Community Magazine September 2019

24 Community Magazine FOLLOW US BORO PARK: 5719 NEW UTRECHT AVE. 718.871.3535 • S-TH 10-6 | T 10-8 | F 10-2 MIDWOOD: 1910 AVE. M 718.972.3535 • S-TH 10:30-6:30 | 10-2 LAKEWOOD: 6776 RT. 9 S. HOWELL 732.905.9444 • S-TH 10-6 | F 10-2 ELEGANTLINEN.COM EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR OF IN THE USA & CANADA But let’s not turn those challenges into excuses. Let’s remember that when all is said and done, we bear full responsibility for our decisions and our actions. It’s easy to blame the internet. It’s easy to blame the smartphone. It’s easy to blame American culture. It’s easy to blame our politicians. It’s easy to blame the schools. It’s easy to blame the community. It’s easy to blame a million and one things. But at a certain point, we need to take responsibility. Of course, we need to brainstorm and strategize for how to deal with the unique challenges of the 21st century. Absolutely, we should always be working and striving to make our institutions better and to help our community improve. But our primary, most important responsibility, particularly during this time of year, is to work and strive to make ourselves better. The idea of Elul is to get us to stop focusing on what he, she, or they are doing wrong, and to focus instead on howwe can improve, on how we can make better choices. Our High Holiday Plea King David cries to Gd in Tehillim (41:5), “ Refa’ah nafshi ki hatati lach – Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.” Surprisingly, King David says to Gd that he should be cured specifically because he sinned. Shouldn’t the opposite be true? Shouldn’t he have asked to be healed even though he sinned? The story is told of a fellow who approached the one in the synagogue reciting the prayer for ill patients, and gave the name of a patient for whom the congregation should pray. The hazzan heard the name, and was startled. The name was “John the son of Mary.” This fellow wanted him to pray for a non-Jew. “Why do you want us to pray for him?” the hazzan asked. “It’s very important that he lives,” the man replied. “I desperately need this man to live. I’mbegging you – please pray for him with all your heart and soul!!!” “Why?” the hazzan asked, overcome by curiosity. “Because he owes me money!!” The Maggid of Duvna (1740-1804) explained King David’s prayer along similar lines. He pleaded to Gd, “I have a debt to repay!! Don’t take me from this world yet! I have sinned, and I need to repent and change. This takes time. Please give me this opportunity. Please give me more time. I want to repay my debt – please give me a chance to do so!!” This was King David’s plea, and this should be our High Holiday plea, as well. We come before Gd and ask for life, health, prosperity, and happiness, but we cannot forget about our “debts.” We need to acknowledge what we “owe,” what we need to change and improve, and then beg Gd for the opportunity to make these changes and improvements. This is what we should be asking for. The shofar calls on us to stop making excuses, to stop blaming others, to start accepting responsibility for who we are – and making the commitment to be much better, so we can make the coming year a year of personal growth and achievement, a year when we reach higher and aspire for more. May we all be blessed with such a year, amen . 18 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE A man once came into the synagogue, sat down near me, stretched his arms and legs out as far as they go, and let out a loud – and probably exaggerated – yawn. It was pretty obvious that he was waiting for a comment about how he was very tired. I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I acknowledged his apparent fatigue. “Yeah, rabbi,” he said. “Every night, I wake up in the middle of the night to recite tikkun hatzot ,” referring to the midnight prayer bemoaning the exile, which is recited mainly by Kabbalists and especially devout individuals. He then continued, “And then I go back to sleep and wake up early for Shaharit .” It doesn’t take an advanced degree in psychiatry to understand what this fellow was doing. He came into the synagogue l oking f r a way to publicize his nobl practice of reciting tikkun hatzot . This is an exampl of a phenomenon which I fe r is becomi g more common in today’s day and age – the tendency to “adve tise” o ’s piety nd religious devo on, to not fee content with being devout, and to i stea ense the need make people aware of it. A Different Kind of Tzeniut This month, we read a portion from the Prophets that warns against this tendency. The haftarah (section from the Prophets) read on Shabbat Parashat Balak comes from the Book of Michah, and speaks of our indebtedness to Gd, how kind He is and how grateful we must fe el for all that He has done for us. At one point in this prophecy, Michah brings as an example the story told in Parashat Balak – the story of the Moavite king who summoned the gentile prophet Bilaam to place a curse on Beneh Yisrael and annihilate them. Gd foiled the plot, transforming Bilaam’s curses into beautiful blessings. But what is of interest to us in this context is the final verse of this prophecy, in which Michah concludes by asking, and answering, the question that we should all be asking ourselves each and every day – and perhaps each a d every moment! – of ur lives: “What do s Gd wan from you?” Consid ring all that Gd as done for us, the prophet tells us, He do s not ask for v ry much. All He demands is three things: Words of Rabbi Eli J. Mansour “The Torah ideal of 'tzeniut' has as much to do with our behavior on social media as it does with hemlines.” לעילוי נשמתם של משה בן עליזה, יצחק הלל בן עליזה, והנרייט לאה בת עליזה, דוד בן גילה, רבקה בת גילה, יהושע בן גילה, משה בן גילה, שרה בת גילה, יעקב בן גילה, ואליאנה בת גילה. ולרפואה שלמה ליוסף בן אהובה מסעודה, שילת אהובה בת עליזה, ודניאל בן עליזה. Masquerading Greatness