The Akedah, the story of G_d asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, Yiztach, is quite disturbing for most people and causes much unresolved debate about the meaning that G_d is imparting. After studying "The Bahir Illumination" by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan this week, I had an epiphany as I read the normally glazed over line in Genesis (21:18), "...and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies:..."
While reading the commentary in the Chumash, I was focusing on the angels. I was aware that Gabriel, the strength of G_d, destroyed Sodom and Gemorah. I wasn't aware that Michael, who is like G_d, delivered the message to Sara that she would conceive Yiztach, or that Rafael, who has healed, was the one that healed ailing Abraham and escorted Lot to safety. As I was trying to figure out the angels involved, I happened upon the commentary about Hagar leaving Yishmael alone under a tree to die, so she wouldn't see him die. The commentary stated how selfish that was of a mother to do rather than comforting her dying son. Yishmael was truly alone, because even the angels tried to convince G_d to let Yishmael die for the sins of his descendants, but G_d would not judge Yishmael upon any other deeds but Yishmael's. Apparently, Hagar's selfish influence upon him was countered by Abraham's righteous influence.
Yiztach was a different story. Sarah was a righteous woman, so both of Yiztach's parents were righteous. The Chumash commentary stated that Abraham journeyed up to the top of the mountain that Abraham would later call Adonay yir'e (God will see) and Shem, Noah's son, called Shalem (at peace) and we call Jerushalem (yir'e Shalem---will see peace). Abraham journeyed there to sacrifice Yiztach. Father and son had two different missions for G_d. Yiztach was a man, not a child, with his own relationship with G_d. When he asked his father where the lamb was for the sacrifice, Abraham responded, "My son, G_d will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." Genesis (21:8) Yiztach allowed his father to bind him, though he was probably as strong as his father. Yiztach allowed himself to die in this world to serve G_d as Abraham faithfully obeyed G_d, though Abraham's tears fell upon bond Yiztach's eyes.
At the last minute an angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven and said, "Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him: for now I know that thou fearest G_d, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son from me."
"And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven a second time, and said, 'By myself have I sworn, says the Lord, because thous hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son: that I will exceedingly bless thee, and I will exceedingly multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Genisis 21:15-18)
It was then that Yiztach and Abraham had a united mission for G_d. Father and son journeyed down the mountain united in their service of G_d.
Now why did G_d happen to have me reading the section of Bahir this week about gates? So I would see this line that we all glaze over, "and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies;...." The Bahir section 38 in the Bahir Illumination by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan states, "Rabbi Amorai sat and expounded: What is the meaning of the verse (Psalm 87:2), 'G_d loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"'The gates of Zion' are the openings of the World.
"A gate is nothing other than an opening. We thus say, 'Open for us the gates of mercy.'
"G_d said: I love the 'gates of Zion' when they are open. Why? Because they are on the side of evil. But when Israel does good before G_d and are worthy that good be opened for them, then G_d loves them---'more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"The dwellings of Jacob are all peace, as it is written (Genesis 25:27), 'Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents.'"
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains about section 38 in the Bahir, "The main theme here is the fact that G_d has maximum pleasure when evil is transformed into good. Man was given free will so as to overcome evil, this being the purpose of creation. When evil is overcome, this purpose is fulfilled, and this is G_d's 'pleasure.'
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan continues, "In a deeper sense, the more one overcomes evil, the more he makes use of his free will, and in doing so, the more he resembles G_d....In this paragraph, it is evident that the opposite of evil is peace."
So why did G_d give us possession of the gate of our enemies after Abraham and Yiztach faithfully fulfilled G_d's will? They proved themselves righteous and capable of teaching their children righteousness. Abraham and Yiztach were selfless, as opposed to Hagar being selfish, which she would teach her son Yishmael.
What does it mean to possess the gate of our enemies? We can allow our enemies to be evil by being selfish and lacking righteousness and reacting to their evil by opening their gate that we possess. We can also allow our enemies to be peaceful in this world by being selfless and loving them despite their issues and closing the gate of evil of our enemy. We can go one step further and change our enemy to our friend and have no gate of evil to close.
We are vessels of G_d. In order to receive G_d's light, we must give and resemble G_d. We must emanate the light we receive and bring G_d into this domain. It is in our hands and is our heritage to overcome the gates of evil that we possess and bring peace to this world.
