The Futurist
Jun 7th, 2011 by Rabbi Simcha Weinberg in Portion of the Week, Spiritual Growth
Into The Future
Kurzweil reminds me of “Death and the Powers: A Robot Pageant,” an opera in development at MIT’s Media Lab. Simon Powers, an aging inventor, downloads his “essence” into his living room in order to achieve immortality and watch over his family.
It all sounds farfetched to me. Please understand; ‘downloading a personality or essence’ is not what seems so unlikely, although I don’t believe Kurzweil will live long enough for such a computer, nor will Powers ever download his personality into his living room, even if he has all of MIT behind him!
Moses is the Eternal Man. He downloaded his spiritual essence into the Children of Israel. “There is one person in each generation with a spark of Moses in his soul,” teaches the Zohar. In this week’s portion, Behaalotecha, God “downloads” Moses’ prophetic spirit into the Seventy Elders, transforming them all into prophets for one day.
Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz teaches that a true Rebbi shares a spark with, or, shall we say, “downloads part of his essence into,” his students.
Torah is all about downloading: The Torah’s wisdom is never just knowledge. When we study Torah we have an opportunity to upload its spiritual essence into our soul. The Torah “downloaded” its essence into every Mitzvah, and we have an opportunity to “upload” when we observe the Mitzvot.
We may live a longer physical life with Kurzweil’s vitamin program, but we have our own regimen, Torah. We have a choice each time we study, pray, or observe a Mitzvah, whether to simply perform a function or to “upload” the Infinite life that is available.
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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.
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I would like to invite everyone who can access R’Simcha Bunim of Pyshischa sefer “Kol Simcha” on Torah to learn his piece on P’ B’Midbar.(p.84)
The key teaching is in the last paragraph where he explains the midrashic phrase that ‘Here is where G-d is building his ach’sahnia(dwelling place)’: “G-d’s essence hovers in the Torah and it is within the Torah that Man can try to understand how G-d operates.And that is what is meant as ‘G-d’s dwelling place’.”
When we learn Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) every Shabbat afternoon during the summer months, we invariably preface our learning with the recounting of “Moshe received the Torah from Sinai u’m’sarah liY’hoshua…”.Why doesn’t it say v’limdah liY’hoshua?(gave it over to Y’hoshua and NOT taught it to Y’hoshua)
Teaching connotes transfer of information. ‘Giving over’ is so much more than that- it connotes giving a piece of yourself over with the information you impart to your pupil. It is that part of yourself that breathes life into the Torah information you’ve imparted.
And that is why we preface the holy teachings of the great Rebbes of Pirkei Avot with this learning -just as Moshe gave over a piece of himself to Y’hoshua while imparting the Torat Chayim, so these Rebbes gave over their essence for all generations till Moshiakh is coming to ensure the transmittal of ‘Torat Chayim’.
I have been looking to find some of the Divine Prophesies your site advertises… I cannot seem to find them. Where on your site should I look? I thought this blog about the future might have it, but sadly, it is also missing the prophesies
See The Haftarot section on The Foundation Stone; they are the weekly selection of the Divine Prophecies.