I personally resonated with chapter 19: Verse 31 from Leviticus. The mitzvah stated here says, "Do not turn to ghosts and do not inquire of familiar spirits, to be defiled by them: I the Lord am your God". This specific verse stood out to me for a multitude of reasons. One being that, Since we have been in Israel, my spiritual connection with God has gotten much closer. Because of this I feel as though I now have a stronger obligation to strengthen my belief in God by praying more often. Another reason that I believe in this verse is because I often find myself focusing on the negative things in situations, and not that that is "turning to ghosts", but I feel that I need to have more belief in myself and have more self confidence and not turn to "ghosts" in my life. This verse reminds me to look through a more positive lense and to keep my belief in God.
I chose this picture that I took when we were snorkeling in Eilat. It represents chapter 19:verse 31 because it reminds me of a ghost. Its translucent as if it were a ghost. It lets light in, Just as God gives us light, but its blurry because I believe that he still is just a guiding source. The water represents the fact that just like we need water to survive, I feel that God is a necessity to believing in Judaism.
I think the passage about ghosts is a good reiteration of how we are supposed to view avodah zara in Judaism. We often think of idol worship as a conscious decision to stray from the religion, but in reality much of what avodah zara is, is putting value into small things like imps and devils. A lot of ancient religions, like druidism, and some that still exist today, still have belief in spirits, good and bad. The purpose of the commandment, I think, is to eliminate all of that and put complete faith in Hashem as the all-powerful. There is no place left for spirits.
ReplyDelete-Noah Arnold
This is a really great post! I totally agree with how you interpreted the commandment. In addition to avoiding avodah zara, the ghosts in our lives an be things that that are personal to us. These can also keep us from strengthening our connection to god. It is so important to eliminate both types of ghost and spirits in order to have the best connection with Go and Judaism. The picture is a great representation of both ghosts and the unclear view of life and the world that can be seen when ghosts and spirits are involved.
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