Re-Tune Your Ears This Shabbat

Can You Find the Frequency?

Lecha Dodi (Corning) - Josh Warshawsky

How Do We Re-Tune Our Ears?

Dear Friends,

In this week's Torah portion, Va'era, the People of Israel are in a bad place. They have more work than ever before and its Moses’ fault. And so when Moses goes over to them at the beginning of the parasha to tell them that God is their God who is going to free them from slavery and bring them to the land of Israel, they don’t listen.

And the Chassidic masters are troubled by this, because in last week’s parasha, God promised that the people would listen to Moses, “ושמעו בקולך,” but here they are after Moses tells them all this good news and the Torah says, “ולא שמעו אל משה,” "and they didn’t listen to Moses." And for the Chassidic masters, the answer is, “את קולו בלבד שמעו, ולא את תוכן דבריו,” “They only heard his voice, but could not understand the content of his words.”

"ולא שמעו אל משה מקצר רוח ומעבודה קשה"
"They couldn’t hear Moses because they were of tense spirit and overworked."

Don’t we all feel that way sometimes? So often we can’t hear the things we need to hear because we’re working too hard, there’s too much going on. And we learn from the Psalms in Kabbalat Shabbat that that is what Shabbat is for.

"היום, אם בקולו תשמעו" Today, if we can hear the voice. 

Shabbat is the day to re-tune our ears. To find the frequency of our hearts and really listen. What is that voice telling you you need today? How can we listen to that voice telling us that freedom is near, that there is a way to find peace? As we enter this Shabbat, take a second to find that frequency, and see if you can find it in your heart this Shabbat to really hear it, to really listen.

This week, I'll be singing this Lecha Dodi melody with a 100 Ramah staff members from all over the country at Camp Ramah in Ojai, CA. Where will you be tuning into Shabbat from? 

Shabbat Shalom,
Josh