Throughout our lives, we are constantly trying our best to stay connected to Hashem. Through our actions and through our speech and conversations with Hashem, we try daily to bring G-d into our lives.
From the moment we wake up, and recite the prayer of Modeh Ani, we are thanking our creator for returning our souls to our bodies, until the moment we lay down to sleep at night, and say the Shema. We are constantly praying, and thanking Hashem, for the day we had and asking him to return our souls to us the next day.
Sometimes, we get caught up in our routine and our connection and relationship with G-d seems to take a back seat. We speed up our prayers, waiting to finish and get to work. Or we pray to G-d while we are busy doing 5 other things at the same time. Many times, we are reminded from above, that G-d is missing us and wants us to reconnect.
This past week I attended a wedding of a friend that took place in the courtyard of a school building in the late afternoon. Due to the time period we are living through, many events and everyday activities, have taken on a different light. The various restrictions regarding major gatherings, to wearing masks over our pretty make up, and other changes our society took on, are due to the coronavirus that entered our world and doesn’t seem to want to leave so fast.
I believe that everything is from above. We live our lives in such fast motion with all the advancement of this generation, that we really get caught up in the moment and forget who is running the show. We get used to whatever it is we are doing, even during these trying times, and we seem to get tuned out so quickly and side tracked from the big picture, with our daily activates. This last trial that G-d has sent down to His world doesn’t let us forget even for a moment that G-d is running the world, and what it is that He is really asking of us.
The small wedding I attended was one of the most moving experiences I have had in a long time. There were no flashy lights, nor were there fancy dishes, or grandiose flower arrangements on each table. The few guests that were invited were dressed up beautifully, but the only thing one could see were the masks on each and everyone’s faces. There was a one man band, and just a few poles with some white fabric wrapped around them for a chuppah, right at the entrance of the school building. There was no beautiful grassy area with a waterfall background, or fancy lights. There was the bride and the groom and a lot of angels from above. As the ceremony began, prayers under the chuppah were recited, I could see the heaves open wide and all the heavenly angels and Hashem looking down with such great joy. Each blessing that was recited seemed like the words danced up to heaven building another block in the holy temple that we are awaiting so anxiously.
The Jewish wedding with all the laws and customs that we know so well, suddenly took on a different meaning all together. There is usually so many beautiful distractions at a wedding that the chuppah, which is the most important part of the event, seems to get that back stage light, as all are waiting for the fancy event to really begin; whether it’s the fancy food tables, orchestra, and all the rest of the show. And now Hashem has filtered out all outside noise, and has helped us reconnect to what His world is really about. To see the beauty in the commandments alone without the noise all around.
This wedding was so simple with no famous singers to lead this couple. But it was so spiritual, since all I could feel were the heavenly angels and Hashem’s presence, as the true lights shining off the blessing under the chuppah, danced way up into the sky.
Hashem is so good, and wants only good for his children. However sometimes we get caught up in the physical and forget that we are all just puppets on a string. We are all lead by the Almighty and He is running the world. We tend to forget why we are here, and we run to the next event without even thinking.
May we feel Hashem in everything we do. May we fill our days with a real connection to G-d, by simply feeling His presence in whatever we do, and not just do things out of habit. May we see the goodness in all Hashem’s ways, even in those that are painful and seem so far from our understanding, as something that is really for our good. And may Hashem’s light, reign over the entire world, with the full redemption, soon please G-d.