ED: The following is a excerpt from the story, “Rabbis Share Sneak Previews of Holy Days Messages” which ran in our Rosh Hashanah Sept. 7 issue.
Rabbi Mordecai Finley
Ohr HaTorah
Many people have a feeling of being lost: sometimes acute, sometimes like a distant echo. Some people call this feeling a lack of meaning. Others feel a wounded soul. Often, people suffering within have good enough jobs, good enough spouses and children, good enough hobbies. Within pretty good lives, they ask: Is this all there is? Life presents us with existential questions and we often don’t know what to do, what to think, what to believe or what to say. Some have had wrong done to them and don’t know whether to seek justice or find some measure of forgiveness. Others have done wrong and want to repent. Some are seeking the Divine. Some are seeking a sense of the transcendent without God-talk. Some are trying to save a relationship that they know can be saved, or made better, but don’t know how.
We hold that the inner life (moral, philosophical and spiritual) traditions of Judaism are filled with wisdom and insight for all areas of our lives. At Ohr HaTorah, our teachings at every service during the Days of Awe will be devoted to some aspect of creating a life of meaning through Jewish inner life traditions. Join us!
