Recognizing Patterns
An aerial view of suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark
It’s not much different from the way we perceive most of the situations in our lives. We see things from our perspective, often forgetting that there are numerous views of the same situation.
The Netziv (Ha’amak Davar, Genesis 45:5) points out that even after the brothers saw Joseph as the viceroy of Egypt, able to save his entire family, they refused to accept that they had been wrong to sell him! They believed that they were right all along, even in choosing to sell him as they did, because their actions led to his rise to greatness. Even when they had “perspective,” they could not see themselves clearly. They needed to fly up in a helicopter and photograph a bird’s eye view of history to gain true perspective.
I often see how all of us become so caught up in a situation, that we lose perspective. We remain stuck in the way we perceive a conversation or event, and have difficulty repairing relationships with someone who has a different perspective. It’s even more frightening to me when I, or someone else, is willing to be open to a different perspective, but lack the bird’s eye view of the story.
Rosh Hashanah is a perfect opportunity to gain real perspective: When we examine the past year through God’s perspective, we will be able to see the patterns in our behaviors. We will see both the beautiful and the ugly perspectives that we so often miss.
Zichronot connects us to our entire history, stretching back to the first moments of Creation. It offers us the opportunity to fly up in the air and see the much broader picture, often one of great beauty and surprise.
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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.
One of the key Torah readings leading up to Rosh HaShanah is the passage at the beginning of Parshat Ci Tavo.(D’varim 26;1-11)
This segment focuses on bringing the Biccurim, the first fruit to the Temple. Ramban notes there is no required measurement to fulfill this mitzva-even one grain brought will be in compliance.
Upon bringing the First Fruit, the person offering it says a whole Time Capsule of Ahm Yisroel’s development as a nation (mostly hardships that G-d provided salvation for)up till entering and settling the Holy Land.
Why is this litany so important?It provides perspective and underscores the meaning of the joy inherent in bringing even the most minute quantity of First Fruit of this year’s crop from the provenance of the Holy Land, that G-d provided us in His infinite lovingkindness.
And having brought the First Fruit and recognizing the journey spanning centuries that it took to bring this to fruition (bad pun, thank you very much!),G-d enjoins us (verse 11)”v’Somakh’ta b’chol HaTov asher notahn l’cha HaShem…”and you shall rejoice in all the Good that G-d is giving you…
The perspective of time and history enables us to realize after the fact that everything we went thru was leading up to “all the Good that G-d is giving” us.
The Torah-reading cycle was set up to remind us of timeless timely messages.And this is just another proof that G-d is running the world.