THE PERFORMANCE
As we find ourselves in this season of the holidays we must won-der how they connect to one another and what is the understanding of their progression. Perhaps we can return to the model of our orchestra. On Rosh Hashana we establish our commitment to participating as active participants in HaShem’s symphony.
Continue reading Ha’azniu 5780ALL, AROUND THE TABLE
Eleven weeks ago when we embarked upon our journey into The Three Weeks of mourning, we read the haftorah from the first chapter of Yirmiyahu. Before launching into his warning of the impending destruction of the Bais Hamikdash and the subsequent exile, Yirmiyahu tells us that HaShem remembers the love that we demonstrated when we initially left Egypt. He remembers the love of our “kilulosayich” which is translated as bridal period. We left our home and followed HaShem into the desolate desert not knowing what we will eat, where we were going, how long we would travel, we just left every semblance of permanence to follow our Beloved. It was the greatest demonstration of our trust in Him. Just as the bride places her complete trust in her groom that he will pro-vide, we placed our entire trust in HaShem that He would provide. This trust and the closeness that it expressed will be remembered and cherished by HaShem in spite of the impending exile.
Continue reading Ha’azinu 5778THE TIE BREAKER
When HaShem judges the world there are two tracks of judgement. There is the tzadik (righteous) track and the rasha (wicked) track. When HaShem judges a person He identifies on which track the person is. Rambam explains the method by which HaShem defines people as being a tzadik or a rasha is by stacking up their good deeds against their bad deeds. Whichever one outweighs the other defines the person as either a tzadik or a rasha. Rambam continues to explain that it is not the number of deeds that establishes the status but rather the size of the deeds. There are good deeds that although are small in number nevertheless are so great that they outweigh the negative deeds and vice versa. In the event a person’s good deeds and bad deeds are equal then it depends; if he does teshuvah he is counted among the tzadikim and if not, not.
Continue reading Rosh Hashanah 5781UNCONDITIONAL AND ABSOLUTE
Our Sages teach us that the Esrog represents the one who has both Torah study and good deeds, the Lulav represents the one who has Torah study but lacks good deeds, the Hadassim represent the one who has good deeds but lacks Torah study and finally the Arava represents the Jew lacks both Torah study and good deeds. These four types of plants are brought together and held in the hands of every Jew as he celebrates his Succos holiday. The imagery can be appreciated as we bring all types of Jews together and in unison we draw ourselves close to HaShem.
Continue reading Zos Habracha / Succos 5779