Monday, November 22, 2004

reflecting on #6 again

All I'm doing is re-inventing the wheel. I'm 100% certain that wiser and more knowledgable people have thought and even recorded these ideas many times over the centuries. It's just that I'm learning all this for the very first time. And as you know, t'hilim and kohelet were both written thousands of years ago. But I like to learn and especially think, and these two books are the greatest fertilizer for parched minds.

King David and his son King Solomon actually have an awful lot in common. They came to the same concludions.
  1. There's nothing wrong, to be afraid of, when experiencing "bad" things
  2. The good and the bad are connected
  3. G-d is always with us, no matter what's happening

We start with the father. In many of the t'hilim (there are 150), it's written/stated that "after sorrow comes joy." I'll take one of the best known, among those who "bench" on Shabbat (say the prayer after eating on Shabbat.) On Shabbat we preface the prayer with T'hilim #126, which starts with the term "Shir Hama'alot. A Song of the Ascents." I apologize for the translation; I checked in a couple of places, and nothing sounds like real English, and the Hebrew has some "not-everyday" words. I'll try to combine to make it more comprehensible: 5-Those who sow/plant in tears will reap/harvest in joy. 6- Though he goes on his way weeping, he who carries the (heavy) weight of the seed, he (the same one) will return in joy, carrying his sheaves.

These same thoughts/predictions/observations repeat in others, such as chapter 30, line 6: For His anger is for just a moment, His favor for a lifetime; weeping may tarry/stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

From here we get to one of the most famous passages in all of Kohelet. "There is a time..." Difficulties and tragedies help us appreciate the good we have, and sometimes we only realize it's good because of the difficulties we've experienced.

We won't have food/fruit/grains if we don't schlep the seeds, till the soil, plant, irrigate etc. And it is very hard work. Sometimes G-d punishes us, but it's not forever. Yes, "there is a season" for it all.

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