Description
A Separate Matter – By Pinchas Winston
SEPARATION. NOTHING THAT special about THIS word. It is as much a part of the everyday ordinary vernacular like food, or house, or money. Maybe even less so. If there is anything special about the word, it is unknown to the vast majority of mankind.
In Hebrew, the word might gain more attention. It is “birrur,” and it is the basis of words such as “to clarify—l’varrer,” and “choice—breirah,” etc. Because, when you CLARIFY something, you SEPARATE the irrelevant facts from the relevant ones, and when you make a choice, you do the same. A GOOD decision is the result of a GOOD birrur.
The body does the same thing. Everything we eat is a combination of “good” and “evil.” The digestive system, beginning with the teeth, separates the nutritious parts from the waste, and then utilizes the former while rejecting the latter. This separation process takes place on many levels within the body, and far more beyond it.
When it is all said and done, birrur is the basis of ALL history, because it IS history. It’s Godly too. It’s what God did to make the world in the first place, and our birrur, whenever and however we do it, just finished off what He left undone.
Well, at least it would have been. Adam HaRishon had but ONE choice to make, ONE birrur to execute, and that would have finished off the process of Creation. The world would have been, and the Messianic Era would have begun then and there.
He made a choice, alright. He just made the WRONG one. He chose to listen to his wife over God, who had listened to the snake over God. The result was not only NOT the completion of Creation, but a reversal of many aspects of it. Previously perfected elements of Creation became imperfect, increasing man’s role in the perfecting of Creation.
Or, more accurately, his OPPORTUNITY in the perfecting of Creation, because, whether he participates in the process or not, it WILL get done. The birrur WILL BE completed. Moshiach’s arrival DEPENDS upon it, and he MUST come by a specific time, if not earlier.
The trouble is, not too many people even know about the idea of Birrur, let alone actively and consciously take part in it. It’s a Kabbalistic concept, and how many people learn Kabbalah? And of those who do, how many emphasize the need to focus on birrur as a way of life? Not enough.
It’s always been an important concept. It’s what life is about. It’s how a person earns reward in Olam HaBa—the World-to-Come. But it is ESPECIALLY important now, so LATE in history, so CLOSE to its end. Because like any important process that approaches its deadline, birrur is INTENSIFYING.
It’s the reason why history itself has become so intense, which even the average person has noticed, though they have no idea why, in the ULTIMATE sense. Nor can they appreciate how the decisions they are making today as a matter of personal preference might be dramatically different if they understood what was REALLY going on in history. What they have embraced or rejected, they may later find out, may have actually put them on the wrong side of the “line” when the curtain comes down on history.
Hard to believe?
Just religious intimidation?
Perhaps. But isn’t it worth first understanding what it is that is being suspected and rejected? If it IS true and accurate, AND IT IS, then “better late than sorry” might not work here. In fact, it won’t, at least not without some major miracle. But, who wants to rely on one of THOSE when it comes to surviving history, or making it to the NEXT world? While you consider your answer, we’ll go to the first chapter: Separate WHAT Exactly?
