G-d's curse to Adam was that the abundance of Eden will stop and he will be lacking health/wealth/food etc.
For millennia people turned to G-d to ask to fulfill their basic physiological needs. The Torah reminds us numerous times that only pleasing G-d will ensure us all the good stuff and displeasing Him will do the opposite - enhance the physiological distress. Indeed we say it twice a day in Shemah:
"וְהָיָה אִם שָׁמֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ אֶל מִצְוֹתַי ... וְנָתַתִּי מְטַר אַרְצְכֶם בְּעִתּוֹ יוֹרֶה וּמַלְקוֹשׁ וְאָסַפְתָּ דְגָנֶךָ וְתִירֹשְׁךָ וְיִצְהָרֶךָ. וְנָתַתִּי עֵשֶׂב בְּשָׂדְךָ לִבְהֶמְתֶּךָ וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ."
[Otherwise] "וְחָרָה אַף ה' בָּכֶם וְעָצַר אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְלֹא יִהְיֶה מָטָר וְהָאֲדָמָה לֹא תִתֵּן אֶת יְבוּלָהּ וַאֲבַדְתֶּם מְהֵרָה מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ הַטֹּבָה אֲשֶׁר ה' נֹתֵן לָכֶם."
Besides "אם בחקותי תלכו..." or "אם תשמע לקול ה"א..." and more.
The very premise of Judaism (and branching religion s) is that this world is destined for and the purpose of it is to finally get to a world where we don't lack anything - no food, no illness and we all have eternal fun.
The situation has changed drastically in the last century. Most of the western world has already reached the agricultural independence - we don't rely on the skies to provide us with the rain for our crops. Only about 5% of the population work in the field instead of the original 95%. The other areas have also improved significantly - medicine, housing, personal security etc. And the progress continues.
Once our society (inevitably) reaches a level of total assurance of this providence, covering abundant food, housing, perfect health (assuming Moshiach will not come till then), how and why would people keep their religion, because that's what Torah promises in exchange for keeping Mitzvos?
Once this world looks just like the world to come why would people turn to G-d?
No comments:
Post a Comment