[Avodah] Fwd: [DTT] A new Fear of Gd?

Poppers, Michael MPoppers at kayescholer.com
Wed Apr 18 15:50:08 PDT 2012


In Avodah V30n22, R'Micha noted:
> This, in turn, reminds me of song lyrics that I had a theological question
about. They are taken from the Baal haTanya, translated from Yiddish to
Hebrew, and appear different in Breslov sources (which the songwriter
used) than in Lub originals. But it boils down to:
<<
    Ribon haOlamim:
    I don't want anything else, [Or: I am not afraid of Your gehenom,]
    I don't want Your gan eden
    I don't want Your olam haba [Or: I forgive my claim on Your mal'akhei elyon]
<<
    Do You know what I desire?
    Just You alone!
>>
> What is gan eden if not a "place" where tzadiqim sit, ve'atoroseihem
berosheihem, venehenim miziv haShechinah? What is the Baal haTanya's distinction between a taavah for Dayn gan eden, and a taaavah for Dir Alein? <
What R'Micha writes reminds me of the popular, but philosophically double-edged, "H' is here/H' is there/H' is truly everywhere" lyrics and of the dialectic between transcendence and immanence.  For me, gan Eiden would represent gilui Shchinah in a way we can't currently see baOlam hazeh, so I wouldn't dismiss it; and yir'as H' represents the level of awareness I constantly aspire to ("yir'ah" more in the sense of "r'iyah"). 

All the best from 
-- Michael Poppers via BB pager


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