Time and Torah

B"H 

Repeatedly, throughout Torah, we see time being warped and swayed at God's whim.  

As we know, the Torah is not chronological.  It is not intended to be a history book even though, at first glance, it may appear that way.  Rather, it is an emblem - a gift - a sample - a falling leaf - a piece - a preview - a symbol of God's Wisdom.

For example, when debating whether to disclose to Avraham whether He will destroy Sidom and Amara, God decides to discuss the plan with Avraham only because He foresees in the future that Avraham will teach his children well and instruct them to follow in God's ways of tzedaka (righteousness) and mishpat (justice, but I think more appropriately stated as judgment).  

God's Decision is not based on Avraham's actions.  At least not entirely.  Rather, it is based upon Avraham's future actions and, in fact, the deeds of his ancestors.

To God, chronological time is overrated, unnecessary, and a myth.  Time was compacted and forced into some semblance of linearity so that we would not lose our minds living, aging, and growing in this world.  

In my meditation, I try to sense without touching and feel without describing what this mystical time warp feels like.  To me, it reminds me of the Midrash regarding Adam and his ability to see from one end of the universe to the other.  If time was, in fact, laid out on a neat timeline, with the beginning of creation on one side and the "end" of creation, whatever that may be (ideally, studying Torah all day with God serving as our ultimate Rosh Yeshiva) on the other - perhaps we could jump here, and here, and here, from this millenia to that and from this epoch to that - without any regard for needing to follow a straight line.  This surely is why Adam was, according to the Midrash, able to see into the future and do things like donate 70 of his years to David (after seeing he would die in childbirth) or witness the horrific destruction of Rabbi Akiva.

This is why the Torah is so beautiful, so deep, and so eternal.  On the surface, it makes sense in the way that we humans have been taught to like things - as chronological stories with heroes and villains, all moving from the start to the end.  But just scratch the surface - a fingernail on the aluminum film - and see how the Torah can be so sensical and yet so mystical at the same time.  The Torah's ease in jumping from time period to another is just one example of this.  It is why, in so many places including in God's conversation with Avraham, future acts can impact the present without any second thought.

We all know that our acts now impact the future.  But how does the future impact the present and the past as well?