Memory and Speed

Ten years ago on January 3rd I bought my first new computer, a Dell Dimension 4550 desktop. The salesperson asked if I wanted the new flat screen model, I settled for the boxy type, no bells and whistles for me, just all the memory and speed that was available at the time. When my much anticipated package arrived I carefully unpacked the box. So many wires, how would I ever figure it all out. I opened the manual and it led me step by step. When I turned it on, AMAZING! Not having a Rabbi to teach me at the time I now had access to the world of Torah. The first thing I did was hang a mezuzah on the monitor. I thought since a mezuzah was supposed to be attached to the doorway and this was a doorway to the cyberworld it should have one. I attached a beautiful blue enameled mezuzah with a silver wire that looped up to a to a silver frame inscribed with my favorite verse from Psalms 46:10, Be still and know that I am G*d.......... Fast forward to Nissan 5773. Not that I am on Facebook that much, but it is nice to catch up with real friends and family from far away. This week an advertisement showed up on my timeline that I did not approve of. I could not get it off my page. After two hours of frustration I did the only thing left to do, I took down my personal page and my linked business page. My Pesach cleaning started with my computer, and yes my ten year old Dell is still running, my mezuzah still hangs by its silver thread.  Memory and speed, two things that will come in handy in the coming weeks, reminders of Passovers long ago and ones yet to come~

This week we begin reading Vayikra, the third book of the Torah, which begins with the word “Vayikra” - “And He called.” G*d called our leader Moshe and instructed him about the sacrificial offerings performed in the Temple.Commentators explain that whenever G*d spoke to Moshe, He first called him, as a gesture of love, honor and respect and only then did He speak to him concerning the laws. Moshe was called by G*d like the ministering angels are called in heaven.
Moshe was loved and respected by the Almighty because of his devotedness, humility, righteousness, trustworthiness and his many other attributes.How we all long to have this kind of close relationship with our Creator.
The offerings were a way of drawing near to G*d, but how are we to do that now that the Holy Temple is destroyed. In our morning prayers right after the Ana B"Koach prayer we pray, "Master of the worlds, You commanded us to bring the continual offering at its set time,.....But now, through our sins, the Holy Temple is destroyed, the continual-offering is discontinued..........."Let our lips compensate for the bulls-therefore may it be Your will HaShem, our G*d and the G*d of our forefathers, that the prayer of our lips be worthy, acceptable, and favorable before You, as if we had brought the continual-offering at its set time........".

This is the answer beloved, this is the key to the gate of our Makers Heart. It is our prayers, not only our set prayers but our personal prayers as well. The great tzaddikim throughout the generations spent much time alone in personal prayer.I will leave you with a learning from In Forest Fields, A Unique Guide to Personal Prayer by Rabbi Shalom Arush, translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody, I encourage you to get a copy for yourself, it has energized my prayer life.

"Prayer without Torah is weak and empty, on the other hand it is impossible to gain true Torah understanding without praying for it. Rabbi Akiva spilled rivers of tears in order to lift himself from a simple peasant to one of history's hallmark Torah scholars. Our holy book of Psalms is the exalted remnant of King David's many personal prayers and the rivers of tears he shed every single day. If these great men who clung to HaShem and to His Torah with all their being and all their might spent so much time and effort in personal prayer asking HaShem to bring them closer to Him, how much more so do we need to do the same."
Shabbat Shalom beloved, much emunah and ahavah Elisheva Amaris~