Words from Sinai

Friday 16th October

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Words from Sinai - A Torah Insight for Shabbat 

 

In 1798, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi was imprisoned on false charges that his teachings undermined the imperial authority of the Czar. For 52 days he was held in the notorious Peter-Paul Fortress in Petersburg.

 

Among the Rabbi's interrogators was a government minister who possessed a broad knowledge of the Bible. On one occasion, he asked the Rabbi to explain the verse (Genesis 3:9): "G-d called out to the man and said to him: 'Where are you?'" “Did G-d not know where Adam was?” asked the minister.

 

"Do you believe that the Torah is eternal?" asked the Rabbi. "Do you believe that its every word applies to every individual, under all conditions, at all times?"

 

"Yes," replied the minister.

 

"'Where are you?'" explained the Rabbi, "is G-d's perpetual call to every person. Where are you in the world? What have you accomplished? You have been allotted a certain number of days, hours, and minutes in which to fulfill your life mission. You have lived so many years and so many days. Where are you? What have you achieved?"

 

The story of Adam is the story of the prototype human being who ‘blows’ a great opportunity. By not following one simple instruction he forfeits a lifetime in paradise.

 

Rabbi Shneur Zalman was talking about the amount of time that passes by which could have been used in a positive, constructive manner, time that could have been used for making a stand for what we truly believe in. Such activity left the Rabbi open to the malicious slander which led to his arrest and incarceration. But he was steadfast in his beliefs and eventually vindicated.

 

Shabbat Shalom

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