One of the few safe topics of discussion at the barber shop these daysn is the weather. As they say, everybody talks about the weather.
A news item that might have slipped by many caught my eye a while ago. During the hot, humid summer, there was a haze that hung low and prevented the sun from shining through, creating an artificial "low" for a few days. The meteorologist
reported that this was caused by a sandstorm in Africa.
In a prior incident occurred there was the report of poor air quality due to airborne contaminants from the far-off continent. This relates to the discussion of global warming, but it highlights for us so clearly the concept of the global village, how that which takes place in one end of the world, in fact effects the entire globe. The dust storm in Africa has an influence on whether the sensitive person, living
10,000 miles away, with compromised breathing can leave their home safely.
What we do in our own back yard is in a sense not really private and solely our business; it has implications for human beings on the other side of the planet.
On Yom Kippur when the Kohen Gadol entered the Kodesh Hakodoshim - Holy of Holies and prayed for the entire people, he asked that G-d not listen to the prayers of the travelers. The traveler prays for no rain, just as the vacationer asks that there will be nothing to put a damper on his holiday. But at the same time, the gardener IS praying for rain. He needs the moisture to water his crops, to assure that there will be a harvest that not only gives him his needs, but provides sustenance for the nation.
And if this is true in terms of weather, how we all have an effect on others, not only our neighbors next door, but our neighbors 15,000 miles away, how much more so does this apply in spiritual matters. When we live with Torah and mitzvot, not only does it make us into better people, but the spirituality, the kedusha, flows to and affects positively the entire world.
As we approach Rosh Hashana may we resolve to do our part to make sure that G-d's blessings rain on the entire world.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Eliezer Langer