick" section of the sidebar on the right and on
my R' Ephraim Sprecher Videos page. In the meantime, please continue to
pray for Rav Ephraim Avraham ben Rivka.