The Short Vort
Good Morning!
Today is Wednesday the 2
nd
of Tammuz 5780 and June 24, 2020
Welcome Home
It was over 100 days since I had the privilege of davening in my Shul.
Finally, this past Friday evening, it occurred.
As we began Mincha on Friday afternoon, followed by Kabbolos Shabbos and Maariv, we were declaring loud and clear that we have returned.
We had come home.
How I missed you!
I missed the rhythm of the davening and feeling of Tefillah B’Tzibbur.
I pined for the excitement of davening in a Shul and feeling the synergy created.
And most of all I missed you: the wonderful, beloved men, women and children who make the Ahavas a true palace of love.
It was all of you who I missed the most.
Yes, your faces were covered by masks, and yes, it was sometimes difficult to recognize you. However, we were back together, and that made it all good.
Today I mentioned to my wife for the first time in months, “I have to get back to Shul for Mincha and Maariv.”
Each word rolled off my tongues like a pearl and a diamond. “I have to get back to Shul….”
Would I ever have imagined in my life that such simple words would bring excitement and waves of happiness and joy to me?
There are so many seemingly small things which now loom larger than life as I appreciate each and every one:
I am thrilled to be able to say “Omein” loud and clear, and being able to answer “Yehei Shemei Rabba!” is now an exhilarating experience.
Who could have imagined we would be banished from our beloved Shul for so long?
And there was a time when we wondered if we would ever get back.
Yet, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
And Baruch Hashem, we see that light.
Things aren’t yet quite back to normal; however, the fact that they are improving is proof that the light will eventually totally dispel the darkness.
When people ask me what did I learn from the months away from the Shul, my answer is simple:
Never take davening in a Shul for granted and never take seeing another human being for granted either.
I missed being in Hashem’s house with all my beloved friends.
We are home; we are home, thank Hashem we are home!
“If Not Now, Then When?”- Hillel
Ron Yitzchok Eisenman
Rabbi, Congregation Ahavas Israel
Passaic, NJ
