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The following is from RSRH's essay Adar IV that appears in Volume II of
the Collected Writings of RSRH. I have posted the entire essay at
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/collected_writings.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/collected_writings.html</a>
YL<br><br>
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<font size=3>Knowledge of the Law alone is not enough to gain Paradise in
the world to come; if that Paradise is to be won and the earth is also to
be transformed into a Paradise, this Law must be not only known but also
observed. And there remains a very wide gap between the
knowl</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>edge of the Law in
theory and its observance in practice. True, the </font>precept is a lamp
and the Teaching is the light that shows us the way to
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Olom Habah</i>,
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>the way to Paradise on earth
and Paradise beyond, the way to </font>the Tree of Eternal Life. But upon
this same path there is also the deceiving Tree of Knowledge; there is
the serpent which tempts you: <s> </s>"Why do you need instructions
from Above to teach you what is good <s> </s>what is evil? Open your eyes
and see what is good to eat and a delight for the eyes and the mind! All
that is pleasant is good, and whatever is repugnant to your mind and to
your senses is evil. Sen<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>suality is
Divine, and your discriminating intelligence was given you from
Above!" And so, even though man may hold the lamp of God in
</font>hands and the light of God may shine before his eyes, he might
walk upon the path of sin and sell his Paradise on earth and in heaven
the fleeting pleasures of the moment-unless God's fatherly chastisement,
in the form of pain and suffering, will be there to warn him against the
temptings of the serpent. Ultimately, in his struggle against his
afflictions, his better self will rise again and will guide him back to
the path that leads to the Tree of Life. Indeed, that is why God has
placed the warning and ever-changing flaming sword of affliction
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>alongside the cherubim of His
Torah and mitzvoth in order to guard for man the path to the Tree of Life
Thus, even as the lamp of God's precept and the light of His Teaching
show man the path which he should choose, the sufferings ordained for him
by Divine Providence to test and to train him will guide him, cleansed
and uplifted, so that he will indeed walk upon that path. <br><br>
</font>This is the noble meaning of suffering in the life of every man.
Each one of us is like a world history in miniature reflecting the
cleansing and chastening <br>
guidance of Divine Providence. For each and every one of us, every
<i>v'<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>y'he, </i>every gift that has
come to him as a truly permanent gift was always the product of <br>
a past filled with trials and </font>sorrows. Rarely have we been
permitted to remain in possession of gifts that fell to us without pain
and sacrifice, without trouble <br>
and toil, destined to prepare us to become worthy of that gift. But that
which man has acquired through pain and sacrifice, for which he has
risked his very life, <br>
can be compared to plants imbedded in soil that was thoroughly turned
over before receiving the seed, and
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>it
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>will be inextricably bound up
with every drop of <br>
his blood, every impulse of his nerves.
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>It
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>will be rooted deeply within
man and become his most personal
possession.</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=1> </font></div>
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