Lee Diamond

Lee Diamond – The Looking Glass & Erev Yom Kippur in the Holyland

Credit: israeli-children-supporting-education.org

Credit: israeli-children-supporting-education.org

Lee Diamond – The Looking Glass & Erev Yom Kippur in the Holyland

My 5 yo grand daughter

Asked me

if I will fast

On Yom Kippur

I immediately responded: “Yes”

 

She then asked me

“what I had done wrong?”

 

‘We all make mistakes” said I

And we all need to be aware.”

 

Fasting is a awareness technique

 

She informed me “that she had made

No mistakes

and was therefore not fasting”

 

In fact she is right

For she is innocent

Children are innocent

In every sense of the word–

“Innocence.”

 

Self awareness comes

With age

Self awareness comes

With experience

Self awareness

Can come only

With looking inward

In order.

To see our real selves.

 

It takes time and some

Distance

To look within.

To see ourselves in the mirror

Of insight.

Not in the silver painted Glass

which reflects

Only what we wish to see!

 

To see ourselves as others see us

And as our

Creator  does

Neither sterling

Nor silver plated.

 

 

My granddaughter is pure

Innocent, precious

As all babes are.

If only we could be so pure!

Their essence is worn

On their faces,

“Panim”  means interior

Essence

 

So I  must fast

In order to remove the

Silver lining

That protects my

“Self”

From exposing

My self.

 

 

So that I too can achieve innocence

Like my grand daughter

So that my face will reflect my

Inner being

 

SO TOO MUST WE AS A NATION

 

Of Israel —the Jewish People

 

 

Who see the glass half full

Or half empty

We must fast so that we see

that the glass is neither

Half full nor half empty

It simply needs filling.

Erev Yom Kippur in the HOLYLAND

aliyah

IF NOT HIGHER THAN THAT

Gmar Hatima Tova- May You Be Inscribed for Good ( in the book of life)

Hatima Tova : A Good Inscription (in the book of life)

Gmar Tov –May It End Well (for You)

 

Never been quite sure

Which of these

Is correct

Everyone blesses

Everyone

 

Not because we must

Not because of religious coercion

But because we share the

Same fate

And culture

And sincerity

 

It’s the time

In our lives as Israeli Jews

To get serious about

Each other and ourselves

It’s the time to take our

Judaism and our Jewishness

more seriously

 

Shops close early

On EREV Yom Kippur

Families gather for pre- fast meals

 

There is a general quieting

In the air,

The silence is indeed  audible

Cars are rushing to get to their

Places of rest for the next 25 hours

Traffic comes to a slow

But complete Halt!!!!!!!!!

 

And then it descends

Holiness descends upon a

Nation.

This is the cloud of glory

That covered the emerging nation

 

Holy Holy Holy

Jerusalem Tel Aviv Haifa Beer Sheva

All over the nation

Television Radio quieten

And cease!

Silence speaks

 

The streets empty of vehicles

Only an occasional ambulance

Only pedestrians

White is everywhere

On the curtain of the ark

White

Purity of a day and the simplicity

Of this day’s  people

 

Kol Nidre

Prayer is heard from the

Windows of the many synagogues

And the sound startles

The walkers/ the strolling families

Even the kids on bikes

Riding the streets and highways

They too feel the difference

 

Many go for Kol Nidre

To hear the mystical and absolving

tones repeated   3 times

giving us a new lease

On life

 

The synagogues overflow

The melodies rise

The tears flow

For loss

For memory

For hope

For loneliness

 

Holiness Kedusha

Overwhelms  the environment

Secular

Religious

Liberal Traditional

Sephardim Ashkenazim Yemenite

 

All Bound  in holiness together

Bound in KODESH

Kodesh Kodesh

 

Not a case of

“They attacked us

We won

Let’s eat!”

 

Not at all

 

Just the peace

Of a better world

A world of potential

And hope

Bordering on belief

A world of simplicity

A world of real human

And Holy communication

 

Of A Holy nation of  ISRAEL

Made Holy by the

“Utterance

Of Eternity” (A.Y. Heshel)

 

By the will of the

HOLY ONE

Blessed Be He

 

KADOSH KADOSH KADOSH

The entire earth  is filled with His Glory

 

 

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Categories

Archives

DH Gate

doing online business, think of dhgate.com

Verified & Secured

Copyright © 2023 IsraelSeen.com

To Top
Verified by MonsterInsights