Pensamento Judaico sobre Isaías 57:1

Since we have established that events in this world can be due to natural law or G-d’s direct intervention, and that the latter is reserved for the Jewish people, it is proper to show how construction of the tabernacle fits into the second category. When events are the result of natural law, the fate of the righteous and the fate of the sinner are alike, since natural law does not distinguish between good and evil, rich and poor etc. This is not so when events are due to Divine intervention. Then the guilty gets his just deserts and the innocent, i.e. the righteous reaps the reward due him. It is crucial therefore, to have chosen the right way of life. He who chooses the lifestyle of a sinner, is in effect choosing death. This fact is spelled out in the Torah on several occasions, such as Deut.30, 16, et al. We have discussed G-d’s Personal Providence in chapters 15 and 31. Since we have explained in chapter 48, that the tabernacle was a microcosm of the universe, we will explain how Israel is taught a lesson by G-d exercising His Personal Providence in connection with the tabernacle and its parts, about His macrocosm. When one speaks about how the world is being run, this "running" can be subdivided into three aspects. 1) Availability of food and shelter. Both are available in equal measure for the righteous as well as for the sinner, as stated in Deut. 4, 19, "sun, moon and stars have been allocated to all nations." 2) The availability of free choice within the framework of natural law. (compare chapter 3) This is necessary in order not to make good conduct something that is merely functional. If bad conduct were to be followed automatically and immediately by punishment, good behaviour could not qualify for reward since it would be due merely to fear and other functional considerations. 3) Sometimes, matters that had been preordained in accordance with natural law, are synchronised to occur at a time when they demonstrate G-d’s pleasure or displeasure with the conduct of man. If Nebuchdnezzar's star rose at the time of Yehoyakim so that he became the world's ruler, Israel, by reason of its wicked conduct was not excluded (saved) by special Divine intervention. Normally, when prophets make predictions they have in mind those preordained events. They announce their knowledge of these events and the time they would occur. Should the people repent, the preordained event will be cancelled, i.e. Divine intervention in Israel's fate will become manifest. False prophets base their predictions on their knowledge of natural law, not being privy to these preordained happenings that are timed to coincide with certain actions, resp. inactions of the Jewish people. Thus they deny Divine Personal intervention. Chapter twenty seven in Jeremiah is a case in point. Personal Providence does not apply to Nebuchadnezzar, but it would apply to Israel if they would follow the urgings of the prophet. Proof that the chapter discusses events due to natural law, is the prophecy concerning Nebuchadnezzar's son and grandson who had as yet not proven themselves, and whose dominion, if preordained, had nothing to do with Divine intervention. In such circumstances, intervention by hashgachah peratit, Personal Divine Providence, cannot be expected. Also, by means of natural law, the seventy years of Babylonian exile were to have the psychological effect of bringing about repentance by those who had to live in Babylonia as strangers. King Cyrus responded to their seventy year exile when he granted permission to re-establish the Jewish state, (province within the Persian empire) When king Solomon states in Kohelet 8,5, "he who obeys the commandments will know no evil, and a wise mind will know time and justice, for everything has its time and justice for man's evil overwhelms him..l have taken this to heart," this passage does not mean that all fates are determined exclusively by natural law. It merely means that there is such a thing as natural law, but that G-d works according to His timetable. Those who believe that there is only natural law err. Therefore, all attempts to calculate the coming of the Messiah in advance are doomed to failure. When G-d has said in Isaiah 63,4, "the day of vengeance is in My heart," He means that He will not reveal the timing, but it remains in His heart. Sanhedrin 97, curses those who calculate the timing of the Messiah's arrival beforehand. Such calculations actually delay his arrival. If someone had calculated that the Messiah would not arrive until the year seven thousand, using astronomic and astrological data, we would resign ourselves to a lengthy exile and slacken our efforts to hasten his arrival through the performance of good deeds. We must believe that a) "My redemption is close at hand," (Isaiah 56, 1) and that when least thought about, it may arrive. (Sanhedrin 94) Experience has taught us that G-d may hasten the end, (Haggadah of Passover) when He shortened our exile in Egypt." I the Lord, at its time, I will hasten it" (Isaiah 60,22). G-d reserves the right to accelerate His timetable, if warranted. At this point we learn that "natural law" can be supplanted by hashgachah perartit. When Jeremiah expresses the hope that the prediction of the false prophet Chananyah ben Azzur who had predicted the return of the captured holy vessels within two years, would come true, (Jeremiah 28, 6) he did so because the principle of hashgachah peratit can override the dictates of natural law. G-d’s prerogative to employ this method has