Shalom u’vracha to one and all. For even the most indifferent subscriber, by now it surely has been noticed that these new posts aren’t as frequent as they once were. And even when there is a post, there’s really no variety. No Parsha, no Oldie, no Behind the Scenes...
The Gemara (Brachos 7a) tells us here that Hashem showed Moshe the knot of His tefillin. The knot of Hashem’s tefillin signifies Klal Yisroel’s eternal attachment to the Almighty, even though we may not realize His Providential involvement and Divine intervention in our lives until much later on.
“Mi shetarach b’Erev Shabbos yochal b’Shabbos – One who toils on Erev Shabbos will eat on Shabbos” (Avodah Zara 3a). Erev Shabbos: a special time of the week. Elul: a special month of the year. Combined, they enable us to open the door to our Beloved – to welcome in the Divine. The connection is closer than you think.
Year after year, a barren Chanah would cry from her sorrow, and would even be ridiculed for her inability to bear children. Finally, after 19 years of pain, she felt she could no longer accept her childless fate. Chanah lifted herself up and tapped into the most potent vehicle for change that exists in the world – Tefillah. At that moment, she davened the most heartfelt prayer she had ever prayed – clear and to the point, from the depths of her broken heart.
“Are you telling me that you don’t at least have a niggun in your heart – somewhere deep within – that you can extract and explain on that typity type thing that you do every week? Come on! You of all people?”