Skip to main content

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

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hoda'ah

  “Were the existence of gratitude and recognition of the good lacking from existence, the human spirit would be left without sparkle or shine.” Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook For the Perplexed of the Generation 4:9     I recently was honored to receive the following email:   Dear Rabbi Weinberg;   I am grateful that both my parents survived Covid in the ICU.   I am grateful that my husband is home, although with oxygen, but no longer on a ventilator.   I am grateful for the Jewish community, of which I am not connected, for food, drivers, shopping, and all sorts of help too much to list.   Someone printed a page from Partners In Prayer and scribbled your email on the bottom. Can you teach me how to pray? Is there a way I can use prayer to express my gratitude? Can I pray without becoming religious?   My husband and I and our children are willing to celebrate Hanukah this year. Is that okay?   My ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Creation

 All was destroyed during the month of Av. Creation began on Elul, and, so it will again. We recite this prayer for the New Month focusing on Creation. “God created the world in order to do good to an other (Derech Hashem 1:2:1).” Creation was an expression of absolute love, the “other” had done nothing to earn it. This is why Elul, the month of Creation is also the month of intense love between God and Israel. I recite this prayer imaging myself participating in the final Heavenly planning meetings before Creation. I am not praying as one who has already existed and experienced success and failure, but as one who has the opportunity to see the world before Creation, and request in this moment of intense love all that I could possibly need and want. I use this prayer to prepare for all my Elul prayers until the 25th of the month when Creation began. For what shall I ask? What will I need to succeed? How will I define success? What do I hope to achieve? Rabbi Simcha Weinberg
Post a Comment
Read more

Birchat Hamazon

By: Machberes Avodas Hashem The Chafetz Chaim taught: "At the conclusion of the main portion of Grace after Meals we add a series of,' May the All Merciful.' We add numerous such petitions, indicating that a request to God after the performance of a mitzvah is especially acceptable before Him (Michtevei haRav Chafetz Chaim, page 45)." One of the primary issues of the Exile is, "You wrapped Yourself in a cloud that no prayer can pierce (Lamentations 3:44)." It is more difficult to pray during the Three Weeks than other times during the year because we experience this "cloud." With COVID unfortunately around, this year proves to be even more difficult because our time in shul has changed drastically, and we have never experienced the pain of the three weeks while in a situation similar to the present state of the world. We can use this strategy of the Chafetz Chaim, that of praying immediately after the performance of a mitzvah, so that we may feel t...
Post a Comment
Read more