A High Holiday Meditation...

I penned this for a creative writing essay while studying in Sydney, Australia. The assignment was to write a response to one who believes Judaism is a cult of sorts (I guess I tweaked the topic a bit). Somehow I always find myself thinking about this around this time of the year, a good High Holiday re-focus, and I thought I'd share it... His wish is our command.

We serve Him, and Him alone - until the very end. We give our entire being over to him; our constant thought, speech, and action. We live not for ourselves, but for Him alone. Everything we work for, receive, or create must be used to serve Him. We are commanded to know Him, love Him, and fear Him at each moment of our lives. Everything we do

is predetermined by Him. Nothing we do is done through our own power or strength – it’s His. Everything we have has been given to us by Him as a kindness. We must bless Him for our blessings, and bless Him for our sufferings as well; for in truth; it is good – only we as finite beings cannot perceive it as such. Only He knows the truth. He lives the truth, He is the truth. He causes us to live; He keeps us alive. When He calls – we go. Our lives are not ours, but His. To the extent that one who has never been introduced to Him, nor lived by any of the above, will give up their life for the sake of His name.

No one can explain how we, as a people, are still going. There is not an entity on earth that has lasted as long as we. There is no logical explanation for the phenomenon named: Jews. We can question all we want, and negate every answer given – but we will endure forever.

There may be a reason, a reason we blindly follow. It is deeper than intellect, thicker than logic, and older than time. It cannot be understood – for then it is no longer a mystery. And the day that it is no longer a mystery is the day that He dwells with us here in this world. We cannot be destroyed; we cannot be lost, for then the universe would cease to exist. We are the sole purpose of creation. Our essence is His essence. We are all bound up. Bound to each other by a string of faith, and bound to Him by our very own being.

We are Him…

Therefore we can never stop.

(Art by YossiGraphicDesign)