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Feeling or Being
We currently stand today only six days before Rosh Hashanah, the day on
which HaShem, the Master, the Judge and the Giver of all that we have and
all that we can hope to have, will judge every member of this world as
individuals and as a whole. How do prepare ourselves for this awesome
day?
I would think that we certainly must ask ourselves if we deserve all that
is being given to us. And to ask that question we must first appreciate
what is being given to us. We can begin with health and analyze what the
value of a fully operational heart is. We can go through all the systems
in our body from the cardio-vascular to the central nervous system as
well our digestive system. When we consider our senses; our vision, our
taste, our smell and our hearing as well as our sense of touch, we begin
to realize that to be deserving of all these wonderful gifts we ought to
be extremely worthy. Just consider how much a person must pay before
owning a Lamborghini. Is this car worth even a fraction of any of the abovementioned
gifts? As we move on to our family; whether it is parents or
children or both and we consider our livelihood and home and everything
that makes us who we are, we realize that we are truly not deserving of
all that is bestowed upon us.
I believe that no matter how righteous a person may be, very few people
in this universe can be confident that they deserve all that they
receive. We must therefore develop a case for ourselves that will satisfy
HaShem's judgment to render a favorable verdict.
Perhaps we need to ask what it is that He will be looking for. But in
order to answer that question we need to understand why HaShem
consistently gives such incredible gifts when most of the time they are
not fully deserved? (We must not fall in the trap to suggest that HaShem
is just a big forgiving Ded Morozh
/ Santa Claus who just gives gifts indiscriminately. For if that was the
case, what is the purpose of a day of judgment?)
The answer to the latter is that HaShem wants to give Man the opportunity
to create a relationship with Him. Relationships are built on
appreciation. If there is a sense of appreciation between husband and
wife there will be love and harmony. The moment, Heaven forbid, the
appreciation wanes the bond of love and harmony begins to break down.
HaShem therefore bestowed Man with endless gifts; so many gifts that the
more Man studies his situation the more he realizes how many gifts he was
given. The purpose of these gifts is to give Man cause to appreciate all
that is being given and being done for him so that Man can begin to
appreciate HaShem. And so that consequently Man develops a personal close
relationship with his Creator.
If the gifts that are given inspire the recipient to appreciate his
Creator then those gifts served their purpose and we can hope that he
will merit them once again. We can therefore assume that on this Day of
Judgment HaShem will be looking for the purposefulness of all that He
bestows on Man - are they accomplishing their intended goal or not.
Let us return to the question of how we prepare ourselves for this Day of
Judgment. The way we prepare ourselves for this Day of Judgment is to
judge ourselves and see if we are properly appreciating His goodness and
developing our relationship with Him in a positive direction. If we are
not doing so then we should realign ourselves and begin doing so.
The final question that we must ask ourselves is how we express this
relationship. In other words, every relationship has its respective
expression. In an employee/employer relationship it is not enough that
the employer appreciates his employee but there is a responsibility that
comes with the relationship, namely pay his wages in a timely fashion and
perhaps give a bonus to demonstrate appreciation. In a husband/wife
relationship it is not sufficient that he adores her and loves her in his
heart, he must tell her so and perhaps bring home flowers from time to
time and make sure he gives her the due attention that the relationship
demands of him.
So what is the expression and expectation of our relationship with
HaShem?
As we will read this week's Parsha, Nitzavim-Vayeilech,
the answer to this critical question is addressed. Moshe in his final
hours tells his beloved people, "See, I have placed before you
today the life and the good, and the death and the evil, that which I
command you today, to love HaShem, to walk in His ways, to observe His
commandments... then you will live and you will multiply..."
As much as we do appreciate and even love HaShem for all that He gives us
and all that He does for us we must nevertheless express it through the
medium that He expects from us.
Every Jew is on their unique level of relationship and the respective
expression needs to be commensurate to that relationship. So while one
person's relationship requires them to keep 100% kosher, another person's
relationship requires only abstaining from shellfish and yet another
person's relationship requires that only on Shabbos they should abstain
from shellfish. At the end of the day, every person must find their level
of expression to properly develop their relationship with HaShem.
Have a wonderful Shabbos and successful preparations for Rosh Hashanah.
Paysach Diskind
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