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TORAH STUDY-ZACHOR-NOTHING IS HIDDEN

It is written, “I am God, I do not change (Malachi 3:6).” 

With regard to the wicked, however, God does change, but He conceals Himself with many covers. Such individuals are empty and desolate. With respect to such people, it is written, “I will hide My face from them (Deuteronomy 32:20).” [Tikkunei Zohar 26–71b]

 

When a person fears God and is aware of His presence, then God never changes. Any changes merely involve the many garments and concealment’s with which God covers Himself. I heard from my master, the Baal Shem Tov, that if a person realizes that God is hidden, He is really not hidden. It is thus written, “All the workers of iniquity shall crumble (Psalms 92:10),” for all barriers of evil crumble before such an individual.


It is therefore written, “ I will hide My face (Deuteronomy 31:18).” That is, God will be hidden so that they do not even know that He is there.


The important rule is that nothing can separate a person from God when he prays and studies Torah, even if he has many ulterior thoughts. When an individual is aware of this, he will realize that God is hidden even in these thoughts.


When a person knows that God is hidden, He is not really hidden. (Toledot Yaakov Yosef, Bereishit)


In the Haftarah of Zachor, Samuel says to Saul “, Moreover, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie and does not relent, for He is not a human that He should relent (I Samuel 15:29).” God, Who does not change, is one of the fundamental ideas of Purim and Zachor. God’s “Hiddeness,” is represented by the absence of His name from the entire Book of Esther, whose name contains Hester, or, “Hiddeness.”


 It is appropriate during these weeks when we prepare for pouring that we focus on this lesson of the Baal Shem Tov that, “When a person knows that God is hidden, He is not really hidden.” This is our opportunity to find God even when He is most “hidden.”


By:  Rabbi Weinberg, n''y

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