Be Counted
THE BIG IDEA
If ever there was a week to get on your hands and knees and pray for the future of the Jewish people, this is it. This week we are collectively reminded of the source of our intergenerational burden and the punishment we are still paying off until this day, The sin of the Golden Calf.
Paradoxically, this is also the week that Moses secured a monogamous relationship between divinity and the Jewish people, and learns/teaches us how to pull God’s attributes of compassion, loving kindness and forgiveness upon ourselves and into the world.
Use this time wisely.
Go deep within yourself and admit to all the places you place your trust in things other than God to save the Jewish people, and commit to actively removing that false idols (belief in other than God to save us) from your thoughts.
Stop debating the fact that jews are the most consistently hated nation in the world — instead cherish your uniquely powerful connection to divine energy and use your access to beg for God’s mercy on Israel and the entire Jewish people.
But most of all, during this precarious time, choose to trust in love. This week’s energy teaches us — from the greatest offense can emerge the greatest closeness. Trust that your prayers can help burn off our negative karma. Trust that divinity does not want us to die, but to be pulled closer. Trust in the eternally binding connection that Moses secured for all time.
This week’s lesson; in times of harshness, hold God closer than ever. Don’t let God depart…. and pray with all you’ve got.
STEPS TO PRAYER
This week Moses leaves us with a clear path to appeal to God’s compassion and mercy.
We traditionally activate these pathways on Rosh Hashanna, but given the severity of the situation in the Holy Land - I truly beg each and every one of us to activate these attributes now.
Step 1: Remove the sin of division from your heart.
No good can come when Idol worship is being committed within our nation or within our thoughts. The most common false God being worshipped these days (other than money) is political power. And so, for the safety and survival of the Jewish people, do your best to see and affirm ONE GOD above any divisive political thoughts or inclinations. No matter what your inclination within our current democratic systems - this is a time to trust in a force bigger than any human or human position. The Sin of the Golden Calf happened because the people believed in a man as if he was the God that took them out of Egypt. Don’t be like those people.
AFFIRM your belief that only GOD can truly help protect and heal the jewish people.
Pray that during this time those place holders (ranging from political leaders to military advisors to soldiers in the field to paramedics and doctors and therapists…) are filled with a constant stream and reverence for divine light and guidance to make the most good serving, God serving choice in each moment.
Notice the places within that are resistant to that thought and do your work there — don’t be afraid to cut doubt out with a flaming sword.
STEP 2: Appeal in the merit of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…appeal in the name of Moses - the man that single handedly saved us from total destruction. Appeal in the name of the souls we have lost in this war, and the soldiers that continue to give their lives to keep us alive.
Hold God to the binding force of the divine promise to be with us forever.
STEP 3: Commit to actively seeing the good in yourself, in your people, and in God. Pray in actions. - donate to a charity that cares for the poor, visit the sick, keep shabbat, sponsor torah learning, learn torah.. there are 248 spiritually meritorious actions — do them, not just to generate good energy for yourself, but for us all.
STEP 4: Repeat the attributes of God as many times as you can. Commit to seeing that there is only good unfolding and coming into the world even when we can’t see it.
יְהֹוָ֣ה ׀ יְהֹוָ֔ה אֵ֥ל רַח֖וּם וְחַנּ֑וּן אֶ֥רֶךְ אַפַּ֖יִם וְרַב־חֶ֥סֶד וֶאֱמֶֽת׃
“!יהוה! יהוה a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness,
נֹצֵ֥ר חֶ֙סֶד֙ לָאֲלָפִ֔ים נֹשֵׂ֥א עָוֺ֛ן וָפֶ֖שַׁע וְחַטָּאָ֑ה וְנַקֵּה֙ לֹ֣א יְנַקֶּ֔ה פֹּקֵ֣ד ׀ עֲוֺ֣ן אָב֗וֹת עַל־בָּנִים֙ וְעַל־בְּנֵ֣י בָנִ֔ים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁ֖ים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִֽים׃
extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin—yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.
STEP 5: ASK FOR MORE!
Moses teaches us when the going is good… keep asking for more closeness.
Find your personal prayer for your life, your family, your nation, your world. Bring down the blessings.