Subliminal Encounters

It happens all the time despite the fact that I am trying so hard to keep my past lifestyle out of my present. It’s those old movies and TV shows which are so deeply-rooted in my head that I feel like they are there to stay.  On a positive note, we can use our previous experiences and memories for the good and since we can’t change them, we can at least use them to uplift ourselves into a more spiritual sphere.
 
One such movie from the late 70s was actually written by none other than the renowned Jewish Director, Steven Spielberg.  Of course, he didn’t realize his neshama (soul) was speaking to him, so rather than creating a spiritual movie we ended up with a science-fiction flick about aliens. This popular film, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, is about a select group of people who were getting mysterious messages from outer space which influenced their lives and directed their movements. Each person saw a picture of the same mountain in his or her mind’s eye, all the while searching for it physically from various locations throughout the country. Hundreds of possessed individuals converged at the foot of the mountain, united, strangers with a common goal.
 
It would be spooky if we thought for one moment that it was true, if we believed that intergalactic beings had the ability to enter our thoughts and control our actions. As we all know, this is impossible.
 
Yet, would it be so sinister if we really did receive concealed messages and these thoughts subconsciously controlled our lives in a different way? Not if these ideas came from somewhere familiar, a place close to our hearts. If these still small voices which originated in Heaven were sent directly to our inner soul it wouldn’t be frightening at all. It would be comforting because those feelings would be part of us.
 
This is precisely what has been happening over the last 35 or 40 years in what is referred to as the tshuva movement. For no explainable reason, thousands and thousands of non-affiliated Jewish men and woman have sought out and returned to their eternal heritage. Why is one young man in New Jersey, a middle aged mother in Canada and a University graduate in France all drawn toward the same objective? It is the tiny spark of HaShem which burns within each and every one of us, illuminating our own true path.

If you are reading this right now, chances are you are searching for something as well. We cannot be content within ourselves until we discover our unique purpose and live by it. Jews and non-Jews alike need to fill the gaping emptiness that materialism and the secular world leaves in our souls.
 
Two significant moments in the film bear striking similarities to two of the most pivotal events in the journey of the Jewish People.  The scene where the crowd is standing at the foot of the mountain reminds me of the wondrous day that our Holy Torah was given at Mount Sinai to the gathered congregation. This occurred after Moshe came down from the mountain where he had already learned the Laws straight from Hashem Himself. “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet G-d; and they stood at the nether part of the mount” (Shemot-Exodus 19:17). It was here that the chosen people received the Ten Commandments, the first decree being “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”.
 
In the motion picture, a spacecraft arrived at the mountain and several humans are subliminally directed aboard to be studied by the aliens. At a future date they are returned, having been thoroughly analyzed by the creatures. Judaism doesn’t require kidnapping a person to gain facts about existence. Wisdom is passed down from devout people whose source of knowledge comes directly from the Torah and the spiritual world.
 
In the book “Gateways to Strengthened Belief” by Raphael Williger, we discover something quite amazing. Many well-known Sages had witnesses testifying that their insights were acquired directly from Heaven. Some, such as the Besht (the Ba’al Shem Tov) were on such a high level that not only could they cause their soul to ascend to the Upper Worlds but they merited to learn with Eliyahu HaNavi (Elijah the Prophet). Those Tzadikkim (righteous) who were worthy of these extraordinary incidents “heard clear instructions to follow G-d’s ways as described in the Torah. They also had revealed to them many of the Torah’s mysteries and the ways of G-d.” (page 35)
 
At the end of the movie, in quite a dramatic portrayal, one primary character voluntarily goes into the spaceship with the aliens to permanently make their (imaginary) planet his new home. In my humble opinion, this draws a parallel to aliyah, ingathering of the exiles (kibbutz galuyot). How many thousands of people are choosing to build a new home in a distant Land? In the ‘final chapter’ prior to Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash, Hashem promised to return the Jewish exiles to their homeland, Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, “on the wings of eagles”. In these days of modern aviation with such organizations of Nefesh B’Nefesh, this has already become a reality.
 
We pray each day in day in Shemonah Esrei, “Gather us together from the four corners of the earth. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who gathers in the dispersed of His people Israel” so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that it is indeed materializing.
 
We can see from the above comparison of the movie to real life that the entertainment industry is built on falsehood. People use their G-d given talents and inspiration to pass off twisted versions of reality in the interest of economic gains. Man-made fabrications give us nothing but fleeting, artificial enjoyment that stick in one’s brain. If we want to be genuinely fulfilled, the best source of enlightenment is discovering the truth of Torah and Mitzvot (commandments).
 
May we each be privileged to witness the true Redemption of our people, coming soon to the newly rebuilt Sanctuary in Jerusalem – May it be speedily in the coming days, amen.