From the Rabbi’s Desk

Dear Friends:

Caught up in the busy-ness of our fast-paced world, we can easily find ourselves spiritually asleep. Packing everything into 24-hour days can itself seem overwhelming. So we often avoid addressing the large overarching issues that are at the root of humanity, such as global warming, a food industry that sometimes poisons instead of nourishes, oppression and human rights abuses being committed in the name of nationality and religion, AIDs orphans in Africa, and a world in which the majority of the population is impoverished or struggling to make ends meet. While routine can be comforting and stabilizing, it also can limit creativity, spirituality, and the ability to see beyond our self-imposed cocoons.

So we need to be awakened from this walking slumber – at least once a year. According to Rabbi Nachman of Bratislav, this is the job of the shofar, which we blow precisely at the time of the year when we are doing our inner work and considering how we can improve ourselves (and our lives) in the coming year. The sound of the shofar arouses us. It is a call to action - a call to break away from the routine at least at this introspective time of the year and to look beyond the mechanisms that allow us to function in our complex world.

The shofar blasts sound like a battle cry, but also at the same time, a cry of pain. If we listen carefully to the shofar calls, we will hear the cries of a broken world. If we awaken anew to this consciousness, it becomes a first step toward contributing to the repair of the world. Hearing this cry for help can empower us to take a second step as well – to take an active part in changing our own reality.

L’Shanah Tova U’metukah Tikatevu: May you and your dear ones be inscribed in the Book of Live for a sweet and good new year.

L’Shalom,

Rabbi Garson Herzfeld