Children of HaShem, your G-d

(Deuteronomy 14:1)
Av 29, 5776/September 2, 2016

"You are children of HaShem, your G-d ." (Deuteronomy 14:1) We all know that we are the children of Adam, who was created by G-d and in whom G-d placed the breath of life. But now G-d is calling us His children. He is not just our Creator, but we are His sons and daughters. This is certainly an 'upgrade' in our status. A creator can create and move on. A father is present for us. Always.

A second, unprecedented reality is introduced in this week's Torah reading of Re'eh: We are informed, for the first time, of "the place which HaShem, your G-d shall choose from all your tribes, to set His Name there." (ibid 12:5) How can it be that G-d "will choose?" Does G-d not already know the precise location of "the place... [which He]... will choose in which to establish His Name there?" (ibid 12:11) 'Choice,' the ability to exercise free will, is a gift that G-d bequeathed to man after Adam chose to live in a world in which choosing good over evil became an imperative to survive physically and a necessity to flourish spiritually. But G-d Himself cannot 'choose' to do good or evil in the world. G-d 's will IS the world. What is happening here? And why?

Torah provides for us a clue, a bit of foreshadowing, in the opening word of this week's reading, "Re'eh," which means, "See!" If we recall, nearly a thousand years earlier, G-d had an encounter with Avraham, the father of the nation of Israel, and with Avraham'sson Yitzchak, whom Avraham was commanded by G-d to make of him an offering to HaShem. In the aftermath of the incident known as the binding of Yitzchak, (in Hebrew, the akeidah), we are told that "Avraham named that place, 'HaShem will see,' (in Hebrew, 'HaShem yir'eh'), as it is said to this day: On the mountain, 'HaShem will be seen,' (in Hebrew, 'HaShem yeira'eh')." (Genesis 22:14) In this one place on earth, in which we are told that G-d 'changed His kind,' that He rescinded His order to make ofYitzchak an offering, Avraham immediately recognizes that a two-way relationship, a'see and be seen,' true, fatherly, loving commitment has been established... for all time. When G-d tells us "Re'eh - See!" in our parasha, He is telling us that the distant time that Avraham foretold concerning his children's children, has arrived and is now being actualized by G-d .

From this moment forth, G-d has truly purchased for Himself a place in man's world. For sure, G-d has shared encounters with the nation of Israel before. Mount Sinai still represents the ultimate G-d -man encounter, in which G-d bends the heavens just enough so that He can lower His presence just enough to be within speaking distance of Israel. The desert Tabernacle was the ultimate expression of G-d 's desire to be with Israel throughout all the vicissitudes of space and time, of redemption and exile... of history. But when G-d declares that He will "choose the place to set His name," by assuming, as it were, the human ability to choose, G-d is creating a permanent "place"for Himself in man's world, a place permanent both in time and in space, way beyond our temporal, finite world, yet a place so close that G-d and man together can "see and be seen!" G-d has raised us up from His 'created beings' and has adopted us as His children. And to become our father, G-d has diminished His presence just enough to fit into our world. Just as Avraham binded his own will to G-d 's will at Mount Moriah, ("the mountain of G-d seeing"), G-d has now, by 'choosing,' binded His will to our world of choice, of choosing blessing over curse, good over evil.

-The Temple Institute