Strangers and Residents
This week's Torah reading is "The Life of Sarah" (Genesis 23:1-25:18)...which paradoxically deals entirely with events after her death. As part of the reading, Abraham says that he is a "stranger and resident" among the Canaanites (Gen. 23:4). According to some rabbinic thought, the Jew is a "resident" in the world because "the Torah instructs him not escape the physical reality but to inhabit it and elevate it. Virtually all the mitzvot (divine commandments) of the Torah are physical actions involving physical objects, in keeping with the Jew's mission to make a 'dwelling for G-d in the material realm' by sanctifying the everyday materials of everyday life.

At the same time, the Jew feels himself a 'stranger' in the material world. His true home is a higher, loftier placethe world of spirit, the world of holiness and G-dliness from which his soul has been exiled and to which it yearns to return. Indeed, it is only because the Jew feels himself a stranger in the world that he can avoid being wholly consumed and overwhelmed by it, and maintain the spiritual vision and integrity required to elevate it and sanctify it as an abode for the divine presence." (The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

Here's a great parable concerning this for you to reflect upon:

The story is told of the visitor who, stopping by the home of the great Chassidic master Rabbi DovBer of Mezheritch, was outraged by the poverty he encountered there. Rabbi DovBer's home was bare of all furnishing, save for an assortment of rough wooden planks and blocks that served as benches for his students during the day and as beds for his family at night. "How can you live
like this?" demanded the visitor. "I myself am far from wealthy, but at least in my home you will find, thank G-d, the basic necessities: some chairs, a table, beds..."

"Indeed?" said Rabbi DovBer. "But I don't see any of your furnishings. How do you manage without them?"

"What do you mean? Do you think that I schlep all my possessions along with me wherever I go? When I travel, I make do with what's available. But at home--a person's home is a different
matter altogether!"

"Ah, yes," said Rabbi DovBer. "At home, it is a different matter altogether..." (Likkutei Dibburim)

posted by Jimmy at 10:45 AM | |