To make bourbon you have to lose a good fraction to evaporation -- the so-called "angel's share". That's inevitable... it's just the way the world is. I, however, have proposed that the process of making bourbon is a pretty good analogy to making a Jew. That is, fresh soul is breathed into physical body, allowed to age for several seasons -- with inevitable losses/suffering -- and finally you get that beautiful, perfected fusion of body and soul that lives forever in exquisite joy. One may very well ask... if the goal is that perfect being, why didn't HaShem create that straight on, instead of creating the ingredients and environment and making us go through all this suffering first?
Before you jump all over me and tell me to just bag my analogy, let me push back on the statement that it's just inevitable that bourbon takes so long... that's the way it is. When HaShem first created the world, though, that is most certainly not the way it was. How do I know? Adam HaRishon (the first person) was created on Friday afternoon and was meant to straight into the world to come after going through Shabbos. Shabbos begins with making kiddush, which is recited over a glass of wine. Apparently the process of going from the effluent of squozen grapes to wine happened in moments and not months. What happened?
The פלא יועץ (or here, if you want to see it online) in his chapter on tshuva (it's all alphabetical -- alephbeisical for you frummies -- so easy to find any topic) says that sins between you and your fellow man cannot be expiated without making amends. Making amends has two dimensions. The first dimension is obvious; reinstate the victim to his original state. That means return the stolen goods, or get him his job back, or restore his good reputation; whatever you damaged needs to be restored. The second dimension is to go to the injured party and offer appeasement; apologize, take him out for a beer... whatever it takes to restore your relationship.
The פלא יועץ makes a point of stressing that the appeasement must be performed even when the victim states clearly and honestly that he bears to ill will. Making appeasement it seems, is for the perpetrator and not for the victim. By doing something bad, we have incorporated some badness into us, and that badness needs to be excised. How did that happen? It happened with the first sin... when Adam HaRishon (who is the source of all of us) invited that devious angel known as the יצר הרע/evil inclination inside ourselves. By bringing that angel inside, we brought all sorts of downfall to the world. It's not enough to restore the property to our victim, we have to excise that character trait that led us to do something criminal to a fellow Jew in the first place.
HaShem created a world where we could have walked straight into perfection, but we choose to make things more challenging. When we did that, we brought the whole of creation down with us. That's our angel's share. We invited him in, we have to escort him out; that's the work of this world. We took the job (to our regret), now we need to pay our debt.
Before you jump all over me and tell me to just bag my analogy, let me push back on the statement that it's just inevitable that bourbon takes so long... that's the way it is. When HaShem first created the world, though, that is most certainly not the way it was. How do I know? Adam HaRishon (the first person) was created on Friday afternoon and was meant to straight into the world to come after going through Shabbos. Shabbos begins with making kiddush, which is recited over a glass of wine. Apparently the process of going from the effluent of squozen grapes to wine happened in moments and not months. What happened?
The פלא יועץ (or here, if you want to see it online) in his chapter on tshuva (it's all alphabetical -- alephbeisical for you frummies -- so easy to find any topic) says that sins between you and your fellow man cannot be expiated without making amends. Making amends has two dimensions. The first dimension is obvious; reinstate the victim to his original state. That means return the stolen goods, or get him his job back, or restore his good reputation; whatever you damaged needs to be restored. The second dimension is to go to the injured party and offer appeasement; apologize, take him out for a beer... whatever it takes to restore your relationship.
The פלא יועץ makes a point of stressing that the appeasement must be performed even when the victim states clearly and honestly that he bears to ill will. Making appeasement it seems, is for the perpetrator and not for the victim. By doing something bad, we have incorporated some badness into us, and that badness needs to be excised. How did that happen? It happened with the first sin... when Adam HaRishon (who is the source of all of us) invited that devious angel known as the יצר הרע/evil inclination inside ourselves. By bringing that angel inside, we brought all sorts of downfall to the world. It's not enough to restore the property to our victim, we have to excise that character trait that led us to do something criminal to a fellow Jew in the first place.
HaShem created a world where we could have walked straight into perfection, but we choose to make things more challenging. When we did that, we brought the whole of creation down with us. That's our angel's share. We invited him in, we have to escort him out; that's the work of this world. We took the job (to our regret), now we need to pay our debt.
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