Uman Uman Rosh Hashanah
A relative of mine went to Uman a couple of years ago.
He came back and said that he could have found whores and drugs right here in Israel.
Well, I don’t know about all that.
But I do know that God is big and scary and far away, and the Torah is hard to keep. And what is truth, anyway? “God took truth and threw it to the ground”…
Jews want some protektziya-want to get the hookup.
If all I have to do is to go to a tzaddik’s grave on a certain day and he’ll take care of things for me, isn’t that better than looking for truth, which is scattered on the earth in shards? Isn’t it easier than talking to a God whom I can’t even conceptualize, and who fills me with awe at His greatness and my own insignificance, and hoping for something I can’t even imagine? Don’t we want an intermediary?
Mishne Torah, The Laws of Idolatry, Chapter 1, has this to say:
In the days of Enosh, the sons of man erred exceedingly, the advice of the wise man of that generation was nullified, and even Enosh himself was among the victims of that folly. Their mistake was this: Seeing, said they, that God created these stars and planets to rule the world, that He placed them high above to share honors with them, for they are ministers who render service in his presence, it is proper that they be praised and glorified and honored, this is the will of God, to exalt and honor him whom He exalted and honored, even as a king desires to honor those who stand in his presence, for such is the honor of the king. As soon as this matter was rooted in their heart, they commenced to erect temples in honor of the stars, to offer sacrifices to them, to praise and glorify them in words, and bow down to them in order to reach the will of God by this evil idea. This was the groundwork for the worship of stars.
Uman belongs to people who don’t like Jews, and is soaked in Jewish blood. Going there means leaving my Land, which God brought me to out of millennia of dark Exile-not for my merits, but to sanctify His holy name, like He says in the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 36:
20 And when they came unto the nations, whither they came, they profaned My holy name; in that men said of them: These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of His land.
21 But I had pity for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, whither they came.
22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord GOD: I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations, whither ye came.
23 And I will sanctify My great name, which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.
But who wants to think about what that implies? Just don’t look at that part of it. Don’t you want a tzaddik to save you, to intercede with God on your behalf? Don’t you want the easy road?
I don’t want it, personally. I’ll take my chances talking to God directly, right from here in the Land of Israel.
Shabbat shalom to everyone, Hag Sameach, a good and sweet year.
