Kaisipang Hudyo sa Isaias 65:24: Akeidat Yitzchak, The Third Beit HaMikdash & Shemonah Kevatzim

G-d’s response to Moses, whose promise to Israel included a plea to G-d, now reveals the nature of the deliverance to take place. (6) The instructions to Moses had been -"you who had already been appointed as "elohim” Pharaoh, should have acted on your own initiative, by instructing Israel to proceed, instead of crying out to Me." You should have used your staff to bring about the means for such a crossing of the sea.

Shemot Rabbah 21 on Beshalach, states that human beings cannot judge their fellow men until they have listened to the arguments of either litigant. Not so the Almighty. Of Him it is said (Isaiah 65,24) "before they will call out, I shall respond; while they are still talking, I will already listen." This is also what G'd had said to Moses at the sea of reeds: "Why are you crying out to Me?" The purpose of prayer is not to inform G'd of our problems, but to prepare our hearts, to improve our ways before Him. Not sack and ashes cause our prayers to be heard, but repentance and good’ deeds. As the prophet Yoel proclaimed (Yoel 2,13) "tear out your hearts, not your clothes, and return to the Lord." Anyone who is not conscious of this requirement is as if he appeared before G'd offering counterfeit money. As David says in Psalms 145,18, "the Lord is close to all who call upon Him in truth." The substance of our daily prayers the amidah, the eighteen benedictions, is patterned after the Priestly blessings. There are three opening paragraphs, three closing paragraphs, and the "requests" in the middle. The priests, immediately after performing the service in the temple, recited the blessing. The temple service itself consisted of three elements, based on three kinds of service demanded from us and spelled out in the first paragraph of the keriyat shema. "Love the Lord your G'd with all your heart," i.e. service with our mental faculties, the heart being the seat of understanding. (Proverbs 14,33) "Wisdom resides in an understanding heart," or Exodus 31,6 " I have given an additional understanding in the heart of every wise person." The requirement to serve the Lord "with all your soul," refers to service with one's body. The Talmud Berachot 54, says that this may on occasion require our very life. The requirement to serve G'd "with all your might," refers to placing all our earthly possessions in the service of the Lord. When someone, be it an individual or a community, performs this service sincerely, he must convince himself first that the deity to whom he dedicates all his efforts is deserving of such service, and that no one else deserves such allegiance. Reflecting on this leads to proper concentration of one's heart. Again, without expenditure of funds for the upkeep of the temple and its furnishings, proper service is not feasible. Lastly, both the Levites and the Israelites, in addition to the Priests, perform physical tasks. In this manner, the community as a whole is represented in fulfilling the requirement stipulated in the first paragraph of the keriyat shema. Once all sectors of the nation have become involved in the "Service," those who have performed same should qualify for the triple blessing contained in the Priestly blessing described in Numbers 6, 24-27. The first blessing "may the Lord bless you and keep you,” refers to protection against errors of the mind and the heart. "May He bless you,” means "may He grant you additional insights.” The second blessing refers to material blessings; the third blessing discusses the result of total physical subservience to G'd, which results in the type of closeness to G'd that is the goal of all our strivings. This appears last, as it represents the attainment of our hishtalmut, our perfection. Whenever man offers prayer, he automatically engages in service with his possessions, since he takes time out from being gainfully occupied. He employs his body, by standing, bowing, prostrating himself etc. Lastly, he employs his mind by concentrating on the proper meaning of his devotion. For this reason our sages consider prayer as comparable to service in the holy Temple. He who prays properly, deserves to be rewarded with the promise contained in the last of the Priestly blessings, i.e. shalom, serenity, a feeling of closeness to the Creator.

It is a fundamental rule of our faith that reward or punishment follow as a result of actions performed by man who is free to determine his course of action. Another fundamental rule of our faith is the conviction that man's actions interact with the way nature operates. If one conceives of man as a microcosm and of nature as the macrocosm, the former exercises profound influence on the workings of the latter. Perversion in man, ultimately results in major malfunctions in the cosmic forces controlling the universe. One can conceive of the universe as an orchestra in which each instrument plays its assigned part. Should an instrument fail consistently, the disharmony created will disable the entire orchestra. Perhaps the comment by our sages about David's harp starting to play all by itself (Berachot 3) may be understood simply. When man does his share, the entire orchestra comes alive and worships its Maker. On the one hand, nature is supposed to provide the planet's sustenance; on the other hand, man distributing nature's bounty in a fair and equitable manner complements nature's work and completes the task of performing the will of the Creator. There are numerous verses in scripture supporting this thesis of the interaction of the laws of nature and human behaviour. "If you walk in My statutes etc" (Leviticus 26,1-13) is followed by a list of at capacity. On the other hand, if you do not, nature will react accordingly (verses 14-20 same chapter). The statutes referred to are the laws of nature. G-d used the Torah as the blueprint for creation, hence the interdependence of the observance of Torah laws and the normal functioning of nature. Our sages go so far as to list seven basic sins and the distortions in nature that these sins will eventually bring in their wake (Avot 5,10). These penalties are not viewed as retribution, but as the natural corollary of the manner in which the microcosm functions within the macrocosm. Fortunately, nature is an extremely complex system, therefore aberrations in human behaviour affect only part of the system, not the whole. Were this not so, total destruction of the earth as we know it would have occurred frequently. As it is, the manifestations of malfunctions in nature affect only limited areas and mirror specific human aberrations. Perhaps the statement that the universe was created by ten directives instead of a single one (Avot 5,1) also suggests that G-d had wanted to insulate parts of the universe from other parts, to insure that man's misconduct would not result in destruction of G-d’s entire handiwork at one stroke. The very name of the musical instrument known as aley assor, the ten stringed one, may hint at the ten spheres of creation, which when working together in harmony, represent the universe in its most perfect condition. The ten directives, as our sages explain, represent G-d’s patience with His creatures. That is why G-d waited ten generatioms before He brought on the deluge. Again, we find ten generations between Noach and Abraham. G-d excercised patience during all these generations until Abraham emerged on the scene and began the task of reversing human aberrations.