aSTronauTS and eMpireS

Yoseph Janowski

Ateam of astronauts from various countries, including the US and Russia, recently traveled to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX rocket. It has been described as a truly international undertaking, especially during these tumultuous geopolitical times.

Meanwhile, down on planet earth, regimes and empires are struggling to deal with dramatically intense internal and global challenges. Polarization in the US is threatening the nation's ability to remain vibrant and united. Russia's war in Ukraine is giving rise to growing discontent among Russians, to the point that many question how long Vladimir Putin can retain power. On a wider scale, the war is causing severe energy shortages for Europe just as the cold winter temperatures arrive, as well as economic and food instability around the world. China's economy is slowing for a number of reasons, including COVID shutdowns, which are causing severe hardships for the nation. Iranians are demonstrating against their oppressive regime. Though there have been similar demonstrations in the past, the current unrest seems more organized, pervasive and widespread, leading many commentators to posit that it may overthrow the government. These are just a sampling of the many issues confronting nations these days.

So there is this contrast, between the chaos among the people on earth, and the blissful aloofness of the people in space.

I like to think of spacewalks, videos of astronauts floating in the vacuum of space, with the vast reaches of the galaxy forming an endless, magnificent background behind them and all around them.

It reminds of the image of an embryo, simultaneously cocooned in the womb and floating free. It also helps me imagine what a soul might be like, before descending to earth, close to G‑d, floating in some divine, ethereal space.

Even though space is also part of our physical world, it serves as an apt analogy for the difference between heaven and earth. Earth has a hard, rigid, materialistic feel. Space reminds us of heaven, of the freedom and openness of the metaphysical. But only on earth, in a physical body, can the soul experience a revealed joining of its essence to the Divine essence. And that, in a nutshell, is why we’re here.

We live and struggle with this duality on a daily basis. The only respite, besides some blessed moments of prayer and meditation, is Shabbat, when we attain a kind of peaceful solitude, rising above everyday life. After Shabbat ends, we recite the Havdalah the separation prayer, and praise and give thanks to G‑d Who “separates between the seventh day and the rest of the week, between holiness and the mundane.” The Rebbe teaches that He separates between holiness and the mundane in order to bring the holiness into the mundane. Indeed, the Rebbe often blessed people with the expression: “May you have blessing and success, materially and spiritually, and materially and spiritually together.” The ideal objective is not only to experience spiritual heights and to appreciate the Divine blessings in the material, but to experience materialism and spirituality as one reality.

The level of awareness, being in a place of equanimity and oneness, attached our essence to the Divine essence, healing all wounds and uniting each individual within himself/herself, and all individuals together. But what about global turmoil?

In the second chapter of the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has a disturbing dream that he can't remember. G‑d reveals the dream to the prophet Daniel, and Daniel relates to the king both the dream and its interpretation.

In the dream there is a statue with a gold head, silver arms, a copper stomach, and iron legs. The feet and toes are a combination of iron and earthenware. A stone comes off a mountain, strikes the statue at its feet, and the statue crumbles. The stone becomes a mountain that fills the earth.

Daniel explains that the gold head represents Nebuchadnezzar himself. The other elements – silver, copper, iron, earthenware – represent the subsequent kingdoms that will follow. The last one represents a divided kingdom consisting of iron and earthenware. The iron will mix with the earthenware, but they won't stick together. Then G‑d will establish a kingdom (represented by the stone from the mountain) that will overrun the others and last forever.

Some commentaries specify that the silver is analogous to the kingdom of Media and Persia. The copper is Greece. The iron is Rome (where iron developed and propelled the Western Industrial Revolution. The earthenware is Ishmael. And though Edom will eventually mix with Ishmael, they will not cleave together. The fifth kingdom that will last forever will be the kingdom of Moshiach, a time when G‑d's glory will fill the world, bringing global peace and prosperity for all.

Sometimes it seems like this type of reality is a distant dream, but on the other hand we can also see signs that perhaps this time is very close. Indeed, when we open our eyes to current events, we see how the Almighty is orchestrating a better world. Autocracies are dealing with immense challenges, which is weakening their alliance (including their alliance with North Korea). Iranian protests, beside weakening the rulers, are adding pressure on the US and Europe not to sign a nuclear deal with Iran, since it would provide funding to a tyrannical, murderous regime. Israel has discovered vast energy reserves beneath the Mediterranean Sea, at a time when Europeans need energy. With so many countries wanting to benefit from Israeli energy and technology, relations with the Jewish state have improved greatly, while the BDS movement against Israel has mostly fallen flat if not completely failed. Numerous Arab countries, afraid of Iran, have forged alliances with Israel, while certain Arab enemies (like Syria and Libya) have become weakened by internal conflict. These are just some of G‑d's tremendous kindnesses these days, guiding us toward a secure, peaceful, and prosperous world.

At this time of year, we are challenged to carry the inspiration of the High Holidays and the joy of Sukkot and Simchat Torah with us into the rest of the year – to fuse the holy with the mundane, the spiritual with the material. This consciousness of experience of oneness not only brings meaning and Divine blessings into our personal and collective lives, it opens us up to manifesting a world in which all is truly One. EM

Yoseph Janowski lives in Toronto, Canada.