Seasons of the Moon - Elul 5759
13 August - 10 September1999
FutureWorld
The World's End
When Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World in 1492, many people thought he would fall off the edge of the earth and vanish into oblivion. The cosmography of the 15th century held that the world was a flat disc. Nowadays, this idea seems childish, however, in one respect, they were right: The physical world has an end. There is a place where this reality ends and another begins. Where is it?
We are living in a physical world. The essence of the physical is that it can exist only within the confines of space and time. In the worlds above this world, there is no space, no time. They are spiritual worlds. Between this existence and its neighbors, however, there exists a place of transition, a border. Where is the border between this world and the next? Where is this gateway to eternity? And what would we see there?
In the First Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple), in the middle of the Holy of Holies, there sat the Aron HaKodesh - the Holy Ark. There's an amazing fact about the Aron. It took up no space. Even though it had physical dimension1, nevertheless it took up no space2.
Wherever there is a border between two entities, we can expect to see elements of both.
On The Borderline
The Aron was the border of two worlds. It sat on the Even Shesia, the rock from which G-d extruded the entire Universe. This was the "border post" between two worlds, thus the characteristics of both this world and the next were manifest. The Aron occupied no space because it represents the upper worlds. It contains the Torah, the communication of G-d to man. On the other hand, from the place of the Aron flows all Creation, all space and time. This is the place where the physical world begins. From here, it expands outward.
The Aron was in this world, but it was not of this world. It was subject to the laws of a higher world where there is no space and time. The Aron was the threshold between two worlds. It was the "French/Italian border" between this world and the next. It had dimensions without occupying space.
The Dot Matrix
There's a little letter in Hebrew that's like the Aron. From it too flows all of Creation. The letter yud. The yud is the smallest letter in the Hebrew language. It's no more than a dot. But with this little yud, this little dot, G-d created the Future World3. The ideal dot has no dimension. However, If you put any yud under the microscope you'll see that it has length and breadth. It's impossible to write it any other way, but ideally it should be the smallest existence capable in this world.
Elul and the Letter Yud
The month of Elul was formed by the letter yud. If G-d used the letter yud to form the month, it means that the letter itself expresses the essence of the month of Elul. Maybe, in this smallest of letters, we may find some of the secret power that is locked into the month of Elul. Let us examine this "dot matrix."
Not only is the yud an otherworldly letter, it is also the foundation of all other letters. Just as the Future World4 is the foundation of this world, so too the letter yud is the foundation of all other letters. In order to write any letter, you have to start with a little dot, a little dot called yud. In other words, the foundation of all language, and thus all cognition, is the yud, the smallest dot. Our thoughts are aligned with reality only when we realize why, and on what, this world is founded. Just as the root of language is an infinitesimal dot which stands at the gateway between this world of space/time and the world which is beyond those constraints, so too the root of all knowledge, its foundation, is to know that there is a world above this world5. When our thoughts turn towards that infinitesimal point, we align ourselves with transcendence.
Back to the Future
Two more pieces, and our puzzle will be complete. Elul in Aramaic means searching6. We only search for something when we see a future for it. No one searches for a lost cause, a broken camera or a used Coca-Cola can. The essence of searching, of Elul, is that we believe in two futures: Our own future and that there is a future. Firstly, we must believe in our own future. We must believe that we are not forever rat-trapped in a Skinner's Maze of our own past mistakes. Secondly, we must believe that there is a future: A Future World where all is clear and the darkness that surrounds us is lit up by the great aura of the Presence of the Holy One. A Jew must know that this world is no more than a dark and narrow corridor to a great palace of light.
Footnotes
- 1.
- Shemot 25:10. "They
shall make an Ark of acacia wood two and a half amot its
length (about five feet), an amah and a half its width, and an
amah and a half its height."
- 2.
- How do we know that the Aron took up no space?
If you went into the Holy of Holies and measured from one wall
to the Aron in the middle. Then, you measured from the other
side of the Aron to the far wall. That measurement would be the
same as the distance from one wall to the other without taking
the Aron into account. The distance between the two walls of the
Holy of Holies was the same whether you measured from the walls
to the sides of the Aron, or whether you measured the entire width.
- 3
- Yeshayahu 26:4, "Ki b'Kah, Hashem Tzur
Ha-olomim"
- 4
- This world was formed with the letter heh.
One of the two elements of the letter heh is the letter
yud.
- 5
- The word foundation is apposite. Foundation
connotes both meanings implied here: a) a beginning, a starting
point. And b) the sum total of all that the entity is supposed
to be. For example, the Declaration of Independence was the foundation
of the United States of America. It was both its beginning and
it contained the essence and aspiration of all that the United
States was intended to be.
- 6
- Targum, Bamidbar 13:2 "That they may spy out the Land."
The Unquiet Soul
You said you don't believe
in a world to come,
that we ended like so much meat.
"Prove it to me." you said to me.
"Prove that you're my brother" I replied.
Inside, that same knowing heart
that shares our flesh
wipes the sleep from its eyes
and stirs.
Unquiet is the soul.
SEASONS OF THE MOON is written by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair and edited by Rabbi Moshe Newman.
Designed and Produced by the Office of Communications - Rabbi Eliezer Shapiro, Director
Production Design: Eli Ballon
© 1999 Ohr Somayach International - All rights reserved. This publication may be distributed to another person intact without prior permission. We also encourage you to include this material in other publications, such as synagogue newsletters. However, we ask that you contact us beforehand for permission, and then send us a sample issue.
This publication is also available in the following formats:
![[Text Format]](/seasons/5759/..\..\image\ascii.gif){kind=small}
Explanation of these symbols | Seasons of the Moon Archives | This publication is available via E-Mail
Ohr Somayach Institutions is an international network of Yeshivot and outreach centers, with branches in North America, Europe, South Africa and South America. The Central Campus in Jerusalem provides a full range of educational services for over 685 full-time students. The Jewish Learning Exchange (JLE) of Ohr Somayach offers summer and winter programs in Israel that attract hundreds of university students from around the world for 3 to 8 weeks of study and touring.
Copyright
© 1999 Ohr Somayach
International. Send us Feedback.
