Shabbat Shuva

Shabbat Shuva, the Shabbat which falls between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, is an important and powerful Shabbat. During this span of ten days (from the beginning of Rosh Hashana until the end of Yom Kippur), the Gates of Repentance are open for the Jewish people. It is a time of deep personal reflection, teshuva (literally "returning"), and hopefully inspiration to improve oneself for the coming year.

At shul on this Shabbat, Rabbis often give a special Shabbat Shuva drasha - a meaningful speech of how to maintain focus - and they often input their own take on the teshuva process or some other aspect of this auspicious time.

Since Yoni and I have been traveling a lot already during training, we really had to stay at home for this Shabbat. We had nice quiet meals to maintain our focus, and did a lot of great learning. On our afternoon walk, I asked Yoni to give me a Shabbat Shuva drasha, since I couldn't go to shul to hear a Rabbi's.

Well, let me tell you - after the first two minutes of trying to get out of it, saying he didn't prepare anything, Yoni gave one of the best ones I've ever heard and it led to a really good conversation.

I'll try to convey it here, but my words will not do justice to the eloquence with which he spoke -

During this time of repentance, what are we actually asking from G-d? We ask to be forgiven for our sins. We did wrong, we admit that we are humans who make mistakes, and we want G-d to see the good we've done and allow that to outweigh the bad in His judgment. In other words, we ask G-d to judge us favorably. It's taught that G-d judges us how we judge others. If we are people who judge others favorably, and see only the good in them, then when G-d looks at us, he will see the good.

So that's the intro, and the context in which to view our judgment of others.

This concept applies on a daily basis, on multiple levels. It encompasses everything from instantaneous judgment of people you've never met to deep-seeded judgment of those close to you.

One unfortunately common example of judgment occurs within the Jewish people, with regard to each other's connection with G-d, and expression thereof.

Judaism is not a religion which looks down upon people of other religions for not doing things in a "Jewish way." One of the main facets of Jewish belief is that the Jews are a People chosen to live life in a certain way, and those who are not Jewish can be perfectly decent and wonderful human beings by living a moral, non-Jewish lifestyle.

Internally, however, Jews often judge their fellow's observance of the religion. Now to speak inter-denominationally would open a whole can of worms beyond simple judgment. To stay true to where our conversation led today, I am going to stick with the judgment within the "Orthodox" community. I use this term loosely, to define the span of Jews who keep the Laws of Shabbat.

This truth probably does not need much explanation. Anyone reading this who considers themself part of that group, has probably at one point or another found yourself judging another as either, "not observant enough," or "crazy ultra-religious." And if you're in the small minority of those that refrain from this judgment - first of all, kol ha k'vod - I'm sure you have observed it from others or at least felt the sentiments.

Who are we to judge a fellow Jew? Psychologically, I understand the human's need to judge others. Through demeaning another's decisions, one attains validation for his/her own choices in life. If an individual can look at others who express their Jewish observance in a different manner and explain why it's not as good as what they do, then they feel satisfaction in knowing that they're doing what is best.

This principle, however, goes against what the Torah teaches us about how to view others. First of all, we're never supposed to think we're exactly where we're supposed to be. We wouldn't have a need to continue living on this earth if we had attained true character and moral perfection.
And why are we living in a world with other people instead of in a bubble of isolation? To learn something from each and every person. We don't learn by looking at someone and saying they're worse than us for one reason or another. We learn by looking at each individual and searching for a positive quality of theirs which we could use to improve ourselves. Yes, you may dress differently than another, or prioritize Halacha (Jewish Law) in a different manner, but what good comes from dwelling on those differences? Why not look at the individual for the best qualities of their character and, if you must judge, judge them as a person based on this positive evaluation.

After all, isn't that what we're asking G-d to do for us? How can we expect Him to look at the best in us unless that's how we see others?

We wish everyone a Gmar chatima tova - may you have a year of Blessing and Good Health!


P.S. I made a bunch of round braided challot for the holidays:
















Here's one of the plain ones:



















And one with raisins - Mmmmmmmmmmmm :-D