Elie Wiesel: Unconditional Love for God and His Creation

It is in my faith that love for Hashem should be unconditional.  Therefore, I look up to Elie Wiesel; the man in the picture.  His love for Hashem was also unconditional. 

I am not a Jew (or a Christian), but I loved Hashem first (see * for explanation below), when I was at my worst, and in return He gave me a wonderful life beyond my wildest dreams as a child**. 

At my lowest, in college, I was an atheist addicted to the opiates gliadorphin and casomorphin.  I probably also had severe sleep apnea, because after college I was given a sleep study, and I slept for 45min having 54 apneas in that 45min.  Just imagine getting 1hr of sleep a day on opium for years on end.  I had also been hospitalized for psychosis, and treated with psychotropic drugs.  I worked at a golf course, where one of my fellows dictated, "Craig is the tiredest human being on earth."  While I was suffering greatly, the idea of G-d was maddening.  Then, Hashem spoke to me, an unlocatable voice out of creation that said, "I am punishing you."  I had faith, and boldly (I had nothing to lose that I know of.) retorted back to Hashem, "Why are you punishing me?"  Hashem responded, "I get everyone sooner or later. (Deuteronomy 31:20 chabad.org - ...Then, they will turn to other deities and serve them, provoking Me and violating My covenant.)" So I believed, not because I assumed or demanded He would shower me with gifts, yet I testify divine reward and punishment are real things.  As an atheist, I received divine punishment.  As a believer in Hashem, I was eventually rewarded.  

It is now absolutely a joy to be alive, and I trust that no matter what, I love Hashem in the way that I love my wife, Meghan, and I believe with trust comes blessing. However, with Hashem, like my pet turtle; I don’t love her because she is smart, or because she does anything. She is a turtle, a reptile, and would eat me alive without knowledge of doing right or wrong if I let her. I love G-d in the way that I love creation, big animals, small animals, plants and beyond. There is nothing about creation that I think is appropriate to hate or judge Hashem for.

The answer to problems is love, not love that says if I do this then Gd will give me such and such, but to accept all of His creation, and to observe His commandments, regardless, as Elie Wiesel put on tefillin, as did many others, during the Holocaust. I think sometimes Hashem tests us to see if we actually do love Him unconditionally with a love dependent on nothing.  That may be the reason behind the Holocaust, I don’t know, but I do know the answer is always to love Hashem with a love similar to the love of David and Jonathan, a love dependent on absolutely nothing at all.
Torah that comes to mind (from chabad.org):

***Ethics of the Fathers 5:16. Any love that is dependent on something--when the thing ceases, the love also ceases. But a love that is not dependent on anything never ceases. What is [an example of] a love that is dependent on something? The love of Amnon for Tamar. And one that is not dependent on anything? The love of David and Jonathan.

****Ethics of the Fathers 1:3. Antignos of Socho received the tradition from Shimon the Righteous. He would say: Do not be as slaves, who serve their master for the sake of reward. Rather, be as slaves who serve their master not for the sake of reward. And the fear of Heaven should be upon you.

This is different from Jesus teaching in his "Sermon on the Mount."  It is different because I believe one should seek Hashem first, not the kingdom, and expect nothing in return.

Matthew 6:33 in the Authorized King James Version of the Bible: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

* "Malachi 1:3 And I hated Esau, and I made his mountains desolate and his heritage into [a habitat for] the jackals of the desert. " - chabad.org

** Rambam - Edut - Chapter 13:2
Converts are not considered as relatives. Even two twin brothers who convert may testify on each others behalf. For a convert is considered as a newborn child.

***This is a comparison of my version of ideal love for Hashem.  It is the way David loved Jonathan, and also the way Elie Wiesel loved Hashem.

****This is another comparison of my ideal version of love for G-d.  Serve the L-rd demanding absolutely nothing in return in the way that a good employee shouldn't serve their boss/manager for the sake of rewards, such as money.

On The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Holocaust Understanding

Yanki Tauber writes of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s opinion on the Holocaust that “Only G-d Himself can answer for what He allowed to happen.”

