P S. & N.B. Can you say, turning the right thumb one way, that since your safety and health may be compromised by giving your FULL KAVANAH to the mitzvah when you are on top of the tree, therefore, turning the left thumb the other way, it will be counted for you and to you, nonetheless!
Here's another argument: since the Universe is a PRECEDENT to the owner, being created first, and the Shabbos is a reflection of that creation, and you can violate it to save somebody's life - therefore,certainly the owner can forego the income that you would produce going down and up that tree!
Why don't you just say that you want to do the mitzvah B'Kavanah and B'Shalom - and come down safely and in safety. Whatever it costs the owner, will come out of your pocket. It's just the price you pay for fulfilling a commandment!
Why do you keep harping on the issue of existence and free will? Face the fact that G-D has ABSOLUTE FREE WILL. Now that the Universe is here thanks to His Free Will and action, YOUR CHOICE of what to do, is left up to YOU!
Of course you have FREE WILL! G-D sets up the entire situation - then let's you FREELY CHOOSE, and finally, enacts the REPERCUSSIONS! You can actually do something that was NOT SUPPOSED TO happen! The Creator then DIVINELY REPAIRS the UNDESIRED result - to produce OVERALL GOOD!
You keep using the term SPIRITUAL, and yet you admit that we really DON'T KNOW what it means! How does that make any sense? Perhaps we can look at it like this - we differentiate between PHYSICAL objects and energy OUTSIDE of us, the perceiver - and what we SENSE about the aforementioned, in our MIND! IOW, the spiritual is a reference to NON-PHYSICAL or IDEA BASED awareness and consciousness because of our experience in the world and of the world. In the future State or the World To Come, perhaps there will be a greater unity between these two states, with all the PERFECTION that entails.
Perhaps the idea of BEAUTY you describe refers also to that of Klal Yisroel - where the WISDOM expressed in the multitude of views of its human constituents blends into one harmonious whole! But that means taking each one of those individuals seriously and integrating them with everyone else - REGARDLESS -of his particular proclivities, training, and self-control! IOW, being willing to LEARN from everyone!
Actually the Jewish people at the time of Achashveirosh DID vote for that King, by acquiescing to his claim that Jews no longer need the Redeemer, nor ERETZ Zion!!
Maybe they want to convert O.O HASHEM said you will be examples unto the other nations so they can know of me and my ways. in my personal opinion, HASHEM always trumps the Talmud/ Halakha.
Can't DEDUCTIONS, logical or not, be MISTAKEN? Whereas, PERCEPTION, is usually, INCONTROVERTIBLE (unless there's something wrong with your organs of perception)!
Your brother Shimon, mentioned in one of his videos, that if you do not perfect yourself with the correct choices in this world to become G-D - LIKE, then you invite ANNIHILATION, because the Creator can only exist, (so to speak), with PERFECTION ITSELF!
Isn't one of the signs or THE symbol of ALTRUISM - giving a gift and DOING GOOD to someone, when he DOESN'T DESERVE it? And doesn't G-D want you to imitate this trait?
When you talk about the ESSENCE of things and that we CANNOT KNOW anything OUTSIDE of that - are you not referring to the experience you have in your mind as a result of PERCEPTION? IOW, we posit that G-D is outside of your apprehension of the world,and therefore, UNKNOWABLE by definition?
Don't we say that NONE of the concepts we typically apply to THIS WORLD describe G-D in any way, because we declare that the Creator is OUTSIDE OF that which he created?!
Methinks there is a confusion between OPPOSITES and COMPLEMENTS. The latter can and must exist together, while the former, cannot because of the obvious CONTRADICTION.
Why can't G-D exist and not exist at the same time? It seems possible as far as The Creator is concerned because He is - the ABSOLUTE UNITY OF OPPOSITES! In His world of undifferentiated and diffuse unity of everything - such a contradictory situation is certainly possible! Whereas in our BIFURCATED world, such a unity would be considered CONTRADICTORY.
SPIRITUALLY, you can derive the comment below about introducing a change when Adam and Eve were in the Garden and they were offered a CHOICE - between good, the precursor in Atzilus, and bad - the newly created physical world.
Perhaps G- D created Time in order to produce a - CHANGE, with respect to DISTANCE - both in the physical and spiritual senses. In the DIFFUSE & AMORPHOUS world of Atzilus, everything is one, undifferentiated whole.
When referring to Ishmael and his descendants, who supposedly will do TESHUVA, that is NOT referring to Arab Muslims - because the addition of Islam makes its followers - AMALEKITES! Muhammad was obviously one because he displayed two characteristics we know they supposedly have - and those are: CRUELTY & a willingness to commit SUICIDE- HOMICIDE in order to achieve their WICKED ends!
To the credit of those who founded the modern state of Israel, Ben Gurion did agree to make the official day off - the Shabbos! So you see there is a spark of Holiness in the current Israel!
The ancient Greek mentality and so-called morality is based on pure science which describes and defines what a person perceives OUTSIDE OF himself. The Torah however, posits an an INTERNAL REALITY, and therefore,a MORALITY, of the perceiver and doer!
The idea that someone or people, should serve ANYONE because they do the will of G -D, is repugnant at its core! Rather what we the Jews should be doing, is showing the world how to serve the Creator in each and every one of us, by raising the awareness of the individual to a higher level, using what G - D gave you.
Why should the world THE MATERIALIZE? After all, don't we say and hope for, the Universe that will be perfected after the resurrection of the Dead - where you have the IDEAL combination of the spiritual with the material?
Rabbi Yom Tov Glazer mentions YOUISHNESS, which is developing yourself in and with Judaism. Unfortunately there are still those mostly in the YESHIVISH ENVIRONMENT, who will ONLY listen to what you have to say and allow for personal development - IFF - you follow their established protocol- which is- the sage and his passage or vice versa, NEVER giving your own views. IOW, the statements: I think, I see, in my view,in my opinion - are ASSUR - until 119 years and 364 days of your life steeped in Torah, have passed!
Regarding the Holocaust it's easy to blame the irreligious and the reform. What about how the FRUMEH treat their compatriots - especially the ones who are not as religious or following certain protocols - in ordinary conversation. Many fellow Jews feel like chopped liver or minced meat - almost a total lack of RESPECT!
Why are you diminishing the experience of G-D in this world? The whole point is to use this Universe to experience his ABSENCE - something impossible in the world of MALACHIM!
Isn't it true that the greatest JOY you experience doing a Mitzvah, from either the details of its LAW, or the KABBALAH associated with it - does not compare to the PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL PLEASURE a man gets from being INTIMATE with a woman?
Can't G-D change your Destiny and/or your Fortune for whatever DIVINE Reason he chooses? Are you not supposed to believe in The Creator Himself - REGARDLESS of the human or anything else in the Universe he uses for that belief? If on the other hand, you use a particular human being for whatever reason, as the center point of your belief, are you not guilty in some way, of the worst form of IDOLATRY?
Is the performance of the NEGATIVE and POSITIVE Commandments in that order - meant to FIRST REMOVE any impediments to perfection, and then pursue those methods that actually create and and enhance your INTENDED DEVELOPMENT?
Maybe the combination, or infusion of the soul into the body, is meant to show you how to unite with G-D in the here and now - the Universe as we experience it!
