Seasons Of The Moon
The Jewish Year seen through its months
====================================
Elul/Tishrei 5762
August 20 - October 17, 2001
====================================

THE MAN IN THE MOON

It's uncanny how much the full moon resembles a human face.  It 
wasn't so long ago that artists routinely depicted the moon as 
a man.  

In October 1608, the Dutch government debated two patent 
applications - that of Hans Lipperhey of Middelburg, and that 
of Jacob Metius of Alkmaar.  The application was for a device 
for "seeing faraway things as though nearby." It consisted of a 
convex and concave lens in a tube which magnified objects three 
or four times. 

The news of this new invention spread rapidly through Europe. 
By April 1609 three-powered spyglasses could be bought in 
spectacle-maker's shops on the Pont Neuf in Paris, and four 
months later there were several in Italy.  Later that year, 
Thomas Harriot took his six-power telescope and pointed it at 
the Moon.

And that was the end of the Man in the Moon.

With the advent of the telescope, the Man in the Moon was 
struck a mortal blow.  Now it was revealed for all to see that 
the "face" of the moon was not a face at all but an 
agglomeration of inert rock and dust.

DO WE KNOW WHAT WE SEE?  OR DO WE SEE WHAT WE KNOW?

The Man in the Moon may have passed into folklore, but in some 
very fundamental ways, he is still very much with us.

Look at the world.  Do you know what you see?  Sometimes it's 
difficult to be sure exactly what you're looking at.  
Preconceptions can often lead our eyes astray.  Is the world 
really the way we see it?  Do we recognize what's in front of 
our eyes?  Or are we creating a virtual reality based on what 
our eyes expect to see?

In other words, do we know what we see?  Or do we see - what we 
know?

THE WAY OF THE WORLD

Nothing, it would seem, is more incontrovertible than our own 
existence.  I exist.  I am here.  I am an independent reality. 
Aren't I?

Twice a day, a Jew covers his closed eyes with his right hand 
and proclaims "Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu, Hashem Ehad!"  
"Hear O Israel, Hashem our G-d, Hashem is One!"  When we say 
that G-d is One, we are not just declaring that there is only 
one G-d; we are affirming that nothing else exists except for 
Him or outside Him whatsoever.  Nothing.  His is a Oneness that 
allows for no "other."

When a Jew says Shema he gives over his very existence to the 
Creator. He declares that, on the ultimate level, he has no 
separate existence whatsoever.

The message of Shema runs counter-intuitive to everything that 
our eyes tell us.  Our physical senses do not teach us that 
nothing else exists except for Him.  Quite the reverse.  Our 
senses tells us that if anything exists at all - it's me.  From 
my point of view, the world could be an Ultra-High-Definition 
3D movie with SurroundSound.  My instinctive perception is that 
nothing else exists except for me.  The Shema is the way we 
reverse this paradigm; the Shema is the way the Jew 'sees' 
beyond the picture that his five senses paint.

SENSE BEYOND PERCEPTION

How, you will ask, can we perceive something that is beyond our 
senses?  If our senses are the sole agents of perception, how 
can we perceive anything beyond them?  More - how can we 
perceive something that totally contradicts them?

The Torah teaches us that there is an extra-sensory perception, 
a channel to that higher reality:

"A G-d of faith and lacking sin;  Righteous and Straight is 
He." (Devarim 32:4)

A cursory reading of this verse would suggest that "a G-d of 
faith" means that G-d keeps his word, that He's "faith"-ful.  
However, there is another, deeper meaning here.

"A G-d of faith" means that G-d "believed in the world and 
created it."  What does it mean that G-d "believed" in the 
world?  Surely it is the world that believes (or doesn't 
believe) in G-d - not the reverse?

A WORLD CALLED EMUNA

Before this physical creation, G-d created another existence, 
another world.  The name of that world is Emuna  - belief.

When the Torah teaches us that "G-d believed in the world and 
created it," it means that before this creation, G-d brought 
into being an existence called Emuna, and within the boundaries 
of Emuna, within that non-physical world, G-d created the 
universe.  In other words, this entire physical existence from 
its absolute beginning till its ultimate end is created within, 
and depends upon, another system.  Not a solar system.  Not a 
galactic system.  A system called Emuna.  Contained within that 
world is all of this world.  Nothing can exist outside of 
Emuna.

