A Loving Judge

A defendant stands before a judge, without bothering to hire a lawyer. After introducing himself and raising his hand to swear that everything he says is true, he turns to the judge and says: "Your Honor, this is a waste of time for all of us. Deliver the verdict that I'm innocent and we'll all be free to go celebrate..."

We are standing now less than a month before Rosh Hashana. One of the things that we ask of G-d is that He should sign us in the book of merits for a good year, even if we don’t deserve it. Actually, we know that we probably don’t deserve to be treated so kindly.

So on what do we base our request?

A Jew needs to know in front of Whom we are standing for judgment. We are standing in front of G-d, our father the king! The son of a king does not get prosecuted or judged by anyone other than the king himself! We are asking G-d to judge us as our loving father.

And this is the prayer and the work of the entire month of Elul: to judge everyone in the right way, with love, so we can all merit a sweet new year.

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom!

Candle lighting time in NYC is at 7:08 PM