<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">To Rabbi Akiva, what was most important was the transcending of the world<br>and its limitations, and hence in a mitzvah the essential element was what was <br>common to each, that it embodies the will of God which has no limitations. <br>Therefore he says that the Israelites responded primarily to this common <br>element in receiving the Torah and they said "yes" to positive and negative<br>alike. <br><br>We can in fact go deeper in our understanding of Rabbi Akiva's statement.<br>When he says that the Israelites said "yes" to the negative commandments, this<br>was not simply that they sensed in them the element common to all expressions of<br>God's will; but more strongly, that they only saw what was positive even in<br>a negative thing-the holiness that an act of restraint brings about. <br><br>This sheds light on the supernatural statement in the Torah that the<br>Israelites "heard what was normally seen." For since the physical world's <div>existence was for them only an intellectual perception and the only sensed </div><div>reality was the existence of God, they could not sense the existence of things </div><div>which opposed holiness ("the other gods") but saw only the act of affirmation </div><div>involved in "Thou shall have no other gods." <br><br>We can see this orientation of Rabbi Akiva very clearly in the story related<br>in the Talmud, that Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Joshua and <br>Rabbi Akiva were on a journey and decided to return to Jerusalem (after the <br>destruction of the second Temple). When they reached Mt. Scopus they rent<br>their garments. When they reached the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from<br>the Holy of Holies and they began to weep-but Rabbi Akiva laughed. They asked<br>him: "Why are you laughing?" and he replied: "Why are you weeping?" They said, it<br>is written, "the common man who goes near (to the Holy of Holies) shall die,''<br>and now foxes enter it-should we not cry? <br><br>He said, "this is why I laugh. For it is written 'And I will take to Me faithful <br>witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.' Now what <br>connection has Uriah with Zechariah? Uriah lived during the times of the<br>First Temple, while Zechariah prophesied at the time of the second. But the Torah <br>links the prophecies of both men. Uriah wrote, 'therefore shall Zion,because of <br>you, be plowed like a field.' And Zechariah wrote 'Yet shall old men and<br>women sit in the broad places of Jerusalem.' So long as Uriah's prophecy had not<br>been fulfilled, I was afraid that Zechariah's would not be. Now that it has, it<br>is certain that Zechariah's will come true." <br><br>Even in the darkest moment of Jewish history-when foxes ran freely in the<br>Holy of Holies, Rabbi Akiva saw only the good: That this was proof that the<br>serene and hopeful vision of Zechariah would be vindicated.<br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Adapted from Chabad "Torah Stories"</span><br><br><br></div><div>My personal feelings have been very optimistic also for another reason. It<br>is our traditional belief that God knows everything that will ever occur.<br>Hence, if the end of man were to be total evil, then it seems unlikely that<br>God would have created a world doomed to failure.<br>ri<br><br><br><br></div></body></html>