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ב"ה

Within reach

Friday, 27 September, 2024 - 8:57 am

By the Grace of G-d

Dear Friend,

How much does it cost to travel to the ‘heavens’?

Well, they are selling reservations to travel by rocket to space for about $450,000.

What is the expense to travel to the depth of the sea?

The ill-fated trip to the Titanic reportedly cost $250,000 per passenger.

These kinds of figures make the experience inaccessible for most.

How much does it cost to get access to G-d’s infinite wisdom?

Well since G-d’s wisdom is not to be found in outer space, nor is it at the other end of the ocean, it’s not at all difficult to get access.

To use the language of this week’s Parsha (using the Kehot interpolated translation)

You may think—recalling that the true setting for studying the Torah and performing God’s commandments is the Land of Israel —that it is impossible to truly learn and understand the Torah while in exile. This, however, is not the case, for this commandment, i.e., to study the entire Torah, about which I am commanding you today, is not only not unreachably remote from you—no matter where you are—it is not even so far away that you have to go elsewhere to learn it.

In other words: if the vagrancy of exile leads you exceedingly far from the Land of Israel—to countries located ‘at the end of heaven’26—you should not think that the Torah is accessible only in your homeland, which is located at the other end of heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to “heaven” for us and fetch it for us, to expound it to us so that we can fulfill it?’

And even if you settle somewhere closer to the Land of Israel, somewhere from which the Land of Israel is accessible by sea, you should not even think that the Torah is beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and fetch it for us, to expound it to us so that we can fulfill it?’ 

If learning the Torah did indeed entail such a voyage, you would have to undertake it. But it does not,  for this thing is very close to you: The Torah is not a cryptic or obscure document accessible only to an exclusive elite; God has placed its explanation, as it were, in your mouth and in your heart—in the form of the Oral Torah—so you can fulfill it correctly and confidently. 

Sometimes when something is within reach it is not that appreciated.

I am blessed and fortunate to be able to introduce people to Torah study, some of whom have never read the Torah before.

Some Jews have heard the Torah stories as children but never had the chance to interact with Torah as mature adults at an adult level. 

When they start to drink in the Torah wisdom thirstily, they cannot get over the wisdom, depth and spiritual energy that the Torah contains.

When I see the excitement and passion that these people have for the Torah it ignites me and makes me more excited as well. 

If the Torah was in the other end of the world, we would charter planes and trains and buses and camels and traverse the globe to discover it.

In an airport in Calcutta, India some thirty years ago I met an American looking man in saffron robes. He had Indian disciples literally kissing his feet. I struck up a conversation and asked the man if he was Jewish. ‘I used to be Jewish’ was his response. The plane to Bangkok was delayed and we had a few hours to converse.

Our conversation went to the highest and deepest levels of philosophy. I shared some of the Chassidic/kabbalistic teachings I had learned at the Yeshiva and he was amazed at the depth.

He told me in an apologetic tone: ‘when I was looking for deeper meaning after getting disillusioned with my New York upbringing, I went to the library and discovered Eastern religions. I never imagined that there was so much depth in Judaism. Everything I was looking for is in the Torah’.

As far as I know the story doesn’t have a climactic ending. 

I offered him to put on Tefillin. He politely declined. 

At the age of seventy and as a leading orator in that religion, he did not seem inclined to honestly dig deeper into Torah knowledge.

But honestly, I don’t know what it may have sparked in this fellow Jew.

It was pre email and social media days and while we exchanged a letter or two (I sent him a copy of the Tanya and he sent me a letter acknowledging receipt) I lost contact with him.

The story resonates with me very deeply.

How many fellow Jews are thirsting for meaning, depth and guidance, paying huge amounts of money for coaching, experiencing and meditating. How far East and West may they be traveling. 

When the G-dly truth that their soul is yearning for is really right there ‘in their own backyard’.

The Torah is the blueprint of creation.

It is the life giving elixir of the soul.

Try it.

I know coca cola has a slogan ‘coke adds life’.

It is good marketing perhaps but it is not at all true.

Torah adds life! 

This is the absolute truth. 

Says who?

G-d the Creator of all life says so.

As we near Rosh Hashana we think about the past year and the next year.

Let us all commit to learn more Torahdo more Mitzvahs and help more people.

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova

May you and your loved ones be blessed with a good, sweet new year.

May our nation of Am Yisrael be blessed with secure peace and the ultimate blessing of Mashiach NOW, Amen.

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

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