Elul! The King Is In The Field!

Greetings...

You've probably heard that during the Jewish month of Elul, the "King is in the field"... this is the time when the King (God) is "out of his palace" and "walking amongst the regular folk". He is said to be at his most approachable at this point. Us regular peons can make requests of Him at this time.

However, this actually reminds me of something... the opening scene of "The Godfather". In this scene, a guy (who is a neighbor of the Godfather) comes in to ask favor of the Godfather. The Godfather says to him essentially "for 15 years we've been neighbors, and never in that time have you asked me over for dinner. Now, you come to me when you want a favor...".

Granted, a peasant feels they have nothing to offer the King, and that to attempt to invite the King for dinner would be a great insult to the King. But let's not confuse our God- The Master of the Universe, with human kings. Our King, our God, is our Father. Us being "rich" or "poor" means nothing to Him. He just wants to love us- and have us love Him back.

So before I think of approaching the King, our Father, I have to think- what have I done for HIM this past year? What can I do NOW for Him, that will show Him my honor and respect, so that if I need to ask a favor, He will grant it without having to ask "Why didn't you ever invite me to your house?".

So go ahead- invite God over. He would love the invitation. In fact, He's waiting for it!

So how do you "invite God over"? Easy. Just honor Him. How do you honor Him? Just do what He asks of us- which essentially boils down to "be nice to others". When you go about your daily business, think of Him. Think of all the things in your daily "routine" that occur because He allows it. Thank Him. Think of Him. That's "inviting God over".

They Don't Get It...

There's a reason why Moshiach hasn't yet arrived...and WE know what it is.

These guys don't.

The Reason for the Season...?

Greetings and welcome. Now the "9 Days" are upon us. And someone asked me what it's about. After a moment of thought I said "It's supposed to be about self reflection".

We can all "google" for info about The Nine Days, or visit places like Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Days) to get "technical" info about this time of year. And we can also find various articles and shiurim (lectures) about the nine days. But how many of us stop and think about the POINT of observing these 9 days (and the entire 3 Week period)? Is it only about remembering history? Or engaging in mourning and sadness? No. It's about us. And the fact that Moshiach has still not arrived. And we have suffered considerably over the last 2,000 years BEYOND the facts of the original Roman exile period.

What we need to do, and what indeed I believe the point of these days are, is to reflect on WHY we were exiled, and why we suffer. We are taught that the original destruction of the Temple was brought about by "Sinat Chinam", what is translated as "baseless hatred". So did thousands of religious students go around "hating" each other? No, I don't think it was so outright. It was more about their personal behavior...doing things that were pointless or without "profit", but yet were not nice. Like selfishness- allowing a door to slam in the face of the person behind you is a selfishness- a "baseless hatred"- even if you didn't even realize what you did. That's the key- you didn't even think that there might be someone behind you. So doing things that serve you but may harm or embarrass others, even if you don't realize, or maybe especially if you don't realize it, are forms of "baseless hatred".

Hence the title of this website and my campaign- "Does That Bring Moshiach?". The whole point of this phrase being to get us to THINK before we DO. Think about whatever behavior, action, or speech we are about to engage in, BEFORE we do it. So we can think about what effect or impact it might have on others. And that's what it's about. Thinking before doing.

You may be one of the most "observant" people in the world in terms of following the "Law". You get up in the morning, negel vass, say your morning prayers, do some "learning", wash and eat some bread and breakfast, and then go about your day, praying at the proper times, being careful with your kosher observence, wearing tzitzit, etc. But, alas, if you cheat on taxes (i.e. pay cash to avoid sales tax), or treat your employees badly (paying below legal wages, etc.), or even just let doors slam in people's faces, you are indeed engaging in Sinat Chinam. And this is why Moshiach has not arrived.

So please- THINK- "Does That Bring Moshiach?" before you do. I'm trying hard to do it too, of course!