Dear Readers

... whomever you are!

I find myself wondering why that Pr~yer post got put up as my very first.

Technically it went like this:

My special new friend Moshe, whom I recently met at the Koisel (the last remaining wall from Solomon's Temple), is a talented computor man. He was very excited by the ideas and spirit I shared with him and respectively wanted to see my writings get "out there." So after joining us for a few holydays, one day he comes over and introduces me to bloggersphere. Suddenly he says "nu, post something." I tell you, that prayer simply jumped out at me!

Now a little secret: It was originally written on Purim -- that greatest of all Jewish holy days about which the Sages teach will be the only one to remain in the time of Moshiach (Messiah); the only one in which a Jew is permitted (and actually required under normal circumstances) to get inebriated; the only one that has the power to cleanse our souls of every, single, tiny last trace of impurity. To be sure, speaking for myself and from witnessing many, many others, Purim is THE time for tasting the unbelievable.

Ok, but the question remains: Should it have been the FIRST post? Perhaps we should begin with more rational stuff. I mean, there is an exquisite internal logic that defines the experience of unbelief, beginning with the realization of the NEED for belief. I call this first process one of PRE-belief.

Then there's what the Nesivos Sholom (the previous Slonimer Rebbe, ztsvk"l, the Jew who's picture adorns the head of this blog) calls MIND-belief, followed by HEART-belief and, usually after much painstaking work, DEED-belief. Only after reaching that point, in principle, is one ready for entering the world of UN-belief, which is the world wherein the soul intuitively realizes its Creator trust for it to "do the honest and the good in the eyes of G-d... in order that you may inherit the Land." (Deut. 6).

To unbelieve is thus to become a pure, divine vessel, flowing within His Will, without Him needing to externalize His directives into verbal Commands. As alluded to in the word Pur-im: the experience of being Pure (with) Him! Some also see such allusions within the word history: HIS-Story!

UNNbelievable, right?

So back to our question: is the consciousness of unbelief the right place to BEGIN??

Consider the famous Midrash, (Breishis Rabba 31:A - one of the earliest and most authoritative Jewish commentaries on Scripture) about Abraham's first experiences of questioning why this world appears as a castle being engulfed in flames without any owner to protect it. Immediately after meditating over this, says the Midrash, the Owner FLASHES out at him and declares: "I'm that Owner!" But nothing else. Just silence. Amidst the flames. For a looooong time. Indeed, it was during this excruciatingly long period of experiencing G-d's concealment that Abraham proved his loyality to His Maker to such an extent that he would merit hearing the calling of lech lecha, "get going" towards the Holy Land (Gen. 12), which of course was the beginning of Jewish history.

His-Story.

So this seems to be the pattern for cultivating a truly unbelievable Jew. Apparently it's because it's within the search for Him, with ALL our hearts, that we most purely grow.

You've been warned...

~