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9/29

2000

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DANCE

from page 189

God "prays" to us: "Write yourself
in the Book of Life." All year you
haven't been yourselE You have been
living someone else's story. I need you
to be you. Let go of the old ghosts.
Move beyond the false inner voices
that you are trying so hard to please.
It is time to find your own voice. To
thine own self be true.
Shofar, in the mystical tradition, is
on a higher level than the "word."
\Xfords can lie, say the masters.
Shofar is on the level of "voice:"
clear and honest. It never lies about
the true you. Shema Koleinu! —"Hear
our voices!" we implore in the High
Holy Day prayers; meaning, even if
we are having trouble with the words
please God, help us find the voice
that is ours, and the words will come.
"Help us write ourselves in the book
of our lives.
Failure to embrace our own story is
starkly described by T.S. Eliot. "We
are the hollow men, We are the
stuffed men ... Shape without form,
Shade without Color Paralyzed force,
gesture without motion."

Forward Path

The way of return to God is not, as
the classical image suggests, to
repent for last year's sins, says the
Rebbe of Slonim. There is little to
be gained by mucking around in last
year's mess.
Rather, for those moments when
you are in synagogue go inside ... deep
... and commit to being yourself, to
being the best that you can be.
Commit to writing this year the
song that only you can bring down
into the world.
In Hebrew, the window into
Jewish consciousness, sin means "to
miss the mark." To miss the mark
that is you. The Jewish system of
mitzvah or performing good deeds is
not a laundry list. It is a system of
"Mitzvahrobics" for the soul. It is a
sophisticated tuning fork for the
soul that helps the individual (and
community) find the rhythm and
melody of his music.
Shofar is the crying instrument, the
"voice" for our words. Crying Is inau-
thentic if it leaves me confused and
depressed. Authentic crying moves
beyond the confusion and depression.
Tears bring a sense of cleansing, of
purification, redirecting me towards
the path to my highest self.
"I wish you and me and the entire
the Jewish people the highest Rosh
Hashanah in the world." ❑