Community Magazine February 2014

ADAR I 5774 FEBRUARY 2014 23 didn’t fall off the tree looking like that. It had to be shaped to fit the doorway, sanded, painted, etc. Who shaped it? A carpenter! You take one look and you know it. Nothing could be more obvious. It is precisely the same concerning our Creator. As clearly as the garment testifies to the weaver, the house to the builder, and the door to the carpenter, the world and the universe testify to the Almighty. Opening Our Eyes Nothing could be more evident than the existence of a Creator. Most people walk through life with their eyes shut tight, and fail to see even the most obvious phenomena. Our Torah teaches us to open our eyes and take a really good look. If someone walks in a desert, he may get the impression that no human was ever in that deserted place before. However, if he finds a signature on one of the stones, he knows without a shadow of a doubt that someone was here before. The Creator’s signature is everywhere we look, if we only open our eyes. There is infinite intelligence behind everything in our physical world. Plan and purpose! All we need to do is open our eyes to see it. Let’s start with some other species before we talk about our own human body. Every species on earth has been endowed with a custom made set of tools and accessories to enable that particular species to exist, find food, survive the winter, ward off predators, make a nest and reproduce. The beaver needs to make a dam so that the pond will not freeze over in the winter. For this purpose, it needs to fell trees. Among all species on earth, only the beaver has been provided with two front teeth that serve as hatchets to cut through the trees. Instinctively, it knows how to direct the fall of the trees so that they wind up just where it wants them. The woodsman’s ax needs to be re-sharpened periodically, or else it will become dull and useless. Human teeth once worn down never regenerate. But the beaver’s teeth grow back with their original sharpness. It could not survive otherwise. Beavers have been provided with additional tools for their survival, as well. They store their food underwater, and swim to their nests built on sticks above the water. The following is a quotation from National Geographic : “These large rodents move with an ungainly waddle on land but are graceful in the water, where they use their large, webbed rear feet like swimming fins, and their paddle-shaped tails like rudders. These attributes allow beavers to swim at speeds of up to five miles an hour. They can remain underwater for 15 minutes without surfacing, and have a set of transparent eyelids that function much like goggles. Their fur is naturally oily and waterproof.” They have the full set of beaver tools and accessories. During a visit to my son who lives in Miami, we took a boat tour of the Everglades. At an island in the middle of the swamp, we stopped for a demonstration about alligators. Everyone is familiar with the square bumps on the back of the alligator. Most people think that these bumps serve no other purpose than to make alligator shoes and pocket books, but, in truth, these bumps are nothing less than one of the “alligator tools.” The alligator is a cold-blooded creature. It produces no heat of its own, but merely takes on the temperature of The Desert If someone walks in a desert, he may get the impression that no human was ever in that deserted place before. However, if he finds a signature on one of the stones, he knows without a shadow of a doubt that someone was here before. The Creator’s signature is everywhere we look, if we only open our eyes. The Alligator The bumps on the alligator’s skin serve as solar cells that collect the warmth of the sun and help keep the alligator warm. Since the alligator is a cold-blooded creature, it is unable to produce heat of its own. …WE CAN SEE HASHEM THROUGH HIS WONDROUS WORKS, PRECISELY AS WE SEE ELECTRICITY THROUGH WHAT IT DOES. JUST AS NO ONE DOUBTS THE EXISTENCE OF ELECTRICITY, EVEN THOUGH THEY’VE NEVER SEEN IT, THE EXISTENCE OF THE CREATOR, TOO, IS BEYOND ANY DOUBT…