Today, some philosophers and theologians wrestle with ways to “prove” the existence of God. Others strive just as mightily to disprove it.
For the ancient Israelites, and for the Hebrew Bible, God’s presence was no theological conundrum. God was known, directly and intimately, by His deeds: most concretely, through His interactions with His chosen people.
This was the people He had charged with the mission of carrying His name and His message into the world, and whose redemptive covenant with them, starting with the patriarch Abraham, would remain forever unbreakable.
In voluntarily assuming the privilege, and the burden, of their God-given role, Jews in antiquity, and indeed throughout time, would come to be admired by many, while simultaneously resented, hated, and persecuted by many others.
Among the ranks of determined haters in the ancient world were three of the mightiest empires on earth: Egypt, Assyria, and Rome. In their pursuit of boundless power, each would conquer, subdue, and obliterate many smaller nations. In particular, each attempted to extinguish the Jewish people, and along with them the Jewish idea of God.
But in the end these three great powers themselves-as well as a procession of their imitators down to our own time-have been the ones to totter and fall, never to rise again. Meanwhile, the Jewish nation, which so many have exerted every effort to destroy, has not only continued in existence but has persisted and thrived to this day.
A paradox? A coincidence?
Not at all, argues the renowned Rabbi Meir Soloveichik. In his new four-part video series for the Tikvah Fund, the charismatic scholar and teacher, rabbi of the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States, paints an indelible picture of a people who time and again have surmounted impossible odds. Through their own miraculous eternity, they have come to exemplify-to embody-nothing less than The Case for God.
Each of the four episodes in this brand-new series is brief: under ten minutes in length. And yet from each one of them separately, and from all four together, you’ll gain an eye-opening perspective into the history of the Jews-and into the meaning of one of the most mysterious and most thrilling manifestations of God’s hand in human affairs.
This online series is completely free for you to enjoy and share. Visit www.caseforgod.org to learn more!
13 сен 2020
