Re’eh – Aniah Soarah – Torah is Forever

Re’eh – Aniah Soarah – Torah is Forever

Re’eh – Oniah Soarah – Torah is Forever.

The most insignificant Torah discussion are tidbits of information which is so valuable that it never ceases to be useful. This is totally different from modern “information” whose usefulness is at best good for a few years.

The other day I turned on the radio and heard a Torah discussion. Part of the discussion touched on the Talmudic question of why it is that G-d made people different? The questions are asked: why do people look different? why do they have different voices? and why do they all think differently?

The answers give us insight into G-d’s wisdom and into the Psychology which he created.

People look different so that a man who sees a nice home or a nice woman does not just claim that they are his. How could you prove him wrong if all men looked the same?

Men sound different because if they sounded the same their wives would not know who they were sleeping with.

People think different because if they thought the same then each one would be able to steal from each other. Each person would know exactly where his peer hid his money.

The Radio Lecturer then continued to quote Rabbi Kook of Blessed memory who discussed the Blessing which is said when you see a gathering of 600,000 Jews. He quoted the Talmud which said that we say the blessing because the individuals within this enormous crowd all think and look different. Many people have thought that it is not good that Jewish opinions are so diverse. However, our Rabbis of Blessed Memory believed that diversity was good and even blessed.

I then switched the Radio station to a science program which discussed the very same question. A listener had asked why do people sound so different from each other? The answer was that their vocal cords are all different shapes and sizes.

Although this is correct I came away with much more from the non-scientific Torah lecture which gave me insight into how wonderful it is that G-d made people sound different and that it is a Mitzvah to make a blessing when seeing six hundred thousand people because they all disagree with each other!

Our Haftarah says:

Yishayahu Ch. 55

Whoever is thirsty should go to water, and whoever has no money should go and take and eat with paying money and without the price of wine and milk. Why should you consider spending your money without getting any bread and struggle without being satisfied. You should certainly listen to me and eat well enjoy and spoil your soul. Tilt your ears and go to me, listen and your soul will live and I will make a covenant with you forever, the kindness of David the trustworthy.

 

The Torah is likened to Water which is generally free. However, in times of need it is sold for people to drink. Non-Torah studies are compared to paying for something worthless, what is correct today is proven mistaken tomorrow  Just because you are hungry you should not waste your money on oily junk food. Non-Torah studies, although you may need them to make a living, are often a total waste of energy.

The best example of this is the energy millions of people put into learning the previous version of MS Windows or use of some gadget. Today, all of the little tricks which we spent hundreds of hours learning are nothing more than memories. The same applies to every previous popular computer and operating system. The knowledge does not give us any moral, ethical or religious knowledge and has less real value than sand (whose silicon is used to make the computer’s chips)

When you open your minds to Torah wisdom you can see its tremendous inherent value.

mailto:steve@gindi.co.il