certainly not been abrogated. When Jeremiah expressed doubt however, that this would happen, and predicted the false prophet's imminent death, he merely indicated that the conditions to bring about G-d’s personal intervention on behalf of the Jewish people did not exist at that time. The people simply did not merit it. The acid test of whether a prophet speaks the truth is when he predicts something "good" and it does not come true exactly as promised. Prediction of disaster merely serves to arouse feelings of fear and, hopefully, remorse. The reverse is achieved when the false prophet predicts something "good," lulling his listeners into a false sense of security, an impediment to arousing feelings of remorse and repentance. This is what was the case in Jeremiah chapters 27 and 28. In Jeremiah 27, 18, Jeremiah exhorts those prophets that if they were indeed prophets of the Lord, they would pray to G-d not to lose the remaining holy vessels of the temple, and for their king not to be taken into captivity. At least, if they did that, they would attempt to ward off a decree already in the process of being executed. The reason the "good" prophecy has to come true is that hashgachah peratit supersedes natural law, and a good prophecy is always based on hashgachah peratit being employed. The reverse is not true, since prophesies of doom are based on G-d’s intervention having been forfeited. Hence there is a chance of doom. When no doom occurs, it proves that Divine intervention did take place on our behalf and superseded the natural law which would have proved fatal to us had it been allowed to run its course. (more on this in chapter 96) When two prophets prophesy simultaneously about the same people however, the true prophet threatening doom in order to arouse feelings of repentance, and the false prophet assuring the same people that regardless of their conduct the good will come true since their merit suffices, then only by the "good" coming true can we have proof positive of who was the true prophet and who was not.

The call to love G'd is addressed to levavcha, the seat of your mind and goodness, that which appreciates all the good G'd does for us; nafshecha, the seat of your passions and urges, which appreciates whenever it is indulged; finally, me-odcha, the aspect of you that desires what is functionally good, useful and expedient. In these three ways, man can express appreciation of what has been done for him. Since he is being appreciative, his love is really of a reciprocal nature. When our sages (Berachot 61) say that the call to love G'd "with all your soul, includes preparedness for martyrdom, this appears to mean that even when it seems that G'd has decreed one's death, one should not reason that since G'd is the source of all goodness that such threat of death emanates from some other source, is the work of Satan. At such times, re-affirmation of the Oneness of G'd is required. This is the reason the sages praise Rabbi Akiva who died proclaiming the shema yisrael. (4) After the affirmation, the verse "these words shall be ..on your heart at all times," stress the need to jog one's memory at all times by remaining aware of these facts. The first action that will help memory to remain alert, is the recording of the relevant passages on a scroll and affixing it in a visible place on all one's doorposts. The word veshinantam, meaning to study, teach repeatedly, is also related to the root of the word "to sharpen." Constant repetition sharpens one's awareness. In addition it may refer to a method of study, to whet one's mind by presenting Jewish history in a challenging manner. "To your children," places special emphasis on those mitzvot that concern themselves with the growth of children into adulthood. (laws of circumcision, first born privileges, marriage laws etc.) "You shall talk about them," concerns all those mitzvot which involve dibbur, word of mouth, prayer, reading the Torah etc. "When you sit in your house, refers to those commandments that involve relationships with fellow human beings, your family who dwell with you, as well as your neighbours. "When you walk on your way," refers to mitzvot which normally present themselves for fulfilment when you are away from home, i.e. return of lost property, sending off the mother bird prior to pocketing the fledglings etc. "When you lie down," refers to laws governing permitted sexual relations with your wife, restrictions due to her menstrual cycle, the observance of the laws of impurity, etc. "When you rise up," refers to the hours of your business day when you are "up and about," active. All the laws pertaining to fair dealings with your fellow men must be remembered during that part of the day. "You shall bind them as a sign," are warnings to observe regulations about forbidden foods, reminders to limit our social contacts with gentiles. "They shall be as frontlets between your eyes." These are warnings not to be misled by what our eyes behold, to be led astray. Eyes may be employed constructively, i.e. when seeing a naked person we are to see to it that he is adequately clothed so as to protect him against heat or cold. Our eyes should not be employed to ogle nudity etc. "You will write them on the doorposts." This refers to all the commandments involving writing; i.e. marriage documents, divorce decrees, Torah scrolls, phylacteries etc. "And on your gates." This is a reference to mitzvot involving judges, since justice used to be practiced in public, at the entrance of the city where the elders would gather.