Category: Service

A Malach on Main Street

I have the privilege of preparing our Shul’s AYnouncements. (Hat tip to past president SR, for coining the term AYnouncements as in Ahavas Yisroel Announcements.) Although the weekly deadline nature of the job creates some pressure, I do consider it a privilege to be able to serve the Tzibbur in this manner.

An added bonus of the job is sharing it with a number of members to pre-read it – looking for omissions and corrections. One of the Rabbi’s sons is a pre-reader and he often will share halachic times that should be included. Last week’s AYnouncements had this inclusion: “Last Time for Kiddush Levanah is all night following Wednesday 12/7.”

(Full disclosure: It was actually missing the final h in Levanah in the AYnouncements, because it was a late addition, which was not resent to the pre-readers, and I forgot the rule: A Hebrew “hei” gets an English “h” at the end of the word.)

Anyway, this month that note was very relevant because we had a lot of overcast days and I did not have a chance to say Kiddush Levanah with the Tzibbur. Thankfully, I remembered the AYnouncements note this morning and it was still the night following Wednesday 12/7 – the last chance to say it. So as I was on the way to Shul, I pulled out my Interlinear Minchah/Maariv and crossed over to the east side of Main Street to see the almost full moon, and to say Kiddush Levanah.

As I finished I saw an older chasidish gentleman walking down a deserted Main Street smoking a cigarette. After he gave me a big Shulem Aleichem, I asked him if he had said Kiddush Levanah yet. He thought for a second and said that he hadn’t and he would say it with me. Since I already said it, I handed him the Interlinear Minchah/Maariv and listened with joy as he said a slow and beautiful Kiddush Levanah. Afterwards he thanked me profusely for being his shaliach for the reminder.

You can provide your own nimshal (moral) to the story, but to me it was as the author Sarah Riegler says “G-d Winked”. Sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.

Serving the Kings

Making Hashem Our King
Rosh Hashanah is approaching and it’s an opportunity for us to crown Hashem as our King. This is a difficult task because a King has absolute sovereignty and few people are willing to cede all their authority to Hashem.

Rabbi Noson Weisz provides a motivating thought by pointing out that Hashem is the Creator of the entire universe and He can do anything for us. He can make all our problems disappear and provide us with peace, prosperity and endless joy. However, since Hashem gives us free will, we are given the power to determine our spiritual and physical outcomes. Hashem can only provide His full providential assistance if we cede our sovereignty back to Him by making Him our King.

If we do truly cede control back to Him, Hashem’s Hashgachah Pratis will come into full swing bringing us the spiritual and material success for which we yearn. That’s the connection between making Hashem Our King and Our Judgement for the Year – if we truly accept Hashem as King, he will take care of us as only a King can. However, this is still a difficult task.

Making Our Friend Our King
Rabbi Aaron Feldman brings down a Magidda D’ R’ Meir (thought to be a baraisa), which says that one of the questions we will be asked in the World to Come is “Im Melachatcha Es Chaveiro Alecha” – Did you make your friend a King over you? Did you do Chessed for your friend? Did you serve your friend? Did you treat your friend as a King?

When we treat our friend, or our fellow Shul member as a King, we diminish our self-centered perspective. The same is true when we serve the Shul with pure motivations. This service is a mitzvah in its own right, but the accompanying diminishment of ego makes it easier for us to accept Hashem as King.

Perhaps you shul has a family that exemplifies this trait of treating a friend as a King. Watch them. Learn from them. Emulate them. May all of Klal Yisroel acquire this wonderful trait so that we can individually and collectively give Hashem the sovereignty to bring the Geulah.

A Closer Look at the Hashkama Minyan

The conventional rap on the Hashkama Minyan is that it’s a utilitarian minyan for those who want their davening fast and early. Another objection is that the participants are less connected to the Rabbi and the Shul than those who daven at the main minyan. Although these may be valid points, let’s take a closer look.

I was in Lawrence about a year ago and my host davened at the Hashkama Minyan. There were both men and women present. It was a reasonable pace, followed by a generous hot kiddush. After that, there was a 30 minute shiur by one of the prominent Baalei Machshava of the area. It was a fantastic Shabbos morning experience and I would be hard pressed to resist making it my mainstay if I lived in the area.

The Hashkama Minyan in my shul is missing the kiddush and the shiur, but it is structured to overcome some of the potential deficiencies. The davening is a reasonable pace, but time is saved by running the service efficiently. There is a weekly Dvar Torah giving by one of the participants and on occasion by our Rabbi. And due to the efforts of the Gabbai, who was recently honored at our Shul Dinner, there is a sense of community among the mispallim. I daven there about once a month, and I find it a very positive experience.

Like most things in the Jewish Community, Hashkama Minyanim are what you make them. If you throttle the speed, mix in some Torah, and infuse a sense of Tzibbur, the value of the Hashkama Minyan increases greatly.