June 1, 2012

Face to Face with Miracle: Moments of Redemption in Our Lives

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.
– Albert Einstein
Our sages teach us that when we have left this life and we face the Court on High, we will be called upon to answer for our lives.  Among the questions that we will be asked is, “Did you throughout your lifetime, eagerly await and anticipate the geulah, the ultimate redemption?”
This is a deceptively difficult question.  On the one hand, the answer seems self-evident.  Of course we awaited that glorious time of redemption.  How could we not?  The travails of our lives and the lives of Jews everywhere have kept our thoughts on the coming Messiah, on the coming redemption.  And yet… if we are truly honest, have we, with all of life’s day to day distractions, pressures, and mundane preoccupations really, fully, eagerly awaited and anticipated redemption?
We have been distracted by our lives.  We cannot help it.  As Jews we are aware that we have been created both flesh and soul, of heaven and of the earth.  Our thoughts by virtue of our creation must be focused on both redemption and the world.  As such, the question is impossible for us to answer in the affirmative.
But we will be asked!  So, perhaps, the challenge is not in how we must answer but in how the question is phrased.


Read more:

http://www.ou.org/life/inspiration/face-face-miracle-moments-redemption-in-our-lives-eliyahu-safran/#.T8jHrVI-Fm4

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