Dreaming of Moshiach

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Teshuva

ויאמר יהוה אל משה עשה לך שרף ושים אתו על נס והיה כל הנשוך וראה אתו וחי.
And HaShem said to Moshe, make an image of a snake and put it on a rod, and anyone who has been wounded by the snakes, looking on it will heal and live.

Why was it necessary to place a snake, does the snake have healing powers? When Am Israel looked towards the sky to our Father, they would heal.

The Gemara (Pesachim 56a) states that in the time of the first Bet Hamikdash, there was a Book of Cures in which one could find a cure for any illness. However, when King Chizkiyah,zs'l, saw that people no longer recognized illness as a message from HKB'H to improve their ways, he hid the Book of Cures so that people would have to pray.

During the time of the Prophets, there were no doctors, nurses, or hospitals. When the Jews would get ill, they would go to the Prophet and the prophet would tell them the spiritual reason for their physical illness. If they did Teshuva, the illness would disappear.

Too many people place their trust in medicine rather than in HaShem. Therefore, to remind us that He is the one who brings illness and Who cures the ill, Hashem causes the "natural" cure for some terrible illnesses to remain undiscovered.

It's so difficult to watch Jews evacuating Jews from their homes in Gush Katif, Amona, and Hevron, but we must realize that we cannot place the blame on the secular government. They are doing HaShem's Will and thru their actions, HaShem is sending us the message to do Teshuva.

בעוונותנו הרבים Because of our many sins, too many unnatural tragedies are occuring in our community and all around the world:
Children and adults drowning;
Young children forgotten and suffocating to death in cars;
Yeshiva boys dehydraded and died;
Yeshiva boys died in the Arava in an overturned jeep;
Dozens of Orthodox Jewish families have gone bankrupt;
Me'a Shearim's electricity has not been working properly for 2 weeks in the scorching heat;
Overturned vehicles on Route 17 (Catskills);
Bridge in Minnesota collapsing while in Israel, a car flew off the bridge;
Evictions of families in Hevron;
Extreme escalation of earthquakes around the globe.
SMolmert declared that Israel will work toward the establishment of a Palestinian State.

When terrible tragedies and chaos happens to us, we must realize that HaShem is sending us a clear message to do Teshuva. When we turn our tragedies into opportunities for deeper spiritual connection, careful introspection about our actions, and greater commitment to HKB'H, then we may find the divine spark of compassion and hope in our darkest times.

Chazal says that "at the end of days" if we do not repent on our own, Hashem will force us to repent so He can bring about the Final Redemption. He does this because He is a merciful G-d, who wants us to repent so we can attain the ultimate reward.

אבינו מלכנו החזירנו בתשובה - Our Father, Our King, return us in Teshuva - AMEN.

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והיה השם למלך על כל הארץ, ביום ההוא יהיה השם אחד - ושמו אחד ישתבח שמו לעד לנצח נצחים בכל העולמות Blessed is His name for eternity in all worlds אין עוד מלבדו