Ve'amar Bayom Hahu

וְאָמַר בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, הִנֵּה אֶלֺקֵינוּ זֶה, קִוִּינוּ לוֹ וְיוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ, זֶה ה' קִוִּינוּ לוֹ, נָגִילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָה בִּישׁוּעָתוֹ

"And [His nation]will say on that day:Behold, this is our G-d; we have hoped for Him, that He would save us. This is Hashem; we have hoped for Him; we shall rejoice and be gladdened at His salvation." (Yeshaya 25:9)

We speak about the times of Mashicah where Hashem will make Himself known to the entire world and everyone will have absolute clarity as to what is the truth. But R' Tzadok Hakohen speaks of a person having his own personal Geulah. The real Geulah that each one of us can have is to come to the realization on our own that Hashem is in complete control over every single little detail of the universe and that everything has a purpose, everything. Once we come to that realization we reach this unbelievable simcha and a state of euphoria of having absolute clarity and closeness with Hashem. But how do we accomplish this? We look at a blade of grass blowing in the wind. Seemingly there is no significance to this, how can we really get to the point where we truly believe and know the emes-that this little blade of grass is being controlled by Hashem and that there is a purpose for it swaying back and forth exactly the way it is? The reason why we aren't in tune with this recognition is because in our own lives we don't recognize the importance of each and every moment we have and action we take. If we can't recognize this within ourselves, then how would be sensitive to recognize it in everything around us?! The only way to have that awareness of Hashem's constant involvement in this world is for us to work on our own lives; work on calculating all of our actions and how we spend our time throughout the day. Once we become a baal (owner/controller) over our own lives, then and only then will we be able to recognize the significance of every little detail of the world around us. Once we reach that point we can really bring Hashem into our lives and feel his presence constantly.

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(Pic courtesy of GreenView)

Toras Hashem Temima

תּוֹרַת ה' תְּמִימָה, מְשִׁיבַת נָפֶשׁ, עֵדוּת ה' נֶאֱמָנָה, מַחְכִּימַת פֶּתִי

"The Torah of Hashem is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of Hashem is trustworthy, making the simple one wise." (Tehillim 19:8-Pesukei D'zimra for Shabbos/Yom Tov)

At Har Sinai, when Hashem began to tell us the first of the Aseres Hadibros (10 Commandments)the experience was so awesome that our souls left our bodies. That is, all of Bnei Yisroel passed away. What restored life to our people? The Torah did. THIS is what this Passuk in Tehillim means when it says "Toras Hashem temima, meshivas nafesh". "Hahem's Torah... restores life".
Now this is a nice idea, but in reality, how did it work? How did the Torah revive Klal Yisrael? The Sfas Emes explains that the Torah has this power of restoration because it is the vehicle through which Hashem chose to make His Presence manifest in the physical world. Therefore, by living a life based on Torah we are connecting to Hashem. This is what the Passuk means when it says that the Torah restored our souls. The Torah enabled us to re-establish our relationship with Hashem. Meaning the Torah does not only have the power of reviving us physically, but even to revive us spiritually; to (re)gain a closer relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu (especially after a Bein Hazmanim spent out of Yeshiva!)-which is ultimately our purpose here in this world. We should all be zoche to a real simcha (happiness) with our Torah this Simchas Torah, and we should feel that simcha throughout the year, inspiring us to immerse ourselves in Torah more this year than any year of the past.

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(Top pic courtesy of the Jewish Outreach Institute)

(Bottom pic courtesy of flickr)

Ata Vichartanu

אַתָּה בְחַרְתָּנוּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים, אָהַבְתָּ אוֹתָנוּ, וְרָצִיתָ בָּנוּ, וְרוֹמַמְתָּנוּ מִכָּל הַלְשׁוֹנוֹת, וְקִדַּשְׁתָּנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיךָ. וְקֵרַבְתָּנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתֶךָ, וְשִׁמְךָ הַגָּדוֹל וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ עָלֵינוּ קָרָאתָ

"You have chosen us from all the nations; You loved us and found favor in us; And exalted us above all the languages, and You sanctified us with Your commandments. You brought us close, our King, to Your service and proclaimed Your great and holy Name upon us." (Shmoneh Esreh for Yom Tov)

"You have chosen us from all the nations..." A famous Medrash speaks of how Hashem offered the Torah to all the other nations before offering it to Klal Yisrael. As the Medrash goes, when Hashem offered it to each nation, they each replied "What's in it?" and Hashem responded with the one Mitzvah that that nation has trouble with. When Hashem offered it to Esav, for example, Hashem said that you can't murder, and that's what Esav is all about! When Hashem offered the Torah to Yishmael, Hashem said you can't steal, and that's what they do for fun! etc. etc. But When the Torah was offered to us, Hashem didn't say "You can't speak lashon hara" or any of the other major problems plaguing our nation today, he offered it and we accepted it. So why is that fair? Why does it seem that Hashem tried to avoid giving the Torah to all the other nations, but willingly gave it to us? There are many answers to this Q but the one that really hit home for me was this one: When Hashem offers you something, its gold! There's no need to ask questions! Maybe its not right for you?...impossible! Hashem would only give us the best of the best, He's Kulo Tov(completely good)! So when the other nations responded "What's in it" they were demonstrating their lack of trust in G-d. They were expressing their misunderstanding of the reality that G-d is The Man. Once they asked that question Hashem knew that the Torah wasn't for them. So He told them "Yeah you prob wouldn't want it anyway, you'll have to change yourself and work hard according to the restrictions that come with it..." But Klal Yisrael knew the deal. Hashem offered us the Torah and we responded "Naaseh V'nishma." "We will do and we will listen" We didn't even need to know whats in it, because we knew its for sure whats best for us. And that's why we were zoche (merited) to get it, because we knew the emes. We knew and still know today that G-d gives us only the best, never anything less.

