Atem nitzaveim hayom kulchem—You are standing here today. When? “Hayom”. When is that? The “BIG” day of Rosh Hashanah. How are we positioned? Standing in a victorious pose, as a group who were just judged favorably. Why were we judged favorably? Because of “ALL of you” – we weren’t standing with just the Jews with whom we were comfortable, but a veritable plethora of Jews of all types of stirpes. When we honor Jewish unity, then Hashem honors his covenant with us.
That is what Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have always been at Ahavas Shalom. We prided ourselves on how we personally opened our doors to all Jews.
But not this year. This year, many members will be absent.
Some are frightened away. Was there something we could have done to allay the fears these people had so that they would be comfortable in our Beis Medrash?
Other people have been told to “stay away”, as they are not conforming with the new set of “holy rules” issued by the secular government.
We will soon be standing in front of the King of kings, praying for a good year, but it won’t be “ALL of you”.
Is there still time to correct this?
(based on a shiur from torahanytime.com)
