[Avodah] Kale Olam

[Prof. Levine]

The following is a selection from RSRH's commentary on Bereishis 21

33 [Avraham] planted a tree in Be’er Sheva, and 
there he proclaimed in the name of God, the God of the future.

The Name of God joined to “Olam” — a Name that, as noted above,
occurs only twice in Tenach— has been planted on our lips by our Sages
more than any other Name; we recite it regularly. They instituted this
practice after the term “Olam” had also taken on the meaning of “world”
— i.e., the most concrete and actual reality. Through the two meanings
of this term, our Sages have given us an invaluable insight:

People commonly cope with distress by turning their thoughts to
the future. By looking to the future, they seek solace for a disconsolate
present. Our Sages did the opposite. Just when we had become a laughingstock
to all the peoples of the world, our Sages taught us to look
upon every moment of the present as part of the future. They
taught us to look upon thunder and lightning, upon blossoms, food,
and tidings, upon everything that happens to us and all that we experience
in the present, as part of eternity, and to recognize God as Melech HaOlam,
Who directs the hidden future as it gradually unfolds in the course
of time (see Berachos 54a). For every moment truly lived is of the essence
of that eternity which we all will ultimately share and can attain even
in this life, if we are what we ought to be.

An even deeper truth may lie here. It appears that, in Tenach, the
term “Olam” refers not only to the hidden past and future, but generally
to all that is hidden from our eyes and invisible to us. For it would
be presumptuous to say that only the past and the future are hidden
from us. Even the most actual present is fundamentally and truly an
Olam. All actuality is rooted in the nelam which alone represents the
highest reality. Forms and shapes change; but the dynamic force, the
hidden that lies at the base of everything revealed, the abstract, the
nelam – that is what endures forever, the only real thing on which one
can rely. As it says in Koheles (3:11):  “God
has arranged all things beautifully in relation to one another, but He
has also put in man’s heart a touch of the hidden, of the transcendent,
without which man will never fathom even the least of the work that
God has made.”

The foregoing idea could be what caused the association of the
concept “world” with the term “Olam.” For the real world is truly an
Olam. Our Sages wished to train us to look beyond every natural phenomenon,
beyond its revealed aspect, to its underlying hidden aspect;
to look to God, Melech HaOlam, Who directs and controls all the hidden
forces. Everything, all that surrounds us in this “world of riddles,” is
part of His kingdom. He is also Elokeinu, to Whom we — our powers,
lives, and destinies — belong. We are to devote ourselves to Him with
all our energies, to do His Will and to increase His glory, for blessing
— Baruch.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20101022/294a1aa0/attachment.htm>