(Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11)

(Haftara: Shabbat Nachamu: Isaiah 40:1-26)

(Pirkay Avot, Chapter 4 )

1. [4:34]  “with such tremendous miracles, signs and wonders…“Our teachers say that God wants the world to run according to natural law. Miracles are only for exceptional circumstances. Wouldn’t it be better to have miracles more often, so we would be more aware of God?

2. [4:4]And you who cling to God, are all live today. “How can one “cling” to God?

3. [Haftara: 40:9]  “…Behold your God.” The people are comforted and told that their sin is forgiven and their reward is perceiving God. What does it mean to “perceive God”?

4. [Pirkay Avot 4:1] “Who is strong? He who subdues his evil inclination..” Why does it say, “He who subdues” rather than he who “eliminates” his evil inclination?

5. [Pirkay Avot 4:1] “Who is strong? He who subdues his evil inclination…”   The Ba’al Shem Tov says that one should use the evil inclination in the service of God. How does one use the evil inclination in the service of God?

Commentary

Then the world will be built anew, heaven and earth will kiss, and the joy of creation will be everywhere. This process is at work in the case of the individual, the nation, the world and all of existence.

1. Avraham Y. H. Kuk, 1865-1935, Lithuania and Israel.

This study page is dedicated to the memory of Gad Eliahu ben David and Kochava

—Eli Zucker

And this study page is dedicated to the memory of Sarah Bella bat Yitzchak Kummer, Chaim Yosef Yechiel ben Eliyahu Kummer and Eliyahu and Margaret Kummer