The Weekly Shtikle - Yom Kippur

In this tumultuous presidential election campaign season, there has been no shortage of entertaining memes. One video clip shows one of the candidates repeating the exact same line over and over again in various different speeches. In numerous different settings, this candidate is seen claiming to "see what can be, unburdened by what has been." While it is certainly a laughable string of clips, there might actually be a valuable message behind this catchphrase, extremely pertinent to Yom Kippur and the ideas of teshuvah.

This point is best brought out with a beautiful thought I heard from R' Tzvi Mordechai Feldheim in the name of R' Shimon Schwab, zt"l. Each and every night, in the hashkiveinu prayer we recite during maariv, we beseech HaShem to "remove the satan from in front of us and behind us." The satan in front of us is simple enough to understand. This is the force that stands between us and becoming closer to HaShem. It is ever-present, drawing us toward sin and preventing us from performing mitzvos. But what is the nature of the satan behind us?

Rav Schwab explains that the satan behind us is the cynical voice that emerges when we try to make significant change. It is particularly active during this time of year. When we make up our minds to do teshuvah, the satan behind us says "yeah, that's what you said last year, and the year before." It has you believing that things must stay the same because that's the way they have always been. (Perhaps we should name him Newton.) We ask HaShem nightly for assistance in combating this force that pulls us down and burdens us by what has been.

Have a good Shabbos and a gemar chasimah… tov? {See below)

 

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

 

Weekly Shtikle Blog Roundup:

Dikdukian: Remember Us for the Good

Dikdukian: A Happy Ending

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The Weekly Shtikle - Rosh HaShanah

I assume that I'm not the only one who, more than once, while itching for the end of mussaf on Rosh HaShanah, has read Artscroll's explanation of the symbolism behind the 100 shofar blasts. The source is Eliyahu Ki Tov's Sefer HaToda'ah, wherein he explains that Devorah, in her song following the defeat of Sisera and his Canaanite army, states (Shofetim 5:28-30) that Sisera's mother whimpered and groaned while she awaited her sons return. She did so 101 times, according to the midrash. We sound the shofar 100 "whimpers" to express our opposition to the barbarism Sisera's mother supported but we fall short by one blast to show the smallest inkling of sympathy for her pain.

Surely, there must be more behind this connection. The mother's whimpers are not enough for us to base such a significant custom on this episode in Tanach. (I have always thought it ironic that the heroine of the story of Sisera's defeat was Yael who single-handedly killed the ruthless general. The mishnah (Rosh HaShanah 3:3) states that the shofar used on Rosh HaShanah is the straight horn of an ibex, a "yael." This observation is made slightly less significant by the fact that our custom is not in accordance with that mishnah.)

The theme of Rosh HaShanah is accepting upon ourselves the yoke of HaShem's Kingship. We do this every day when we recite the Shema and declare that HaShem is One. The essence of a king is a single, authoritative entity with no superior and no equal. Thus, recognizing HaShem's oneness is a crucial part of accepting His Dominion. To achieve that recognition, we must come to accept that the good and the bad, life and death (as in this past week's parsha) all come from a single source. In the Torah, we are often confronted with seemingly contradictory messages - messages of kindness and compassion alongside messages of apparent cruelty and destruction. As well, on Rosh HaShanah, we often reflect upon the events that have transpired over the past year - the blessings and the good fortune, the tragedies and hardships. The challenge, again, is to realize that these are not conflicts but simply Divine decrees.

The story of Sisera presents a very similar challenge (although not necessarily unique in Tanach.) We read about poor Sisera - all he wanted was a glass of water and what did he get? A glass of milk and a tent pole through his skull. And then we read about his poor, grieving mother. Yet we must be careful to keep our emotions in check, to realize that Sisera was a man of great cruelty and that his demise was the will of HaShem and an essential component of B'nei Yisrael's miraculous victory. With this, the story of Sisera's demise is more closely related not only to shofar, but to the general theme of Rosh HaShanah itself.

This challenge has certainly become more prevalent over the past year. In the response to the horrific terror attacks of a year ago, we have witnessed scenes of heart-wrenching devastation. While these scenes evoke feelings of sympathy, we must also understand that this destruction is part of a necessary step to uproot evil and keep our people safe. I am not in a position to suggest exactly how to strike the balance of those emotions, just to observe that the challenge exists.

May you all have a shanah tovah umsukah, a kesiva vachasimah tovah and a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: HAL

Dikdukian: Remember us for the Good

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com

The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to shtiklelist+unsubscribe@weeklyshtikle.com.