Ohev Shalom Voice
Cheshvan - November, 5768
Rabbi’s Message
Everything is predetermined, yet free will is granted. (Ethics 3:15)
During Elul and Tishrei we were occupied with Divine worship. Our emotions were aroused with the solemnity of our return to G-d and His Torah out of fear during the Days of Awe. This was followed by our return to G-d and His Torah out of love with the intense joy of Succos and Simchas Torah. His left hand under my head; His right hand embraces me. (Song of Songs 2:6). The left is fear and the right is love. The negative force of the left and the positive force of the right allowed us to hold our balance as we ascended to greater spiritual heights than ever before.
Now comes the month of Cheshvan, a season of ordinary routine days. After a rise there is a danger of sustaining a fall. We need to find means of holding onto the exalted level of the holy days during the days that are relatively mundane.
Simchas Torah - the last holiday of Tishrei marks the conclusion of the year's cycle of our communal Torah reading and the immediate start of a new cycle. Our embarking on a new journey into the Divine wisdom of The Torah serves as powerful platform on which we will hold the level of our souls and consistently maintain the heights we reached during the holy days.
We pray every day: That we may not struggle in vain. We certainly do not want to fall back and to allow all that we struggled for to slip away from us. By renewing our learning of Torah with all vigor and intense interest, we will be enabled to hold on to that which we gained and to go on to even greater heights. This will set us on a course which will bring us abundant blessings in all facets of our life both materially and spiritually as the High Priest prayed on Yom Kippur:
May the coming year be a year of light, blessing, rejoicing happiness, glory
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