Went to a shiur last night aimed at providing spiritual guidance before Rosh Hashana. Rabbi F. spoke about emunah, belief in G-d. He began by stating that the Gemara in Makkot 24 related that Moshe Rabbenu received the Torah from Sinai with 613 commandments. The prophet Chabakkuk (2:4) summarized the entire Torah into one commandment, “tzadik be’emunato yichyeh” (the righteous will live by his faith).
Rabbi F. further went on to explain. In the passuk "Torah tziva lanu Moshe (Moshe commanded us the Law) found in Devarim 33:4 the gematria for the word Torah is 611. Thus, 611 commandments "tziva lanu Moshe" were commanded by Moshe, while the first two were uttered by G-d.
Chabakkuk was able to reduce the essence of the commandments into one area - that of emunah in the Creator. I recall reading an article about how belief in G-d encompasses all the other commandments. If an individual believes in G-d and believes that G-d is just, then he has faith that whatever occurs in his life is destined and that G-d has given him the tools tailor made to the individual to live his life. The wife that he was given, the house he lives in, the amount of money he earns is what G-d has determined that is suited for a particular individual. Therefore, a person will not steal or commit adultery or be jealous of someone else because he has utter faith that there is a reason Hashem bestowed certain things to one individual and others to another.
There is no reason to be angry with someone for causing you grief because, for some reason, you were meant to go through this period of sadness. Just as you wouldn't shoot a postman for being the bearer of bad news, so, too, you shouldn't shoot the individual who G-d determined should cross your path that day, for the good, or for what we, in our limited human understanding, believe is bad.
Rabbi F. summed up his speech with a Yiddish phrase. "A Yid uun emunah is nisht a Yid.' A Jew without faith is not a Jew. Those words are a mantra playing in my head today, and hopefully, the words will continue to inspire me as I experience feelings of jealousy or bitterness or encounter travails in my life.
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