Having spoken with Hashem, I imagine Hashem’s answer for the tremendous suffering of the Holocaust would most likely be something like, “I care very deeply.  That is why I made you suffer.  I was trying to reach you, but when I did you ran away.  I was scared that if I spoke to you, that you would leave Me and that you would run even further in the wrong direction.  I, Hashem, tried everything in my power, except suspend freewill, to get My precious Jews to hearken to my voice.”

What is my evidence that this would be Hashem's answer?

G-d answered me in my time of suffering by saying, “I never thought you would get this far (astray from an upright path. - Thus, I suggest that being "far" from the truth is why the Jews suffered during the Holocaust).”  Then, He told me, “I AM punishing you,” which was music to my ears because I thought that G-d not only did not exist, but that if He did exist that He must not care what is happening to me.  To find that G-d was punishing me to the extent of taking action in my well being meant that He cares indeed!  Thus, the next step was to find out what to do to get G-d to stop punishing me, through changing my heart and my actions primarily to that of love and good deeds.

G-d struggles with empathy for His created beings.  The infinite G=d and Founder of the Universe has no more of a clue what it is like to be human, than we have ability to see things from His perspective.

The article is entitled:  The Rebbe on the Holocaust:  What the Rebbe Said (and Didn't Say) 

About the Holocaust

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/64888/jewish/The-Rebbe-on-the-Holocaust.htm

Note:  This blog is an edit of a blog posted to the webpage Hamilton's Judaism.

The Journey to Eden

Following our seemingly endless slavery in Egypt, on the way to a homeland I call Eden; we encountered a sea of hope, and faith.  The end was almost in sight, but we were unsure of ourselves.  We said, “What if Hashem abandons us?  What if this is all a fluke?”  We had seen miracles, but we had also experienced great horrors.  Indeed, we were scared.

We didn’t yet know if we could trust in Gd, and to this day some of us still question such things saying, “How can a loving and powerful Gd allow something such as the Holocaust?”

We need to dream or Gd can never part the sea for us.

We need Hashem, because nothing short of a miracle is what we should expect when we have the Author of the cosmos on our side.

Utopian Atheism: A Threat to an Age of Peace

One of the greatest threats I see to entry to the Messianic age, what is referred to as the 1,000 years, in the book of Revelation, is the idea of the noble atheist.  “Noble atheists” don’t believe in Gd because they see everything that is bad that has happened in history as the result of human faith; things such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and more recently the Holocaust.  IMHO these horrors have everything to do with Gd, and that there are winners and losers.  The righteous receive rewards.  The wicked are eventually punished or cut off.

The concept “noble atheist” is the idea that if we could just rid humanity of god or God in every way, because there is not Gd according to atheists, then we could achieve some sort of utopia.  This is the ideal to atheists that is unlike other utopias in that it is more like what atheists might term normal living through not associating Gd to life’s ups and downs.

My fellow friends, this is not what Gd wants for us and I don’t believe that He will tolerate all noble atheists, as some of these people, like Christopher Hitchens, will probably just grow angrier and angrier at Gd until their punishments become unbearable, leading them to death.  They won’t even know that the stones thrown from the heavens, nor their followers know that the stones thrown at them from the heavens are due to their deeds because they have wronged the Almighty.

Eventually, Gd will not tolerate the idea of the noble atheist, except for maybe the secular humanist, because these people are cut off from Gd’s word, the Bible.  As Ravi Zacharias said, “Without the Bible, the world would be without a compass.”  Now I know he, Ravi, is a Christian.  However, there are a lot of Christians that do a lot right, and just a little wrong.  I know that I have associated Christianity as being one of the great evils of our world, and that Hashem is the only answer to Christianity, but that is not to say nothing good ever came from Christianity.  Hopefully, Christians will come to see that Judaism is the only way, and that Jesus does not represent, “The way, the truth and the life,” at all for Talmud includes, “Jesus is in hell where he is boiling in hot excrement.”