THE OTHER END OF THE TELESCOPE

When we look at the world through physical eyes, it seems that 
the world's existence is self-evident, and within the world is 
a thing called belief, Emuna.  Furthermore, our physical eyes 
would tell us that Emuna is optional:  You can choose to 
believe, or you can choose not to believe.  This is the way the 
rest of the world looks at reality.  From the Jewish 
perspective, however, the world is looking through the other 
end of the "telescope".  The world has mistaken that which is 
optional for that which is perforce, that which is necessary 
for that which is incidental.  The world has mistaken the rocks 
and dust of this world for the Man in the Moon.  Judaism takes 
the world's view of itself and reverses it.  It takes the 
telescope and turns it around.

Judaism sees that Emuna doesn't exist in the world - the world 
exists in Emuna.

SOLID AS A ROCK

We tend to think that nothing is as solid as a rock.  Nothing 
is as certain as what our eyes see.  We think that these are 
the certainties - and Faith, Emuna, is not something "certain."  
The world's paradigm is that Emuna is something we can choose 
to subscribe to like some ultimate cable channel from the world 
above.  You can channel hop.  Or you can just turn the whole 
set off. 

The reverse is true.  G-d created Emuna as a truth, a reality, 
and then placed within that creation every rock and mountain, 
every sea and shore.

THE DAY OF THE KING

It is with this sensitivity that a Jew draws close to Rosh 
Hashana.

Rosh Hashana is the day that we crown the Creator as King of 
the world.  What does it mean to crown a non-physical, 
non-spiritual Being of whom we can ultimately know nothing?   
Where is there a stadium that can contain His coronation?  
Where is there a crown large enough to place on His Head?

The crown that we give to the Almighty is our gift of ourselves 
to Him.  When we place our very existence within the world 
called Emuna, we place the Crown on the Creator.

THE MOON IN THE MAN

You have left Your Footprints
In the Highlands of Mann.
The still-rocks still-luminesce Your One Small Step
in this un-tranquility base.
Your Singular stamp marks
Every Landing
Every Encounter
Close with
The Unseen Hand.
Only You can put
The Moon in the Man

Source
Sifri in Parshas Ha'azinu

=====================================
Written and Compiled by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair
The publication of Seasons Of The Moon was made possible by
the generosity of Jill Sinclair and Trevor Horn
=====================================
If you like this e-mail please share it with a friend.
=====================================
(C) 2001 Ohr Somayach International - All rights reserved.







--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Seasons Of The Moon
The Jewish Year seen through its months
====================================
Elul/Tishrei 5762
August 20 - October 17, 2001
====================================

THE MAN IN THE MOON

It's uncanny how much the full moon resembles a human face.  It 
wasn't so long ago that artists routinely depicted the moon as 
a man.  

In October 1608, the Dutch government debated two patent 
applications - that of Hans Lipperhey of Middelburg, and that 
of Jacob Metius of Alkmaar.  The application was for a device 
for "seeing faraway things as though nearby." It consisted of a 
convex and concave lens in a tube which magnified objects three 
or four times. 

The news of this new invention spread rapidly through Europe. 
By April 1609 three-powered spyglasses could be bought in 
spectacle-maker's shops on the Pont Neuf in Paris, and four 
months later there were several in Italy.  Later that year, 
Thomas Harriot took his six-power telescope and pointed it at 
the Moon.

And that was the end of the Man in the Moon.

With the advent of the telescope, the Man in the Moon was 
struck a mortal blow.  Now it was revealed for all to see that 
the "face" of the moon was not a face at all but an 
agglomeration of inert rock and dust.

DO WE KNOW WHAT WE SEE?  OR DO WE SEE WHAT WE KNOW?

The Man in the Moon may have passed into folklore, but in some 
very fundamental ways, he is still very much with us.

Look at the world.  Do you know what you see?  Sometimes it's 
difficult to be sure exactly what you're looking at.  
Preconceptions can often lead our eyes astray.  Is the world 
really the way we see it?  Do we recognize what's in front of 
our eyes?  Or are we creating a virtual reality based on what 
our eyes expect to see?

In other words, do we know what we see?  Or do we see - what we 
know?

THE WAY OF THE WORLD

Nothing, it would seem, is more incontrovertible than our own 
existence.  I exist.  I am here.  I am an independent reality. 
Aren't I?

Twice a day, a Jew covers his closed eyes with his right hand 
and proclaims "Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu, Hashem Ehad!"  
"Hear O Israel, Hashem our G-d, Hashem is One!"  When we say 
that G-d is One, we are not just declaring that there is only 
one G-d; we are affirming that nothing else exists except for 
Him or outside Him whatsoever.  Nothing.  His is a Oneness that 
allows for no "other."

