Gemara ispeak full#

The reason that distance exists is to build a more genuine relationship with Hashem.Ĭonsider the following selected quotes from the writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (Likutei Moharan, Tinyana 12) In other words, we don’t only find Hashem within the distance, but because of the distance. Those who do not bow out of the game are rewarded with a richness in their relationship with Hashem that could not have otherwise been achieved. The greater the obstacle, the greater the love. The obstacles they face along the way are loving expressions of Hashem’s desire for us to find Him. Those who recognize that we are playing a cosmic game of hide and seek will relentlessly continue to seek out Hashem. The lesson is that Hester Panim is but an illusion designed to examine how we will relate to Hashem’s hiddenness.

This son assumed that the King had abandoned him and did not realize that the walls were only an illusion meant to test his love for his father. However, another son, who was not as wise as the first, perceived the walls as genuine obstacles and gave up his quest to reach his father. He comprehended that each wall represented a deeper level of love that he had for his father.

He recognized that they were only illusions, and that his father must have created them to test his loyalty and love.

The only son who had the genuine desire to be with his father was clever enough to realize that the walls were not real barriers.

Gemara ispeak full#

There were walls of wind and fire, and moats full of water all meant to deceive the King’s sons. The walls, however, were not actual barriers but an optical illusion. He devised a plan to construct walls around his palace to see which of his sons would try to enter and be with him. A King had a deep desire to test the loyalty and love of his sons. By way of introduction, let us analyze a parable offered by the Degel Machane Ephraim, a grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. While there are many approaches to this issue, I would like to share with you the approach of the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples. Instead Hashem “surely hides” which represents a particularly intense form of Hester Panim (see Sefas Emes, Vayelech 5639 who explains that we are speaking of a Hester Panim that is so intense that we actually forget that Hashem exists at all). The commentators ask that if Klal Yisrael has come to the realization, “Is it not because Hashem is not with me that all these terrible things have befallen us?” why then are they responded to with “And on that day I will surely hide my face…”? The expected response to Klal Yisrael’s humility would have been a revelation of Hashem’s presence. Harried by evils and troubles, they will say, ‘Is it not because Hashem is not with me that all these terrible things have befallen us’? And on that day, I will surely hide my face because of their corruption in turning towards alien gods.” (Devarim 31:16-18) I will hide my face from them, and they will be their enemies’ prey. I will then show my anger against them and abandon them.

They will abandon me and violate the covenant I have made with them. “Hashem said to Moshe, “When you go to lay with your ancestors, this nation will rise and stray after the alien gods of the land into which they are coming. What, then, is the relationship between the joy of Purim and the agony of Hester Panim?įurthermore, a critical examination of the pesukim around Hester Panim in the Torah reveals an obvious question about the nature of Hashem’s hiding. It is strange to associate it with hester panim, the hiding of Hashem’s face, representing the greatest form of suffering. The Gemara in Chullin (139b) asks, Where do we find “Esther” in the Torah? “And I will hide (astir) my face from them on that day.” Purim is one of the most joyful days in the Jewish calendar.