I’ve all but given up with going to Temple as I rarely feel ‘connected’
when I’m there. I have of recent years felt
it is more about seeing and being seen than a search for who we are and who we
hope to be. More about the politics and
the business of a Temple rather than the spiritual search and connection we
hope to find in a place of worship. I recalled
a sermon given several years ago about this very topic. The Rabbi agreed it is about seeing and being
seen and challenges us to flip the paradigm of thought. Instead of judging the lack of a tie being
worn, or he jeans that the 20 something is wearing or length of the woman’s
skirt of the height of the high heels, look at who they are with this
year. Is their elderly mother or father
still with them? Is there a new addition to the family? Is that 20 something
year old alone or with a family? How about the fact that he/she is even there. Look at all the new babies and ones who are no
longer with you. In other words finds the
connection between those you are surrounded by. Look in between the people, in the spaces
where the vibration of energy lies. I bet if you sit quietly, you’ll find that
connection comes right back to you.
A childhood friend of
mine and one who’s words and opinions I respect very much just happened to be
sitting behind me in Shul. After
watching me count my mala beads as I recited the Om mani padme hum recitation (the
six-syllabled Sanskrit mantra particularly associated with the bodhisattva of
compassion) she asked “what’s your connection?”
I tried to explain that I had little connection to the place as to where
I was sitting and she asked simply “could your connection just be sitting here
with your dad?” Simple enough, just
sitting with family, as he did with his mother and father and they did with
theirs a generation before.
Gabe Berman writes in his book Live Like a Fruit Fly (which I highly recommend), we’re
dying. From the moment you’re born, you
begin the process of dying. However, if
you pay attention to the things that matter, you live the moments and hopefully
long years of your life to the fullest. I
sat there with my father on one side and my wife on the other. In that short time, I connected. Nice!!!
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