“Before one turns the potential into the actual, the two are tied together and nothing separates them, for as it says in the prayer L’Ka Dodi, ‘What comes to pass first existed as a thought…’ “[Therefore] don’t be frustrated by obstacles you encounter on your path. These are there by design, to increase your desire for the goal you seek. The greater the goal, the greater the yearning that is needed to achieve it.”
-Rabbi Nahman, Likutei Moharan Part One, 66
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The work will never be done, there will always be another load of laundry, another medical conundrum, or societal problem, but the way through it is to plan each and every day to finish that day’s portion so we can rest up and start again tomorrow.
It’s been a week since the celebrated author, Salman Rushdie, was stabbed on the stage of a Chautauqua lecture hall, where, ironically, he was planning to discuss protections for writers who are persecuted. It’s a topic in which he has the deepest expertise ever since he was forced to go into hiding after an Iranian mullah issued a fatwah on him back in 1989.
Have you ever tried to bargain with God? If only life were like a flea market and we could bargain our way in or out of any situation. But Eikev reminds us God is not that kind of creator.
Last week in this column, I passed along some information about a meeting that the Oregon Board of Rabbis held with Archbishop Sample, who had made a disturbing comparison between abortion and the Holocaust. The archbishop received our concerns and removed the offending statement from his YouTube video. This past week, he also indicated that he would offer a more formal apology in the press. I have been moved by his willingness to learn and make adjustments in real time.
If the Torah is concerned that we’ll stray from our worship of God to worshiping the natural world, why were these celestial bodies and earthly wonders even created? In other words, if I can’t keep my hands out of the bag of Cheetos, why keep them in the house?
