By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend, Happy 6/6! Oops I mean 20/20. At the beginning of this new calendar year of 2020 I asked some of our Israeli congregants at the post-Shacharit breakfast table, ‘what does 2020 remind you of’? When I didn’t get any immediate response, I asked ‘how do you say in Israel that someone has good vision?’ This is when I learned that in Israel perfect vision is called ‘shesh shehl’ 6/6. While in the USA it’s called 20/20. 6/6 means you see at 6 meters what an average person can see at six meters, and 20/20 is the equivalent in feet. Please allow me to use the 20/20 term in this instance so I can make a point pertinent to the beginning of the year 2020 in the ‘Common Era’ civil calendar. There is a prophecy in the book of Yeshaya (Isaiah 40,5) referring to the time after Mashiach’s arrival ‘the glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh will see that it is Hashem’s words (that sustain the created universe)’. Granted, ‘seeing’ G-dliness would be ‘awesome’ kind of like a supersonic 20/20 vision. It would be having perfect and impeccable insight into the true reality and source of all existence. But how would that make the world Messianic and utopian? This week’s Parsha describes the incredibly emotional reunion of Yosef with his brothers when they stood before him in Egypt. In a dramatic revelation, Yosef tells his brothers ‘I am Yosef’. They are stunned. They had absolutely not expected the Egyptian viceroy who seemed manipulative and scheming to be their long-lost brother. Their last contact with Yosef was when they had sold him into slavery more than two decades earlier. This revelation by Yosef that he was their long-lost brother, answered all their questions and dispelled all their suspicions. They now understood how the Egyptian viceroy knew to seat them according to their age when they had dined together. They now also understood why he had staged the theft of his special goblet having planted it into the sacks of Benyomin. This new piece of information reframed the entire situation. A new light had been shed on a previously confounding predicament. Before this revelation, the sons of Yaakov were furious at this Egyptian manipulative tyrant. After they had learned of his true identity, they were now fully understanding that this had all been a charade for their own benefit. Yosef had created the right scenario to unmask himself. Before they had felt anger at the injustice of their treatment by the hands of Pharaoh’s’ right hand man. Now they felt a deep shame at their prior mistreatment of their brother Yosef when he was but a lad of seventeen years. It’s amazing what new information can do in terms of reframing. Can you imagine what the revelation of G-d’s presence will do to our perspectives? Putting on 3D glasses is an exhilarating experience. Getting G-dl’y glasses is infinitely more enlightening. To perceive G-d as He is means many things on many levels. The most basic implication is that the true purpose of our lives will become as obvious as the fact of our being. The dumbest animal does not leap into fire. The entire ‘flesh’, all of humanity, will receive that vision when Mashiach comes. Can anybody steal when they ‘see’ G-d’s presence everywhere? Is it possible for nations to do battle when Hashem’s glory is revealed? When man will openly perceive the purpose of his existence, he will be no more inclined to act against it than he is to destroy himself. This is why we toil so industriously and wait so anxiously for Mashiach’s coming. Everything will make sense. We won’t have questions. It will all be utopian. The good news is that we can try and get a glimpse of that vision now as well. By learning from our Torah, particularly the teachings of the inner wisdom of Torah as taught in Kabala and Chasidism. Click here to access a treasure trove of articles about G-d and us. It pays to get a head-start on delving into the unimaginable spiritual treats that await us. It’s like doing homework before you go on a journey…. Let’s say you are planning a trip to the Grand Canyon and you read all the descriptions about its beauty and magnificence. It cannot at all be compared to actually visiting and experiencing it. But it certainly primes you to notice all the nuances and details. If we study about the G-dly revelation that we are looking forward to, we will be able to say ‘aha’…. once they become a reality. ‘Aha’, that’s what the holy books were talking about’…. The Rebbe said that learning about the awaited for Messianic reality will actually hasten his coming. Let’s look forward to the that time coming speedily in our days!!! Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Yosef Kantor
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