October 20, 2006

“Sometimes prayer is more than a light before us; it is a light within us. Those who have once been resplendent with this light find little meaning in speculations about the efficacy of prayer.  A story is told about a Rabbi who once entered heaven in a dream.  He was permitted to approach the temple of Paradise where the great sages of the Talmud, the Tannaim, were spending their eternal lives.  He saw that they were just sitting around tables studying the Talmud.  The disappointed Rabbi wondered, "Is this all there is to Paradise?"  But suddenly he heard a voice, "You are mistaken.  The Tannaim are not in Paradise.  Paradise is in the Tannaim."”    

Background

"The most striking finding of our study in connection with God and the synagogue is that, for the most part, the Jews we interviewed do not make any straightforward connection between the two.... They told us time and again that they do not come to synagogue expecting to find God there..." (The Jew Within: Self, Family and Community in America by Steven M. Cohen and Arnold M. Eisen) 

At Micah we take very seriously our search for God and the Sacred.  We are thus incorporating into our Shabbat Evening Services a short text by Abraham Joshua Heschel from his inspiring book Man's Quest for God followed by a very brief private discussion with those sitting around you in the sanctuary.  The Heschel texts will be also be posted here each week.