Hi,
Here’s a follow up to the last Torah Minute.
About the picture of the Sombrero Galaxy.
My friend who sent it to me said that he “had seen a glimpse of eternity”.
He said something else which I didn’t mention last time.
“It reminded me of what the Bible says.
G-d’s ways and His thoughts are so much higher than ours.
We can’t even know what questions to ask Him”.
… The picture inspired me and I hope it inspired you.
And something else inspired me.
Because my friend is a religious Jew.
And he’s from the former Soviet Union!
… April 12, 1961.
Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet cosmonaut, becomes the first man in space.
And after making the first manned flight out of earth’s atmosphere?
Here’s what he says.
“I flew into space. And did not see any G-d”!
(To be fair to him?
Some people say that he never said it.
That it was Russian President Nikita Khrushchev!)
That was what the Soviet Union stood for.
There is no G-d!
And they set out to destroy religion.
Especially Judaism.
… March, 2007.
The Soviet Union no longer exists!
A Russian Jew sees a picture of the Sombrero Galaxy.
He’s inspired. Sees a glimpse of eternity.
And sees G-d!
… Passover is coming!
The Seder is a great time to think about the miracle of Jewish survival.
About the great empires that tried to destroy us. And are gone.
Including the Soviet Union!
It’s also a good time to share one of my favorite stories.
… A high Kremlin official makes a surprise visit to a potato farm.
He says to the supervisor, “So how is the potato crop this year”?
“Sir. It’s unbelievable. A real bumper crop. If we would pile up all the potatoes?
It would literally reach G-d in heaven”!
The official is taken aback.
“Excuse me. Don’t you know? This is the Soviet Union!
We’ve outgrown that childish idea.
Here we know that there is no G-d”!
The supervisor looks the communist official right in the eyes and says.
”It’s okay.
Because there were no potatoes”!
All the best,