It’s not everyday you can pick up a bisseleh Torah from a Hollywood screenwriter. But you actually can every week.
David Sacks, who won an Emmy for his work on “Malcolm in the Middle,” and who has written for a bunch of other shows, sends out an awesome teaching every week. Here’s one of his latest Torahs from LA: “Becoming You.”
On Rosh Hashana, we pledge not to remain a cheap imitation of our old self.
There is a fascinating dialectic contained within Rosh Hashana. On one hand, it’s the beginning of the new year. And yet Rosh Hashana actually occurs in the seventh month, (Nissan, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt, is the first month — see Exodus 12:2.) This means that Rosh Hashana actually falls out in the middle of the year!
There is a deep secret contained in this. People reach the middle of their lives and think that meaningful change is impossible. Therefore, the Almighty put Rosh Hashana in the middle of the year to teach us that it’s never too late to begin again.
In the most obvious sense, Rosh Hashana is all about making God our king, for whom we have awesome respect and commit to following His instructions.
But there’s an even more primary step. The Kotzker Rebbe once observed that some people come to him in search of assistance to reach God. But their efforts are for naught, for “[God's] glory fills all the earth†(Isaiah 6:3).
Rather, the Kotzker taught, for whom must people search? For themselves.
Read more at Tolerant Nation
Ilana Lapides
9/20/2009
I’d love to get more from this guy. Do you have a link?