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The following is a selection from RSRH's commentary on Bereishis
21<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>33
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>[Avraham] planted a tree
in Beer Sheva, and there he proclaimed in the name of
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>God</font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>, the God of the future.<br><br>
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>The Name of God
joined to <i>Olam</i> a Name that, as noted above,<br>
occurs only twice in
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Tenach</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3> has been planted on our lips by
our Sages<br>
more than any other Name; we recite it regularly. They instituted
this<br>
practice after the term <i>Olam</i> had also taken on the meaning of
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>world</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><br>
i.e., the most concrete and actual reality. Through the two
meanings<br>
of this term, our Sages have given us an invaluable insight:<br><br>
People commonly cope with distress by turning their thoughts to<br>
the future. By looking to the future, they seek solace for a
disconsolate<br>
present. Our Sages did the opposite. Just when we had become a
laughingstock<br>
to all the peoples of the world, our Sages taught us to look<br>
upon every moment of the present as part of the future. They<br>
taught us to look upon thunder and lightning, upon blossoms, food,<br>
and tidings, upon everything that happens to us and all that we
experience<br>
in the present, as part of eternity, and to recognize God as
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Melech
HaOlam</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, <br>
Who directs the hidden future as it gradually unfolds in the course<br>
of time (see </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Berachos
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>54a). For every moment
truly lived is of the essence<br>
of that eternity which we all will ultimately share and can attain
even<br>
in this life, if we are what we ought to be.<br><br>
An even deeper truth may lie here. It appears that, in
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Tenach</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, the<br>
term
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Olam</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3> refers not only to the hidden past
and future, but generally<br>
to all that is hidden from our eyes and invisible to us. For it
would<br>
be presumptuous to say that only the past and the future are hidden<br>
from us. Even the most actual present is fundamentally and truly an<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Olam</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. All actuality is rooted in the
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>nelam</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3> which alone represents the<br>
highest reality. Forms and shapes change; but the dynamic force, the<br>
hidden that lies at the base of everything revealed, the abstract,
the<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>nelam</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>that
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>is what endures forever,
the only real thing on which one<br>
can rely. As it says in
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Koheles
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>(3:11): God<br>
has arranged all things beautifully in relation to one another, but
He<br>
has also put in mans heart a touch of the hidden, of the
transcendent,<br>
without which man will never fathom even the least of the work that<br>
God has made.<br><br>
The foregoing idea could be what caused the association of the<br>
concept world with the term
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Olam</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. For the real world is truly
an<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Olam</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. Our Sages wished to train us to
look </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>beyond
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>every natural
phenomenon,<br>
beyond its </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>revealed
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>aspect, to its underlying
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>hidden
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>aspect;<br>
to look to God, </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Melech
HaOlam</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, Who
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>directs and controls all
the hidden<br>
forces</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. Everything, all
that surrounds us in this world of riddles, is<br>
part of His kingdom. He is also
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Elokeinu</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, to Whom we our powers,<br>
lives, and destinies belong. We are to devote ourselves to Him
with<br>
all our energies, to do His Will and to increase His glory, for
blessing<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Baruch</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>.</font></body>
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