Portion of the Week; Bereshit 42-5, Rabbi Chiel

early days yet is a lot although i'm only eighteen days i saw it in the days off it's illegal the bible was read in the synagogue with rabbinic commentary this evening we're rabbi samuels feel spiritual leader of the conservative congregation all the malvern jewish center in malvern long island my dear friends there is an urgent need in a world of changed uncertainty and crisis for men to seek out the spiritual resources that are available to them

those resources that remain true andy moore told and vital in every generation what is the greatest resource that is available to each of us i think it's the bible itself because i think the bible speaks to every man in every generation if only he would but open it and study it and ponder well its message tonight i should like to discuss ways you one of the great verses of the bible it is a verse that is found in the first chapter of the book of genesis verse twenty seven and it says and god created man

in his own image here we have the culmination to the entire creation story first we're told about the heavens and the earth as they are created and in the animals and the plants and finally we reached a man the ultimate in god's creation this first does not mean i'm sure you recognize that god has human for and if we look like him or that he looks like us not at all what this means is this the teacher man has been endowed with a part of god that is unique to land that is called the soul which differentiates us from the rest of creation therefore man alone can speak and think can question and it can hold and the spare

can pray and believe this first doesn't mean that we're like god and god's perfection know we human beings have the qualities of the animal as well we are creatures of anger and lost and hostility and greed but unlike the lower forms of life we can overcome these qualities because our so our conscience the stools small voice within us struggles for expression and it's up to us to listen please note dear friends that this person is god created man one man why not to why not a hundred why not a million why not populate the earth more quickly and and sooner

rabbis give several interesting answers to this question each of which increases the dramatic impact but this verse first they saying to teach us that whoever destroyer is a single soul it is as if they destroy is a complete world god created one man the rabbis tell us to emphasize each man's dignity it's ryan's preciousness intro as in geology and if we harm or destroy even one man we are harming the whole world and how do we destroy it and harm man or we destroy the man

and a human creation called war we wipe out entire populations we destroyed mantra the testing of weapons poisoning the atmosphere for generations to come in some societies we destroyed man by enslaving them by controlling their minds and by filtering their spirits when we permit man to die of starvation or disease of ignorance we destroyed him event in our own affluent society we harmed by other man constantly by our gossip our rumors hour during a person apart our verbal ain't did exempt can't send insults are yes there are many ways to destroy and to harm human life

but what is our task on this earth this is found in the second part of that rabbinic statement which says that whoever's saying is a single soul it is as if he has saved a whole world our task says this verse is to oppose war to protest nuclear testing to hate tyranny of any kind to fight mendoza year olds to record our fellow man the dignity he deserves to make ever clearer the image of god upon his creatures because he who saves one soul it is as if he has saved the whole world then the rabbis give a second answer to the question

why god created only one man and they save in order that no man shall never be able to say to another my father was better than your father the verse says it's unequivocally like it or not insure buses descended from one man dhs was created by the same god isn't this what the great struggle in the united states is all about to date isn't it over this very same issue isn't this why there are army troops patrolling oxford mississippi today because the governor of the state of mississippi and some of the white citizens of that state are saying together with him to a man by the name of james meredith our father is better than your father

and therefore you can't go to the university you can't have an education you can't expect the rights and privileges that belonged to us my dear friends for a long time in our country the white man has been adding a word to that biblical verse reading it as if it said and god created the white man in his image the white man has been saying to the negro in this country for a long time my father was better than your father because he was why does your father was black therefore you will have inferior jobs and inferior schools inferior neighborhoods inferior opportunities and having done this having deprive the negro is god given dignity

a white man then has the gall to point at him and say see how ignorant he is more that islam is seeing how shiftless lay z and on ambitious the negro is but my friends the negro has been raiding this biblical verses well and now finally he is asserting his human dignity and what is our choice we can either align ourselves with the big it's the reactionaries or fearful and fight or losing hopeless and unjust battle against the negro or we can say to him we will help you in your struggle we will welcome you to our schools to our neighborhoods in your quest for greater opportunity and

greater freedom because we will say we know that our father is not better than your father the divine image is as much a part of you as it is of us and the rabbis conclude and say that god created one man so that each person will say to himself the world was created for my sake put another way what this means is that each person was so lived his life that god's creating him shall not have been a waste and his first air force says to you and me i dare not look out upon the world and shrug my shoulders and leave the major tasks of life to others but it must

accomplish something worthwhile with my own life if the divine image is to become visible through me it must constantly improve my own spiritual pattern becoming more ethical scientists or you i must do my share in the struggle of decent people against a lot of this world i must fulfill my responsibility in treating every man as a child of god it must ever achieved it must never keep the image of god upon my countenance and i must never held that to shine forth calculus of every human being

you have been listening to portion of the week the bible was read in the synagogue with within a commentary this evening you heard rabbi samuels feel spiritual leader of the conservative congregation of the malvern jewish center in malvern long island the counter for a portion of the week his allies a combine all the congregation that's a long outings day in brooklyn new york basra it in the days on the it's the wrong lies on saturday allowing is alden aires mayor off that buzz aldrin they are more human body all mad about all game unity

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