Final Questions – Time Trekking
1. What is “time trekking?” Briefly describe its art.
2. Discuss the implications of the adage, “Redemption comes in the blink of an eye,” as it relates to the service of rega.
3. What does it mean that the world exists in the merit of Torah study? Briefly describe the mechanism by which this is so.
4. Discuss the terms, “revealed good” and “concealed good.” How do these ideas help to explain the purpose (and mystery) of suffering?
5. Discuss the practice of animal sacrifice. What purpose does it serve? How is it different from slaughtering for food? How is it similar?
6. Describe the untangling of energy and sparks that happens when the Kohain leans upon the animal. What is its psychological parallel?
7. Discuss the maxim, “Is it your desire not to die? Die, so that you do not die.” How does this happen in the prayer process?
8. Elaborate upon the statement, “If Chana is our model, then to pour out one’s soul before G-d is not an act of self annihilation, but self assertion. It is the end of a long and arduous process of refining will while still cleaving tenaciously to it.”
9. Why is gratitude the most important trait to cultivate in this world? How does it epitomize the rectification of one’s desire nature?
10. What is the collective soul of Israel, to whom the Shema is addressed?
11. What is the Jewish definition of enlightenment? Explain.
12. Discuss the paradoxical concept of “witness” as it relates to the Shema.
13. In what way are the two verses of Shema a dialogue between unity and multiplicity?