A JEW SITS IN SHUSHAN AND DECREES: MOSHIACH NOW!
February 28, 2012Translated by Boruch Merkur
How does one summon such arrogance and self-indulgence to say that when the Jewish people need to be saved from exile, all the Jewish people remain as they are for a moment while the redemption begins to unfold for this individual?!
The Purim story unfolds in Shushan HaBira, the capital city of Achashverosh’s vast empire. Issuing forth from the royal palace there, in Shushan, were royal edicts and decrees that governed the subjects throughout the entire empire, “seven and twenty and a hundred countries.”
On a deeper level, Shushan HaBira symbolizes the capital city of the King, King of Kings, Alm-ghty G-d Himself. Now, since it is said of a Jew that “G-d stands with him,” therefore, he stands with the Divine strength of “Shushan HaBira,” wherever he may be. Thus, it is a Jew who establishes the conduct of the world’s inhabitants; it is within his power and capacity to rule over and have an impact upon the entire world, “seven and twenty and a hundred countries.”
Of course, the skeptics ask: Where is the legal precedent for this claim in the Torah? At first glance, this is merely a p’shetl (a loosely derived teaching) from Seifer HaTanya [Ch. 41, where it quotes the verse, “G-d stands with him”! What authority gives us the right to make the claim that a lone Jew possesses the power to change the entire world?]
The response is that it is a clear ruling in Rambam’s (purely legalistic work) Yad HaChazaka! There, in the Laws of Repentance, Rambam writes: “Every person must see himself … as well as the entire world as being half worthy and half liable … If one performs a single Mitzva, he inclines himself and the entire world to the side of favor, bringing to himself and to the others salvation and deliverance.”
This law establishes that it is within the capacity of every single Jew to have an impact on the entire world, to the extent that he can incline the judgment over the entire world to the side of favor, bringing about salivation and deliverance to all. Indeed, this ruling supports the notion that wherever a Jew is to be found, he is at the level of “Shushan HaBira,” which governs the conduct throughout all “seven and twenty and a hundred countries.”
Now, since the balance of power regarding judgment over the entire world is in the hands of the Jewish people – by means of their service of G-d (expressed in their action, speech, and thought) – clearly, “salvation and deliverance” is first experienced by the individual Jew who brings about the favorable judgment. Since each individual must acknowledge and proclaim, “the world was created for me” (Sanhedrin 37a), it is understood that when the redemption begins to unfold in a manner of “And you, the Jewish people, will be gathered one by one,” the process starts with this Jew!
At first glance, the question is begged: How does one summon such arrogance and self-indulgence to say that when the Jewish people need to be saved from exile, all the Jewish people remain as they are for a moment while the redemption begins to unfold for this individual?!
A Jew responds by saying that the connection of the essence of his soul with the very essence of G-d (the true Redeemer) is itself an essential bond. This bond is overtly expressed by means of Torah and Mitzvos. However, even prior to the consideration of his commitment to Torah and Mitzvos, there is an essential connection of the soul to the essence of G-d. It is not merely a bond between two distinct things, but a unity that is “kulo chad – entirely one” (in a manner that is superior to the unity described as one being a “chariot to G-d,” discussed earlier). Since a Jew and the essence of G-d are “entirely one,” a perfect union, there is absolutely nothing that comes between them; there is just the Jew and the Divine essence!
In this light it is readily understood that the entire world was indeed created for the individual Jew, to the extent that “G-d stands with him.” Thus, the redemption first unfolds for him.
(From the address of Purim 5742, bilti muga)
Reader Comments (1)
THE REBBE IS
PHYSICALLY ALIVE IN THIS WORLD--INTRODUCTION
Any counter perspective is ignored on the quintessential basis, that at a particular level of physical and spiritual enlightenment, there is no alternative “argument”
A return of the Rebbe from the “soul worlds” is not engineered into the dynamics of the “physically alive” theme inherent in “the story line”. Resurrection is simply a core pillar of the system and can never be disputed or debated. Enlightenment and purification in this realm, allows the soul to express itself through the heart----rather than the physical limitations of the mind, brain and intellectual logic. The essence of the soul is engulfed by infinite intellect, which surpasses (obviously) the rational or physical intellect. At this level the soul knows, that the Rebbe is alive physically (did not die/never died). At this higher level, any “logical” attempts to neutralize the next platform of physical reality are rendered infantile, sterile and irrelevant.
RASHI----who deals with the revealed Torah (fundamental level)
“The fact that the‘embalmers embalmed’ was only because to them it seemed that he was dead, but in truth he was alive physically.”
Rashi "it only appeared as if Yakov was dead". "Yakov remained physically alive".Thus Rashi confirms, that "YH" is a fundamental facet of Jewish existence.
KUNTRES UMA”AYON
Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber of Lubavitch
Page 135: “The soul possesses two categories of faculties. There are the revealed powers of the soul—intellect and emotion---and there is the essence of the soul, transcending reason and intellect”