The most important moment in Jewish history is when the Creator speaks to the People of Israel. We say it in the present tense because, as we mention in "God as Love", this transcendental moment is indeed eternal. We just need to be fully aware of it, but how do we achieve this sublime awareness? By being One with Him as we "were" in the desert of Sinai 3323 years ago. It seems paradoxical. How an event that happened so many years ago could be eternal? Because the Love of G-d is also eternal and there is no time, space or anything that may impose conditions or limitations to the Creator. Our mind can't understand it because it is bound to time and space, and we simply can't grasp anything that is beyond those boundaries.
In "God as Love" we present our Creator according to Judaism's fundamental principles, and understanding the Hebrew Bible's repeated message (direct and implied) that G-d conceived the Creation out of His Love, and the fact that it is also sustained by Him is the reiteration of His Love. Throughout the pages of "God as Love" this self-evident Truth is further explained and supported by statements and passages quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures. Besides, what other motives or reasons may exist to deny this Truth? As we already know, G-d is His own cause and effect as well as all His attributes revealed by Him to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7). The more we learn these attributes, the closer we are to "know" G-d; and this knowledge takes us to the awareness of our Oneness with Him. When we read that we were created "in His image and likeness", we are compelled to find out what that means simply because this is about our identity. That is which has been said in the Torah, and its details are further explained throughout the Hebrew Scriptures telling us how we as humans can conceive G-d and how we relate to Him.
In "God as Love" this search for our true identity occurs in a process of clearing what we call "the illusions of darkness" (the materialistic approach to life). This process takes a lot of discerning and mindfulness in the way we exercise our free will, by understanding the ethics that are inherent to Divine Love. This is the foremost contribution of Judaism to the world, and this is the mission for which we were chosen when the Creator reveals Himself to us in the desert of Sinai. This Revelation is the identity that He wants us to be and manifest: His image and likeness. However, this Revelation takes place only after we clear our consciousness from the illusions dictated by ego's materialistic fantasies. In order to achieve this we cry out to His Love, the One that liberates us from ego's bondage: Pharaoh and his Egyptian domains. The Exodus from the land where we were slaves happened after we learned and grasped in our consciousness that the Love of G-d is our One and only Redeemer from the darkness of ego's illusions.
The Exodus is the first phase followed by our dwelling in the desert, where we were immersed in knowing our true identity. The Torah tells us that this process took seven weeks (shavuot) in which we must re-direct our intellect, mind, emotions, feelings, passions and instincts in order to be able to recognize Love as our true Essence and identity. Mystic Sages teach that this re-redirecting is the correction or rectification (tikkun) of the seven emanations (sfirot) with which Divine Love created us and also everything that exists, because we corrupted these emanations by choosing to live in the darkness of materialistic illusions instead of living in Love's ways and attributes. Once we go through a process of a mindful self-evaluation and cleaning our consciousness from ego's illusions, we will be able to become the empty vessels to be filled only with G-d's Love attributes. This is the eternal moment when G-d, the Torah, the Shabbat and Israel are One.
The paradox remains and we still want to understand how this moment is eternal. As we already said, it happens when we raise our consciousness to Divine Love; when we become the vessels to be filled with that sublime identity, Love. As Love we become the cause and the effect, and we can reveal Him where and when He is concealed in what we perceive as darkness in the material world. Thus we fulfill the promise of Redemption by being and manifesting Love's Light in the world, which is also His Commandment for us to create a space in the world for Him to dwell. Let's be and manifest Love's ways and attributes at all times, and regain the eternal awareness of our Oneness with Divine Love.
In "God as Love" we present our Creator according to Judaism's fundamental principles, and understanding the Hebrew Bible's repeated message (direct and implied) that G-d conceived the Creation out of His Love, and the fact that it is also sustained by Him is the reiteration of His Love. Throughout the pages of "God as Love" this self-evident Truth is further explained and supported by statements and passages quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures. Besides, what other motives or reasons may exist to deny this Truth? As we already know, G-d is His own cause and effect as well as all His attributes revealed by Him to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7). The more we learn these attributes, the closer we are to "know" G-d; and this knowledge takes us to the awareness of our Oneness with Him. When we read that we were created "in His image and likeness", we are compelled to find out what that means simply because this is about our identity. That is which has been said in the Torah, and its details are further explained throughout the Hebrew Scriptures telling us how we as humans can conceive G-d and how we relate to Him.
In "God as Love" this search for our true identity occurs in a process of clearing what we call "the illusions of darkness" (the materialistic approach to life). This process takes a lot of discerning and mindfulness in the way we exercise our free will, by understanding the ethics that are inherent to Divine Love. This is the foremost contribution of Judaism to the world, and this is the mission for which we were chosen when the Creator reveals Himself to us in the desert of Sinai. This Revelation is the identity that He wants us to be and manifest: His image and likeness. However, this Revelation takes place only after we clear our consciousness from the illusions dictated by ego's materialistic fantasies. In order to achieve this we cry out to His Love, the One that liberates us from ego's bondage: Pharaoh and his Egyptian domains. The Exodus from the land where we were slaves happened after we learned and grasped in our consciousness that the Love of G-d is our One and only Redeemer from the darkness of ego's illusions.
The Exodus is the first phase followed by our dwelling in the desert, where we were immersed in knowing our true identity. The Torah tells us that this process took seven weeks (shavuot) in which we must re-direct our intellect, mind, emotions, feelings, passions and instincts in order to be able to recognize Love as our true Essence and identity. Mystic Sages teach that this re-redirecting is the correction or rectification (tikkun) of the seven emanations (sfirot) with which Divine Love created us and also everything that exists, because we corrupted these emanations by choosing to live in the darkness of materialistic illusions instead of living in Love's ways and attributes. Once we go through a process of a mindful self-evaluation and cleaning our consciousness from ego's illusions, we will be able to become the empty vessels to be filled only with G-d's Love attributes. This is the eternal moment when G-d, the Torah, the Shabbat and Israel are One.
The paradox remains and we still want to understand how this moment is eternal. As we already said, it happens when we raise our consciousness to Divine Love; when we become the vessels to be filled with that sublime identity, Love. As Love we become the cause and the effect, and we can reveal Him where and when He is concealed in what we perceive as darkness in the material world. Thus we fulfill the promise of Redemption by being and manifesting Love's Light in the world, which is also His Commandment for us to create a space in the world for Him to dwell. Let's be and manifest Love's ways and attributes at all times, and regain the eternal awareness of our Oneness with Divine Love.
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