On another note, I think it is important to recognize the tough times that keep occurring to Avraham. He looses his family, is kept in the dark about who will be his descendants, he has to convince Hashem not to destroy a city, and so much more. Through it all though, Avraham has stayed faithful to Hashem. Something that I think had to of been very hard for him and if not for him than it would have been hard for someone else. Hashem chose the right guy. Avraham has stayed 100% faithful to Hashem even though he had to deal with all of this. Finally after it all he has a child. His wife is old, he himself is old, but Hashem blesses them with a son. Not only a son, but the child that will be the descendant of Avraham. After this child though he has to kick out his other child and give his child a brit milah. Life is tough for Avraham. I think we should all learn from this that no matter what it all turns out good in the end. That Hashem puts hard times in our lives so we can learn from them and become stronger people. Without these hardships no one would know how to handle a bit of difficult-ness.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Lesson Now and Then
We have just finished learning about the story of the destruction of Sedom. The reason we discussed in class for why Hashem destroyed Sedom was because they were not nice to the elderly, basically they lacked Tzedek Umishpat. I think it's interesting that the only cities we have seen so far have gotten destroyed. I think it's interesting that each time we hear about a city, it has to be destroyed for doing something wrong. This is the beginning still of the world. You would think that because everything is still pretty new that there would be a city to set an example of how you should be! In the very least at least one good city to go along with the bad cities. How are the people supposed to know the right thing to do if they do not have a substantial example. Yes, Avraham is going around, fulfilling his job of spreading ethical monotheism, but it just doesn't seem like enough. It just bothers me that Avraham is the only source of what's supposed to be in the world. I think if Hashem had wanted the world to be perfect He would have made a more prominent example. This is just my opinion on the whole thing.
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Iwould like to give a different opinion on Orly's first point. If G-d had made a perfect world to begin with than G-d would not know who was the most faithful. People would not do Teshuva or recognize their sins and return to G-d. There wouldn't be anything gor G-d to be 'proud' of in His world. People must have freedom of choice/free will so they can learn how to be part of G-d's plan. Only people who willingly follow G-d are His true followers and deserve to be rewarded. The people that choose the wrong path (people of Egypt, Sedom) were punished, but they are all had the opportunity to choose the right path.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Orly. There was no ideal society to learn from. HaShem just expected people to know how to behave and to behave that way, but in reality, people are not like that. They need an example. And while Avraham was a great example, he was just one person. As much as he did and as great as he was, he couldn't be everywhere at once. Also, people are more likely to notice a whole city full of people behaving a certain way then they are to notice one man living on his own that way, other than to see him as a nut case. Obviously we know that the people of the time should have known some of the expected behaviors like not killing or stealing, but we have to remember that we have been raised in a time and society where regardless of what the Torah says, things like murdering and stealing are just considered wrong. We have learned from the mistakes of those ancient cities. They didn't have anyone to learn from. Sure HaShem told them what not to do and punished the cities that did those things, but they didn't know any other way. They probably saw the other cities getting punished, but they knew no other way to live so what else were they suppposed to do?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I know I just said that they saw the other cities getting punished, but it's possible they might not have. The civilizations weren't very close to each other geographically and people didnt travel a lot, in which case they might not have even known what they were doing was wrong until they got punished for it.
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