WHEN YOU ARRIVE.....

WHEN YOU ARRIVE... a brief reflection on Devarim 26:1-2 in preparation for S'lichot (forgivenesss)

These first two verses of this week's Torah portion gives us much to reflect on as we continue to prepare for the High Holy Days and a New Year of holiness.

Tomorrow evening, many Ashkenazi Jews will observe a S'lichot service, a service focusing on forgiveness, looking even more deeply into this annual process of reviewing our lives, thoughts, behaviors, actions, interactions, and relationships.

Let's read:
   
"When you get there, when you arrive in that which is to be your home and you are living there safely and know that you are home, take of the first of all you have been blessed to produce and own; put it in a basket and go to the place where G!d has caused holiness to dwell." Devarim/Deuteronomy 26.1-2 (translation from Rabbi Dr. Ariel Stone, spiritual guide of Congregation Shir Tikvah, an independent shul in Portland, Oregon. Her doctorate is in Jewish Mysticism.)


These verses beg us to ask ourselves:


Where am I going? And how will I know I have arrived? 


Where is "home" for me? Is it a place where I can live feeling safe?


What are my first fruits, the "first of all with which you have been blessed"?


What places in my life/heart/soul/mind does holiness dwell? How do I find that or get there? What is holiness to me?