P.S. To my blog readers: If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at: https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960 Thank You!
Saturday, November 19, 2016
The Akedah and Gates of G_d
The Akedah, the story of G_d asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, Yiztach, is quite disturbing for most people and causes much unresolved debate about the meaning that G_d is imparting. After studying "The Bahir Illumination" by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan this week, I had an epiphany as I read the normally glazed over line in Genesis (21:18), "...and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies:..."
While reading the commentary in the Chumash, I was focusing on the angels. I was aware that Gabriel, the strength of G_d, destroyed Sodom and Gemorah. I wasn't aware that Michael, who is like G_d, delivered the message to Sara that she would conceive Yiztach, or that Rafael, who has healed, was the one that healed ailing Abraham and escorted Lot to safety. As I was trying to figure out the angels involved, I happened upon the commentary about Hagar leaving Yishmael alone under a tree to die, so she wouldn't see him die. The commentary stated how selfish that was of a mother to do rather than comforting her dying son. Yishmael was truly alone, because even the angels tried to convince G_d to let Yishmael die for the sins of his descendants, but G_d would not judge Yishmael upon any other deeds but Yishmael's. Apparently, Hagar's selfish influence upon him was countered by Abraham's righteous influence.
Yiztach was a different story. Sarah was a righteous woman, so both of Yiztach's parents were righteous. The Chumash commentary stated that Abraham journeyed up to the top of the mountain that Abraham would later call Adonay yir'e (God will see) and Shem, Noah's son, called Shalem (at peace) and we call Jerushalem (yir'e Shalem---will see peace). Abraham journeyed there to sacrifice Yiztach. Father and son had two different missions for G_d. Yiztach was a man, not a child, with his own relationship with G_d. When he asked his father where the lamb was for the sacrifice, Abraham responded, "My son, G_d will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." Genesis (21:8) Yiztach allowed his father to bind him, though he was probably as strong as his father. Yiztach allowed himself to die in this world to serve G_d as Abraham faithfully obeyed G_d, though Abraham's tears fell upon bond Yiztach's eyes.
At the last minute an angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven and said, "Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him: for now I know that thou fearest G_d, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son from me."
"And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven a second time, and said, 'By myself have I sworn, says the Lord, because thous hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son: that I will exceedingly bless thee, and I will exceedingly multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Genisis 21:15-18)
It was then that Yiztach and Abraham had a united mission for G_d. Father and son journeyed down the mountain united in their service of G_d.
Now why did G_d happen to have me reading the section of Bahir this week about gates? So I would see this line that we all glaze over, "and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies;...." The Bahir section 38 in the Bahir Illumination by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan states, "Rabbi Amorai sat and expounded: What is the meaning of the verse (Psalm 87:2), 'G_d loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"'The gates of Zion' are the openings of the World.
"A gate is nothing other than an opening. We thus say, 'Open for us the gates of mercy.'
"G_d said: I love the 'gates of Zion' when they are open. Why? Because they are on the side of evil. But when Israel does good before G_d and are worthy that good be opened for them, then G_d loves them---'more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"The dwellings of Jacob are all peace, as it is written (Genesis 25:27), 'Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents.'"
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains about section 38 in the Bahir, "The main theme here is the fact that G_d has maximum pleasure when evil is transformed into good. Man was given free will so as to overcome evil, this being the purpose of creation. When evil is overcome, this purpose is fulfilled, and this is G_d's 'pleasure.'
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan continues, "In a deeper sense, the more one overcomes evil, the more he makes use of his free will, and in doing so, the more he resembles G_d....In this paragraph, it is evident that the opposite of evil is peace."
So why did G_d give us possession of the gate of our enemies after Abraham and Yiztach faithfully fulfilled G_d's will? They proved themselves righteous and capable of teaching their children righteousness. Abraham and Yiztach were selfless, as opposed to Hagar being selfish, which she would teach her son Yishmael.
What does it mean to possess the gate of our enemies? We can allow our enemies to be evil by being selfish and lacking righteousness and reacting to their evil by opening their gate that we possess. We can also allow our enemies to be peaceful in this world by being selfless and loving them despite their issues and closing the gate of evil of our enemy. We can go one step further and change our enemy to our friend and have no gate of evil to close.