When a Jew says Shema he gives over his very existence to the 
Creator. He declares that, on the ultimate level, he has no 
separate existence whatsoever.

The message of Shema runs counter-intuitive to everything that 
our eyes tell us.  Our physical senses do not teach us that 
nothing else exists except for Him.  Quite the reverse.  Our 
senses tells us that if anything exists at all - it's me.  From 
my point of view, the world could be an Ultra-High-Definition 
3D movie with SurroundSound.  My instinctive perception is that 
nothing else exists except for me.  The Shema is the way we 
reverse this paradigm; the Shema is the way the Jew 'sees' 
beyond the picture that his five senses paint.

SENSE BEYOND PERCEPTION

How, you will ask, can we perceive something that is beyond our 
senses?  If our senses are the sole agents of perception, how 
can we perceive anything beyond them?  More - how can we 
perceive something that totally contradicts them?

The Torah teaches us that there is an extra-sensory perception, 
a channel to that higher reality:

"A G-d of faith and lacking sin;  Righteous and Straight is 
He." (Devarim 32:4)

A cursory reading of this verse would suggest that "a G-d of 
faith" means that G-d keeps his word, that He's "faith"-ful.  
However, there is another, deeper meaning here.

"A G-d of faith" means that G-d "believed in the world and 
created it."  What does it mean that G-d "believed" in the 
world?  Surely it is the world that believes (or doesn't 
believe) in G-d - not the reverse?

A WORLD CALLED EMUNA

Before this physical creation, G-d created another existence, 
another world.  The name of that world is Emuna  - belief.

When the Torah teaches us that "G-d believed in the world and 
created it," it means that before this creation, G-d brought 
into being an existence called Emuna, and within the boundaries 
of Emuna, within that non-physical world, G-d created the 
universe.  In other words, this entire physical existence from 
its absolute beginning till its ultimate end is created within, 
and depends upon, another system.  Not a solar system.  Not a 
galactic system.  A system called Emuna.  Contained within that 
world is all of this world.  Nothing can exist outside of 
Emuna.

THE OTHER END OF THE TELESCOPE

When we look at the world through physical eyes, it seems that 
the world's existence is self-evident, and within the world is 
a thing called belief, Emuna.  Furthermore, our physical eyes 
would tell us that Emuna is optional:  You can choose to 
believe, or you can choose not to believe.  This is the way the 
rest of the world looks at reality.  From the Jewish 
perspective, however, the world is looking through the other 
end of the "telescope".  The world has mistaken that which is 
optional for that which is perforce, that which is necessary 
for that which is incidental.  The world has mistaken the rocks 
and dust of this world for the Man in the Moon.  Judaism takes 
the world's view of itself and reverses it.  It takes the 
telescope and turns it around.

Judaism sees that Emuna doesn't exist in the world - the world 
exists in Emuna.

SOLID AS A ROCK

We tend to think that nothing is as solid as a rock.  Nothing 
is as certain as what our eyes see.  We think that these are 
the certainties - and Faith, Emuna, is not something "certain."  
The world's paradigm is that Emuna is something we can choose 
to subscribe to like some ultimate cable channel from the world 
above.  You can channel hop.  Or you can just turn the whole 
set off. 

The reverse is true.  G-d created Emuna as a truth, a reality, 
and then placed within that creation every rock and mountain, 
every sea and shore.

THE DAY OF THE KING

It is with this sensitivity that a Jew draws close to Rosh 
Hashana.

Rosh Hashana is the day that we crown the Creator as King of 
the world.  What does it mean to crown a non-physical, 
non-spiritual Being of whom we can ultimately know nothing?   
Where is there a stadium that can contain His coronation?  
Where is there a crown large enough to place on His Head?

The crown that we give to the Almighty is our gift of ourselves 
to Him.  When we place our very existence within the world 
called Emuna, we place the Crown on the Creator.

THE MOON IN THE MAN

You have left Your Footprints
In the Highlands of Mann.
The still-rocks still-luminesce Your One Small Step
in this un-tranquility base.
Your Singular stamp marks
Every Landing
Every Encounter
Close with
The Unseen Hand.
Only You can put
The Moon in the Man

Source
Sifri in Parshas Ha'azinu

=====================================
Written and Compiled by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair
The publication of Seasons Of The Moon was made possible by
the generosity of Jill Sinclair and Trevor Horn
=====================================
If you like this e-mail please share it with a friend.
=====================================
(C) 2001 Ohr Somayach International - All rights reserved.