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Torah, Moses is preparing the Jewish people to once and for all “alone”: “And Israel shall dwell securely, alone….” (Deuteronomy
leave the slave mentality of Egypt behind and enter, both literally 33:28). The fact that both God and Israel are described as being
and figuratively, the Promised Land and an entirely new level of “alone” suggests a number of profound insights about humanity, in
consciousness. general, and the Jewish people, in particular.
Just as Abraham’s crossing over the Euphrates symbolized his When God created Adam the Torah states: “And God, God formed
break with the pagan culture of his time, the Jewish people’s crossing the man of dust from the ground and He blew into his nostrils the
the Reed Sea after leaving Egypt and then the Jordan to enter soul of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). The Zohar
the Land of Israel symbolized the nation’s leaving the Egyptian explains that when we blow, we expel air from our very innards.
mentality behind forever. As the Jews’ many rebellions against God Applying this principle to God’s blowing, this means that the human
and Moses during the forty years in the desert attest, it was easier soul comes, as it were, from the very essence of God. Since God is
to take the Jews out of Egypt than to take Egypt out of the Jews. fundamentally unique and “alone,” so too each person is unique and
Moses in his final address to the people is trying to inspire the people “alone.”
to finally rise to the occasion and make this transition.
Although human beings are social by nature, seeking out
According to Jewish tradition, God tested Abraham ten times companionship, family, and community, ultimately each individual
(Pirkei Avot 5:3). In the first test (according to Rambam’s count), is born alone, lives alone – wrapped up in his or her own thoughts
Abraham was commanded to leave with his family, possessions, and emotions, and dies alone. Each human being is a self-contained
and the “souls he had made [influenced] in Haran” and go where entity, existentially alone as a result of humanity having been
God led him: “Go out to yourself (lech lecha) from your land and the created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27), for the human soul as
place of your birth and from your father’s house to the land that I an essential part of God shares in the reality of Divine uniqueness
will show you” (Genesis 12:1). In Abraham’s tenth, and final trial, and aloneness. In this sense, being alone is a gift and an opportunity,
God commanded Abraham to take his son Isaac and sacrifice him. yet anyone who has experienced true loneliness can attest to the fact
Echoing the first test, this command also contains the words lech that it often feels more like a curse. In some sense, human beings
lecha (Genesis 22:2). ultimately realize their Divine origins by grappling with the ongoing
reality of being alone.
Just as it is virtually impossible to imagine the enormity and the
psychological stress of Abraham’s last test, likewise it is impossible Just three verses earlier we find one of the main biblical sources 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 20 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:06 | SR:-- | Magenta #24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 20 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:06 | SR:-- | Yellow 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 20 -
to grasp Moses’ feelings as he “went” to take leave of the people he for the Kabbalistic and Chassidic understanding of the soul being
had lead for forty years. Like Abraham, Moses had endured test after “an actual part of God above”: “For a portion of God is His people,
test, and even though the people had constantly tried his patience, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:9). The mystical
he defended them – leading them through thick and thin – even when tradition teaches us that Adam would have been the first Jew but he
God threatened to destroy them. Despite not being able to fulfill his lost this potential when he sinned and was banished from the Garden
fervent desire to enter the Promised Land, Moses still took his leave of Eden. In this verse, Jacob/Israel is portrayed as actualizing Adam’s
of the people with dignity and complete faith in God. initial potential.
When applied to the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, the
concepts of uniqueness and aloneness takes on altogether new
dimensions. Paradoxically, Israel, which was chosen by God to lead
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