Thursday, September 22, 2005
Rita and Katrina
I can't help but follow the irony of the refugees of the two twin hurricanes. They abandoned New Orleans in the face of one monster natural disaster, only to be evacuated from Houston once again as an even larger threat looms. The personal stories of people relocating their life only to be pushed out a second time reminded me eerily of the story of the prophet Jonah, which we will read in two weeks on Yom Kippur afternoon. In the story of Jonah, Gd invests the humble man with a divine mission. Jonah, fearful of his inability to carry it out, heads in the opposite direction. However, in successive disruptions of the natural world, Gd repeatedly forces him to keep moving, slowly directing him toward the path that He has laid out for His messenger.
I'm not making the comparison of the Mullah's and Mufti's, that these natural disasters are direct retribution for our sinful lifestyle. But I do agree that they have all the markings of the divine hand. Can you not help but think that the refugee repeatedly forced to move is not being nudged forward on their divine mission? Do we not all require numerous "pushes" towards accomplishing our mission in life?
Do we require repeated exile, like Jonah or the hurricane refugees in the Gulf Coast? Or do we heed the divine call, and move towards our devine service? While we can't ever know what Gd has in mind for us, we should always keep our hearts open to the small "signs" in life. It should never take a hurricane to wake us up to the reasons for living each day.
I'm not making the comparison of the Mullah's and Mufti's, that these natural disasters are direct retribution for our sinful lifestyle. But I do agree that they have all the markings of the divine hand. Can you not help but think that the refugee repeatedly forced to move is not being nudged forward on their divine mission? Do we not all require numerous "pushes" towards accomplishing our mission in life?
Do we require repeated exile, like Jonah or the hurricane refugees in the Gulf Coast? Or do we heed the divine call, and move towards our devine service? While we can't ever know what Gd has in mind for us, we should always keep our hearts open to the small "signs" in life. It should never take a hurricane to wake us up to the reasons for living each day.
# posted by Josh : Thursday, September 22, 2005
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Beautiful abstraction from the hurricane sitution and application to our everyday lives.
With regards to Yonah it would actually be quite interesting to uncover as to why he of all prophets was chosen to be read on Y"K. Acc. to many mainstream Rishonim (ibn ezra, radak, r' eliezer mibulgance) it is pretty clear that he was actually trying to run from G-d because he believed that n'vuah could only be received in Eretz Yisraeil. he did this because he was actually pretty sure that he would able to accomplish the not-so-tremendous task of just telling the people of Nin'veih to repent, but it would reflect the wickedness of BN"Y if the non-Jews listened to the Jewish prophet and repented while BN"Y were worshipping avodah zarah and spurning their ownn prophets. Yonah himself is a very interesting navi.
With regards to Yonah it would actually be quite interesting to uncover as to why he of all prophets was chosen to be read on Y"K. Acc. to many mainstream Rishonim (ibn ezra, radak, r' eliezer mibulgance) it is pretty clear that he was actually trying to run from G-d because he believed that n'vuah could only be received in Eretz Yisraeil. he did this because he was actually pretty sure that he would able to accomplish the not-so-tremendous task of just telling the people of Nin'veih to repent, but it would reflect the wickedness of BN"Y if the non-Jews listened to the Jewish prophet and repented while BN"Y were worshipping avodah zarah and spurning their ownn prophets. Yonah himself is a very interesting navi.
# posted by 
: September 22, 2005 11:59 PM
: September 22, 2005 11:59 PM
"Can you not help but think that the refugee repeatedly forced to move is not being nudged forward on their divine mission? Do we not all require numerous "pushes" towards accomplishing our mission in life?"
brilliant. that's absolutely what i'm going through right now in my adventure to make aliyah.
excellent post.
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brilliant. that's absolutely what i'm going through right now in my adventure to make aliyah.
excellent post.
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