I want to
take a few moments of your time to reflect on a few small words from the piyut: unetana Tokef which we read
during Musaf on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur:
The
context is Yom Hadin- the day of
Judgement which is announced in heaven:
“A great
Shofar sounds and a (kol demama daka)small
thin voice will be heard”
Quite a strange
phenomena to be using this idea of a small thin voice in relation to G-d and the
Yom HadIn.
Look at
the reaction of the celestial beings:
“Angels
rush forward and are held by trembling /shaking”.
The
actual source of this idea of the Kol
demama dakah- the small thin voice- comes from the Book of Kings I. The
Prophet Elijah is on Mt Carmel, the Prophets of Baal- the false heathen
worshippers are pursuing him.
He finds
himself alone in a cave on the side of the mountain.
He is
told by G-d to go out onto the Mountain
Suddenly
there was a great and strong wind that tore the mountains and broke the rocks
before G-d.
Lo beruach Hashem
G-d was
not to be found in the wind.
Then there was an earthquake
Lo beraash Hashem
G-d was
not to be found in the earthquake
And after
the earthquake there was fire
Lo ba-aish Hashem
G-d was
not to be found in the fire
And after
the fire there was the Kol demama daka
A small
thin voice and G-d appeared to Elijah.
The Kol demama daka announces that’s it in
the small things- the details of creation where the infinitude of G-d is to be
found.
I think
there is here a little message: we emulate G-d as the Torah says Vehalachta bidrachav- Walk in His ways.
And just
as G-d is too be found in the small thin voice – the beautiful details of
creation- so too it is with our small deeds – the little act – this is what
Hashem wants from each and every one of us.
In the
words of Rav Soloveitchik;
Sometimes
it is the small, modest, unseen act, the seemingly insignificant deed unnoticed
and hardly discernible is precisely the one which fulfils a higher plane than
through great renowned heroism.
Teshuva Tefillah
utzedaka maaviril et roah hagezerah.
It’s
through our deeds that we can make the difference.
Wishing you
all a Gemar Chatima Tovah– you should be written and inscribed for a Happy
Healthy and sweet New Year. Amen
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