Dear Friends,
Usually one month before they actually begin, marks the date when people really start talking about the High Holidays (so please look out for an e-mail next week about all the exciting information of the upcoming High Holidays at Chabad Naples). One nice part of the holidays is the prayers. You know that with prayers at Chabad Naples there is running commentary to bring the messages to life, and to really inspire you regardless of where you stand or whatever your level.
There is a feeling of family and the services are uplifting, punctuated by relevant examples that relate to your life today. For thousands of years, we always knew the power and meaning and relevance of prayer. For any issue in life, big or small - - a toothache or an existential crisis, a dilemma or struggle of any sort, we had our cosmic therapist always waiting and ready to listen, and for free too. Today we would say, "There's an App for that!"
A Jew always opens his or her heart and talks to G-d as you talk to your best, most trusted friend in the world. It’s a powerful feeling.
But, there is an old question: Why do we pray? Do you really think you can change G-d’s mind? If G-d decided something for you, will you really tweak His infinite psyche during prayer and have him alter His position? That would seem brazen, ridiculous, and even a form of heresy. Did G-d not know your position on the matter? Yet He still made a decision about what to do. So who do you think you are to pray?And if He is really G-d, He probably knows on His own what you want. Does He need you to pray? What really happens when we pray?
There are a few explanations for this enigma called prayer. One of them is simple and profound: prayer is not to change G-d, it is to change ourselves. Through prayer we become different people, we are not the same people we were before our prayers. Hence, the decree that G-d has in store for us might change not because G-d changed, but because we changed. We are not the same people on whom He decreed that specific decree. We become more grateful, we become kinder: it's like a reset, allowing our brains, body and soul to reboot.
Less than prayer changes G-d, it changes us.
There has been so much excitement surrounding the birth of a future king, that sometimes each and every one of us forgets our own 'royal status': don't ever forget, you are a 'royal baby too' -- when prayer allows you to step back and re-boot, you become more grateful and recognize that if G-D did indeed create you then he needs you, and you matter. We are all his 'princes'. Remember the Lion King: Mufasa tells his son, "Remember who you are...."
Warm regards,
Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos
P.S.Watch for next week's e-mail with details on the High Holidays and let's all join together to give ourselves this powerful gift.