When you come to Shul on Rosh Hashanah what do you want to accomplish?
You want the New Year to be more meaningful, more alive, deeper and richer then the previous year.
Speak to G-d from deep within your heart, in a sincere way. G-d will then bestow upon you greater blessings from the greater light that has never yet shone since the beginning of time.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Rosh Hashanah Speech
We're about to blow the shofar.I'm scared. There are too many people I know that are hurting. It seems this Rosh Hashanah is a critical one. I don't recall a Rosh hashana which seems so deciding. So many people are hurting. Here in America everything looks so shaky. The future is so uncertain.
And there is the shofar. The power of the shofar is immense. Napoleon was attacking Russia. It was in 1812. A great Rebbe - Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin was praying for the French. Everything would be so much easier under french rule. Us Jews would be able to breathe easily. The Russians made our lives unbearable. Then there was Rabbi Shneur Zalman the first Lubavitcher Rebbe. He prayed for the Russians. "By the Russians our bodies will suffer, with the French our soul will suffer" he felt under Napoleon Jews would live freely but Judaism would not survive and he couldn't let that happen.
So in heaven they didn't know who to accede to. Two great tzaddikim, who to follow. So up there in heaven they decided that whoever blows the shofar on Rosh Hashana first that side would win. That's the power of the shofar. We can never fathom what and how far reaching the blowing of the shofar is.
Rabbi Shlomo wakes up way before dawn prepares himself for prayer at the crack of dawn he begins racing through the prayers. In no time he's up to the shofar blowing, he raises the shofar to his lips he's about to blow and he says the Litvak the Lithuanian referring to Rabbi Shneur Zalman beat me to it. Rabbi Shneur Zalman at the crack of dawn before prayers or anything took the shofar and blew. He beat Rabbi Shlomo and the Russians won. That's the power of the shofar.
And now we're about to blow the shofar and the future looks so uncertain. What's going to happen with this years Shofar blow? Are we going to make it out okay? And our family, our friends? There seems to be so much more at stake this year. Life isn't as certain anymore as it used to be.
Let us turn to Hashem, let us demand a good year. As we blow the shofar we'll tell G-d there's too much suffering A great Rabbi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, thousands of people would come to him before the High Holidays so that he should pray for them. He was a very righteous man and his prayers where extremely effective. The custom was to give some money to charity and to write your name on a note and hand it to the Rabbi. And every year people would bring anything they could afford. One year Rabbi Levi Yitzchak announces a ruble a head. He's only giving his blessing if you give a ruble to charity, a ruble per person. One woman walks in to the Rabbi's office, she's holding a newborn. She's a widow. Beyond poor. And she says Rabbi I have only one ruble. I asked begged everything. I only could come up with one ruble. Would you please bless us.
I'm sorry says the Rabbi, a ruble per person. You must find another ruble or I can only bless either you or your child.
But Rebbe I searched everywhere, I've asked everyone. Rebbe I can't.
The rabbi replies We'll write you down for a good year. The child he's young innocent, he hasn't sinned he could go without the blessing.
The poor woman she's almost screaming Rebbe No, you don't relate to a mother's heart he's my child you must write him down. Without him I've no reason to live.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak stands up and turns to heaven, Hashem you heard this woman's words. She'll sacrifice everything for her child. Hashem we are your children, have mercy as a mother has mercy on her children.
Maybe this is what we should be saying, as we blow the shofar. G-d we are your children. You must give us a good year. A year of health, of prosperity of all that we need, treat us like your children.
And please you promised us so long ago, a world without suffering a world of peace. It has been so long. Please make this the year. That's the power of the shofar.
And there is the shofar. The power of the shofar is immense. Napoleon was attacking Russia. It was in 1812. A great Rebbe - Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin was praying for the French. Everything would be so much easier under french rule. Us Jews would be able to breathe easily. The Russians made our lives unbearable. Then there was Rabbi Shneur Zalman the first Lubavitcher Rebbe. He prayed for the Russians. "By the Russians our bodies will suffer, with the French our soul will suffer" he felt under Napoleon Jews would live freely but Judaism would not survive and he couldn't let that happen.
