Faith: Something to Die For - Rabbi Akiva Fox

so we're continuing in our series discussing the 13 principles of faith for 13 principles of emunah we spoke about a little last time that the concept of emunah the concept of faith they're different translations to the word emunah it means faith means trust belief it's also a women's organization started by the world zionist organization in 1935 by the young israel sisterhood in canarsie and in pittsburgh and it has a very powerful belief system we try to better the world but we're not going to discuss that part of a moon but we are going to discuss is a fascinating thought I'd like to oppose it in the following way imagine that you're a rabbi imagine that you are a leader of there's something called the cure of movement which is outreach Jewish out Jewish outreach trying to reach the lost souls of people that have not had the chance to connect with Judaism who don't know much about their faith and you are introducing them or you're helping them acclimate or affiliate themselves with the Jewish faith with the Jewish belief what it entails what it is etc so this is your first meeting and you're trying to give in a nutshell summarize exactly what Judaism is or what belief and faith is so you'd make it all flowery yes there's a God we believe we do MIT's vote we do good things be between man and his fellow Jew between man and God we try to we're loving were kind and we pray and we have a close close knit community these are the type of things that you would say now there's something called the safer haha thus a fraction was written the early times of the rezoning it was written as a fundamental explanation of the 613 mitzvot the 613 commandments that God gave to the Jewish people and one of the mitzvahs that he is describing is the midst of having emunah of the mitzvot of believing and he says all this which is understanding that we have to believe there's a god we have to believe that there is a higher being a higher essence a Creator who wants certain things from the world and there's a destiny for the world as a destiny he chose the Jewish people these are all things that are included in faith and then he sticks in a little comment a little side note that you might want to cover up if you're trying to give over the flowery juicy parts of Judaism which is and there's a big chance that you might have to actually die I'll kiddush Hashem you might get killed for your belief oops this might be something you want to put on the back burner you know what ladies and gentlemen we'll talk about that another time how about next class is everyone why is everybody leaving the room I did I scare anybody off yes you might actually have to die now that's an important lesson it's a very powerful lesson perhaps it's a scary lesson but he insists that this is part of emunah and the reason that is is because as we explained previously emunah is not just a belief system and Munna is not just an intellectual concept or connection and Munna actually means to be faithful to withstand pests and challenges and to in a certain sense prove your faith to be faithful to God is when someone tries to take it away when someone tries to disprove or to argue or to go against your faith that's when you need to be faithful so in truth when the safe route Hannah who wrote this that a person may have to die for what he believes in he wasn't just adding in something that we try to keep on the back burner he was describing the exact essence of the mitzvah of emunah which is to be faithful to Hashem to be faithful to what you believe in and that very well may include dying for God because faithfulness is going to come about specifically when we're challenged specifically when it's hard for us when there's somebody on top of a person fighting his faith making him die for his face that's when faithfulness comes in I'd like to read you the words of reb hersh hersh lived about 200 250 years ago a very powerful deep thinker a visionary in the Jewish people rehearse rights as follows emunah means to hold fast to God to his promise to his law to his grace even though his ruling hand does not show itself in our experience and the fulfillment of his promises seems to live far away even when obedience to his law seems to threaten our own extinction throughout history there have been many people generations leaders who have felt that obedience to God's law or to the mitzvahs as we know them or even to a strict adherence to the misori to the chain of the foundations of Judaism in the way that they have been given over from generation to generation there have been many people that say you know what let's take it a little bit easy on that it's not so important or perhaps it's going to lead us to our own demise it's going to bring us to extinction because people can't deal with that anymore we can't go that far it's too much it's too intense says rehearse that's when emunah comes in being faithful to what you believe in being faithful to God and His mitzvahs and his Torah and his sages and the way that they have given over through generations every single last detail of what we have that is emunah that is faithfulness even if we feel that it's going to lead us in the opposite direction it's going to lead us to our downfall look throughout history there is no flourishing part of Judaism as much as those who adhered faithfully to god and his torah and though throughout the generations there have been many who have tried to uproot us to destroy us to destroy our foundations and to annihilate us through it all through thick and thin there have been those with emunah those who are faithful to God those who are faithful to true Torah Judaism and they have been strong and they still stand strong today that is emunah that is faithfulness but rehearse ads in another fascinating thought he says that even if the fulfillment of his promise seems to be far away even if we feel we are not worthy of his kindness this is also part of faithfulness if we believe that we are not worthy we don't merit the great kindness of a Shem we are not worthy we've done too much we've gone too far we want done too much wrong we've sinned we've transgressed we've been rebellious or for whatever reason that we say I'm just it's it's not going to happen to me I'm not worthy of God's kindness anymore even that says rehearse is not faithfulness because faithfulness is to be aware to remember and to be faithful that God in His infinite mercy and his godly mercy no matter who we are no matter how far we've gone no matter what we've done God will still be there for us and may we be so can we we merit to be there for him that is faithfulness no matter how far a person has gone down know that God is always with him no matter where he is no matter who he is or what he's done God is with you God will stay with you and you have to stay with him that is another aspect of emunah of faithfulness you