Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Hear Oh Israel -- He is ONE. .......

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Knowledge is Power -- G-dly Knowledge is SUPER Power.

In the year 1939, during the bloody Bolshevik revolution and the subsequent Communist oppression, The Russians decided to take a census of their people. On the survey there was a question whether the individual believed in G-d. Many believing Jews were afraid to answer in the positive, as this might adversely affect them.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneerson, (1878 – 1944) rabbi of the Ukrainian city of Yekatrinoslav (known today as Dnepropetrovsk) father of our Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, got up in the synagogue and presented a fiery speech. “Whoever responded, he doesn’t believe in G-d, is considered (in the eyes of G-d)  a denier in G-d”. As a result of this speech, many went to the offices of the census and requested to change their answer they had already submitted.

This speech costed Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneerson quite a bit. Subsequently banished to exile in a remote village in Kazakhstan, this ultimately led to his untimely death.

When he was asked by the officers of the NKVD, how he dared encourage people to answer in the positive, he responded cleverly and with sharp wit. “Isn’t this in the interest of the government, that people answer honestly?”

The Talmud asks the question. What is the most powerful verse in the entire Bible. Three possibilities are offered. One of them is the verse, “Hear oh Israel, the Lord our G-d the Lord is One.”

If the Torah at large is considered the “wisdom and understanding of all nations in the world”, if the Torah is the medium through which “You are connected to G-d your G-d (and therefore) you (people) live eternally”. This verse, Hear oh Israel….., must contain within itself, the deepest amount of G-dly wisdom and understanding,  and the strongest most powerful means through which a person can become connected with Almighty G-d!

The Torah tells us, when the Jewish people went out to war, there was a special priest who would make an announcement of encouragement to the soldiers. One of the pronouncements he made was. Any soldier who expresses the “Shema Yisroel…..”, “Hear oh Israel…..”, every morning and night, this alone, generates merit to be victorious at war.

We read in the Torah, there were 6 cities of refuge that would protect a murderer from anyone who was out to avenge the death of the killer. Our sages tell us; these six cities translate spiritually into the six words of the SHEMA ISRAEL ADONAI ELOIHAINU ADONAI ECHAD. “Hear oh Israel, the Lord our G-d the Lord is One.”

The Rabbis are telling us. When someone says (and believes) these six words with concentration, they serve as a spiritual place where an  individual will be protected from the dangerous dark  forces that are out there ready to pounce and suck in, whoever is weak enough to be dragged down the pit of darkness and gloom.

So what exactly is the Shema Yisroel all about?

Rabbi Shlomo (1738-1792), Chassidic Rebbe in the town of Karlin, Russia (near Pinsk), was  granted the power of seeing all the wanderings of souls in their various incarnations, was accustomed to teach……

“A Jew must regularly thank G-d for all His kindness and good, and should constantly say, everything is good, and so it will be. Like a little child who boasts in front of his father, that his father is good hearted and merciful. Would a father ever want to argue and make the point that this is not the case?”

The Shema Yisroel, is passionately and strongly encouraging us to understand deeply and truly appreciate, and this takes much effort and concentration and study, that there is nothing else but G-d everywhere. Not just any G-d, but one G-d, indivisible, who is exactly the same everywhere, in his infinite qualities.

The name “Lord” in Hebrew represents the force which is bigger and higher than nature. The words “our G-d” in Hebrew, refers to the dimension of G-d that is personal inside each creation, according to its limitations, deserving and eligible boundaries.

The power in this statement which must be repeated twice every day by all men,  is the realization, awareness and actually being, in an intellectual and spiritual place, where a person sees in everything the greatness and goodness of G-d.

Actually living and being in this frame of mind is the frequency for all the strength there is in this most powerful verse.

You are invited to our classes where you are offered the tools and understanding that will guide you to this most secure and G-dly place, ".....G-d our G-d, G-d is One."

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