We are vessels of G_d. In order to receive G_d's light, we must give and resemble G_d. We must emanate the light we receive and bring G_d into this domain. It is in our hands and is our heritage to overcome the gates of evil that we possess and bring peace to this world.
P.S. To my blog readers: If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at: https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960 Thank You!
While reading the commentary in the Chumash, I was focusing on the angels. I was aware that Gabriel, the strength of G_d, destroyed Sodom and Gemorah. I wasn't aware that Michael, who is like G_d, delivered the message to Sara that she would conceive Yiztach, or that Rafael, who has healed, was the one that healed ailing Abraham and escorted Lot to safety. As I was trying to figure out the angels involved, I happened upon the commentary about Hagar leaving Yishmael alone under a tree to die, so she wouldn't see him die. The commentary stated how selfish that was of a mother to do rather than comforting her dying son. Yishmael was truly alone, because even the angels tried to convince G_d to let Yishmael die for the sins of his descendants, but G_d would not judge Yishmael upon any other deeds but Yishmael's. Apparently, Hagar's selfish influence upon him was countered by Abraham's righteous influence.
Yiztach was a different story. Sarah was a righteous woman, so both of Yiztach's parents were righteous. The Chumash commentary stated that Abraham journeyed up to the top of the mountain that Abraham would later call Adonay yir'e (God will see) and Shem, Noah's son, called Shalem (at peace) and we call Jerushalem (yir'e Shalem---will see peace). Abraham journeyed there to sacrifice Yiztach. Father and son had two different missions for G_d. Yiztach was a man, not a child, with his own relationship with G_d. When he asked his father where the lamb was for the sacrifice, Abraham responded, "My son, G_d will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." Genesis (21:8) Yiztach allowed his father to bind him, though he was probably as strong as his father. Yiztach allowed himself to die in this world to serve G_d as Abraham faithfully obeyed G_d, though Abraham's tears fell upon bond Yiztach's eyes.
At the last minute an angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven and said, "Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him: for now I know that thou fearest G_d, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son from me."
"And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven a second time, and said, 'By myself have I sworn, says the Lord, because thous hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son: that I will exceedingly bless thee, and I will exceedingly multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Genisis 21:15-18)
It was then that Yiztach and Abraham had a united mission for G_d. Father and son journeyed down the mountain united in their service of G_d.
Now why did G_d happen to have me reading the section of Bahir this week about gates? So I would see this line that we all glaze over, "and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies;...." The Bahir section 38 in the Bahir Illumination by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan states, "Rabbi Amorai sat and expounded: What is the meaning of the verse (Psalm 87:2), 'G_d loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"'The gates of Zion' are the openings of the World.
"A gate is nothing other than an opening. We thus say, 'Open for us the gates of mercy.'
"G_d said: I love the 'gates of Zion' when they are open. Why? Because they are on the side of evil. But when Israel does good before G_d and are worthy that good be opened for them, then G_d loves them---'more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"The dwellings of Jacob are all peace, as it is written (Genesis 25:27), 'Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents.'"
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains about section 38 in the Bahir, "The main theme here is the fact that G_d has maximum pleasure when evil is transformed into good. Man was given free will so as to overcome evil, this being the purpose of creation. When evil is overcome, this purpose is fulfilled, and this is G_d's 'pleasure.'
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan continues, "In a deeper sense, the more one overcomes evil, the more he makes use of his free will, and in doing so, the more he resembles G_d....In this paragraph, it is evident that the opposite of evil is peace."
So why did G_d give us possession of the gate of our enemies after Abraham and Yiztach faithfully fulfilled G_d's will? They proved themselves righteous and capable of teaching their children righteousness. Abraham and Yiztach were selfless, as opposed to Hagar being selfish, which she would teach her son Yishmael.
What does it mean to possess the gate of our enemies? We can allow our enemies to be evil by being selfish and lacking righteousness and reacting to their evil by opening their gate that we possess. We can also allow our enemies to be peaceful in this world by being selfless and loving them despite their issues and closing the gate of evil of our enemy. We can go one step further and change our enemy to our friend and have no gate of evil to close.
We are vessels of G_d. In order to receive G_d's light, we must give and resemble G_d. We must emanate the light we receive and bring G_d into this domain. It is in our hands and is our heritage to overcome the gates of evil that we possess and bring peace to this world.
