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a project of www.Chabad.org Shavuot 5763 (2003) The Third Way G-d looked into the Torah and cre- Comment "I'm going to tell him everything," insisted the ated the world. Man looks into first father. "No, I won't!" objected father #2. "I Torah and sustains the world want a son, not a puppet." "I'll tell him every- thing," said the third father. "But I won't tell him (Zohar) what it means" Voices Thunder on the Mountain G-d's appearance at Mount Sinai was not subtle. Mountains shook, thunder crashed. the divine voice reverberated through the galaxies. But He's kind of disappeared since The Fiftieth Miracle Seasons of Miracles are a concession to the human need to see things from a different perspective in order to the Soul apprehend what they've already seen. Shavuot is when G-d believes in us enough not to indulge it Story Original Ideas Interface At a nearby table sat a man who would come every evening for an hour of study. Although Torah is the interface between his business consumed the bulk of his day the Infinite and creation. On the and his study-skills were limited, he diligent- outside, it speaks the language ly pursued his nightly page of Talmud of humankind. On the inside is depth without end. Idea of the The Torah: An Anthology 40 essays, stories, meditations and readings, each Grasp either end and you Week offering a glimpse into something the Torah says have nothing. Grasp both and about itself and its place in our lives you have G-d Himself Shavuot Torah Readings — Exodus 19:1- Parsha 20:23; Deuteronomy 14:22--16:17 Who are the Jews, what it means to be "cho- sen", the revelation at Sinai, the Ten Commandments, and the three pilgrimage festivals For more information or to subscribe new material to one of our many insipiring added daily! periodicals log on to: This magazine contains sacred www.Chabad.org Torah material. Please do not discard. www.Chabad.org Comment The Third Way whys and hows of life. But I’ll leave him room to by: Yanki Tauber grow. He’ll do the right thing because I told him what to do, but he’ll also sense that there’s much more there — much more to understand, much more to give meaning to. He’ll discover new truths, but they won’t really be new, because they’d have been there all along, and they won’t be new to him, either, because I’d have told them to him already, but they’ll be completely new because he’ll discover a Three new fathers are sitting around discussing new meaning, a new significance, a new way to how they’re going to rear their children. make it work, a new pathway through life. And that pathway will be his own more than one he’d have “I’m going to tell him everything,” says the first forged on his own, because a self-made path would father. “I’m going to be there for him every step of only be his, and this one is both his and true. the way. My father was one of those ‘modern’ par- ents with a ‘follow your bliss’ and ‘don’t mess with “Now that’s the most convoluted speech I’ve ever their minds’ attitude. The first 25 years of my life heard,” exclaimed the first father. “You’re all mixed were nothing but a series of mistakes (which was up...” supposed to be a good thing — life’s teachers and all “No,” said the second father. “He’s got it all fig- that). Well, I made those mistakes, and learned ured out.” something from some of them (mostly what not to do), so why should my son need to start all over from The third father is G-d. And that all-mixed-up, all- square one? And what’s to guarantee that he won’t figured-out document is the Torah He presented to fall off the edge before he has a chance to figure it us when He became a father at Mount Sinai. out on his own? I’ll tell him what’s right and what’s wrong, what works and what doesn’t — that’s what a father is for!” By Yanki Tauber, [email protected]; based on the “Not me,” said father #2. “I want a son, not a pup- teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, www.therebbe.org pet! I want to have brought another person into the world — not a replica of myself. If all he’s going to do is be walked through life by daddy, what did my child need to be born for in the first place? I want my child to be his own person, to find his own way — even if there are blunders and painful experiences along the way. As for the possibility that he’ll fail — well, that risk is there, but it’s a risk that must be taken if a new human being is going to make a life for himself...” “I’ll tell him everything,” said the third father. “But I won’t tell him what it means. That’ll be his job — working out what it means.” “You mean you’ll give it to him in code? You’ll tell him what to do, but he won’t know what he’s supposed to do until he cracks the code?” “No, no. If I don’t tell it so that he knows what to do, what’s the point? That would be just like father #2, cutting his child loose in the wilderness to blun- der about. I’ll give him the code and the key. I’ll teach him right and wrong. I’ll explain to him the Comment | Voices | Seasons of the Soul | Story | Idea of the Week | Parshah | Week at Glance 2 www.Chabad.org Voices Thunder on the cling to the remembrances of these in a strange and hostile land. I read about their struggles to retain that Mountain shard of elusive G-dliness in their lives — elusive by: Bella Schapiro because they could talk and communicate with G-d, but no matter what they did, they themselves were not touched, their souls and surroundings remained unchanged. And I read about a nation in Egypt, six hundred thousand strong, that was raised and saved as it was about to slip below the horizon of existence G-d’s appearance at Mount Sinai was not subtle. into oblivion. Mountains shook, thunder crashed. The divine voice And then I read about the mountain and the thun- reverberated through the galaxies. The world was der, the revelation to all of mankind at which this shocked into stillness. And the people present, those book was given. That not-so-subtle revelation. who were supposed to receive this great revelation, And I read in the commentaries that indeed G-d dropped dead at the first intimation of His presence. shook the world’s foundation with His appearance, They were revived shortly thereafter, only to be changing the very nature of existence. That indeed knocked out again by commandment number two. this was for us an out-of-body experience, in which Now, I can assure you that I would be happy to G-d took each of our souls and altered its make-up, drop dead myself if G-d made a personal visit. But changing forever who we are and what we could do. He’s not making a personal visit and He doesn’t want That G-d rewrote the codewords of creation, me to die. G-d started the whole business with a big enabling us to be, forever after, receptacles to a dif- bang, but He’s kind of disappeared since. Yes, there ferent type of revelation — a revelation so subtle, have been a couple of selected appearances: a cloud that although it is earth shattering, I feel only the on the tabernacle, a fire on the altar, a something slightest tremor. here, there. But it seems that the grand personal I read on. How after Mt. Sinai, the Children of appearance, where we heard G-d’s voice, felt G-d’s Israel settled into a different type of existence. One presence, was a one-time thing. in which their Torah could speak to them, and their So here I am, some three thousand years later, and actions to G-d. An existence that was enabled by that I’m left with this book called a Torah and its many, earth-shattering event, and that empowers us, to this many instructions, but none of the instructor. I’m left day, to do our own earth shattering. with a G-d who doesn’t want me to drop dead at the And I understand finally that G-d made the most sight of Him, but wants me live with Him — in His unsubtle revelation so that afterwards His presence absence. So the question I’d very much like to put to should become so subtle that it could fit in my mind, this G-d of mine is, What are You thinking? my heart. So subtle I could live with it. Nothing doing. We’re dealing with a G-d who’s not available for comment. He’s already given that Bella Schapiro, [email protected], is on the editorial comment, and all the commentaries along with it. staff of Chabad.org So I open the book.