Sunday, July 29, 2012

Can an Agnostic Meet G-d?

Question of the Week:

 

I am just back from my big trip to Israel. I thought I'd never get there. I think it's the first Jewish thing I've done since my bar mitzvah (which wasn't so Jewish either).

But here's the weird part. I went to the Wall in Jerusalem, and you know me, I'm the last person to have a "spiritual experience". But as I approached the Wall I started to cry uncontrollably. I felt this strange magnetism towards the Wall, almost as if G-d was pulling me. What do you think? Not bad for an agnostic, huh?

 

Answer:

 

You have a powerful Jewish soul, and you caught a glimpse of its power at the Wall.

 

The Wall is the last remnant of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. While ransacking Jerusalem 2000 years ago, the Romans burnt the Temple, and knocked down its stone walls. But one wall refused to budge, the Western Wall. The sages predicted long ago that the Western Wall will never be destroyed. It represents a holiness that no foreign power can ever touch. They can destroy the Temple, but there is something that is beyond their reach, a divine presence that never leaves Jerusalem.

 

The Kabbalists teach that man is a microcosm. Whatever exists in the world, can be found within ourselves. If there is a Wall that is so holy that it can never be destroyed, then within us must also be a spark of holiness that can never be lost. This is our spark of Jewishness, the essence of the Jewish soul. Our soul may be surrounded by foreign invaders - skepticism, ignorance, scars from negative Jewish experiences - but it nevertheless remains intact. Nothing can extinguish the Jewish spark, it is always there waiting to be ignited.

 

Even an agnostic Jew who has been dislocated from his spiritual heritage for generations, is Jewish at the deepest level of his being. Nothing can take that away. Eventually, if he allows it, that innate Jewishness will surface.

 

Everyone has a different catalyst that ignites this spark. In your case, the microcosm met the macrocosm. Your Jewish spark, the indestructible presence of G-d within you, was awakened at the Wall, the indestructible presence of G-d in the world. I guess it's not surprising that many have had that experience.

 

Now it's up to you. You have been given a gift. You have come face to face with your soul. These experiences don't happen often. But once you have discovered the Holy Wall within yourself, you can start to rebuild your inner Temple around it, so that sense of holiness will never be lost again. That's the secret of faith. You don't get it from the outside, you discover it within yourself. It was always there.

 

Good Shabbos,

Rabbi Moss

 

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Tisha B'Av at Nefesh
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tisha BAv

The fast of Tisha B'av, mourning the destruction of the Temple, commences on Saturday night 28 July at 5:13pm and continues on Sunday 29 July until 5:40pm.

 

Motzoei Shabbos - Saturday Night July 28

Evening Service 6:30pm followed by Lamentations and

 

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO LECTURE by internationally acclaimed speaker

 

Rabbi YY Jacobson

 

Jacobson 

The Bar Kochva Revolt in History and Kabbalah

 

 

Sunday July 29

Morning service 8am including Kinnos service with explanations and stories of the destruction of the Temple.

 

Learning Program 

 

10am Talmud Class - The Destruction of Betar

11am Chassidus - The Rebbe's Maamar on Tisha B'av 

 

Mincha 4:40pm followed by Maariv

Fast ends 5:40pm

 

Breaking the Fast Kiddush sponsored by Eli Barukh

NETWORK AND NEFESH FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

Get Me High  

SERVICES AT NEFESH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

Friday Night

 

Candlelighting 4:54pm

Mincha 5:05pm

 

Shabbos Service 6:00pm followed by Kiddush in honour of Lana Goldschaft's birthday- Mazal tov!

 

Shabbos Day

 

Class - The Spiritual Parsha 9am

Morning Service 10am -12:20pm followed by Kiddush sponsored by Adam Pisk in honour of the yarzeit of his grandmother Frida Pisk

and by Jodie Ariel in honour of the yarzeit of her mother - Long Life

 

Early Mincha straight after Kiddush (approx 1:00pm)

 

No Seudah Shlishis at shul this week.

 

Fast begins 5:13pm

 

Shabbos ends 5:52pm

This email was sent to shmuly77d@gmail.com by rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au |  
nefesh | 54 roscoe st | bondi beach | NSW | 2026 | Australia

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