Shaaalloooommmmm swweeeeetest friends!!!!
This dvar Torah should be a zchusssssss for my beloved friend R' Yosef Ezra Jaspan and his whole family for a year of LIMITLESS BLESSING in body and spirit!!! With friends like R' Yosef - life is so much more meaningful and enjoyable!
Also - a refuah shleima for אסתר רות בת נעמי שרה. Please daven!
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This is EXCITING!!!! Tomorrow we all get a THOROUGH cleansing! All of the garbage our souls bear is removed and we become pure once again. Price? FREE! And we even save on food for a day.
Ahhhh - how AWESOME is to be Jewish?!
We can fix our past boo-boos small and large. Plus, fasting from time to time is healthy for our bodies. So it's great all around.
On Yom Kippur we read the book of Yonah. Why?
Many explanations are offered. There is one pasuk that really encapsulates our avoda for the day. There is this huuuge storm [Hurricane Hugo?] and Yonah is SLEEPNG. They say to him מה לך נרדם - What are you sleeping for??? There is a storm raging out there!! What should we do?? It's like Houston all over again!! He tells them that he is a Jew and that he was running away from Hashem.
Then the pasuk says
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם שָׂא֙וּנִי֙ וַֽהֲטִילֻ֣נִי אֶל־הַיָּ֔ם וְיִשְׁתֹּ֥ק הַיָּ֖ם מֵֽעֲלֵיכֶ֑ם כִּי יוֹדֵ֣עַ אָ֔נִי כִּ֣י בְשֶׁלִּ֔י הַסַּ֧עַר הַגָּד֛וֹל הַזֶּ֖ה עֲלֵיכֶֽם:
And he said to them, "Pick me up and cast me into the sea, so that the sea may subside from upon you, for I know that, because of me, this mighty tempest is upon you."
This, said the Brisker Rov, is the lesson of the day. בשלי הסער הגדול הזה עליכם. It's my bad.
Wow!! People are soooo quick to deflect critisicm and here Yonah takes all the blame on himself in a second.
On Yom Kippur we want to fix our sins. The only way to do that is to take responsibility. On a global level we have to remember what Chazal teach us - Everything that happens in geopolitics is for Am Yisrael. Hurricanes happen because of Am Yisrael. Basically, without hubris or arrogance - the whole world is for us. Actually, the purpose of creation is to reveal the glory of Hashem and we are the agents. So when something happens - it is up to us to fix ourselves without pointing fingers.
On a personal level - we also must not point fingers [anyway when you point one finger at someone else, three more are pointed at you]. The way to fix our personal relationships is to accept upon ourselves the onus of fixing breached relationships, both interpersonal and with Hashem.
If we can do that - go to our loved ones and apologize for all we have done and accept upon ourselves to be better in the future - life would be close to bliss.
We can never change another human being. We can only change ourselves. And that is our mandate.
בשלי הסער הגדול הזה.
Have a sweet, uplifting Yom Kippur beloved friends and I request forgiveness for any sins of commission or omission.
Bi-ahava rabba,
Me
PS - I davened at the kotel on Rosh Hashana for those who sent their names and will daven on Yom Kippur as well.
