To
My Dear Students,
A
man on a "vacation" safari took a pocket-size
television from his backpack, slipped in a battery,
pulled out the antenna, and was instantly connected
to news happening thousands of miles away as a
satellite beamed the latest happenings with brilliant
clarity.
When
the news was over he slipped the battery into
his pocket and put his portable television into
his backpack, which he left on the ground while
setting off to hunt.
Tribesmen
spotted the bckpack and, after sorting through
its contents, came across a strange, rectangular,
suspicious looking black box. They had never
seen the likes of it before. It featured
what looked like a window on it, yet they could
not see through it. They began turning its
dials, pushing its buttons, pulling out its long
metal rod -- to no avail.
Overcome
with curiosity, they brought it to the chief elder.
From its sophisticated look, he concluded that
it must serve some important purpose. Yet,
as much as he twisted the dials, the results were
negative. After hours of fruitless efforts
he gave up and called the wise man.
The
wise man decided that the only way t o unravel
the mystery was to open it up and look inside.
Perhaps the contents would yield a clue as to
its purpose. But the more he studied its
workings, the more it confused him. It was
a jumble of twisted wires extending in all directions
amid all sorts of oddly shaped pieces that made
no sense. It appeared to be a maze of nonsense,
a tangle of knots that had no possible explanation.
After a painstaking examination, the wise man
was convinced that the entire box was nothing
but the work of a madman or fool and served no
worthwhile purpose. The tribesmen nodded
in affirmation at the wise man's inevitable conclusion.
It was decided to return the box to where they
had found it.
There,
they chanced to meet the owner who was delighted
to have it returned. He wondered why they
had taken it since it certainly would not work
without a battery. "Perhaps you can
tell us," said the tribesmen, "why do
you carry this worthless box with you?"
"Worthless
box?" he said incredulously.
"Why, this is the most amazing box imaginable!
With it you can see what is happening throughout
the world. How can you call this brilliant
invention worthless?" They scoffed
at his nonsensical words.
Realizing
they had never seen a television, he invited them
to see it demonstrated and inserted the battery.
The screen lit up and a picture, accompanied by
sound, appeared. The tribesmen could not
believe their eyes. So this was the box
they had all thought was without any purpose.
How much further from the truth could they have
been?
They
had been convinced by logic and reason that the
box was a nonsensical toy, the creation of a madman
or fool. Yet they were now convinced that
whoever had assembled it was a mastermind of the
greatest caliber. Certainly every single
piece and every wire must have a good purpose.
It was certainly beyond their scope of comprehension
to understand how it all worked.
Modern
man is no different from those tribesmen who saw,
but had no idea what they were seeing. Like
them, we search, experiment, examine, apply logic
and reason. And yet, because of our limited
knowledge, we cannot see the invisible pattern
of life and know the inner workings of existence.
Those who say G-d is not at work in the universe
and in our lives are as people who hold a television
that has no battery.
Shabbat
Shalom,
Your
Rabbi
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