Travel Reflections

Shalom to all our Readers!

First of all I would like to thank our Blessed Creator for bringing me home safely and soundly to my family and to Eretz Yisrael.

I would also like to thank those who hosted and helped (or tried to help) me during my trip. And to those who expressed their appreciation for the weekly dvar Torah an especial thanks. It's reassuring to know that there really is someone on the other end of the modem!

Some of you may have noticed that the dvar Torah was not posted these last two weeks. I mentioned a while back that I would be traveling in America and that I might be unable to do the dvar Torah. So it was.

In part to make up for that lacuna, and also to thank Hashem, I wish to share with you some of the thoughts I had while on the road.

It took me almost a week to realize that I wasn't in the Holy Land. Yes, the signs and sounds were all English, but it was clearly evident that God was there, to be talked to, feared and loved. And I just figured everybody was doing it. Wrong.

In Likutey Moharan I, #19 Rebbe Nachman talks about the Holy Tongue. The Rebbe teaches us that the Holy Tongue is not necessarily the language which is used as the vehicle of communication, but rather the content expressed therein. The words one chooses not only say something about him, but also create the atmosphere which he and his neighbors continue to live in. The atmosphere in New York (nothing personal New Yorkers, but let's admit it) is such that one starts to think of four-letter words as regular - and necessary! - adjectives to describe anything from doughnuts to deities.

On the other hand, with everyone being so polite, wishing you a nice day and a good day and asking "How are you?" there is a chance to "fight" back. I made a point of answering the "How are you?" with "Thank God." Most people were startled, if not shocked, to hear God's name mentioned in this fashion. (For most it was only half a word.)

Which leads back to my first point, thanking God. A number of times, when I was in New York's Penn Station and the airports of Chicago and Los Angeles, I stood back and watched as tremendous numbers of people of every kind and description (and beyond description) walked and hurried by. There were many different kinds of eateries - pizza, fried chicken, coffee shops, etc. - and shops - newspaper stands, convenience stores, bookshops and more. I was mesmerized by God's kindness. Here were thousands and thousands of His creations and He was clothing, sheltering and feeding them, providing them with a variety of foods and clothing. And what is He getting in return? What is it that He's even asking for? Some heartfelt prayers, fidelity, observance of a few rules. Not really that much.

The upshot of all this is that God is everywhere, calling us on one hand, hiding from us on the other. It is our job to push away that which conceals and take hold of that which reveals.