In this week's portion God tells the Jewish People that they were chosen (ie God had Moses record this speech of Moses, so it is a message from God). Deuteronomy Chapter 14 דְּבָרִים
א בָּנִים אַתֶּם, לַה' אֱלֹ' ...1 .ב כִּי עַם קָדוֹשׁ אַתָּה, לַה' אֱלֹ'; וּבְךָ בָּחַר ה', לִהְיוֹת לוֹ לְעַם סְגֻלָּה, מִכֹּל הָעַמִּים, אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה.
Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ....., 2 For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be His own treasure from all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. .
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Shlomo Carlebach's answer relates to the mention (in the passage) of all the other nations. His teaching on this notion was that we are chosen to teach the rest of the world a special message, recorded in the Torah, at the very beginning, as part of the meaning of the teaching there that humanity was created in the divine image.
The message was meant for all humanity, but the message to all humanity was given to the Jewish People to spread to all (given in the Torah, or was given to them orally, or they heard it at some level at Sinai, and then recorded in the written Torah). In other words,
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And Tradition tells of the 70 nations, each with its own divine mission, so all are in some sense chosen, for different purposes or missions.
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Conclusion: May we all be blessed to not only carry this message to everyone, but to internalize it, so that it can influence our relationships with others, thereby achieving true holiness.
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When we relate to others as they are in essence, ie we relate to people as God's image, we are lowering our own 'ego', our sense of self as opposed to the other, and of ME wanting to do what I want, and in this way the ego which blocks our essence is lowered and the essence - our soul - can shine forth.
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And since our soul is of God, as also related in Genesis, this is a revelation of Godliness in the category of holiness.
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R'ey
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1. Should a prospective convert be deterred by the fact that they previously had a religious experience featuring a non-Jewish theme or 'god'? Is that a proof of the truth of the other religion? Answer: it is all from God!
2. What if a dreamer or prophet shows us miracles and then tells us that therefore we should worship other Gods? Answer: No! Even the miracle they performed to entice us to idolatry is actually from God! As for example we saw clearly from the recent parsha-story of Bil'am's prophetic abilities, and his adventures.
3. What is the source of sorcery, or magic tricks as by Pharaoh's sorcerers, and the root of all the various idolatrous Powers? Answer: it is all from God!
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This one answer to all three questions is contained in a message in the Torah encoded in a phrase in a recent portion (va'etchanan): :דברים ד לה: אתה הראת לדעת כי ה' הוא האל' אין עוד מלבדו.
דברים ד לט: וידעת היום והשבת אל לבבך כי ה' הוא האל' בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת אין עוד
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The key words are: 'en od milvado' = there is nothing but God (There is ONLY God!)
Here in this week's portion (R'eh) Moses (Moshe Rabenu) tells us that it is entirely possible that someone from a different religion, even idolators, can be 'future-dreamers' and even real miracle-workers or accurate prophets! However, the Torah continues, God is testing us (as Ramban amplifies in his commentary to that passage) and we are not to be convinced of the truth of their message despite the miracles and accurate prophecies.
The secret is "en od milvado": There are No independent powers etc, no 'Evil' - indeed in Isaiah 45: 5 God says "I created evil":
"I am the LORD, and there is none else, beside Me there is no God; I have girded thee, though thou hast not known Me; .6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me; I am the LORD; and there is none else; 7 I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the LORD, that doeth all these things."
ה. אֲנִי ה' וְאֵין עוֹד, זוּלָתִי אֵין אֱלֹ' ; אֲאַזֶּרְךָ, וְלֹא יְדַעְתָּנִי. ו . לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ מִמִּזְרַח-שֶׁמֶשׁ וּמִמַּעֲרָבָה, כִּי-אֶפֶס בִּלְעָדָי: אֲנִי ה' וְאֵין עוֹד . ז . יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חֹשֶׁךְ, עֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם וּבוֹרֵא רָע; אֲנִי ה', עֹשֶׂה כָל-אֵלֶּה.]
