I mean, really, can't the Satan just google the date like the rest of us? |
The Torah teaches us that the forces of evil are confused when they hear the shofar on Rosh Hoshanah. How can this be?They are every bit as smart as the very smartest part of the smartest of the best of us. Here's how it happens and why our teshuva is so critical over these last few days of Elul, just before Rosh Hashanah. The Satan waits all year to report all of our misdeeds to the Master of the Universe on Rosh Hashanah. All through the year, the Satan tempts us, tricks us, and trips us so that when Rosh Hashanah comes, he can report us and judge us. So what's up with the confusion at the very moment he's been preparing for all year? When the great shofar is sounded, the world is restored to good - IF we do our part. When we fix something within ourselves, when we decide to change and leave our old habits behind and instill new habits, we restore what was not good to PURE good. The forces of evil then become afraid because they know when all is restored to good, they will cease to exist. So should the Satan report us or not? If he reports our misdeeds and we've turned away from them in our teshuva, then he's really confirming that we've created an even higher level of light and holiness than when we came to this world. And, THAT, my friend, is exactly what we were put into this world to do. G-d doesn't expect us to be perfect; G-d trusts that we will be perfectly imperfect and fix what is broken and dark, and keep fixing it until the forces of evil disappear from this world forever. May G-d grant you and me the strength to fix and keep fixing until - BLIP - the last trace of evil is distant memory. Then, as it says in Psalm 126, "We will have been like dreamers... Those who sow in tears will reap with joyous song." May the tears of our teshuva water the seeds of the ultimate redemption and the coming of Moshiach, NOW! |