So in heaven they didn't know who to accede to. Two great tzaddikim, who to follow. So up there in heaven they decided that whoever blows the shofar on Rosh Hashana first that side would win. That's the power of the shofar. We can never fathom what and how far reaching the blowing of the shofar is.
Rabbi Shlomo wakes up way before dawn prepares himself for prayer at the crack of dawn he begins racing through the prayers. In no time he's up to the shofar blowing, he raises the shofar to his lips he's about to blow and he says the Litvak the Lithuanian referring to Rabbi Shneur Zalman beat me to it. Rabbi Shneur Zalman at the crack of dawn before prayers or anything took the shofar and blew. He beat Rabbi Shlomo and the Russians won. That's the power of the shofar.
And now we're about to blow the shofar and the future looks so uncertain. What's going to happen with this years Shofar blow? Are we going to make it out okay? And our family, our friends? There seems to be so much more at stake this year. Life isn't as certain anymore as it used to be.
Let us turn to Hashem, let us demand a good year. As we blow the shofar we'll tell G-d there's too much suffering A great Rabbi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, thousands of people would come to him before the High Holidays so that he should pray for them. He was a very righteous man and his prayers where extremely effective. The custom was to give some money to charity and to write your name on a note and hand it to the Rabbi. And every year people would bring anything they could afford. One year Rabbi Levi Yitzchak announces a ruble a head. He's only giving his blessing if you give a ruble to charity, a ruble per person. One woman walks in to the Rabbi's office, she's holding a newborn. She's a widow. Beyond poor. And she says Rabbi I have only one ruble. I asked begged everything. I only could come up with one ruble. Would you please bless us.
I'm sorry says the Rabbi, a ruble per person. You must find another ruble or I can only bless either you or your child.
But Rebbe I searched everywhere, I've asked everyone. Rebbe I can't.
The rabbi replies We'll write you down for a good year. The child he's young innocent, he hasn't sinned he could go without the blessing.
The poor woman she's almost screaming Rebbe No, you don't relate to a mother's heart he's my child you must write him down. Without him I've no reason to live.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak stands up and turns to heaven, Hashem you heard this woman's words. She'll sacrifice everything for her child. Hashem we are your children, have mercy as a mother has mercy on her children.
Maybe this is what we should be saying, as we blow the shofar. G-d we are your children. You must give us a good year. A year of health, of prosperity of all that we need, treat us like your children.
And please you promised us so long ago, a world without suffering a world of peace. It has been so long. Please make this the year. That's the power of the shofar.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Royalty
Ok, it's that time of year again. It's the beginning of the year, when we focus all of our attention on crowing Hashem as our king. It is difficult for me to explain and express the meaning of G-d as a king. What is very natural and comforting to me as a student of Chasidus, seems foreign and unattractive to people who are raised in western cloture.
So here goes my annual attempt to find the words to share what is in my heart, to share that which Jewish people have been feeling for thousands of years.
There is beauty in royalty. The word king evokes negative feelings, while royalty evokes beauty. Beauty is overwhelming. When you look at the water poring down the Niagara Falls you can't pull your eyes away. I was never at the Grand Canyon, but I know that when something is awesome you loose yourself; you forget that you exist, you don’t get hungry and you don't need the bathroom, your attention is captured. You can't sleep the following nights the image keeps coming back to you.
On Rosh Hashonah we pray that Hashem be our king, we want to submit ourselves to him. But we ask that he should "Appear with the splendor of your strength onto all the inhabitants of the world" we want him to lure us with his glory. We want to be persuaded by Hashem's beauty as we say time an again in the prayers "reign over the hole world with your glory".
So here goes my annual attempt to find the words to share what is in my heart, to share that which Jewish people have been feeling for thousands of years.
There is beauty in royalty. The word king evokes negative feelings, while royalty evokes beauty. Beauty is overwhelming. When you look at the water poring down the Niagara Falls you can't pull your eyes away. I was never at the Grand Canyon, but I know that when something is awesome you loose yourself; you forget that you exist, you don’t get hungry and you don't need the bathroom, your attention is captured. You can't sleep the following nights the image keeps coming back to you.
On Rosh Hashonah we pray that Hashem be our king, we want to submit ourselves to him. But we ask that he should "Appear with the splendor of your strength onto all the inhabitants of the world" we want him to lure us with his glory. We want to be persuaded by Hashem's beauty as we say time an again in the prayers "reign over the hole world with your glory".
