A Rosh Hashanah Meditation

Once, after Rosh Hashanah prayers, the Alter Rebbe asked his son, the Mitteler Rebbe, “With what meditation did you pray this Rosh Hoshanah?” He replied, “With the verse, ‘All mankind shall prostrate themselves before You’.” Then the Mitteler Rebbe asked his father, “With what meditation did you pray?” The Alter Rebbe responded, “I prayed with my lectern.”

“All mankind shall prostrate before You” speaks about a human being, whether of superior or limited intellect. Therefore, even if his intellect leads him to the conclusion that he must “prostrate before G-d,” it is a result of his own intellectual contemplation, and therefore his submission to G-d is only commensurate to his intellectual capacity.

A prayer lectern is an inanimate object, the lowest form in existence. So when one meditates upon the fact that G-d is everything — including this very lectern, the recognition of the lectern’s submission before G-d is deeper and more profound than the recognition of his own subservience; it is a pure, simple and total submission which transcends the limitations of human intellect and can connect one to the very essence of G-d.