A Child's Love

As we near the "high holidays", especially those of Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur, many people start to feel a bit of apprehension, looking at these "judgement" days as serious and heavy. While it's true that these days are especially holy times to connect to G-d, repent for past misdeeds, and make up to do better the coming year, perhaps it would be better to take a step back & look at this time from a different perspective.

As any father of a teenage child will tell you, coming home from work isn't the same as it used to be. "When my son was young, he used to greet me with such enthusiasm and joy when I returned home. As soon as my key had entered the keyhole of the front door, I would here his voice scream: "Daddy's home!"
Now when I come home, he barely looks up at me. Perhaps he'll mutter a "hi." One time I overheard him on the phone talking to his friend: "When my dad comes home, it's so annoying! I have to be careful of what I do, I have to hide anything bad..." My heart dropped. Here I was, working hard so that my family could have a good life. If I get involved in my son's life, it's not for MY good. I'm doing it for him!"

Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to forget for a second the laws & commandments of Judaism. Even though G-d isn't only telling us to do them for His sake, but rather for our sake as well; to benefit us spiritually & even physically. Rather, as we approach the high holidays, let's try and remember the original connection our souls have with G-d, arousing that pure, uncomplicated love. Like a child's feeling of joy & love when he hears the key in the door, let us reconnect & arouse the natural love & joy we have for our father.
He only wants the best for us.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

A Return to the Palace

We have just entered the Hebrew month of 'Elul.' Elul is the month that precedes Tishrei, the month that includes the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. The Jewish Mystics liken Rosh Hashanah to a time when the simple people of the villages come to crown the great king in his palace. But in the month of Elul, it's the King himself who comes to the field to visit His people. In a spiritual sense, G-d Reveals Himself to our souls and Draws our hearts a bit closer to Him during this month. As Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi wrote in the 1700's: A King decides to leave his palace, leave his large city, and enter the fields where the simple farmers work. There, all are able to come and meet the King, who embraces them with a shining and happy countenance.

This month, every person is given a special opportunity & ability to connect to G-d; to get more in touch, if we want, with our Judaism and Spiritual sides in a much easier fashion than usual. This experience of re-connecting with G-d is known as Teshuva. Improperly translated into English as repentance, it really means to return. As hard as it is to imagine in the materialistic reality we live in today, the natural state of our souls, of us, is one of being close to G-d, in touch with our spiritual selves. So when we leave that, and deny our spiritual sides, we have left our true state. Tapping into a higher reality (through prayer, learning, contemplation, charity & good deeds), therefore, is merely a return to one's true state of being.

Enjoy this month of return!
Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

The Nature of Nature

There is a beautiful saying attributed to one of the great Chassidic Rabbis of the 18th century: "To try and gain insight into the soul of a painter, one must intensely study his painting.
So too, to gain insight into G-d, one must discern Him in nature and the world He has Created."


It's known that children constantly wonder, often out loud, at the world around them. "Why's the sky blue?" "Where does the sun go at night?" "Why do I have 5 toes?" But as we grow older, most tend to lose their wonderment and awe when seeing their surroundings. That's because we've become used to what we see. It's all just "Nature." And nature means that what we see is a constant that doesn't really change much; it has a pattern. Flowers grow in the spring, leaves change color in the fall, snow falls in the winter. But how come we often ignore the designer behind the design called "earth"?

The Hebrew word for nature is teva. The Hebrew word for something connotes its function, its inner truth. "Teva" in Hebrew also means "sunken" or "drowning." The revelation of G-d is hidden in nature; sunk. Like an object that sinks into water, out of sight and submerged, G-d too is hard to discern in the world He has formed.

How can one remedy this situation? We've grown up, and simply aren't as astounded or even interested in perceiving more beyond the "nature" we see. I recently read an interesting meditation or contemplation that I found very insightful & helpful. The author asks: When you see something in nature - whether it be a flower, a tree, a grape cluster or anything else, do you immediately label it, naming it in your head? Of course we do. Our minds instinctively classify the thing that we see, and we move on to something else, unimpressed. "That's a hummingbird. That's a wheat field and those are stalks." Try, the author says, to start training yourself to not label things. See the flower, and say: "what's that green thing with purple on top & yellow in the middle?" "That thing gliding through the air is pretty strange..." By not labeling, we allow ourselves to appreciate the unique and brilliant beauty of design in each thing we see, without passing it over and classifying it as the same thing we already "know."

May you have a restful and tranquil Shabbat, full of marvel at the art which is this world, gaining insight into its Infinitely profound artist.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel