Its Yom Kippur Tommorow ..
Tomorrow is Yom Kippur and Shavuot, Chanukah and Purim. Tomorrow is the Mishna, Talmud, Midrash, Zohar and Chumash. Tomorrow is the Siddur, Haggadah, and the Psalms of King David. Tomorrow is the first, second, and third Temple all wrapped in one. Tomorrow is Isaiah and Jeremiah, Moses and Miriam, Maimonides and Nachmanides, Golda Meir, Rabbi Akivah, and Rav Kook. Tomorrow is King Solomon, King David, the Baal Shem — Tov, and the Messiah. Tomorrow is my Rebbe, and yours as well. Tomorrow is Shalom Aleichem, Mah Nishmah, Gutt Yom Tov, Chag Sameach, Shabbat Shalom, and Shana Tovah. Tomorrow is Borscht, Latkes, chicken soup, Manna that tastes like bagels and just a tiny shmear of cream cheese, Tzimmes, Lokshen Kugel, Knaidlach, and freshly baked Challah of course. Tomorrow we fly our Yiddishkeit, Menshlichkeit, and our Nareshkeit as well. Tomorrow we are Schlemiels and Shlumps, Schlimazels and Shmendricks. Tomorrow we are “I don’t like the way you look, have you been eating?” Tomorrow we immerse in the Mikva, sing Hava Nagila, Oseh Shalom, The haunting Niggun of Reb Michel of Zlotchov, and Kol Haolom Kulo, (the whole world is a very narrow bridge) but its no biggie since since Reb Nachman reminds us that the “Ikar” (most important thing) is “Lo Lephached Klall” That we have nothing to fear at all.” Tomorrow Reb Zushe reminds us that the most important thing to remember when we come to heaven is that they Wont ask us why we were not like Abraham or Moses, but they will call us out if were weren’t R Zushe, if we weren’t every inch of ourselves. Tomorrow we sit in the Sukkah and get soaked, eat herring washed down with a drop of Schnapps, and say Lchaim for all the blessings in our lives. Tomorrow, young and innocent, we stand trembling under the Chuppah praying for love, health, harmony, children, and a happy family. Tomorrow is the most important day on the Jewish calendar, the reason we even HAVE a Jewish calendar. Tomorrow we will read the portion of Yitro. In it we read about G-d giving the Torah to the Jewish people. Every meaningful Jewish memory can be traced back to that singular definitive moment, when for the first time, the heavens shyly courted the earth.
Whether we consider ourselves Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Atheistic, Chassidic, Agnostic, Sephardic, Ashkenazic, affiliated, unaffiliated, Reconstructionist, non, pre, or post denominational, Neochasidic or otherwise — is not important tomorrow. What IS important is the chance to let go of all that for just a moment. To swim briefly in the “Deep End” of the river, where the aggregate of souls from all eternity, flowing from Sinai through each of us, huddled as one consolidated soul at the foot of the mountain, is concentrated.
When we stand and read about the giving of the Torah tomorrow we have all the right ingredients for yet another powerful Jewish moment; to close our eyes, open our hearts and souls, and revisit the high plains of our essentiallity.
Shabbat Shalom, Much Love
Rabbi Yossi