Friday, September 5, 2008
The life of Elul.
Chai Elul adds the life to Elul. Not growth, not elevation, but life. The addition of Chai Elul to the previous days of the month of Elul is like a breath of life to a dead object, it’s a total transformation and renewal.
The birth of a baby is awe inspiring, you look into the eyes of a baby and you know that you are staring at a miracle. You may ask: why is a baby so amazing? Don’t you see people all day? Weren’t these people babies once upon a time? When did their life loose its awesomeness?
Somehow even life itself can looses its ”life” if it is not experienced as a new burst of energy. Being alive yesterday is not enough for today. You must bring life to Elul. Discover something so revolutionary that you never felt before, then and only then are you alive.
The birth of a baby is awe inspiring, you look into the eyes of a baby and you know that you are staring at a miracle. You may ask: why is a baby so amazing? Don’t you see people all day? Weren’t these people babies once upon a time? When did their life loose its awesomeness?
Somehow even life itself can looses its ”life” if it is not experienced as a new burst of energy. Being alive yesterday is not enough for today. You must bring life to Elul. Discover something so revolutionary that you never felt before, then and only then are you alive.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Elul
What do you make of Elul?
It's the one month of year that has so much intensity to it. Almost conflicting emotions run through you. What does this month mean? I'm I really up to it, again?
Cheshbon HaNefesh. Do we really want to go there. It's scary. Can I really live up to what I want to live up to? Is it going to be the same of the old? Getting into it right in the beginning, half way through you're like, hey, where did it go, and then comes Rosh Hashanah and it just slipped by. Now I'm in panic mode. How can I salvage what is left? How can I even do Rosh Hashanah now? And the real question, Is it really going to last? Will I be able to look back and say, this year something changed for the better? I came away with something.
But this whole thing is so anti what we stand for. In our circles Elul is one of the most inspiring and maybe even joyous months of the year. The King is right here. Chai Elul brings a Chayus into Elul. That was a misnagid talking before.
But what can we do? These are the feelings.
What it really boils down to is probably 2 things:
1. Being alive and being Human. We are always growing and in order to grow we must reflect, question ourselves. And have goals. Something we look forward to. Something we look up to and are trying to reach. That's just being human. So even if you don't succeed in your goals, you're still alive. And that's really the main thing.
2. Knowing ourselves. And I find this to be very difficult. For instance in the time of inspiration, you're ready to tackle anything, how do you not forget who you really are and where you're really holding. And it's much more than that. How do we differentiate between what we would love to be like and what we are? We didn't do something right, how do we know what was in our hands and what was out of our hands, particularly because that other guy did do it right?
This takes a lot of thinking and a lot of questioning. It also takes a lot of optimism.
By the Rebbe growth was a given. That was the Rebbe's call to people, to grow.
So the King is in the field. There's a lot we can accomplish. It's all at our fingertips. How are we going to anchor it? How are we going to make sure that this year it will happen.
It's the one month of year that has so much intensity to it. Almost conflicting emotions run through you. What does this month mean? I'm I really up to it, again?
Cheshbon HaNefesh. Do we really want to go there. It's scary. Can I really live up to what I want to live up to? Is it going to be the same of the old? Getting into it right in the beginning, half way through you're like, hey, where did it go, and then comes Rosh Hashanah and it just slipped by. Now I'm in panic mode. How can I salvage what is left? How can I even do Rosh Hashanah now? And the real question, Is it really going to last? Will I be able to look back and say, this year something changed for the better? I came away with something.
But this whole thing is so anti what we stand for. In our circles Elul is one of the most inspiring and maybe even joyous months of the year. The King is right here. Chai Elul brings a Chayus into Elul. That was a misnagid talking before.
But what can we do? These are the feelings.
What it really boils down to is probably 2 things:
1. Being alive and being Human. We are always growing and in order to grow we must reflect, question ourselves. And have goals. Something we look forward to. Something we look up to and are trying to reach. That's just being human. So even if you don't succeed in your goals, you're still alive. And that's really the main thing.