So when someone tries to promote idolatry by doing real miracles, the miracles happen not because of the power of the idol but because God wanted this to happen! As explained in this week's portion (R'eh) it is a test of those watching the prophet, dreamer, miracle-worker: the passages are:
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ב כִּי-יָקוּם בְּקִרְבְּךָ נָבִיא, אוֹ חֹלֵם חֲלוֹם; וְנָתַן אֵלֶיךָ אוֹת, אוֹ מוֹפֵת. 2
If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams--and he give thee a sign or a wonder,
ג וּבָא הָאוֹת וְהַמּוֹפֵת, אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּר אֵלֶיךָ לֵאמֹר: נֵלְכָה אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יְדַעְתָּם--וְנָעָבְדֵם. 3
and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee--saying: 'Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them';
ד לֹא תִשְׁמַע, אֶל-דִּבְרֵי הַנָּבִיא הַהוּא, אוֹ אֶל-חוֹלֵם הַחֲלוֹם, הַהוּא: כִּי מְנַסֶּה ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, אֶתְכֶם, לָדַעַת הֲיִשְׁכֶם אֹהֲבִים אֶת-ה' אֱלֹ', בְּכָל-לְבַבְכֶם וּבְכָל-נַפְשְׁכֶם. 4
thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether ye do love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
ה אַחֲרֵי ה' אֱלֹ' תֵּלֵכוּ, וְאֹתוֹ תִירָאוּ; וְאֶת-מִצְוֺתָיו תִּשְׁמֹרוּ וּבְקֹלוֹ תִשְׁמָעוּ, וְאֹתוֹ תַעֲבֹדוּ וּבוֹ תִדְבָּקוּן. 5
After the LORD your God shall ye walk, and Him shall ye fear, and His commandments shall ye keep, and unto His voice shall ye hearken, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave.
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but by 'test' is meant not as a means of tripping us up in order to punish us but the opposite, as an exercise meant hopefully to give those nearby an opportunity to struggle with the temptation and overcome it and thereby to raise their spiritual level.
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Magic & Dreams, Miracle-workers and prophets:
if someone was convinced they saw a miracle or witnessed the truth of a future-prediction, but it was performed by a prophet who preached a different religion than Judaism, or if they preached some change to Traditional Judaism, then that would seem to be a compelling reason to abandon Judaism (or its Traditional laws).
However Pharaoh's magicians made all sorts of miracles, and we know that Bil'am was a prophet. And here in our portion Moses (Moshe Rabenu) tells us that it is entirely possible that someone will make miracles or accurate prophetic-predictions, but that God is testing us: as Ramban says in his commentary to that pasuk, God gave that person the ability to make that prediction or miracle, but as the Torah makes clear, this is not an indication that the teaching of the 'prophet' is to be followed - instead, it is a divinely-ordained test of our belief in God.
This can supply an answer to those nowadays who were brought up in other religions and now feel drawn to Judaism, in case they are conflicted because they felt that in their past religious community they had witnessed miracles or prophetic predictions which came true, or perhaps felt inspiration coming from a source which Judaism teaches to be false.
Equivalently, it can rebut the claims of missionaries trying to convince a Jew that they ought to abandon the Traditional form of Judaism because of some recent miracles or prophetic inspiration.
God tells us in the Torah that Bil'am was indeed a great prophet of God. And that Bil'am was pleased to be part of a plot to destroy the Jewish People. So does that mean it is ok to destroy the Jews?! Or that God wanted it?! Or that God is the source of that desire to destroy the Jewish People etc? Of course not! So if one hears an actual prophet maligning the Jewish People it means not that one should harken to his words but rather that a divine-sourced power was misused.
The magicians of Pharaoh tried to subvert Moses' mission. Does that mean they were commissioned by God for this purpose? Of course not! From the story we can intuit that God is granting them the ability to fool themselves if they so wish, giving them the possibility of choosing good over evil, thus growing in spiritual level.
So the Torah tells us that there are various forces which can be harnessed even for evil, or in the service of idolatry, etc.
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This commandment not to listen to them and teaching that it is all from God, makes it unnecessary even to try to rebut the claims of missionaries trying to convince a Jew that they ought to abandon the Traditional form of Judaism because of some miracles or prophetic inspiration [And so even if the ones trying to convince you to change your religion successfully manage to tap into a level beyond ordinary nature, it is all from God.]. It is precisely for these cases that God included in the divine Dictation of the Torah these words of Moses (in this week's portion) teaching us that there can arise miracle workers and prophets and "dreamers of dreams" who will try to turn us aside from the truth, but we should not listen to them.
The souls of the Jewish people of all times were at Sinai and heard God speak to us, and no miracle-worker or prophet can change the message we received there.
And this is so even for converts, since once they convert is is a sign tha ttheir sould too were at Sinai.
