Question: Why in these days, from the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, is a completely unique atmosphere felt?
Answer: These are days of judgment, and we see this when we look at the events that are happening in Europe and Israel. The world requires our correct participation.
In the days of judgment we need to judge ourselves, our behavior, our deeds, to clarify the cause for all of the failures and the unfavorable fate.
It is always necessary to examine ourselves in relation to the origin, and our origin isAdam HaRishon (the First Man). The sin of Adam HaRishon is the reason for everything that happened after it.
Twenty generations after Adam, one of the great sages of ancient Babylon Abraham began the correction of the sin of Adam HaRishon; he called for all the Babylonians to unite and rise above the mutual hatred, which is called the Tower of Babel that led to a crisis.
Some of the Babylonians heard the call of Abraham and joined him. Abraham taught his students “to love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), so that love will cover all crimes, over all hatred. So Abraham gathered a group that later evolved into the people of Israel.
These events are directly related to what is happening today. After so many events we have experienced throughout history, we are still in the same situation of Adam HaRishon; we must correct his sin.
The people of Israel were chosen from among all the other peoples for this purpose because they had the desire for unity, spirituality.
These are a unique people possessing a unique desire, a special readiness of mind and soul that can achieve such a unity between them by which the whole world is then united. The great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam wrote about this in the article, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar.”
The sin of Adam is the basis of the breakup of humanity, all of its suffering and troubles. All of our problems come from this sin because of which one great desire, one soul, was shattered into a multitude of fragments. In each one of us there is a tiny fragment of the collective soul.
If eight billion people are living in the world today, there is a part of the soul of Adam HaRishon, of Adam in each one of them. So we need to connect with each other so that all of these parts will merge together.
But the realization of this function isn’t imposed upon eight billion but upon the people of Israel. If the people of Israel will correct themselves and unify according to the conditions of “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” then all the nations of the world will automatically be integrated within it.
This is specifically what Abraham taught the ancient Babylonians who joined him and created the people of Israel. They were selected from all of the humanity that existed then, when for the first time the shattering, the first crisis after the shattering of Adam was discovered.
Abraham gathered around him all those who wanted to correct the primordial sin. These were unique people who yearned for the goal of creation, the attainment of the meaning of life, and Abraham taught them the method of connection and unity.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/20/15
[167075]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/20/15