Timeless Torah

Beraisa - R. Meir: "Shema Yisrael Hash-m Elokeinu Hash-m Echad" -- intent is required until here.
(Rava): The Halachah follows R. Meir.

RECITATION OF THE FIRST VERSE
Beraisa – Sumchus: One who prolongs the word "Echad," his days and years are lengthened.
Rav Acha bar Yakov: This refers to prolonging the "Dalet" of "Echad."
Rav Ashi: One must be careful not to rush (swallow) the "Ches" in order to prolong the "Dalet."
(Talmud, Brachos, 13b)

What is kavana of the heart? Is not kavana/intent (focused thought) a function of the mind?
What is the significance of lengthening the daled; of not swallowing the ches?

He made a world of contradictions, at their nexus, a world is forme.
Neither can exist without the other: Being and not being, infinity and finitude, light and darkness,
giving and withholding.
They are mere modalities - He Himself is none of them. He mixes and matches them at whim.
Paradox is our window to beyond.

There will come a time when the night will shine, when death shall live, when the wolf will lie with the lamb.
But the night will still be night, death shall remain death, a wolf will be a wolf.
(Daily Dose…Tzvi Freeman)
Others sages present a paradox in order to resolve it; the Rebbe often builds up the paradox - and then demonstrates how this sustained tension is the underlying element of many issues in Torah.

In our world, these are opposites. Even in the spiritual where there is greater harmony, they remain distinct.
These opposites stem from the very first two elements that make Creation possible:
1) The Creator's Infinite Power to Be and Cause Being (oir/light) Name: Havayeh
2) The Creator's Infinite Power to Withhold Being (tzimtzum, vessels). Name: Elokim
Only in G-d's Essence are these two absolutely one. Indeed, His Essence is neither of those.
It is this Essence that will become obvious within our world near the conclusion of its history. At that time, opposites will coexist.
Example: Hillel vs. Shammai.
Rebbe: A third era (the resurrection of the dead) when the halachah will be like both of them.
We cannot conceive of such things because it is contrary to the nature of existence as we know it.
But we can conceive that it is possible.
Precedent: Holy Ark which took up space and did not take up space.
Other precedents much closer to home:
We trust in G-d that whatever He does is for the good, while praying to Him to save us from harm.
We understand G-d to be the Prime Cause of all things, yet rush to save a person from misfortune.

How did G-d create such a world? A world, by definition, is a reality other than G-d. Yet creation from nothing demands that G-d be immanently there to sustain it. In other words, G-d must be here and not here at once.
That's okay, because G-d is not something that is or is not.
Is this absurd and irrational? NO!
Limitation is only another of His fictions. He is not limited by His fictions, just as we are not limited by the characters of our own dreams.

Shma: Understand (although you cannot) that your limitations (your being rooted in Elokim) comes from that which transcends (Havayaeh).

Would it spoil some vast eternal plan…If I were a Wealthy Man? (Fiddler on the Roof)
The proposition that the foundation of the cosmos would be shaken in some way if Tevye should come into a few rubles is clearly absurd, or so it would seem. In fact, it would spoil some vast eternal plan.

Misconception: size matters, and if bigger is better, infinite is best.
Tevye's first mistake is shackling G-d with the limitation of infinitude. The term "infinite" defines a property, and it is, therefore, no less restrictive than "finite".
The fact that the Almighty has chosen to create, sustain, and relate to a puny, frail, mortal creature such as Tevye, indicates that he is of great importance to G-d.

Tevye's second error is his assumption that the "vast eternal plan" is modular, consisting of interchangeable, disposable parts.
Creation is a form of language. Consider the verse Shma Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. Substitute one letter and the entire story changes.
Talmud (tractate Taanit): Divine Presence answered "Elazar my son, do you wish that I destroy the universe and reconstruct it so that you can perhaps be created in a time favorable to prosperity?"

Must we live lives of rigid predestination, locked into roles demanded of us by the vast eternal plan, prisoners of our own indispensability? We can not, after all, expect the Almighty to restructure creation in order in order to adjust to our individual desires?
Consider prayer. A prayer is really nothing less then a request to the Almighty to reconstruct the universe. We are not only entitled, but obligated to submit it. We are not only characters in the Divine Drama, we are co-authors.
With each positive act and subsequent revision of the Divine script, we advance ever closer to the final draft.

"G-d is One" (His Essence) means that there is nothing apart from G-d. Nothing exists outside of Him; everything that we perceive, every particle of existence, is nothing but a veiled manifestation of G-d.

Aleph, Chet and Daled. Aleph, which has the numerical value "one," refers to G-d Himself. Ches, numerical value "eight," signifies the seven heavens and the earth. The third letter is Daled, numerical value "four," which denotes the four directions of the horizontal plane: north, south, east, west.
Don’t swallow the ches: Don’t forget the purpose of your soul’s descent through the realms.
Lengthening the daled means taking to heart that the world in all its dimensions is really an expression of the infinite oneness of G-d.
By keeping G-d's commands in our daily lives, we draw the Divine Oneness into the world, into every detail of our physical existence. G-d rewards us by granting us long and fulfilling years to do our job.