0 E oZJO GU PRICE...

I TEARS from page 174

Isaac and the millennia of historical
tribulations that fill the pages of our
national and personal lives.
More than any other words of
prayer, these sounds draw all of us
together because we hear the other-
wise indescribable cry of our own
souls whispering past the harshness o f
our outer core to produce the much
anticipated highlight of the Rosh
Hashanah day, the sounding of the
shofar.

puts into its notes this message of exis-
tential question and need, of prayer
land supplication as well as triumph
I and victory. Mere words could not
hope to articulate such a message.
The bold tekiah is our proclamation
I of faith in God and the purity of our
1 souls. The wavering shevarim teruah
I- describesour fears and our doubts,
our hopes and our needs.
The shofar's sound is the gentle
whisper of the soul paraded through
Rabbi Goldberg is spiritual
the hard core of the ram's horn that
I leader of Young Israel of Southfield.
reminds our Creator of the sacrifice of

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Talk from page 174

But Aura was teaching me an
important lesson. What an amazing
I idea — to talk to God whenever we
I feel like it. How un-Jewish. We typi-
I cally see God as the conversation
•
,-
partner of last resort. For Aura, God is I
a presence whom she praises and
I thanks and with whom she sometimes I
quarrels or simply passes the time.
Too many of us have allowed God
to slip from our circle of confidantes.
Perhaps we've been psyched out
by the Hebrew liturgy, with all of its
I density and repetition, its rules and
I regulations. Perhaps we believe that
I the formal services we engage in are
the only way we can talk to God.
•
On the one hand, that's not true.
I You can speak with God — pray
— whenever you want to. On the
I other hand, the rabbis were wise to
our ways.
Any successful relationship demands
an investment of time and energy.
Our relationship with God is no dif-
ferent. When we speak to a good
friend only once a year, we begin to
feel the distance grow. When we
wait for a spiritual epiphany or (God
forbid) misfortune, before we reach
out to God, rust settles on the only
spiritual relationship which matters.
, The wisdom of Judaism lies in its
I recognition of the reality of the human
I condition: our tendency to let our rela-
tionships sometimes wither. Thus
we've been given a set prayer/con-

versation schedule every day so that
the dialogue is maintained. Not every
one of those daily "conversations" will
touch our core, but every once in a
while ....
For Nachman of Bratslav, "Words
are like water which falls continually
upon a rock until it breaks through. In
similar fashion they will break through
a man's flinty heart." We are
approaching the High Holidays, not
the easiest time to begin to access
Jewish prayer.
During the long days in synagogue,
as your attention begins to wane, pull
out a book or reading of Jewish con-
tent and connect in that way. But also
make this New Year's resolution: Pick
out a prayer from the siddur (prayer
book) that you'll try to say every day
this year. It can be short, but make it
your conversation-starter with God.
Most important, if it is not your rou-
tine, try to make it so: start talking to
God. The tradition is brazen — and
wise — enough to claim that God is
lonely for us when we stop address-
ing our concerns, our appreciation,
even our complaints to Him.
Make your reality that of Men-
achem Mendel of Kotzk who, when
asked where God could be located,
answered, "God can be found only
where man lets Him in." O

Rabbi Greenwald is Judaic
studies director of the Jewish Corn-
munity Center of Metropolitan
Detroit.

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