Understanding the mystical reality-secret of "en od milvado" can also supply a resolution to those nowadays who were brought up in other religions and now feel drawn to Judaism however are conflicted because they felt that in their past religious community they had witnessed miracles or prophetic predictions which came true, or perhaps felt inspiration coming from a source which Judaism teaches to be false. Here Moses reveals that IT IS ALL FROM GOD. Sometimes the reason we have a religious experience is that we are more divinely-connected than we realize, and so we may attribute to other sources that which is actually from God. We may even think that some inspiration we felt is not from God but from 'nature' or 'life' - however God tells us via the Torah that 'there is only God'. We receive spiritual nourishment from God constantly even if we think we are not connected at all; and if we think that since we are not connected to God, that what we feel is from another source - God tells us here that there is ONLY God, "En od milvado", and if there is some supernatural event or spiritual manifestation, its source is God.
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Summary: Review: [sorry for the repetion above/here, I hope to edit when there is time]
Based on this you can tell anyone that whatever they saw, or heard, or felt, that seemed to point to another religion may indeed have been from a divine source, but they should realize that it was from God, not from the pagan or idolatrous or other-religion source claimed for it (by the miracle-worker or prophet) even though this was not realized at the time.
Obviously if one grew up in an environment where one was taught that the source was some deity X, they will deeply feel that they witnessed verification of X, or that what they felt was from X, but in fact it was God's action not X.
[This message is particularly relevant for prospective converts, who can learn to feel the true source for the divinely-originated inspiration they may have felt or witnessed in the past. It is precisely for this that God included in the divine Dictation of the Torah these words of Moses's teaching us that whatever people saw or heard or felt may indeed have been from a divine source, but it was from God, not from the source claimed for it by the miracle-worker or prophet, or that even the 'prophet' themselves truly believed it was from. "En od milvado", there is nothing but God, and if there is some supernatural event or spiritual manifestation, its source is God, whether or not this is realized at the time. Obviously if one grew up in an environment where one was taught that the source was some deity X, they will deeply feel that they witnessed verification of X, or that what they felt was from X, but in fact it was God's action not X. ]
Conclusion: We are created in the image of God and can feel God's inspiration, we do not need intermediaries, and whatever religion we grow up in, we can feel God, but it is interpreted by us within the cultural religious context we are familiar with which can be non-Jewish, but we should know that the true source of all is God not any other claimed source.
The bottom line is that there is one fundamental unity underlying reality at all levels (God, the creator), and we are very directly connected to it (as befits a being created in the image of the creator, from God's 'breath/spirit').
May we all be blessed to always see through the veil and identify the TRUE reality, whatever it masquerades as!
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Note: This week's portion (re'eh: Deut 11:26-16:17) mentions "and you shall rejoice (appropriately)" so many times it's quite amazing, so I wish all of us a shabbat of (appropriate) rejoicing!
And may we be blessed with open eyes, to feel the connection to God as God our creator yearns for it to be felt! May we all be blessed to feel the truth of "en od milvado!".
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Chosen?
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Yosef chalom: the sincere good wishes of the listeners can bring about a dream's favorable interpretation. (Berachot 55b)
The bottom line is that there is one fundamental unity underlying reality at all levels (God, the creator), and we are very directly connected to it (as befits a being created in the image of the creator, from God's 'breath'), sometimes much more connected than we realize, since we may attribute to other sources that which is actually from God.
May we be blessed with open eyes, and feel the connection to God as God our creator yearns for it to be felt!
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Perek 12: psukim 5-7, 11-12, 14, 18, 21, 26 : "Hamakom asher yivchar hashem" six times! The first few, which are commands, are accompanied by "lasum es shmo" and except for once, "Usmachtem".
Also: 14:24-26, and 15:20, 16.6,11, 15
I HAVE MATERIAL FOR THIS: 13:2-12 'ki yakum cholem chalom…ki yesischa achicha…lo tachmol,,,uskalto ba'avonim…vechol yisrael yishme'u velo yosifu! Remez to Yosef, bnei Yisroel thought he was a mesit umediach.
13:17-18: burn all taken from city of avodah zara (not like that which was taken from shchem etc, maybe ksones pasim with pictures of sun and moon etc)
list of tameh animals etc.
shmitta
eved ivri
15:11 ki lo yechdal evyon mikerev ha'aretz
pesach, shvu'os, succos.