Standing Tall |
If the route to success is a clear mission statement, the Jewish people are in luck. Every day, we are commanded to bring an Olat Tamid (a “daily” offering). But there’s more: the Torah continues saying that this Olat Tamid is “HaAsuyah Behar Sinai” (ready from the encounter on Mount Sinai).
This verse strongly links the daily actions we take to animate that ancient offering with our prized possession, our Masorah. Every day suggests the Sfat Emet (R. Mordechai Leib Alter of Ger, Pinchas 5600:2), we have the obligation and privilege to raise up the world, each in her or his way.
When humankind sinned just after the dawn of creation, our connection to the Divine was somehow diminished. We had turned our backs on the Divine. Rather than following direct commands, we took another route. Sadly, had we resisted the temptation to follow our own instincts and desires rather than align with the Divine, we would have fulfilled the verse (Psalms 82:6):
אֲֽנִי־אָ֭מַרְתִּי אֱלֹהִ֣ים אַתֶּ֑ם וּבְנֵ֖י עֶלְי֣וֹן כֻּלְּכֶֽם׃
I had taken you for divine beings, attendants of the Most High, all of you;
As Bnei Elyon, in an unsullied spiritual state, we would have remained on an enviable level of closeness to God. Alas, it was not........