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Philosophers enjoy debating as to the nature of reality. However, their musings are rarely relevant to the common man. Scientists limit reality to what our senses and their instruments can detect, and while highly practical, their contemplations do not address the needs of the soul.

Judaism has generally taken a holistic view of reality, encompassing body and soul, this physical world as well as a spiritual plane. The Kabbalists go into intense detail providing sophisticated constructs as to how the spiritual world functions, how it interacts with the physical and the various relationships this engenders.

The Sfat Emet in 5631 (1871) explains that reality is malleable, and that the shaper of reality is none other than ourselves. He learns this from the Torah and the relationship between God, the Torah and human beings. He claims that everything (whatever that means) is in the Torah and that man can reach all (again, subject to definition) solely based on his earnest willpower.  And the reality-creating willpower is really faith. Depending on the strength and focus of one’s faith, he is able to determine, able to define the reality of the world around him.

May we develop strong faith and build a worthy reality.

Shabbat Shalom,
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Rabbi Ben-Tzion Spitz is the former Chief Rabbi of Uruguay. He is the author of over a dozen books on Torah themes, including a Biblical Fiction series. He is the publisher of a website dedicated to the exploration of classic Jewish texts, as well as TweetYomi, which publishes daily Torah tweets. Ben-Tzion is a graduate of Yeshiva University and received his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University.