Our relationship with G-d is completely scripted. The tasks demanded by this relationship seemingly don't leave much room for improvisation, for impromptu and original outbursts of care and love.
Rabbi Silberberg,
If my wife would ask me to make her a cup of tea, after I had already started one for her as a surprise, and things like this happen often after 44 years of marriage, my reaction would have been totally different. I would have said, B'H for giving me such a wife that we even think alike. But of course, that would not have fit the thread of your story line.
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I would suggest the husband let his wife know that he was just about to make her a cup of tea and they would both benefit the proper gratification of being thought of without being told, and being able to deliver without being asked fo.
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I understand what the author was trying to say, but I don't understand how teshuva adds the personal touch to mitzvos. Mitzos in themself can be personalized, I have no problem feeling a personal connection to Hashem by doing them. It's a nice thought o have thought up of, but I simply don't see the logic as reality. If someone could explain it to me again I would appreciate it.
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As long as one does mitzvot because s/he was so commanded by G-d, there's a certain element of intimacy and personal feeling lacking in this service. Teshuvah, on the other hand, is an expression of one's most innermost desire to connect with G-d. This experience infuses also the rest of the mitzvot with this same sense of closeness and personal touch. Once you've seen that a connection with G-d is what YOU really treasure, than anything that enhances the relationship -- i.e. Torah and mitzvot -- is also something that you really want to do.
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Thank you for responding personally, and so promptly. I am truly honored. I think that a person can want to have a personal connection with God without neccesarily needing to repent. Teshuvah is feeling remorse for something we've done, or a way of life. And it also comes from many things, not just wanting to be close with God- some people are more concerned with reaching perfection within themselves, or attaining the emotional health the mitsvos provide- not neccesarily is it an expression of being close to Hashem. I appreciate the response.
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Why would it bother me it's been that way all my life, even though I've never been married, but marriage at my age for get it, I have.
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The definition of Teshuvah isn't "a concern for reaching perfection."
For more on this, see "Broken New Year's Resolutions" (www.chabad.org/488493).
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i see the 'echad'/one-ness so clearly between you and your bride. your desire to please her became manifest when she expressed her desire for tea..i see a unity, perhaps you haven't acknowledged. you were both on the same wave-length. it is much deeper, but this is the most simple way for me to express. you will continue to grow as will my husband and I. thank you
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