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Rabbi's Blog

Thoughts and Musings by Rabbi Yossi Zaklikofsky

Divine vs. Tech Surveillance!

 

Remember the good old days when you would be speaking on the phone about a vacuum cleaner and minutes later, while scrolling through Facebook, you would see vacuum cleaner ads “recommended for you”?

Now it seems like the tech-algorithms are closing in on us, on the next level! Where I’m literally afraid to even think about a vacuum cleaner.

Sounds unbelievable but tech-surveillance has basically reached a point where it can actually anticipate and track our very thought.

An age-old Mishnaic teaching describes G-d as having: “An eye that sees and an ear that hears”. In 2022, this idea is no longer an abstract verse, but a very relatable concept: It’s called “Divine Surveillance”. If our devices know our every move, certainly our Creator does too!

Let that sink in… and let us realize how empowering it is: Your truth will never go unnoticed by G-d, because He knows your every thought, and sees the entire picture. Not just the end result that everyone else sees, but the backstory as well. My inner struggle, and everything else going on inside of me, G-d knows it all!

From that vantage point, G-d values and appreciates our good deeds infinitely more!

Do You Imbibe?


Have you ever wondered why the words “Boruch ata Ado…” are often followed by a ritual sipping, eating, crunching, dipping or shaking of some sort? 

Why aren’t the words of the blessing meaningful enough to stand on their own? 

It’s because Judaism is not just a belief-system of sound-bites or slogans, but rather an all-encompassing value-system that needs to permeate us to our very core.

Before the Jews left Egypt, they needed to not only offer-up a Paschal Lamb to G-d, they needed ‘to eat it too’.

Therefore “Boruch ata…” will always be followed by an action to remind us that these words have a message that we must imbibe and integrate into our lives.

So the next time you are at a Shabbat dinner or a Seder and you find yourself chanting and sipping, remember that beyond the lip service, there are actual values of holiness, redemption, and faith, that are there for you to “take in” and absorb into your life.

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