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122

NUMBERS | 28:19 offering — NUM346 Earlier, we referred to an act of free wil...

NUM346 Earlier, we referred to an act of free will as a truly creative act. What is it we are creating? The very important answer is that man is creating himself. A person's character is never complete. Until a person's very last breath, his self is constantly in the process of developing and changing. At every age and at every stage of development, an individual's own personality, as so far formed with his habits and attitudes, restricts the range of choice and influences further development. The self, however, can sit in judgment on his own personality As so far formed and can disapprove and can decide to change it. Character-building may be the most important area of human creativity. Noting a difference in the wording of the Rosh Hashanah law, which says to "make [yourselves] an offering" instead of the usual "bring an offering," the rabbis interpreted God to be saying: "on Rosh Hashanah I consider it as if you are making yourselves" [this verse]. It has been noted that the "I"--the human self – – – is most intermittent and erratic. It is elusive and transitory. No other organism known to man can recite the apparently simple first-person pronoun "I" and comprehend it significance. Both the divine Anokhi and the human "I" are best known by their actions. But from the outside we only see activity without an actor. Both create worlds, and both are mysterious sources of self-creation. The "I" must always create itself. Kant showed that all proofs of God's existence are flawed, and Descartes was unsuccessful in proving the existence of the "I". As per subjectivity, both can only be known from within. But the human "I" does appear in response to the moral challenge of a given situation. Only in the moment of moral decision, when the "I" makes a choice , engages in a struggle, and assumes responsibility, it is, through and through, "I"; is it all self, spiritual and free (Israel Efros, Ancient Jewish Philosophy (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1964), pp.120 and 132).

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Source KeySPERO
Verse28:19
Keyword(s)offering
Source Page(s)269-70

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