Holy Sparks
The
Lubavitcher Rebbe teaches:
The Talmud offers the following
explanation for the phenomenon of galut: "The people of Israel were exiled
amongst the nations only so that converts might be added to them."
On the most basic level, this is a
reference to the many non-Jews who, in the course of the centuries of our
dispersion, have come in contact with the Jewish people and have been
inspired to convert to Judaism.
But Chassidic teaching explains that
the Talmud is also referring to souls of a different sort that are
transformed and elevated in the course of our exiles ... It is to this end
that we have been dispersed across the face of earth: so that we may come in
contact with the sparks of holiness that await redemption in every corner of
the globe.
So how does the northern kingdom find it's way back? We know that the Lost Tribes have assimilated into
the nations that they were exiled to. They have become, for all practical
purposes, Gentiles. When they return, however, what halacha do they
follow? Will it be a standard conversion process where each individual is
absorbed into what ever tradition of Judaism they are sponsored into. Some
Sephardic, some Ashkenazi, some Chassidic, etc.
The prophets don't indicate that will be
the case. In Ezekiel after the vision of the valley of "dry bones" it
says:
Ezekiel 37:16
... Now Son of Man, take for
yourself one piece of wood and write upon it, For Judah and for the Children
of Israel, his comrades; and take one piece of wood and write upon it, For
Joseph, the wood of Ephraim and all the
192
next page