Dear B’nai Shalom members, families, and friends:
As we are quickly approaching the Yamim Noraim: the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I remind everyone of a subject I have shared many times formally, casually, officially, and in private conversations.
That is our relaionship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, with Almighty G-d. What exactly should define our relationship with G-d?
As we find ourselves on the cusp of embracing the High Holiday of Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish new year, we remind ourselves that it is during this time in which G-d judges us and determines the kind of year we are destined to have.
Do we contemplate our relationship with G-d at this time any more than during throughout the entire year? Is it worthwhile to forge a personal relationship with G-d? Does this not sound like an inherently Christian idea?
We know that Christians often speak about their desire to move into a personal relationship with G-d. We typically do not. Shouldn’t we?
If we have a personal relationship with G-d….if we bring G-d into our existence and our space more often, would our prayers not take on new vitality? More meaning? Greater intensity?
If a news story tells about a natural disaster in a country halfway across the world where one has not relatives, family, friends, or anyone they know, how much after the news broadcast will the viewer feel the pang of suffering for those experiencing the catastrophe? On the other hand, were there to be, G-d forbid, a news story of tragic proportion in a city, state, or any location where one DOES have loved ones residing, how much more would that news report hit us in our hearts? And when, G-d forbid, some horrible news story makes its way out of Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, do we not all bleed for the suffering of our people there? Is it not then personal?
For a Chicagoan finding himself out-of-town during the monstrous flood that hit Chicago in the summer of 1987, and watching the flooding on TV from some remote location, would undoubtedly experience the watery plague in a manner different from the local people around him. To see runways at O’Hare Airport underwater, to recognize a deluged on-ramp of the Edens Expressway and to know exactly where the newscaster is referring, is to make the situation personal. It would matter more to him than the local residents in his out-of-town location.
When a person recites or hears the special prayers we recite every Shabbat for the fighting forces of America and of Israel, it may have special meaning for that person. However, if that individual has a child in either the American military or the Israeli Defense Forces, THEN the prayers recited are personal. They carry far more meaning, value, and significance for the person reciting those prayers because they are then personal.
As we approach Rosh Hashanah and we prepare ourselves for the continual acts of Teshuvah, (repentance) in which we repeatedly asking Hashem for forgiveness after inspecting our previous ways and resolving to improve ourselves, we endeavor to make the procedure “personal.” We look to bring G-d into our presence. More accurately, we ask our Merciful Father to permit US into HIS presence, requesting an audience with our Holy King to throw ourselves on His mercy. The more personal we make it, the more sincere the passion and strength of our prayers.
For the New Year of 5787, it is our hope and prayer that we can approach the Holy One, Blessed Be He, within the formation of a personal relationship leading to the greatest possible intensity in our prayer offerings. This, of course, as a means to asking Our Heavenly Father to write us all in the Book of Life, Health, Happiness and Blessing for ourselves and all our loved ones.
L’Shanah Tovah Tikateivu V’teichateimu,
Rabbi Dr. Yaacov Dvorin