PARSHAT YITRO: WHERE IS SHE…MOSHIACH???
By: Suri Davis
How would you feel, if every time your kids came home, they asked for more and more and more. Wouldn’t it be nice for them to come and look at you and just say thank you.
Henry Ford said, had I asked the people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.
I have two children in Israel learning, and I needed to go for some business, so I combined the two.
In the past, I have asked G-d for what I thought I needed. The wisdom, patience and strength to continue a marriage which was crumbling. I wanted the wherewithal to change and grow and withstand and turnaround the marriage…year, after year. I wanted a faster horse, and G-d gave me something else.
He gave me the wisdom and strength to see new possibilities, to change what wasn’t working for the opportunity for something different. To overcome the fear and inertia. To provide hope for my ex and me to see if we could get to a more content place. I am glad he has remarried, and made a move towards renewed happiness…I am thank God at peace.
And so I went to Israel with a heart filled with shevach/praise and hodaah/gratitude, and was focusing on that theme in my davening. Do I have more to ask of G-d? Hehehe, don’t we all. But I wanted to focus on hodaah. I went to the Western Wall/kotel and said the verses of Hallel and gratitude.
In a twist of fate, when I went to the Cave of the Patriarchs, where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sara, Rebecca and Leah was buried, I was supposed to go alone in a car, but at the last minute, a woman from Boro Park joined me. She showed me where Abraham’s grave is supposed to be, and Mrs. Weinberg reminded me that in Israel Minchah is an hour earlier than in New York, and invited me inside for minchah.
As we got there, there was a circumcision taking place. The law of circumcision was first given to Abraham, and the souls of forebears is within said cave (which is currently a modern building)…to every circumcision, Elijah the prophet’s soul attends as well. The rabbis tell us that Elijah is supposed to herald the coming of the Messiah. The room was filled with holy souls, and I prayed during the circumcision.
As is the custom, at the end of the ceremony, all in attendance cry out: Hodu Lashem ki tov ki l’olam chasdo twice/ Praise to G-d Who is good, the world exists because of His charity and kindness…exactly the moment for which I was waiting and could never have planned. Praise to G-d for all His charity and kindness.
We see the brilliance of G-d in the laws and Torah he gave us at Mt. Sinai, which is in this week’s Torah portion. Laws are kind, for they provide us with guidance on living an ethical existence.
Four years ago, when I was in Israel, I met Moshiach. She was a red head wearing a white toga, with a gold staff and a sash which proclaimed that she was the Messiah. She blessed me, and I accept all blessings. There is a great torah scholar in our times, whose mother is also a great scholar. She refers to G-d in the feminine form, and who am I to contradict, and why not?
Every day when I daven I ask for Moshiach. Every time I come to Israel I beg for Moshiach to come ASAP. I don’t know what Moshiach looks like, nor do I care. I am disappointed that as of this moment, Thursday night in Israel, Moshiach has not come. I must have missed her this trip, but I hope Moshiach comes soon, and redeems us from our challenges, provides us with the wisdom we need to serve G-d and perfect ourselves and actualize our potential.
The ten commandments…they are a good thing.
Shabbat shalom.
Suri