By: Rabbi Yitzchok Aryeh Strimber<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Passover is commonly known as a time to focus on Emunah \u2013 for renewing our belief in God’s existence and in His absolute control over the world (see Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah 21). This theme was demonstrated to the Jews and the entire world through the open miracles which occurred in Egypt and led to the exodus that we celebrate on Passover. The Egyptians suffered ten horrible and unnatural plagues before they finally freed the Jews. These plagues were not just for the mere purpose of punishing the Egyptians for the horrific treatment they gave the Jews. For this purpose they could have suffered in more natural ways. God’s intention was for the Jewish nation to witness these supernatural afflictions, in order to instill within them the recognition of His existence and control over the world. So too, when we celebrate Passover, it’s not just about enjoying our freedom, but rather to instill in ourselves, the recognition of God and His absolute control (see Exodus 10:2). But isn’t belief something we either have or don\u2019t have? What does it mean to instill in ourselves the belief in God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rabbi Noach Weinberg offers the\nfollowing thought: Emunah is not<\/em> about believing. When we use the term\nbelieving, we don’t necessarily refer to something based concretely. One could\nsay for example, “I believe it’s going to rain today,” or “I\nbelieve so and so to be an honest man.” What we refer to as a belief, could\nbe nothing more than our opinion that we have about a given subject. These “beliefs” are usually sourced\nprimarily from our emotions, along with some level of judgement based on a\ncombination of experiences. Emunah is not about “believing.” Emunah\nis about retaining the knowledge passed down to us from our ancestors, and\nsolidifying their testimony as actual facts in our minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This idea coincides very nicely with\nRabbi Avigdor Miller’s definition of Emunah: Emunah essentially really means\n“to stay steadfast”. Emunah is about clinging to the tradition that\nour ancestors have passed down to us. Our forefathers have witnessed the Hand\nof God demonstrated publically without a shadow of doubt. Our parents and their\nparents, all the way up from the time that we became a nation, were honest,\nwise and genuine people. They were not fools who accepted things blindly, nor\ndid they get together and fabricate fairy tales disguised as truth to feed\ntheir children. The challenge of Emunah is to remain in loyalty with the facts\nthat were passed down to us, and not to reject what our forefathers have taught\nus because we feel that we know better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even once we accept the truth of\nGod’s existence and complete control over the world, intellectually, the\nchallenge of Emunah is not over. The trial of Emunah is to keep these facts at\nthe forefront of our minds as an absolute reality. If we don’t consciously pay\nattention to this “knowledge” of Emunah, our awareness of God’s\nexistence and His control will slowly fade, and for all intents and purposes, we\nwill no longer have the “knowledge” of our Emunah with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During in the Yom Kippur war, there was\nan IDF officer who was a staunch atheist. Ironically, he found himself fighting\nalongside a deeply religious soldier. The whole day, as they were fighting, the\nreligious officer would yell out the verse of “Shema” \u2013 “Hear o\nIsrael, the Almighty is our God, the Almighty is one”. This practice\nstarted to get on the nerves of the atheist, and so he turned to his companion\nand said, “Please stop your yelling, you know I don’t believe in God, and\nyour chanting is annoying me tremendously.” In response the fellow said,\n“You fight your way and I fight my way.” The following day, the\nnonbeliever noticed that the annoying screams came to a halt. He looked beside\nhim and saw that his friend was fatally shot. When the officer saw that his\nspecial friend was dying, he suddenly saw everything clearly. He bent down to\nhis wounded friend and started crying. As he did so, he took his friend’s hand\nand said “Please let me die for you, is there anything I could do for you?”\nWith his last strength he answered him, “Swear to me that you will say\nthat God is one instead of me.” The former atheist responded “I swear\nto you by the living God that for the rest of my life I will yell that God is\none and I will tell my children to yell that God is one.” In the words of\nthis precious Jew, “At that point the gates of heaven opened up before me.\nIt wasn’t that I believed that there is a God, I saw God.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what Passover is all about.\nBy discussing and contemplating the miracles that took place, we bring the\nreality of God to the front of our minds. We can’t wait for a particular\nsituation to arouse to within us a moment of truth. We must constantly strive to\nbe conscious of His being, to “see” Him, in our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Rabbi Yitzchok Aryeh Strimber Passover is commonly known as a time to focus on Emunah \u2013 for renewing our belief in God’s existence and in His absolute control over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,2],"tags":[211,323],"class_list":["post-3079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pesach-passover","category-shabbat-and-holidays","tag-passover","tag-pesach"],"yoast_head":"\n