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Despite Everything
Believe it or not, Rosh Hashanah is just three weeks away. The Hebrew month of Elul is in full swing. Early every morning, and sometimes in the middle of the night Jews come together to prepare for the High Holidays by singing Slichot, prayers of apology and repentance.
One early morning this week, as I was wandering the streets of Brooklyn with Manu we were urged into the local Uzbeki synagogue to complete their minyan. When we came out I discussed the concept with little Manu. He’s knows about saying Todah, thank you, to God. Most mornings I’ll ask him what he wants to thank Elohim for today, and he’ll answer with one of his recent superhero acquisitions. He also knows about praise to God. After gratitude I ask him what he wants to say “wow” about, and he will look around and pick a tree or a cloud or a building to marvel over. He also knows about requesting things from God. After thanks and wow, I’ll ask him what he wants to ask of God today, and he will ask for some superhero toy, and for a toy for one of his friends or family members. Gratitude, praise, request, those are the pillars of Jewish prayer and the kid knows them well. But apologizing to God, we hadn’t touched upon that yet.
I explained to Manu that these prayers we did were slichot, from the Hebrew word slicha, meaning apology. “We were saying sorry to God,” I said. “Why do you think we say sorry to God?” Combining…