1,000 years, Book of Revelation, Atheists, Hashem, Christians, righteous, wicked, secular humanism, Ravi Zacharias, Talmud, Crusades, Inquisition, Holocaust, utopia, Christopher Hitchens

The Pathway to Gan Eden: Risk Everything to Attain the Blessing of Hashem

I have commented extensively to the website, www.chabad.org.  Would I run, lie, or say that I was sorry for it, out of fear of people who hate Jews?  Would I choose to follow the pathway to the crematoriums in the Holocaust?  Of course, you should wonder what my aim is in following Judaism, and in claiming to be the Messiah.  Conclusively, I would choose the pathway the most Jewish though perhaps not perfectly.  I have to admit in my own finite mind that there is such a thing as the concept of martyrs.  However, I don't believe anyone dies without cause.  My aim is not to go out with a bang, but to hang around here on earth for a very very long time.  I would probably be disappointed if I only lived to be 1,000 years old.

I choose the pathway I believe Hashem would have me choose because my fear of Him is greater than any pain I might suffer on earth.  My belief is Hashem’s pathway for me is not to the crematorium, but should that change, I would do everything in my power, to save a fellow Jew, preventing the wrong path choice.

The younglings will ever need to be reared; clueless at birth.  I believe each of them will have a chance to meet Hashem, probably in the most dire place in order to ready their hearts, as that is His way of finding loyal followers.

Which direction will be chosen by me or others?  Maybe something I say or do will be of help.  Initially, choosing Hashem’s way will likely be of great difficulty.  Direction change will be needed.  I encourage anyone to risk everything to attain Hashem’s blessing.  The work is well worth it.

The Holocaust Gives Strong Reason Why We Should Fear Gd

Many folks claim that because of the holocaust that they can not believe that Gd is loving.
The faithful say that he was hanging in the gallows along with his precious Jews.  However, the Bible does indicate that fear is an important part of one's relationship with Gd.

From www.jewfaq.org, it is said among the 613 commandments of the Torah that, "To fear Him reverently (Deut. 6:13; 10:20)," is an affirmative commandment for men, and it is counted as the 4th commandment according to Chafetz Chayim's Concise Book of Mitzvot and I'm guessing that it is listed 4th due to its importance to Jews, where faith is considered the first most important affirmative commandment required for Jewish men, but not forbidden to Jewish women.

We have many reasons to fear Gd.  However, for this generation, and hopefully for several more, the power of Gd to allow the destruction his own people should strike fear into the hearts of every man, woman, and student.  This fear is natural, and required.

The question is if those who say, "Never again," are stating it from a secular point of view (likely).  Really, we need for fear that is more than just awe.  We need to understand that we should fear Gd, especially if we choose sin because our deeds are always under the Gd’s magnifying glass.  It is much more important to have true fear because we know that something such as the Holocaust can happen.

If one fears Gd, if he is about to sin, he does not hide it, for he knows that Gd can see him wherever he goes.  And, thus it is such that sometimes folks sin, even those who fear that their very existence it dependent on Gd.  I, myself, know this for at times I have eaten pork.  However, when I have done this, I am quite fearful that Gd will punish me for it.  I can't explain why I have sometimes done it, other than doing so seems to have felt compatible with my animal instinct.  However, it is my hope that I never eat pork again.  And, yes, I realize I may fail at this, and there are other things I may fail at as well, such as masturbation.

Never Again!

If you think having oodles of people is just grand, go to China where there are so many people that there isn’t even clean drinking water.  All seven of its major rivers are polluted.  What you are saying is that a large population is ideal.  Your records record Jews have at times been obedient, but sometimes they have also rebelled.  Was the Holocaust really the last time?  “Never again!” really?  Yeah right!  It was probably said that the Golden Calf incident that that  would be the last time too!  Is it a Jewish tradition to say, “Never again!” in each generation?  Would Gd never allow a Jewish pig sty?  Don’t be naïve!   If Gd allowed the Jews to be as pigs in a sty, it wouldn’t be the first time.  Read your history books.  Put a gun to many-a-Jew’s head and he will toss the cyanide into the gas chamber, just like before.  Wake up!  The more people that there are the more difficult it becomes to keep the sty clean.  Your idealism realized is a dystopia of filth.