A fellow walked out of shul Yom Kippur night and was fuming! He began to complain bitterly about the air conditioning which was not strong enough for his taste [I found the temperature to be very comfortable and pleasant but that is just me]. I won't repeat what he said but it was jarring the way he was talking.
I wanted to tell him [but didn't]:
1] Isn't that what Teshuva and YK are all about?? NOT getting angry at what used to make you angry?? By the looks of him he is a Talmid Chochom and would understand that.
2] You are davening with three angels - your young children - who sit next to you and earnestly engage in the Avodas HaYom. What a bracha!!! Who can think about air conditioning when enjoying such a bracha?!!
Come to think of it - we ALL are surrounded by brachos [vision, hearing, respiratory system, food etc. etc. וחדלו לספור כי אין מספר] and yet we often focus on what we lack.
And as for the first comment - we are all human and yes, even on YK night, with all of the חרדת הדין which we are supposed to have, we are liable to lose sight of what is really important and what we lose when we exhibit faulty middos.
There are other things I wanted to say but we'll suffice with this.
Mussar Haskel: Learning Mussar is a great antidote to forgetting what matters and to help us appreciate our blessings.