P.S. To my blog readers: If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at: https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960 Thank You!
The Akedah and Gates of G_d
The Akedah, the story of G_d asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, Yiztach, is quite disturbing for most people and causes much unresolved debate about the meaning that G_d is imparting. After studying "The Bahir Illumination" by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan this week, I had an epiphany as I read the normally glazed over line in Genesis (21:18), "...and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies:..."
While reading the commentary in the Chumash, I was focusing on the angels. I was aware that Gabriel, the strength of G_d, destroyed Sodom and Gemorah. I wasn't aware that Michael, who is like G_d, delivered the message to Sara that she would conceive Yiztach, or that Rafael, who has healed, was the one that healed ailing Abraham and escorted Lot to safety. As I was trying to figure out the angels involved, I happened upon the commentary about Hagar leaving Yishmael alone under a tree to die, so she wouldn't see him die. The commentary stated how selfish that was of a mother to do rather than comforting her dying son. Yishmael was truly alone, because even the angels tried to convince G_d to let Yishmael die for the sins of his descendants, but G_d would not judge Yishmael upon any other deeds but Yishmael's. Apparently, Hagar's selfish influence upon him was countered by Abraham's righteous influence.
Yiztach was a different story. Sarah was a righteous woman, so both of Yiztach's parents were righteous. The Chumash commentary stated that Abraham journeyed up to the top of the mountain that Abraham would later call Adonay yir'e (God will see) and Shem, Noah's son, called Shalem (at peace) and we call Jerushalem (yir'e Shalem---will see peace). Abraham journeyed there to sacrifice Yiztach. Father and son had two different missions for G_d. Yiztach was a man, not a child, with his own relationship with G_d. When he asked his father where the lamb was for the sacrifice, Abraham responded, "My son, G_d will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." Genesis (21:8) Yiztach allowed his father to bind him, though he was probably as strong as his father. Yiztach allowed himself to die in this world to serve G_d as Abraham faithfully obeyed G_d, though Abraham's tears fell upon bond Yiztach's eyes.
At the last minute an angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven and said, "Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him: for now I know that thou fearest G_d, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son from me."
"And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven a second time, and said, 'By myself have I sworn, says the Lord, because thous hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son: that I will exceedingly bless thee, and I will exceedingly multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Genisis 21:15-18)
It was then that Yiztach and Abraham had a united mission for G_d. Father and son journeyed down the mountain united in their service of G_d.
Now why did G_d happen to have me reading the section of Bahir this week about gates? So I would see this line that we all glaze over, "and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies;...." The Bahir section 38 in the Bahir Illumination by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan states, "Rabbi Amorai sat and expounded: What is the meaning of the verse (Psalm 87:2), 'G_d loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"'The gates of Zion' are the openings of the World.
"A gate is nothing other than an opening. We thus say, 'Open for us the gates of mercy.'
"G_d said: I love the 'gates of Zion' when they are open. Why? Because they are on the side of evil. But when Israel does good before G_d and are worthy that good be opened for them, then G_d loves them---'more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"The dwellings of Jacob are all peace, as it is written (Genesis 25:27), 'Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents.'"
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains about section 38 in the Bahir, "The main theme here is the fact that G_d has maximum pleasure when evil is transformed into good. Man was given free will so as to overcome evil, this being the purpose of creation. When evil is overcome, this purpose is fulfilled, and this is G_d's 'pleasure.'
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan continues, "In a deeper sense, the more one overcomes evil, the more he makes use of his free will, and in doing so, the more he resembles G_d....In this paragraph, it is evident that the opposite of evil is peace."
So why did G_d give us possession of the gate of our enemies after Abraham and Yiztach faithfully fulfilled G_d's will? They proved themselves righteous and capable of teaching their children righteousness. Abraham and Yiztach were selfless, as opposed to Hagar being selfish, which she would teach her son Yishmael.
What does it mean to possess the gate of our enemies? We can allow our enemies to be evil by being selfish and lacking righteousness and reacting to their evil by opening their gate that we possess. We can also allow our enemies to be peaceful in this world by being selfless and loving them despite their issues and closing the gate of evil of our enemy. We can go one step further and change our enemy to our friend and have no gate of evil to close.
We are vessels of G_d. In order to receive G_d's light, we must give and resemble G_d. We must emanate the light we receive and bring G_d into this domain. It is in our hands and is our heritage to overcome the gates of evil that we possess and bring peace to this world.
