Rabbi Yisroel's Blog

Rosh Hashanah Message (It's all about Listening)

Sunday, September 25, 2022 - 8:57 AM

The most important component of Rosh Hashana is the Shofar.

Actually, the mitzvah is not the blowing of the Shofar per se; rather the mitzvah is the HEARING of the sound of the Shofar. Indeed the blessing made before blowing the Shofar is ‘Lishmoa kol Shofar’ to HEAR the sound of the Shofar.

"Do you hear me?" That's a common question today.

Sometimes the answer might be "Yes I hear you,’" but we say this while carrying on with texting. Have we really heard? As we progress deeper and deeper into the era of over-communication, rather than hearing each other more, we often hear each other less.

Rosh Hashana reminds us that first and foremost we must stop to LISTEN and HEAR.

Listen to what?

On every day of the year, from the cradle to the grave, at least twice daily every Jew says ‘HEAR, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One’. Listening to and contemplating these words enables us to see beyond the confusing images that the world presents us —and live fulfilling lives according to the Divine code, the Torah. Click here for more on this topic.

On Rosh Hashana we also need to listen and hearken to the sound of the Shofar.

The sound of the Shofar reminds us that G-d is the Master of the universe as it represents the trumpets blown at a kingly coronation. On Rosh Hashana we coronate G-d as King of the universe.
The sound of the Shofar is also similar to the wail of a child calling out for their parent, and on Rosh Hashana we as Jews are calling out to our father in Heaven like a wayward child coming home. This also reminds us to always be attentive to the needs of others. Click here for a beautiful story illustrating this.
The sound of the Shofar reminds us that deep down, our very own souls are crying out with an inaudible voice of intensity of the highest degree for our Father in Heaven. We need but to listen carefully and we will discover that G-d is truly to be found within us, in the deepest recesses of our hearts. To hear an inspiring encounter from someone back from a concert tour with the “Rolling Stones" click here.

But the main thing to remember is that we need to STOP AND LISTEN. One can get so caught up in the tumultuousness of life that one loses all sense of direction.

Rosh Hashana is the day we commemorate the creation of man. As the birthday of humanity, it is surely the fitting time to pause from everything else going on in our lives, turn down the volume of the mundane noise of society, and LISTEN to these above-mentioned Divine messages of timeless relevance so that we clearly know where we are going and how to get there.

There's No "I" in Royalty

Sunday, September 11, 2022 - 12:51 PM

I’ve long been fascinated by the Queen.

With the sad news of her passing yesterday, I did some thinking as to why.

Maybe it was the way she represented stability in a constantly changing world.

you know there is even a special bracha you say when you meet a non-Jewish Queen or a King?

But reflecting deeper, I came to this:

Think about Queen Elizabeth. For 70 years, she couldn't take a stroll in the street without being followed by photographers. People would scrutinize every statement she made. Simply put, she always needed to be on her best behavior.

If she was a human like all of us - and she was - she would wake up some morning, "not in the mood." Maybe she was just tired of all those meetings and events. Perhaps all she wanted was to stay in bed for another few hours.

But you couldn't tell.

She always looked elegant and graceful. She fulfilled her role as a monarch, day after day. How did she do it?

One answer lies in a speech she gave on her 21st birthday:

"I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service."

Despite turmoil and upheaval, both in the world, in the UK, and even in those around her, she remained a rock of stability, an example of dedication and service.

Service is about a cause greater than oneself. By definition, it therefore transcends a person's moods. In a world where people typically act "based on how they are feeling" there's something special about being dedicated to something no matter what is going on.

Here's a lesson we can all take as Jews:

When G-d gave us the Torah on Mount Sinai, He devoted our lives to a life of service. In fact, the Talmud even writes we Jews are "compared to royals." He gave us the task to be a light unto the nations.

To be clear, this is not a royalty that leads to arrogance. On the contrary, it’s a royalty that leads to humility.

