AVOTH 6:10 5 WAYS TO SEE G-D IN THE WORLD

[Bernard S. Antin]

G-D the Mishnah teaches has ownership over five things, Torah, Heaven and Earth, Avraham Avinu A’H ,The Jewish Nation and The Holy Temple.,. This is perplexing and simply cannot be taken at face value How could one claim any limit on G-D’s dominion over His creation? Therefore, to be a kinyan, an acquisition of G-D’s implies a special relationship.

The word Kinyan denotes ownership, exclusive control or as Rabbi Yossef Yavetz ZY’A suggests a kinyan is a profound connection, one of desire, delight and joy. These five things listed in the Mishnah are deeply connected and identified with G-D. The Lubavicther Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson ZT’L ZY’A expands on this theme. The Hebrew world Olam, World is connected to Helem, hidden, implying that the nature of physicality serves to conceal the infinite and omnipresent immediacy of G-D’s presence. Each possession listed when examined lifts what is hidden and exposes how truly close G-D is even in hidden places.

The Breslov inspired commentary on Avoth Magen Avoth characterizes these five things as bringing Heaven and Earth closer together. The world was designed for the fulfillment of Torah. Avraham was the first person to find G-D on his own turning around the whole of human history to date (see Avoth Chapter 5:2). Avraham’s descendents, Yisrael are the archetypical human beings, the people for whom the world was created to fulfill and give life to the Torah, letter and spirit. Similarly the Temple in Yerushalyim even during the Second Temple this was place where miracles were a daily occurrence (see Avoth 5:5). Consequently, this place was and remains the focal point for humanity’s spirituality

The Mishnah’s list offers a profound lesson. Even in an Olam a place where G-D’s presence is hidden there those factors by their very being testify of how the concealed nature of Olam is nothing but an illusion, which reveals G-D’s light all the more brightly.