See more creative Shabbat candle ideas Shuli Kleinman shared the following in her blog this week: "Hashem is
unfathomable but He wants to have a relationship with us in this world. Thus He creates something, a portion of light,
a Name for Himself through which we can relate to something that He desires
from us, which is that we love and fear Him and know that He is all there
is." And along the same lines, I read the following paragraph this week, and it answered some lingering questions for me. Here, see what you think - ALL IS PREDETERMINED EXCEPT FOR YIRAT SHAMAYIM [FEAR AND
‘SEEING’ OF G-D] "Of course we have free will and we can trace things that
happen in our lives to our actions and choices, but on a deeper level superceding
our actions and choices there is predetermination happening in our lives. The
only thing that is truly in our own realm of influence is our ability to see
that G-d is doing it all, and to have awe and amazement at that fact." Rabbi Yitzchak Schwartz And finally, this quote from my JewishAmerica email on Parashat Vayeshev this week, "Furthermore, when things look dark, G-D may drop clues to let us know that he is with us. Picking up on these clues can give us strength and encouragement to deal with crisis." |