The Cosmic Kiss

This morning, my six-year-old son behaved so maturely that it made my heart swell.

I told him how much nachas (parental pride) I felt, and then I bent down to give him a kiss.

In retrospect: Why the kiss? I had just expressed loving and encouraging words. If I needed to increase the sentiment, I could have just added to my verbal embrace; what made me shift my mode of expression from the verbal to the physical?

In other words: Why do we kiss?

We ordinarily communicate through words, because that's our conventional conduit for expressing thoughts and feelings. But sometimes words feel inadequate; they can seem like a paltry tool for properly expressing ourselves.

So we choose a different, supra-verbal tool: the kiss. We select an extra-ordinary way of showing we care, and that we feel connected.

With that in mind, do you think you can "kiss" G‑d?

Using our human model, let's try to understand what that might mean.

We conventionally connect with the Divine through prayer and study. When I'm in conversation with the Divine, I can feel our relationship and our closeness.

Most of us don't have the luxury of pursuing a directly focused relationship with G-dBut most of us don't have the luxury of pursuing a directly focused relationship – an "engaged conversation" – with G‑d all day. We spend so much time outside that spiritually comfortable place, engaging a decidedly non-spiritual environment.

What can we do?

When words won't work, we go for the kiss; i.e. we find G‑d in our everyday actions.

Imagine if you approached your profession as a way of fulfilling your Divine purpose in the world?

Imagine going to work on Wall Street (for example) this morning, settling into your chair and looking at your prospects for making money.

But, today, you choose to view your job as a means for fulfilling your purpose in life. So you decide to see your prospects as opportunities for helping clients earn money (a meaningful objective), so that you can support your family and community (a meaningful objective). You conduct your business – notwithstanding the dog-eat-dog world – on a Torah-guided, moral level. You choose to find an appropriate kosher lunch.

In the course of your day, you're not conversing with G‑d per se, but you're showing a real commitment; a connection that transcends conversation.

You're giving G‑d a kiss.

And I'll bet He's thrilled.