But the answer itself raises numerous questions. What is the Eternal? Does
it mean I must believe in G-d? How can one have a relationship with pure abstraction,
with this vast, intangible concept of Creator, with the Transcendent? How
does one create a program for sustained growth in this area? Where is guidance
to be found? How does one avoid complacency? It happens sometimes that I feel
a momentary flash of that relationship, but how can I direct the process myself,
make it a regular and dependable experience? What does this have to do with
being a healthy, happy human being?
This learning program addresses exactly those questions. If you take the lessons seriously, and carry them out precisely, you will reap innumerable rewards. These procedures have been tried and tested for millennia. In every geography, culture, and conceivable set of life circumstances, Jews have studied and practiced Torah, and found it relevant. From Sinai to our modern technological world, from Greenland to Africa, from the bastions of wealth and aristocracy to the death camps of Naziism, Jews have practiced Torah. Its wisdom is inexhaustible; its power to sweeten even the harshest circumstance is unsurpassed. Study each lesson carefully, until you know exactly what it means. Then put it into practice. Give at least a week to the work outlined in each lesson. Make haste slowly.
A word about the stories (some of them from the Talmud, and others from later writings) which will be quoted in these lessons: Stories need not be taken literally. They serve in Jewish tradition as a teaching device, with many deep concepts couched in symbol and parable. On the other hand, the story is not to be discounted as only a parable. As the Rogitchover Rebbe enigmatically said of the midrashic and chassidic stories: "Whoever says they could not be true is a heretic; whoever insists that each detail must be literal is a fool."
One last technical point: Many people have expressed discomfort with writings that use the generic "he." To accommodate these readers, even-numbered lessons will use generic "he", while odd-numbered ones will use "she." Starting now.
