Faith is the ability to hear the music beneath the noise.
-Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

This coming Sunday evening is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, it is the day of atonement. Truly the greatest gift we have, is the day itself forgives us for all sins between man and the divine.

It’s the one day where we are asked to be angelic, to leave our worldly bodies and see ourselves as angels. During this day, we fast to recognize that our ultimate sustenance is to and from our soul.

What is the language of the soul? I believe the soul sees and speaks through music and art, not through words.

A teacher of mine once said, words are a very poor form of communication, but it’s the only one we have.

I have a difficult time with many of the word based prayers and relating to many passages, especially those that describe the traditions offered in the temple.

The prayer that rises above the noise to me is song; I love singing because my soul feels connected to something both inside and outside of me. I feel as though I’m communicating with the divine, and song makes my faith so much stronger.

Song invokes joy, sadness, spirituality, and deep, deep connectedness.

How do you invoke spirituality? How do you make prayer meaningful?

I want to add one more idea that always moves me every year, and that is the day of atonement only offers forgiveness between us and the divine. The day specifically doesn’t offer forgiveness for any sins committed between us humans. For that, we must make an amends.

It’s not enough to pray our sins away. We must also change our actions, and we must ask how we can make it better.

This week, let’s not be afraid to admit we made a mistake, to say we are sorry for our actions and to ask the really hard question of, “what we can do to make it better,” instead of brushing things under the rug.
Accountability, Community, Unconditional Love

Asher

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Posted in Thought of the Week