Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Introduction to Hashkiveinu - Kol Nidre 5777 (Oct. 11, 2016):

"And if you ask me what the most important thing I learned in medical school was, I will tell you this:  that things can be fixed.  Not only bodies.  Souls, too.  They can be fixed and mended”  ~ Meir Shalev in A Pigeon and a Boy

Not only can we be fixed, but we must discover the time and space to do just that.  Yom Kippur, this day, is about mending.  It is about repairing ourselves, our relationships and our communities.  The Hashkiveinu prayer is the moment during our liturgy that urges us to invite the Divine to spread over us a Sukkat Shalom - A Shelter of Peace.  It is under this canopy that we can discover the mending our souls require.  In this space, when we feel the presence of the Divine, the shelter of community around us we can understand our best self.  Ufros Aleinu Sukkat Shlomecha - Spread over us a Shelter of Peace.

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After Kadesheinu before R’tzei - Kol Nidre 5777 (Oct. 11, 2016):

Reb Nachman of Bratislava taught, “You are wherever your thoughts are.  Make sure your thoughts are where you want to be.”

What is fascinating about what Reb Nachman teaches here is that he doesn’t say to make sure your thoughts are where you are; rather he says where you want to be.  It is on one hand a moment of day-dreaming and imagining what is possible.  While from another perspective, it is about ensuring we are thoughtful, that we are intentional about our lives.  This space in our liturgy between Kadeisheinu - seeking lives of holiness and R’tzei - a plea for our prayer to be acceptable we invite the divine into our lives, through our deeds, the mitzvot, and our prayer.

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