The Future is Known

 I was almost about to say that today, we get the first clear indication that H’ knows the future, until I nearly kicked myself in remembering that the Torah has been making prophecies since the very beginning. Literally - the future is known as it unravels, each moment and decision having some impact on the future but also some parts of it being entrenched since the beginning as well. 

Not to ask a rhetorical question, therefore, but how can G-d say to Moshe that the people are going to engage in idolatry in the very near future, and will suffer greatly, but that the song Moshe is about to write will help remind them of their true nature, as even the children will know it?  And maybe also: why?  

And maybe also: which came first?  The knowledge that they would turn to idolatry or the actual idolatry itself? 

G-d, to make another rhetorical statement, knows something about human nature. And yet when we read verses such as this one, the lines between free will and providence seem to be extremely blurred.  G-d, apparently, knows now - before the people have even entered the joys and blessing of Yisrael, that they will eventually leave under cursed circumstances. Then why even lead them there in the first place?  

I once heard that the difference between Judaism and other religions is our goal-oriented nature.  The rabbi who brought this lesson down, first of all, I am not sure if he understood that other religions are as well but even leaving that aside, I am not sure if this is actually where we want to be (and to be clear I am pretty sure he meant bringing along messiah).  Think about the single-mindededness of those who want to bring moshich, those who do the mitzvot in order to get to olam ha’bah.  It reminds me a bit of the Buddhists who claim that they are not goal-oriented but in truth most definitely are, perhaps even moreso than the average Jew.  And I think the discomfort from all of this is that, no, the destination is not the goal.  And what if moshiach never comes?  What if everyone short of that does happen, including the rebuilding of the Third Temple - will see still feel that deep and utter sense of loss and lack of belonging that we’re supposed to feel now?  

It all comes back to Torah for me.  Certainly, and interestingly, there is an allusion to some sort of “end of days” in the prophecy of Bilaam.  And there are obviously prophecies about the numerosity of the Jewish people, and the entering and exile and entering and exile to and from the Land.  And it certainly seems like the entire trajectory of the forefathers is indeed towards this initial entrance, about to happen right now, if entering the land.  But at the same time - I wonder if a deeper look will reveal the incredible unity of echad - that there is no entrance and exit and redemption and exile.  Otherwise, how could we possible say the shema every day with a straight face - proclaiming that all is H’s Oneness, when we still draw dichotomies every where and anywhere.

It’s an incomplete thought, and one with an end result that is deeply disconcerting (that, if true, the worst parts of human history are part of this singularity), but I honestly don’t know how else to see it.  Perhaps this is in fact a great truth - not my own, obviously, but a Great Torah Truth, only accessible to the very most enlightened and elevated in the community.  To experience Oneness all the time, the Oneness of H’ - surely, this is the most Jewish experience there can possibly be!