To understand God we must suspend all human methods

 

However in God’s kindness he has taught us through the Rebbe and the Rebbes of previous generations how he behaves.

 

By understanding this we can come to terms with an acceptable understanding of how reality works which will give us tranquility serenity and confidence in the G-dly way.

 

The Zohar teaches us that everything that happens has three stages: intent, action, result.

 

First there is God’s intent, say for you to elevate a spark of Godliness in some distant country (in fact the story is told about a Chabad Chossid who was told by the Rebbe Rashab to try to get the tender for the trans-Siberian railway line to provide the czarist government with wood, which was his business; but because he didn’t want to go to Siberia, dilly-dallied in his pursuit of the tender which was then given to someone else; then some kind of libel came out against him and all his connections in the government helped not and he was sent in chains to Siberia; in his cell before he left, he called the Rov of his community Reb Dovid Tzvi Chein telling him that the Rebbe Rashab had told him to go – “obviously I have a mission to achieve there – the Rebbe wanted to send me as an honored business man but now I am going in chains” – in fact we know that our forefather Jacob was privileged to go down to Egypt, a welcomed guest of the viceroy his son, but had this positive method not occurred, God would have sent the Jews into exile in chains as he has done; so every step of our lives is preordained, as the Baal Shem Tov teaches, that sometimes the entire purpose of a business trip – in which one profits nothing, so why did God have this occur? – was for a Jew to elevate a spark of Godliness somewhere; the Previous Rebbe thought to himself in prison, why am I here and concluded that there were sparks of Godliness he needed to elevate, in fact this is why the Rebbe teaches that Moshiach is ready to come, because the purpose of exile was to transform the nations of the world’s evil into goodness, a process that took the ethical Jews by force, usually, all over the world, which has already been completed) so here we see God’s intent; and actions are necessary to fulfill the intent; and then the results automatically are achieved.

 

However cautions the Zohar, do not think that you understand God’s intent.

 

As the Baal Shem Tov teaches us, sometimes you may be bothered that someone wants to chat with you, taking you away from your lofty spiritual endeavors, this is the intent of God.

 

In other words, we do not know God’s intent, only God’s reality, which obviously is for a loftier intent than anything we can possibly do.

 

This is the secret of Judaism.

 

The first commandment to a Jew Abraham, was “leave all the goodness, the thousands of people you have converted in Haran and go to Israel” and Abraham immediately left.

 

Did Abraham know why – no, but he knew that God’s intent is loftier than his, and though he was leaving goodness, he left.

 

Similarly, when Abraham was told to slaughter his own son, something he campaigned against – the barbaric practice of molech, of children sacrifices that was normal then – he listened, for he understood that God’s intent, though unfathomable and in fact evil, was of course fathomable, lofty and good to God.