by Rabbi Aron Moss
Question:
Why is life so frantic at the moment? It seems like things are unusually hectic, not just for me but everyone I talk to. Shifts in personal life, career moves, some good and some bad, big stuff and massive changes, all in the last week or so. Is something going on spiritually that I should know about?
Answer:
Oh yes. We are in the final month of the Jewish year, the month of Ellul. A lot has to happen in these last weeks of the year.
The Jewish view is that time has a personality. Each year has a character of its own. It's like a guest who stays with you for twelve months, follows you around everywhere you go, and then leaves so another guest can move in. Each year arrives with its particular energy and feel, and then that energy makes way for a new year with its own personality and style.
Some guests are easy, others can be quite demanding. But each leaves a gift behind -the lessons learned, the challenges faced, and tasks fulfilled in the year gone by.
Every year on Rosh Hashana it is decreed in heaven what each person needs to face in the year to come. We are each given a specific set of obstacles to overcome, lessons to learn and changes to make over the course of the year.
As the year comes to a close, we need to deal with any unfinished business. We must complete this year's spiritual task list while this year still exists. Rosh Hashana will come and this year will be gone, along with all its challenges and opportunities. New ones will then arrive, but first we have to finish up with the old. Next year has its own energy and its own tasks.
So now, at the end of the year, the pace speeds up, the intensity is increased and everything is thrown at us. Our guest is about to leave. We need to say goodbye to this year soon, but before we do we need to squeeze every last opportunity out of it. No wonder it's hectic. It is the drama of saying farewell forever. There is no time to waste. This year will never be again.
Source:
Tanya Igeres Hakodesh 14
Rabbi Aron Moss is Spiritual Leader of Nefesh
Thank you. That explains a lot of what is happening in my life.
ReplyDeleteDuring Elul, i propose that just as so many people had had R'Rubashkin in mind for a yeshua, why not ALSO sing the following classic prayer-song albeit WITH MODIFICATIONS as per the uppercase below. And spread the word...
ReplyDelete"Acheinu kol beis yisroel (2x) hanesunim batzora, batzora uvashivya, bein ba'yam,
OH BEIN BA'GUF,
oh ba'yabasha. Hamokom yerachem, yerachem aleihem, v'yotzi'eim me-tzora l'revocha, umei'afeila l'ora, ume'sheebud l'geula etc."
(and anyone who is ill, disabled, or in jail, should substitute ULEINU instead of "Aleihem", with the ill having in mind both themselves and the jailed. And vice versa.)
Because people who are ill/disabled (especially in horribly-run nursing-homes and hospitals in our midst), are like virtual prisoners, at the mercy of their painful bodies AND callous aides who worsen their situation.
Thanks for reading, however depressing.
M.M.
I think that the rabbi's answer would be the same for every Elul. This year is very different than all other years because the world is changing course very quickly in getting ready for Moshiach. It's been obvious to some for a long time but others are newer to the realization that the End of Days are really here. Even five years ago I never heard people around me talk about Moshiach. It is becoming more and more a reality in people's lives and they are accepting it and hoping for it. Now, I hear almost every day something said about his soon arrival or someone's hope for him. I'm talking about without going on geula blogs and such.
ReplyDeleteThe world's political and physical climates are changing so quickly as well. People are starting to awaken out of their slumbers. I'm surprised the rabbi doesn't mention how close we are to the end and the birthpangs of Moshiach having something to do with all of the upheaval in the world.