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Below are some selections from the commentary of RSRH on this week's
Parsha<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>18: 2
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>He looked up and saw that
three men were standing there, turned toward him. When he saw this, he
ran from the door of the tent<br>
to meet them, and bowed down to the ground;<br><br>
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Many confuse prophecy
— </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Jewish
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>prophecy — with delirium
and<br>
divination, ecstasy and clairvoyance. As a result, ecstasy is
thought<br>
to lead to prophecy, and prophecy is considered merely a higher<br>
stage of ecstasy.<br><br>
Even Jewish philosophers are not free of the notion that prophecy<br>
requires </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Hisbodidus</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>— spatial and spiritual
abstraction, physical and<br>
mental isolation. Yet a vast gulf separates all these from true
prophecy.<br>
What leads to God’s nearness is not abstract contemplation, but,
rather,<br>
a life of vitality, flowing from the Source of life. Jewish prophecy is
not<br>
the product of a morbid imagination, of an agitated abnormal
condition;<br>
rather, it is part of healthy life, a product of wakefulness and<br>
joyful creativity. As our Sages say: “Prophecy does not come when
there<br>
is sorrow or sloth, frivolity or levity, chatter or foolishness; it
comes<br>
as a result of joy in the performance of a mitzvah”
(</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Shabbos
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>30b).<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>18: 19
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>For I have turned My
particular attention to him, so that he may command his children and his
household after him to keep the<br>
way of
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>God</font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>, to practice dutiful
benevolence, and justice, so that
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>God
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>may bring upon Avraham
that which He said about him.<br><br>
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>If one is not a
devoted follower of God, he is under God’s
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>general<br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>providence. But if one
walks in the light of God’s Presence; if one considers<br>
himself merely an instrument of God on earth, then God in turn<br>
watches over him with special care, he is favored with God’s special<br>
providence. As we seek God, so does He seek us. If one walks with
God<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>B'keri </i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>(</font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Vayikra
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>26:23), incidentally; if
doing God’s Will is not one’s first<br>
and foremost aim, but, rather, one pursues other endeavors, leaving
to<br>
chance whether these endeavors coincide with God’s Will, then God,<br>
too, walks with him </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>éř÷á
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>and leaves him to the
vicissitudes of chance.<br>
But as for the righteous, who devote themselves to being instruments<br>
of God’s Will on earth, who regard doing His Will as the sole aim of<br>
their lives and actions, and cast their burden and all their needs on
God<br>
their Provider — He goes before them with His guiding hand and<br>
watches over them with His special providence. This special
providence<br>
is called </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yeida<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Walking with God in the way
of moral purity is the precondition and root of just and upright<br>
human
relationships</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>.<br><br>
Moreover, Sodom shows us that a pleasure-seeking world addicted<br>
to sensual enjoyment, a world that ultimately values a person only
to<br>
the extent that he is useful or provides pleasure — precisely such a<br>
world is likely to twist the idea of strict justice into a
double-edged<br>
sword of shameless sophism, which argues: “What I<br>
have is mine and what you have is yours” (see
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Avos
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>5:10). According<br>
to this world-view, egoism is a sacred principle of life, helplessness
is<br>
considered a crime, and offering assistance is considered a folly and
an<br>
offense against the public welfare. Under the rule of the principle
of<br>
Sodom, entitlements are dictated only by achievements, not by needs;<br>
the poor and the needy are despised. Only a wealthy man, like Lot,
who<br>
is bound to provide jobs and profit, is perhaps granted rights; but
“begging<br>
is forbidden,” and those who cannot support themselves are punished,<br>
imprisoned, and deported.<br><br>
But not by external means will the world by righted. This cannot<br>
be imposed by governments or enforced by legislation, nor can it be<br>
achieved through worldwide revolution which unleashes the Red beast<br>
against the palaces and manors of the wealthy. Only an inner
revolution<br>
of mind and soul can produce a generation of people educated to a<br>
sense of duty; only such a revolution can produce people committed<br>
to duty who will transmit the testament of the patriarch —
articulated<br>
by God — as a living teaching to children and grandchildren:
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>v'shomru<br>
derech HaShem la'asos tzedaka umishpot. <br><br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>The educational goal is
not religious
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>faith</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, but
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>observance of the<br>
commandments</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>.</font>
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