A Rosh Hashanah message from Connecticut’s Rabbis

Rabbi Ari Weiss

Rabbi Ari Weiss

Agudas Achim Synagogue

West Hartford

“Hayom Harat Olam. Hayom Yaamid Bamishpat kol Yetzurei Olamim.” “Today is the conception of the world. Today all creations of all worlds stand in judgment.”

Only a few short Shabbatot ago, in the portion of Shoftim, we read the commandment of tithing one’s produce, which is immediately preceded by the commandment of not cooking a goat in its mother’s milk. The rabbis seek to understand the significance of the juxtaposition of these two exhortations in the Torah. They explain that God is telling us that should one not tithe his produce at the appropriate time, namely, before the produce has fully ripened, then God will cause the produce to be cooked in its husk (like a goat in its mother’s milk) before it is able to ripen, thereby destroying it. What message is the Torah trying to convey which the rabbis are elaborating for us?

The message is that one must learn to look at the potential rather than the actual, the possible rather than the visible. One who can see the potential in the produce before it is ripe, and is able then to dedicate it to God, will be blessed with further sustenance and plenty. However, one who cannot recognize the potential before it is actualized, as one who waits for the food to ripen before separating his tithe, will not merit seeing the blessing that is within. Just as one must first invest firewood in his fireplace, understanding the potential of gaining heat, before one will benefit of the warmth of the fire which is generated, we must first see the potential, long before it is actualized, if we hope to receive the blessing from G-d.

We must similarly strive to see the potential in everyone with whom we interact rather than his or her track record. We should treat people not as who they are, but as who we believe they can become. In this way they will live up to our vision of themselves and will actualize that potential we have detected within.

This is also the message of our prayers on Rosh Hashanah. “Hayom Harat Olam” – “Today is the day the world is conceived.” At the moment of conception, all that exists is the potential, waiting to be actualized. What do we see in that potential? What are we looking forward to in the new year? What do we hope to accomplish, and whom do we hope to become? It is this which we bring to our prayers and supplications before the Almighty. In spite of what we may or may not have done this past year, in spite of what we might have built or destroyed, and despite our resolutions of previous years upon which we may or may not have followed through, we approach God with our focus on the potential. We focus on what could be.

Rabbi Gary Atkins

Rabbi Gary Atkins

Beth Hillel Synagogue

Bloomfield

Page 1 of 5 | Next page