BETH TORAH TIMES - HIGH HOLY DAYS EDITION 2019/5780

do we watch the same movie several times, at different
times in our lives and the messages and the power
of analysis and understanding we receive are diverse,
deeper or more ephemeral but at the same time
different.
Starting over as if nothing happened when you already
messed up it is a blessing, but let’s face it, we don’t
always have that blessing. When you think you made
the wrong decision and failed, then you ask yourself:
where did I fail? When did all this happen? I wish I had
never made that decision... and you want to hide from
the world.
Then you repeat to yourself: If I only could start over...
Starting over helps us grow. At least having the mental
and spiritual idea that you are starting over is already
a great opportunity for growth. Going back to the
genesis of a situation helps you understand many
things, recreating the scene of an entire episode forces
us to think, to remember, to witness our achievements
and our mistakes, being an observer allows us to pause
the movie, feel, reflect, rewind, look again and be able
to understand, learn and move on.
Going back to the genesis of our history, of our lives,
helps us to investigate, find out who we really are and
see what we are made of. Rummaging until finding
yourself gives you the most precious and divine
opportunity on the planet to stand in front of your own
soul, to your purest essence that God (Hashem) gave
us when we came to this world.
I left Argentina 22 years ago and 90% of my visits begin
the same way: from the airport to the cemetery to visit
my ancestors and my beloved ones. They constantly
remind me, not only where I come from, but that when
one day I will leave this physical world there will no
money or valuable belongings that go with us to the
Olam Haba (the world to come). They only take their
essence and return to the grave as they arrived in the
world during childbirth, without clothes and without
material goods, only your essence accompanies you.
These visits to the cemetery reminds me of two coins
that were given to me 4 years ago by Steven Scheck:
one of them I occasionally carry in my right pocket
and the second in my left pocket. When I feel that my
arrogance and pride is taking over me, that is, when I
live it, like it and believe that I am the greatest, I take
out the one on the right that tells me: “I AM NOT
MORE THAN DUST AND ASHES” REMEMBER WHERE
YOU COME FROM”......
But when I feel defeated and frustrated and tired of
trying, the coin on the left tells me: “BY MY MERITS
AND MY WELFARE THE WORLD WAS CREATED” “AND
YOU WILL BE JOYED!”
In fact when I feel that I am not being a good educator
with my Bar Mitzvah students, I go back to my
genesis, to that Hazzan that nourished me with peace,
patience, passion and fervor and because of him I am a
better professional. When I don’t like how my voice is
sounding or I think it sounds too operatic, I go back to
my genesis and remember the sweet and simple voice
of when I was 13 years old.
Very soon we will be returning to the genesis of
genesis, the creation of the world, and after Simchat
Torah we will be restarting the Torah again. The Torah
is untouchable and as our sages have said there is no
extra word in it, so the text is the same every year
and we read it again. The ones that change are us. It
is like the book, the movie, or the joke we repeat over
and over again, the content is the same, but how we
perceive it and the values we rescue from it depend
only on our intellectual, spiritual growth and maturity.
Despite my failures, my crises, the mistakes made,
or my life decisions I still wonder daily: If I had the
opportunity to be that soul in the celestial chamber
of souls and have the possibility of being reborn, of
re-choosing my parents, my brothers, my environment,
the country in which I was born, what would I choose?
What would I change?
And my answer would be: absolutely nothing.
May the Creator of the universe allow us all to
rediscover in this new year 5780 our genesis to
understand how valuable we are to not only to
make a better “I”, but to return to the main motive
of our existence, to raise our consciousness and to
realize how much we can contribute positively to this
beautiful creation that Hashem Yitbarach gave us.
Hashivenu Adonai Eleicha v’nashuba (return us to
you, Hashem, and we will return) Chadesh Yameinu
K’Kedem (restore our days as of old, our genesis, where
our soul was born for the first time).
Shanah Tovah u’Metuka,
Cantor Gaston, Marcela, Oscar, Samuel and
Emmanuelle
High Holiday Edition 2019 l Elul 5779 - Tishrei 5780
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