[Avodah] The Main Idea of Judaism

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Jul 06, 2012 at 11:40:24AM -0400, T613K at aol.com wrote:
: "Ta'amu ure'u"... means: Learn Torah, taste how sweet the Torah is, taste
: Shabbos, taste Yom Tov, EXPERIENCE Torah life ("ta'amu") and make an
: effort to UNDERSTAND IT INTELLECTUALLY ("ure'u") and you will then
: know in your bones as well as in your heart and in your mind, that
: Hashem is good!

That's my kavanah when I have kavanah during LeDavid on Shabbos or
YT morning.

I also think that's the essence of how to have emunah. As per my truism,
"The mind is a wonderful organ for justifying conclusions the heart
already reached". What really convinces people, makes them ready to
"see" the proof is the taste left by Torah umitzvos. (I'm agree with
the Kuzari's disdane for proofs, but providing a different alternative.)

I think it's also a lesson one can take from sweet charoses. (Which
is post-chazal, but universal minhag today AFAIK, across all qehillos'
many recipes.) Unlike the mortar we made for Pitom veRaamseis, avodas
Hashem only looks like slave labor from the outside. ("Mah ha'avodah
hazos lakhem?") Once you taste the "mortar" you realize its sweetness.
<http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2008/04/sweet-charoses.shtml>

As for the original Y-mi, I thought Rav's "a person is destined to give
an accounting on everything he saw but did not eat" was like the notion
that among the first questions beis din shel maalah asks a meis is "Did
you enjoy my world?" But I couldn't find that quote. The other questions
usually cited are on Shabbos 31a, not far below Hillel's "de'alakh sani".
That non-existent proximity (that I hadn't yet checked) is why I started
playing with it as an (absurd) candidate for a Mission Statement.

If it wasn't for RSRH's wanting to be able to answer "Did you enjoy
My Alps?" I would have thought I identified a phantom maamar.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When we are no longer able to change a situation
micha at aishdas.org        -- just think of an incurable disease such as
http://www.aishdas.org   inoperable cancer -- we are challenged to change
Fax: (270) 514-1507      ourselves.      - Victor Frankl (MSfM)