Chodesh Cheshvan, A message from Rav Samson:

D'var Torah from Rav Samson

Davening Post Tishrei

It is hard to imagine anyone going through the month of Tishrei without an uplifted feeling. We all felt the grandeur of Rosh Hashanah, the purity one feels when being Mekabel Ol Malchus Shomayim at the end of Yom Kippur. We then entered the realm of Hashem. We entered the Sukka, symbolizing the ענני הכבוד, the heavenly clouds that protected us in the Midbar. We took the Arba Minim and shook them, declaring הודו לה’ כי טוב, thanking Hashem for all the good that He gives us. When we finally reach the time to leave, it's too hard. We just can't. So we have Shemini Atzeres, an extra day, just us and Hakodosh Baruch Hu. We dance with the Torah, singing about our glorious connection with the One Above and His Torah. Which makes the shock of what happened on Simchas Torah this year all the more difficult.

How could it be, after so much closeness to Hashem, that such a tragedy can happen?

We no longer have Prophets among us, and it would be crude to suggest that we can answer. What is left for us to do is to introspect and look for perspective.

As Klal Yisrael was leaving Mitzrayim, when we reached the Yam Suf, we were facing an impossible situation. The sea was in front of us, the Egyptians were closing in from behind, and the Midbar was filled with wild animals, so that was also not an option. We had nowhere to go. The Midrash explains this with the following Mashal: Once there was a King who was going on his way. As he was traveling, he heard a distressed princess cry, 'Help, help, save me from these wild bandits.' The King immediately jumped into the fray and saved her. He then fell in love with her and married her. Unfortunately, the relationship turned sour, and while He was desperate to speak to her, she wasn't talking. The King came up with a plan. He waited for the next time she was going out and set up bandits to ambush her. He again came riding to the rescue. All he had wanted was to hear her beautiful voice, but when it wasn't forthcoming, he had to resort to this.

This too was the story of Klal Yisrael in the Midbar. In Mitzrayim, we had suffered and suffered. Finally, we cried out to Hashem, and He had redeemed us. So too, when we came to the Midbar, we thought we were free. But Hashem still wanted to hear our beautiful voice, our connection to Him. When we call out, when we daven, that is when our salvation is guaranteed.

Perhaps now also, we may have spent a whole month in Hashem's glorious presence, but He is begging us. Stay connected to Me. Daven, I want your Tefillos so much.

May we be Zoche to a winter of growth, and may Hashem end our pain, מי שאמר לעולמו די, יאמר לצרותינו די.

Rav Samson