Shana Tova Dear Community
Seventh Day Thoughts:
Background:
I got up this morning.
Yom Kippur silence.
Corona Yom Kippur.
Quieter than every other year.
Even the Minyan of balconies near me, decided not to have a Shacharit & Mussaf Minyan.
I start davening alone, and using my imagination, I try to connect to the power of the davening we have every year in the Shul (with the special roof of the Shul that came all the way from Italy to improve the acoustics ...).
When I came to the Avoda section of the Davening, I said to myself: If we already imagining, then let us sail in our imagination to the time when the Beit Hamikdash was standing. And so I found myself closing my eyes and I was in Jerusalem together with masses of Jews standing and davening while the Cohen Gadol performed his holy work.
Insight:
The imagination.
Imagination has tremendous power.
One can imagine that he is Superman, but if he decides to jump off the fifth floor as Superman, it is a sign that he has taken his imagination a few steps too far, to a dangerous place, to a place that requires medical attention.
But the imagination is also a treasure and a gift we received from Hashem. Imagination can help complete the image we so desire to see, but that is still lacking.
In our imagination, we can live in loving relationship with a spouse while we are going through a difficult time with them. In our imagination we can see our children going down a straight and good path, even if in reality it is not always so. And in our imagination we can see Jerusalem in all its glory and the people of Israel in their greatness, even if the road ahead is still long.
Such imaginings play an important role in our lives. They give us faith and hope because they are imaginings that express the future, which may linger a little, but it will come because it is the eternal truth.
