The Interview and You Friends, Much ado has been made about the new film The Interview: The threat, the withdrawal and now the release. Taking cue from the Baal Shem Tov’s mandate to see life’s occurrences as teachable moments, perhaps we can decontextualize The Interview hoopla, thusly: People are fascinated with the afterlife- what happens after we exit this world. Two thousand years ago, the Talmud already informed us as to what comes next. It is to put it succinctly: The Interview. Yep- before our next placement is determined, we are all sat down for an interview and the good news is that we have ample time to prep for it because we even know what the questions are. Here’s the quote from the Talmud (Shabbos 31 A). “When they escort a person to their final judgment, the heavenly tribunal asks: 1. Did you conduct your business transactions faithfully? 2. Did you engage in procreation? 3. Did you set aside fixed times for Torah study? 4. Did you await the redemption? 5. Did you delve into wisdom? 6. When you learned Torah did you infer one thing from another? So topping the list is honesty and integrity in our dealings. It is so basic and fundamental to a functional society that without it everything else is doomed to fail. With honesty and integrity you can have healthy relationships, healthy marriages and build families. At the core of a healthy family life, is an assured sense of identity. This we have from Torah. Setting aside time to study Torah, keeps us aligned with our purpose and confers meaning on life. With life’s inevitable trials and tribulations, one must live with hope. We never stop hoping for a better tomorrow. We are driven by the by our mission to bring the world to redemption: an era of global peace, of Divine revelation for which we not only hope but actively anticipate and work towards. To live with real hope and anticipation for redemption, does not happen from living life on its superficial edges. We must delve into life’s meaning and purpose. You know your delving, when you start “inferring” – when you start seeing connections between things that you hadn’t seen before: when your life becomes more holistically organized around central beliefs and wisdom that guide every aspect of your life. January first is not the Jewish year, Rosh Hashanah is. As citizens of a greater society however, New Year’s cannot be ignored. Why not utilize it then as an opportunity to consider how we can make the coming year more guided by “the Interview”. Our lives and world around us will only be better for it. Rabbi Zusia of Hanipoli said: when I stand to be interviewed on high, I’m not afraid of being asked, why weren’t you like Moses, why weren’t you like Abraham? What scares me is hearing: why weren’t you as good as Zusia could have been? What matters most of all is ….. Did you give it all you got? Good Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Ruvi New
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 17:27:50 +0000
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