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Below are some selections from RSRH's essay Sivan V. I have posted a link
to 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>
<font size=3><b>What </font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>is
this Law?<br><br>
</b></font>It <font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>is the <i>light
</i>of our manhood. </font>It
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>illuminates our eyes and, from
the<br>
totality of truth, lets us glimpse what we need to know to function
on<br>
this earth. Not to comfort us for the darkness of this world with a
dim<br>
preview of the light of the next world does this light come. On the<br>
contrary, it is precisely the life of this world that is illuminated by
this<br>
light and is the object of its teachings and ordinances. And not just
a<br>
narrow corner of life, but life in its broadest conception and
greatest<br>
perfection.<br><br>
This light-the Law-conducts us step by step through all of the<br>
relationships of individual, family, and civic life, the life of the
spirit<br>
and the mind, of the body and the instincts, of word and deed.
</font>It<br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>guides the life of the
household, the community, the individual nation,<br>
all nations, humanity-whose past it illuminates and whose future it<br>
charts. And as for the present, </font>it
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>lets us see its significance
as the<br>
product of the past and the progenitor of the future.<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=1>T</font>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>he Law is a light which
becomes brighter the purer we keep it,<br>
the more fully we devote ourselves to its radiance. Its radiance
enables<br>
the Jewish man to walk through life with his eyes open, knowing what<br>
he is, what he should be, and what is the meaning for him of the<br>
individual and community life going on around him.<br>
The Law gives us a standard by which to distinguish the true from<br>
the false, the pure from the tainted, right from wrong, what is
beneficial<br>
from what is unsuitable- all according to the undeceivable<br>
judgment of Godly Truth. </font>It
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>gives us a standard by which
resolutely<br>
and firmly to travel His Road without audacity and without
recklessness,<br>
without contempt for man and without worship of man, without<br>
conceit and without self-abasement, but rather with the Godly lamp
in<br>
hand. Thus equipped, we can travel our road without fear, calmly and<br>
earnestly, prepared for all eventualities<br>
</font>______________________________________<br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>What a bright radiance of
"wisdom" the light of the Law became<br>
in the virile breast of our people! All around them everything began
to<br>
develop. Whole cultures sprang up and faded away. Everything<br>
flourished that the ancient world, winding laurels about itself,
recorded<br>
upon the pages of history as the greatness of splendor of its own<br>
culture and power, to be admired by all posterity unto eternity.<br>
Persian, Greek, and Roman world empires celebrated their victories <br>
of intellect and power. The world prostrated itself at the feet of<br>
these all-conquering civilizations and basked with envious,
blandishing<br>
homage in the radiance of their splendor and culture.<br><br>
All the while, in little Judea, a core of men within the nation
lived<br>
their own lives, wound the laurels of homage in honor of completely<br>
different values. These men found the paths of their Calling within
the<br>
orbit of a completely different sun. And they built foundations of a<br>
completely different structure in anticipation of a world-conquering<br>
future. The Law was their value system, the Law was their sun. </font>It
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>was<br>
the Law for which they built the future of their nation and the future
of<br>
mankind.<br><br>
In vain did Persia unfold the impressive solemnity of its pomp. In<br>
vain did Greece develop the brilliance of its science and the
gracefulness<br>
of its art which pleased the spirit and heart. In vain did Rome<br>
display the world-conquering genius of its statecraft. The light of
the<br>
Law that shone upon Jewish men allowed them to recognize a lie<br>
under any wrapping-no matter how gleaming. </font>It
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>armed them against<br>
all temptations of Greek and Roman philosophy which appealed to<br>
the senses; and against all enticement offered by Greek and Roman<br>
practical wisdom which favored self-interest.<br>
And when for the second time the temple, priesthood, state, and<br>
kingdom of Judea sealed their own downfall through the apostasy<br>
from God's Law-to fall prey to the Roman sword-the core of the<br>
Jewish people emerged from the debris and ruins of an unprecedented<br>
destruction. They carried with them the lamp of the Godly Law,<br>
triumphantly confident, toward an unparalleled period of wandering<br>
through the nations of the world.<br><br>
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