SHAVUOS
Next Tuesday night is the beginning of the Holiday of Shavuos. Shavuos commemorates the day, 50 days after the Exodus from Egypt, when G-d gave us the Torah.
For more on Shavuos click here or here.
——————————————–
“Can Familiarity Breed CONTENT?”
A fellow came up to me in Shul recently and asked, “Why is it so hard to pray with feeling?”
… I studied at a Yeshiva in Israel for six years. Then I left Israel, not to return for twenty years. Ten years ago, I went back…
I went to the Kotel. The Western Wall, the sole remnant of a magnificent Temple of G-d that the Romans destroyed two thousand years ago; a Temple that we pray every day to see rebuilt. A Temple over which our People have shed millions of tears for thousands of years.
As Jewish Law requires, I tore my shirt the same way a mourner does at the funeral of a loved one. I stood there at the ruins of our Temple in my torn shirt looking like a mourner. But you know what? Deep down, I didn’t FEEL like a mourner!
I couldn’t understand it. At the Tombs of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs I was overcome with emotion. Why was the site of our destroyed Temple different?
I’m a religious Jew. I pray every day for the Messiah to come and for the Temple to be rebuilt. I fast every Tisha B’Av, and join my People in mourning for the Temple. Why did I not feel the same, deep emotions that I felt at those other places?
I don’t know for sure, but I have a theory…
Additional messages from previous years:
“How do I Love Thee? Let me Count the DAYS” (2009)
“Hair Today — Gone Tomorrow!” (2004)
“Humility vs. Self-Esteem” (2003)
“Legacy Building” (2002)
“Marching Orders” (2001)
Torah Talk 
Leave a comment