It’s a royalty the stems from the belief that I am no more than a G-dly soul, a reflection of Hashem. This is a royalty without an "I."
It’s a royalty that is about service. It is when we believe that I am an ambassador of the Divine.
It’s a royalty that gives confidence. It makes a person not afraid of what others will say or do.
We are never a victim. I am a Divine agent sent to bring light, meaning, and goodness into every situation I find myself in.

and our Soul's mission at the center. It's when we say "Hineni, what Hashem do you need from me? What does my family need from me? what does my community need from me? I am ready to serve."

PS.

1) Here is a picture from the year I was in London of the queen adoring Rabbi Nachman Sudak OBM, the head of Chabad in England, with "order of the British Empire"

2)Allow me to share one more memory of the Queen that I heard from Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks:

It happened in St James Palace on 27 January 2005, the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Punctuality, said Louis XVIII of France, is the politeness of kings. Royalty arrives on time and leaves on time. So it is with the Queen of England, but not on this occasion. When the time came for her to leave, she stayed. And stayed. One of her attendants said he had never known her to linger so long after her scheduled departure time.

She was meeting a group of Holocaust survivors. She gave each survivor – it was a large group – her focused, unhurried attention. She stood with each until they had finished telling their personal story. One after another, the survivors were coming to Rabbi Sacks, saying, “Sixty years ago I did not know whether I would be alive tomorrow, and here I am today talking to the Queen.” It brought a kind of blessed closure into deeply lacerated lives. Sixty years earlier they had been treated, in Germany, Austria, Poland, in fact in most of Europe, as subhuman, yet now the Queen was treating them as if each were a visiting Head of State. That was humility: not holding yourself low but holding others high.

Guilt isn't very Jewish

Friday, September 2, 2022 - 12:48 PM

Rabbi, I feel bad I don't come to Shul more often," someone told me at our event last week.

"Don't feel bad," I replied.

He was surprised. Why shouldn't he feel bad for not coming to synagogue more often?

"Nothing good comes out of feeling bad," I told him.

We are just about to enter a month that might make some people feel bad. I know this because it happened to me. More than once.

The month we are about to enter is the Hebrew month of Elul. Often, this month is referred to as "Chodesh Hacheshbon," "the month of accounting," a month dedicated to self-reflection.

During this time before the High Holidays we are supposed to spend time thinking about the past year, evaluating the state of our spiritual development, and committing to becoming better.

But this often makes us feel bad.

We feel bad because of things we should not have done.

We feel bad because of things we didn't do well.

And perhaps the worst of all is the list of "I should have."

And this list doesn't accomplish anything positive in my life. It just makes me feel bad.

Feeling bad is not a motivator. It rarely motivates anyone to do anything. Instead, it can make us feel lazy and tired. '

There is a hidden trap in "I feel bad." It's often a trick of our evil inclination to make us do even less, and then our feeling bad and list of "should have" will keep growing.

Here's a suggestion. It's called "Teshuva mitoch Simcha", "Teshuva with joy."

The idea is that while self-reflection is essential and we need to honestly understand our situation, that should be done joyfully.

When we are happy, we are unstoppable. We are willing to invest more and go much farther.

Like everything in life, it's all about perspective. If a cup is filled with 50% water, is it half-full or half-empty? If a person's relationship with G-d is lacking, is he far from G-d, or does he have the potential to be much closer?

"Rabbi, I didn't come to synagogue for a long time! I am so excited to come next week."

"I didn't give as much tzedakah as I should have...I can't wait to make it a priority this year!"

"I haven't made Torah Study part of my regular schedule. I look forward to seeing how it can uplift my workday."

You get the point. We don't whitewash anything, but we also don't dwell too much on past wrongdoings. Instead, we focus on the great opportunity we have right now.

As we go deeper into this extraordinary month of Elul, may this journey be filled with joy and lead us to be better people, better Jews, and closer to G-d.