The more things change, the more they stay the same. An observation made by the congregation while discussing the weekly Torah portion at Shabbat Services last Friday night. If there is one thing we can count on is that human nature, given similar circumstances, will react the same even though separated by thousands of years.
So what are we to take away from these allegoric stories of long ago? Two words. Teachable moments. After each Torah portion, ask yourself this question . . . “what is the teachable moment in that story?” Exploring the answer to that question through discussion and study may bring you to the true virtue of the Torah … an instrument by which to show us a path to a higher plane. It may not be clear to us, and may take some thought, but the search for the right answer is, in fact, an invaluable lesson in itself.
Instead of repeating the behavior that got our ancestors into such trouble with the Lord, we learn to find an alternate behavior that brings us to a more enlightened state of being. Could that be the real purpose put before us?
In any case, the Torah continues to provide us with many teachable moments. How we face our difficulties, some of which were the same difficulties facing our ancestors, and act upon them? What have we learned from our ancestors and the mistakes they made? How can we do it better?
It’s a lot to ponder. The miracle is that we have the capacity and ability to embrace the task.
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