P.S. To my blog readers: If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at: https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960 Thank You!
While reading the commentary in the Chumash, I was focusing on the angels. I was aware that Gabriel, the strength of G_d, destroyed Sodom and Gemorah. I wasn't aware that Michael, who is like G_d, delivered the message to Sara that she would conceive Yiztach, or that Rafael, who has healed, was the one that healed ailing Abraham and escorted Lot to safety. As I was trying to figure out the angels involved, I happened upon the commentary about Hagar leaving Yishmael alone under a tree to die, so she wouldn't see him die. The commentary stated how selfish that was of a mother to do rather than comforting her dying son. Yishmael was truly alone, because even the angels tried to convince G_d to let Yishmael die for the sins of his descendants, but G_d would not judge Yishmael upon any other deeds but Yishmael's. Apparently, Hagar's selfish influence upon him was countered by Abraham's righteous influence.
Yiztach was a different story. Sarah was a righteous woman, so both of Yiztach's parents were righteous. The Chumash commentary stated that Abraham journeyed up to the top of the mountain that Abraham would later call Adonay yir'e (God will see) and Shem, Noah's son, called Shalem (at peace) and we call Jerushalem (yir'e Shalem---will see peace). Abraham journeyed there to sacrifice Yiztach. Father and son had two different missions for G_d. Yiztach was a man, not a child, with his own relationship with G_d. When he asked his father where the lamb was for the sacrifice, Abraham responded, "My son, G_d will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." Genesis (21:8) Yiztach allowed his father to bind him, though he was probably as strong as his father. Yiztach allowed himself to die in this world to serve G_d as Abraham faithfully obeyed G_d, though Abraham's tears fell upon bond Yiztach's eyes.
At the last minute an angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven and said, "Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him: for now I know that thou fearest G_d, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son from me."
"And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven a second time, and said, 'By myself have I sworn, says the Lord, because thous hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son: that I will exceedingly bless thee, and I will exceedingly multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Genisis 21:15-18)
It was then that Yiztach and Abraham had a united mission for G_d. Father and son journeyed down the mountain united in their service of G_d.
Now why did G_d happen to have me reading the section of Bahir this week about gates? So I would see this line that we all glaze over, "and thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies;...." The Bahir section 38 in the Bahir Illumination by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan states, "Rabbi Amorai sat and expounded: What is the meaning of the verse (Psalm 87:2), 'G_d loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"'The gates of Zion' are the openings of the World.
"A gate is nothing other than an opening. We thus say, 'Open for us the gates of mercy.'
"G_d said: I love the 'gates of Zion' when they are open. Why? Because they are on the side of evil. But when Israel does good before G_d and are worthy that good be opened for them, then G_d loves them---'more than all the dwellings of Jacob.'
"The dwellings of Jacob are all peace, as it is written (Genesis 25:27), 'Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents.'"
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains about section 38 in the Bahir, "The main theme here is the fact that G_d has maximum pleasure when evil is transformed into good. Man was given free will so as to overcome evil, this being the purpose of creation. When evil is overcome, this purpose is fulfilled, and this is G_d's 'pleasure.'
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan continues, "In a deeper sense, the more one overcomes evil, the more he makes use of his free will, and in doing so, the more he resembles G_d....In this paragraph, it is evident that the opposite of evil is peace."
So why did G_d give us possession of the gate of our enemies after Abraham and Yiztach faithfully fulfilled G_d's will? They proved themselves righteous and capable of teaching their children righteousness. Abraham and Yiztach were selfless, as opposed to Hagar being selfish, which she would teach her son Yishmael.
What does it mean to possess the gate of our enemies? We can allow our enemies to be evil by being selfish and lacking righteousness and reacting to their evil by opening their gate that we possess. We can also allow our enemies to be peaceful in this world by being selfless and loving them despite their issues and closing the gate of evil of our enemy. We can go one step further and change our enemy to our friend and have no gate of evil to close.
We are vessels of G_d. In order to receive G_d's light, we must give and resemble G_d. We must emanate the light we receive and bring G_d into this domain. It is in our hands and is our heritage to overcome the gates of evil that we possess and bring peace to this world.
P.S. To my blog readers: If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at: https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960 Thank You!
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