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The die was cast. King Achashverosh granted Haman a genocidal license against the Jewish nation. Mordechai was one of the first to learn of the plot and he appealed to Queen Esther for help. Esther explained that it was dangerous even for her to enter the king’s chambers unbidden. Mordechai …

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Home » Va'etchanan

Vaetchanan: Does it Permeate?

Submitted by on July 23, 2006 – 5:15 amNo Comment | 6,714 views

An Echo

This week’s Parsha recounts the Ten Commandments. The Torah tells us that the commandments were delivered in “a powerful voice that was never repeated.” Our sages explain that this voice did not have an echo. Why is the absence of an echo important?
An echo is caused when a voice bounces off a surface, very much as a ball bounces off a wall. The wall forms an obstruction to the forward momentum of the ball thereby forcing it to reverse its course and guide it’s momentum in the opposite direction. The wall and the ball are two separate entities; one cannot absorb the other. Their meeting is by definition ill fated.

No Obstacle

Not so with the word of G-d. When G-d speaks, his voice permeates all of creation. Nothing stands in His way for He is at the very core of creation. When G-d’s voice encounters the surface of a material object it is welcomed and absorbed. In other words G-d’s word is never forced to reverse its course and it always achieves its goal.
If this is true of an inanimate object then how much more so of a human being. When we study Torah we must ensure that G-d’s voice permeates all. Not only intellect and emotion but thought speech and action as well.

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