The Sinning Has Not Ended

This week we learned about Bnei Yisrael's sins in Perakim Bet-Hay. First, the pesukim describe the ideal world in which all the people accept Hashem as G-d and as a result, there is no war. All the people have to do is repent and recognize Hashem as their one and only G-d. Of course, it can't be that easy. Man at this time was not able to recognize G-d's superiority. Man believed that he was the source of his own success. Man is haughty. The king disobeys the rules G-d set for him by owning too much money and too many horses. He also praises his own glory and doesn't realize that G-d is over him. The people try to control their own futures by seeking out fortune tellers and soothsayers. The people don't realize that only G-d has control over their lives and no human can predict their futures. The leaders of Bnei Yisrael were corrupt. They were leading the people astray. They sinned with words and actions and did not repent. G-d reminds the people that their leaders are the ones causing them to sin. As Bnei Yisrael is sinning excessively, they still are not aware of their leaders' corruption. The women dressed immodestly and were desperate for attention. They would wear bells on their shoes just to attract some men. They walked with outstretched necks as if they were superior to everyone else. The peoples' values were skewed. They were obsessed with pleasuring themselves and had no desire to change their ways.

As a punishment, the land will be destroyed. G-d will cause other nations to come and destroy Israel and no one will be able to save them.

Call me crazy, but everything written above seems to be happening in our world now as well. The people don't recognize G-d's superiority? That is a major issue for the secular people and the Jews as well, especially in this generation. I know from speaking to many Jews from all over that young Jews are having faith issues. They are not able to connect with G-d and recognize that He is omnipotent as well as past generations have. Many Jews are no longer observant due to their lack of faith. It is becoming a real problem in the Jewish community. This lack of faith and recognition of G-d is causing the people to do things that are not accepted within our religion.

Ok, so I guess the haughtiness of the king thing might not be happening now. I doubt Obama (not a king, but still our leader) is swimming in cash right now due to some other issues and as far as I know his horse count is pretty low. Of course, there have been revolutions in other foreign countries because the people are sick of their dictators and rulers taking all of their money for themselves.

The women are desperate for attention and are dressing immodestly. That sounds about right. Women all over in this generation feel the need to dress skimpily in order to get the attention they desire whether the attention is positive or negative. They might not be putting bells on their shoes but they have definitely found some other fun ways to get themselves the attention they want from the men.

I'm not making generalizations but they are definitely many people people these days with skewed values. Only a couple days ago the American ambassador and two of his security guards were killed in Libya. We just commemorated 9/11, a day in which 11 years ago terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers killing thousands of innocent people. There are shows dedicated to investigating crimes and finding psychotic serial killers which aren't far from reality. Although the majority of the population are not insane killers, a great number of people still do not have the correct morals and values.

The truth is we are still living in a time when the people are sinning. We look back onto the time of Yishayahu when all the people had to do was repent and recognize that Hashem is the G-d and there would be peace. There would be no wars and maybe even the ideal world that G-d had planned before Adam and Chava. If we all repented now and served G-d then maybe we could have that ideal world. It's an interesting thought. It's unfortunate to think that our world is so far from ever being the type of world that G-d had envisioned. Corruption is spreading, people are being killed in cold blood, and Hashem is not acknowledged as the universal G-d. We can only hope that G-d has mercy on us and does not punish us too severely. We are already in exile and waiting for Mashiach. If we have to convince the rest of the world that G-d is omnipotent then we might be waiting for a long time. The people did not listen to Yishayahu then when they needed to; if only the people would listen to us now.