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(Pic courtesy of CAJE)

U'vchein Tzaddikim

וּבְכֵן, צַדִּיקִים יִרְאוּ וְיִשְׂמָחוּ, וִישָׁרִים יַעֲלֺּזוּ, וַחֲסִידִים בְּרִינָּה יָגִילוּ

"And so too, (When Mashiach comes) the righteous will see and be glad, the upright will exult, and the devout will be mirthful with glad song." (Shmoneh Esreh, Yamim Noraim)

The three types of man mentioned here; The righteous, the upright, and the devout, are three categories that men fall into. The Sfas Emes explains that they are listed in ascending order of worthiness. Righteous people (Tzaddikim) are those people who do the will of Hashem even when they “aren’t feeling it.” They push past their strong temptations for other things and they follow Hakadosh Baruch Hu even though they may not understand the Justice of His ways. The upright (Yesharim) are those people who have such perfect faith, that they never question God’s will or ways. As a result, they are in a constant state of joy; more so than the merely ‘righteous.’ [This is all according to Rashi’s opinion in the Gemara in Taanis 15a, that the upright are greater than the righteous. However, the Rashba over there holds that the righteous are greater. Seemingly this is because they have to put in more effort to go against what they want to do, and instead do what they know they should be doing. Someone who is constantly willing and joyful when it comes to his/her Avoda has less struggle, so the schar (reward) and accomplishment aren’t necessarily as great. -Unlike my Bio-Psych Professor, Hashem grades of effort.] And finally, The Zohar Hakadosh explains that the devout (Chassidim) are those who try to serve Hashem by doing more than the minimum requirements of the law; in effect they do Chessed with Hashem, kavayachol. So basically the moral is- We should all be Chassidim!!

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(Pic courtesy of Judaic Art Exchange)

Ein Kitzva

אֵין קִצְבָה לִשְׁנוֹתֶךָ, וְאֵין קֵץ לְאֺרֶךְ יָמֶיךָ, וְאֵין לְשַׁעֵר מַרְכְּבוֹת כְּבוֹדֶךָ, וְאֵין לְפָרֵשׁ עֵלּוּם שְׁמֶךָ. שִׁמְךָ נָאֶה לְךָ וְאַתָּה נָאֶה לִשְׁמֶךָ, וּשְׁמֵנוּ קָרָאתָ בִשְׁמֶךָ

"There is no set span to Your years and there is no end to the length of Your days. It is impossible to estimate the angelic chariots of Your glory and to elucidate the hiddeness of Your Name. Your Name is worthy of You and You are worthy of Your Name, and You have included Your Name in our name." (Chazaras HaShatz Yamim Noraim)

This piyut is drawing a sharp contrast between feeble man and Almighty Hashem. The one preceding it, which ended describing the mortality of man, read: “We are but a dissipating cloud… flying dust, a fleeting dream…” The first words of this piyut, however, seem superfluous. First it says “There is no set span to your years (Hashem)…” and then it says “…and there is no end.” These two phrases mean almost the same thing but there is a slight difference. A ‘set span’ refers to an amount of time, so we are saying that Hashem has no life span, as it were, of like a billion or a trillion years. An ‘end’ refers to a deadline; so in effect, we are saying that Hashem’s existence is endless; He has no beginning and no end, which is coincidentally the 4th of the Rambam’s Ani Maamins.
The piyut ends with “And You included Your name in our name.”
Here are a few explanations of this:
-The Last 2 letters of יִשְׂרָאֵל are 'א' and 'ל' ; a Name of Hashem.
-When the Torah names the families of the Jews in Bamidbar, Perek 26, the letters of Hashem’s name, 'י' and 'ה' are added to each name. For example: שָׁעוּל’s Family is called הַשָׁעוּלִי.
-If you spell out each letter of Hashems name ('י'and 'ה') You get yud, vuv, daled, and hei, and yud, and those letters spell out יְהוּדִי, Jew! (My favorite)
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(Clock pic courtesy of CoolChaser)
(Kippa pic courtesy of here)

I'm going to try to post some songs pertaining to Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Succos/Simchas Torah over the next little while because I'll be having some extra time... Over Rosh Hashana davening I came across a buncha great ones. Once again if anyone has any requests please feel free to leave comments.
-CR