FaceBook:
https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157586116578257/
SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/8-one-nation-under-g-d-indivisible-understanding-jewish-unity
Written Notes:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wy8cporw2oyymy2/8.%20Vayeishev%205780%20-One%20Nation%20Under%20G-d%2C%20Indivisible.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: Link
https://youtu.be/sdgnq-oBxHI
---
The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America reads, “One nation under G-d, indivisible,” while the Declaration of Independence declares that, “All men… are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” America went through a difficult journey in understanding the individualities of the states, and the Federal Republic for which it stands. A Journey that culminated with a Civil War, since which the Supreme Justice System peacefully decides which issues are designated for states to decide for themselves, and which issues are for the Federal Government to decide for the entire Union.
In truth, this is one of the primary journeys of the United States of America, as a Union and as individual states, as a nation built upon democracy, to define the parameters in which the individual stands alone, and in which the individual stands as part of a nation. In the democracy and liberty of the individual, we do not deny that the individual is part of a whole nation, with responsibilities and limitations of the individual to the nation. And on the other hand, the nation does not define the entire definition, responsibilities and liberties of the individual, for in democracy, the individual stands also as an island unto his own, with total self-dominance.
So too, in Judaism, and especially so in Chassidus, there exists these two sides to one coin of the individual as a whole unto himself, while simultaneously being part of a greater whole. On the one hand, the individual is called, “An entire universe,” unto himself, while on the other hand, the individual is called but a part of an, “One complete floor,” which is defined that in every generation the individuals of that generation are all part of one human being, with each soul being another organ, limb etc. of that one being. In this lecture, we are going to understand the relationship of one Jew to another, in their individuality and in their unity.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on the 19th of Kiselv, in 1969, exploring the mystical teachings concerning the Jews being scattered among the nations of the world.
