Shofar Sounds by Phillip Ratner
In Rosh Hashana we are proclaiming Him as our King and our Father. Our Sages call it the Judgment Day in which we recognize that there is nothing besides Him. That is why we read that day the akedah, the binding of Isaac. Mystic Sages say that Sarah, Abraham and Isaac were very aware that Creation comes from G-d and belongs to Him, including our lives. There is nothing that we can claim as our possession, simply because we don’t own anything except the illusions that make us believe otherwise. Our forefathers knew better, and this is why they were so close to the Creator.
They set the example for their descendants until this complete awareness was given to us with the Torah in a day that our Sages teach is Yom Kippur. In the upcoming New Year, this day will be as it was the first time, on a Shabbat. Again, we solemnly celebrate our Oneness with the Creator in an occasion in which He atone for our inadequacies, and redirects us to return to our true identity. We read the book of Jonah to plea for our return to Him after asking Him for His forgiveness. If a Pagan nation can be forgiven for their repentance, why not the Chosen People? The Prophet Jonah learned in his troubled journey that it is all about trusting G-d, and not the material illusions coming from the shade of a gourd (kikaion): “You had pity on the gourd for which you have not labored, neither made it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night.” (Jonah 4:10). These are the material fantasies and illusions we trust more than the One who created them. Our Sages explain that Jonah was angry because a Pagan nation was willing to return to G-d’s ways, and not his own people.
The Love of G-d created us and sustains us all the time, as He did in His cloud of Glory when He delivered our ancestors from bondage in Egypt. He commands us to remember His permanent protection to us by living during seven days in succot. In all Jewish holidays we remind ourselves that the Love of our Father is always with us. We were chosen to be His children and His people, then we must choose back to be His children and His people. And we can only be aware of this when we choose Love’s ways and attributes. Only in full awareness of the Love that created all will we be able to dwell in His Presence in these memorable holidays.
May the New Year bring us the highest awareness of G-d’s Love in every dimension of our existence. Shana tova v’metukah!
Ariel-Ben-Avraham
Ariel Ben Avraham
Safed, Northern Galilee, Israel
Born in Cartagena, Colombia in 1958. After studying Cultural Anthropology in Bogota, moved to Chicago in 1984, where I worked as a writer, reporter and producer for WSNS/Telemundo for 18 years. Produced video documentaries related to art, music, history and culture, such as “Latin American Trails: Guatemala”, distributed by Facets.org. For more than thirty years studied spiritual traditions from all over the world, and the mysticism of major religions, understanding the mystic experience as the personal means to connect with Divinity. Since 2004 study and write about Jewish mysticism and spirituality, mainly derived from the Chassidic tradition, and the practical philosophy of the teachings of Jewish mystic Sages from the last 2000 years. The book “God as Love” is the compilation of my last three years studying and learning Jewish mysticism, and the messages of the book are part of the content, exercises and processes of a series of seminars, lectures and retreats that I facilitate in several locations in Israel.
