Rabbi's Weekly Teaching
Parashat Ha'azinu
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
This week, our community gathers together for the annual celebration of the "Jewish Super Bowl" -- our High Holy Days. It's the time of year when most Jews stop what they are doing and pause to consider the events of the past year, what we have done and what we have failed to do, and how we want to improve our direction in the year to come. But what is significant is the act of actually stopping what we are doing to consider what God expects of us, and how that can fit with what we expect of ourselves.
During the year, it's very easy - sometimes too easy -- for us to feel overwhelmed and busy with the ordinary secular aspects of our lives. Sometimes we even fall into the trap of wishing that we could delegate our spiritual responsibilities to others.
There is a Hassidic story about a young man, who a week before Yom Kippur, set out to travel a far distance in order to be present at the Baal Shem Tov's synagogue on the holiest day of the year.
During the long journey, the young man confronted numerous obstacles: the rains were heavy; his cart turned over and got stuck in the mud; his horse refused to move forward. When he was about one day away from his final destination, in a rush to be at the Baal Shem Tov's synagogue before Yom Kippur, the young man came across a small group of shabbily dressed men waving him to the side of the road.
They approached the young man and began to desperately plead with him: "We're so happy you've come this way. We are in dire need for a tenth man to join us for Yom Kippur; so that we can have a minyan and a proper service. Won't you please stop here to pray with us?"
The young man laughed at the shabby group, and immediately started on his way, shouting back: "Are you kidding, do you think I've travelled all this way here to pray with you? I'm going to the Baal Shem Tov's synagogue to observe Yom Kippur!"
Right before the Kol Nidre prayer was to begin, the young man finally arrived at the Baal Shem Tov's synagogue. The founder of the Hassidic movement; the great and holy master was shaking hands with each and every man who was coming into the shul. But, when the young man's turn in line came, the Baal Shem passed by him without saying a word.
The young man was terribly upset, and spent the entire time at Yom Kippur services feeling confused and perplexed. After Neilah, the concluding service, when everyone was busy breaking the fast, he approached the Baal Shem Tov and asked: "Rabbi, why didn't you shake my hand?"
The Baal Shem Tov looked at the young man and replied: "Son, don't you know that God brought you into this world for only one reason: to join those nine men in prayer -- and you turned your back on them?!" And the Baal Shem Tov walked away from him.
It was clearly the easier decision for the young man to turn away from those who needed him. Some of us can even see ourselves in the story, and hear the excuses that we ourselves would make - that if the group of men waited long enough, they would surely find another tenth man traveling along the road. But what the young man didn't realize - in the rush to complete the journey, arrive at his destination, and bask in the honor of his esteemed teacher - was that he was missing out on his divine purpose. Sometimes, in our haste to achieve our goals, we fail to hear the voices of those who cry out for our help - and sometimes even fail to hear our own voices, guiding us toward our divine destiny.
God created each of us for a purpose, and there is no one else in the world that can do what we are intended to do. On these High Holy Days, may we stand together in God's presence and truly hear God's message to us. Let's be determined to be a little less distracted from the ordinary, so that we can hear the voices that will enable us to pursue the extraordinary.
L'Shanah Tovah -- A Happy, Healthy, Blessed & Peaceful New Year!!
-Rabbi Mitch
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