In a lecture given by R' Yossi Bensoussan, he quotes a speech that a rosh yeshiva of a yeshiva in Israel says to the boys:
"Do you know why I'm religious? I'm an olam ha'zeh'nik. I love this world; I love the pleasures of this world. Because I'm so into physical pleasure, I am a religious Jew. Because if you do this, i.e. Torah and mitzvos, and do it right, you will never feel so high or elated in your entire life. Anyone who tells you they are religious because of the next world is fooling themselves and fooling you.
“I am religious because of the pleasure I get out of it in this world. Of all the materialistic pleasures of this world (and I wasn't always religious), religious life is most pleasurable. As it says “ashrecha v'tov lach” - ashrecha in this world and tov lach in Olam Haba. We don't know anything about the next world, but we know this world."
Interesting, isn't it? I'm old school. Olam Haba does mean a lot to me. I have heard numerous lectures by Rabbi Avigdor Miller z'l who spoke so much about preparing for the next world, though he too urged people to be happy in this world by seeing what a wonderful world G-d created. So I don't accept that rabbi's statement that Olam Haba is not a real reason that motivates us to be religious. It is not the only reason, but it's a reason!
to be continued
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I did not grow up frum and at a recent family simcha (an upsherin) some non-frum relatives attended. Their day to day lives are not all that meaningful. It is basically divided between work and entertainment, with shopping as a form of entertainment. I could see the happiness in their eyes as they held the babies and little children since their world has so few of those. We turn a haircut into a family gathering with deep religious meaning and they go back home to a vacuous existence. The same little upsherin boy was fighting with his little sister the next day and I told him that because he was a Kohen, his hands were holy and he must use them to bless his sister so he put his hands on her head and repeated the bircas Kohanim. This little three year old understands that something that he can't see happens when he says that bracha. Maybe on a very deep level, he understands that in Olam Haba, his words have great meaning.
ReplyDeleteI think that our understanding of Olam Haba is limited but we do know that it exists and that while we live on earth for several decades, Olam Haba is forever. We basically have a short time to prepare for the forever.
So beautiful - what you told him and what he did!
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