Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Guest Post: Luke, a.k.a. Eilu v'Eilu

"Arise ye from your slumber” which is the purpose of the only biblical mandate of Rosh Hashana—the blowing of the ram’s horn.

I was in my office building lobby waiting for the elevator door to open. I waited for the person next to me to enter and then, in return for my courtesy, she felt compelled to hold the door for me. Kindness begets kindness, but if either of us were glued to our phones nothing would have happened.

We go to our children’s schools to watch them put on school productions. A brilliant comedian once observed, "We put our smart phones in front of our faces and record everything. You are standing right in front of them and you can watch it in real HD, instead we record it and put it up on the internet and you nor anyone else will likely ever watch it again." We focus so much on preserving memories for posterity that we miss the actual wonderful experiences in real time.

We are attached to things that are supposed to bring us into the future while we are completely sleeping through the present.
http://cdn8.staztic.com/app/a/4844/4844610/shofar-run-by-oseh-shalom-1-1-s-307x512.jpg 
"Arise ye from your slumber" and see the person in front of you, today.  

2 comments:

Daniel Saunders said...

Agreed. A while back I happened to be in central London and, after finishing what I needed to do, I went on a spontaneous walk around the area (London Bridge, the Monument etc.).

"You could have taken photos on your phone!" someone said. It was difficult to get her to understand that I didn't want to, that I was caught up in the moment, looking at the sights, and I didn't feel the need for photos.

Princess Lea said...

I'll tell Luke!