2. Knowing ourselves. And I find this to be very difficult. For instance in the time of inspiration, you're ready to tackle anything, how do you not forget who you really are and where you're really holding. And it's much more than that. How do we differentiate between what we would love to be like and what we are? We didn't do something right, how do we know what was in our hands and what was out of our hands, particularly because that other guy did do it right?
This takes a lot of thinking and a lot of questioning. It also takes a lot of optimism.
By the Rebbe growth was a given. That was the Rebbe's call to people, to grow.
So the King is in the field. There's a lot we can accomplish. It's all at our fingertips. How are we going to anchor it? How are we going to make sure that this year it will happen.
Monday, August 25, 2008
He will give you compassion
"He will give you compassion, be compassionate to you and multiply you". This is Moshe's words to the people of Israel at the conclusion of the commandment to destroy a city if all its inhabitants served idles.
Why the double language? "He will give you compassion and be compassionate to you"?
The "Kliy Yakar" explains: in the event that there is an unfortunate necessity to destroy a city, Hashem gives a special blessing. Namely, the destroying will not impact our character, it won't make us cruel. We won't bring the cruelty back home to our families and communities. He will give us compassion, refers not to Hashem's compassion on the people but to the people's compassion to one another.
Only after we are assured of the above, we have Hashem's blessing that we will be compassionate to others, can we receive the next part of the blessing "and he will be compassionate to you".
_____________________________
We go out and into the world; we are placed in places and circumstances that are very different from where we really want to be. We are there only because of Hashem's desire that we make a home for him in the most unlikely of places.
We pray that "he will give you compassion" that we don't bring the negative influences of the world back home. We pray that our souls remain compassionate, sensitive to spirituality.
That will make us worthy of "He will have compassion on you" by showing us the pleasantness of his radiance.
Why the double language? "He will give you compassion and be compassionate to you"?
The "Kliy Yakar" explains: in the event that there is an unfortunate necessity to destroy a city, Hashem gives a special blessing. Namely, the destroying will not impact our character, it won't make us cruel. We won't bring the cruelty back home to our families and communities. He will give us compassion, refers not to Hashem's compassion on the people but to the people's compassion to one another.
Only after we are assured of the above, we have Hashem's blessing that we will be compassionate to others, can we receive the next part of the blessing "and he will be compassionate to you".
_____________________________
We go out and into the world; we are placed in places and circumstances that are very different from where we really want to be. We are there only because of Hashem's desire that we make a home for him in the most unlikely of places.
We pray that "he will give you compassion" that we don't bring the negative influences of the world back home. We pray that our souls remain compassionate, sensitive to spirituality.
That will make us worthy of "He will have compassion on you" by showing us the pleasantness of his radiance.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Bad Neighbors
"Nitai the Arbelite would say: Distance yourself from a bad neighbor, do not cleave to a wicked person, and do not abandon belief in [Divine] retribution". Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 1:7
A bad neighbor doesn't mean a bad person, s/he's just bad for you. The bad neighbors are those people in your life who bring you down or get you in trouble. They might be the kindest or smartest, but for you they're a bad influence and a bad neighbor. From those people you should stay far away from, distance yourself from them.
Then there are wicked people, bad people. You shouldn't distance yourself from them. Actually you should talk to them, teach them, reach out to them, help them become good people. Just don't cleave to them, don't become too friendly or you might be influenced by them.
One more thing to be careful with. If we're hanging out with the right people, doing the things we're supposed to be doing. And we're reaching out to those around us, Nitai is telling us, don't become too sure of yourselves, never think you can no longer make mistakes, "Never abandon belief in Divine retribution". Remembering this will always keep us in the right direction.
A bad neighbor doesn't mean a bad person, s/he's just bad for you. The bad neighbors are those people in your life who bring you down or get you in trouble. They might be the kindest or smartest, but for you they're a bad influence and a bad neighbor. From those people you should stay far away from, distance yourself from them.
Then there are wicked people, bad people. You shouldn't distance yourself from them. Actually you should talk to them, teach them, reach out to them, help them become good people. Just don't cleave to them, don't become too friendly or you might be influenced by them.
One more thing to be careful with. If we're hanging out with the right people, doing the things we're supposed to be doing. And we're reaching out to those around us, Nitai is telling us, don't become too sure of yourselves, never think you can no longer make mistakes, "Never abandon belief in Divine retribution". Remembering this will always keep us in the right direction.
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