Conscious Community

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira

Rosh Hashanah Morning 5778

Our association is not organized for the purpose of attaining power or

intervening in the affairs of community or state, whether directly or
indirectly. Quite the opposite: our goal is to gradually rise above the
noise and tumult of the world, by steady incremental steps. It is not
consistent with our goals to hand out awards as to who is advanced and
who lags behind. The whole premise of our group is the vast human
potential for both baseness and elevation. Our bodies and souls are
currently quite unevolved, but our potential for holiness is very great.
Holiness is our key and our primary value; honors and comparisons
serve no useful purpose.

It is vitally important that we do not create, God forbid, any boundaries

that separate us from Jews who are not members of our group. The
whole point of our association is to love each other as much as
possible. If there were a fire in town, the fire company would come to
put out the fire and save lives. They use the equipment that they have
brought with them and the techniques that they have been trained to
use. Will they ridicule and avoid the citizens of the city, who are trying
their best to put out the flames? They have the same goal: put out the
flames and save lives! Each one saves in the way he can, the fire
company can be more effective. The techniques available to a group
are qualitatively different than what an individual can hope to attain.
This is our current situation. We are constantly distraught. What is the
point of our existence? Day after day, I try to be conscious of God with
every thought, every word, every deed. At the very least, I try not to
fall further away from the Holy One, God forbid; I try not to become
distracted by the confusion of daily life. Yet each and every day, I
undermine my own efforts, not waiting until the Holy One withdraws
the divine presence from me, God forbidno, I withdraw from God! I
find myself unmoored, in uncharted territory, confused. What will we
accomplish? We spend our days and years in emptiness and misery.
Finally, as we approach the end, we wake up to the truth and cry in
despair: Oh, God, what have we done? How have we come to this
point with our spirits and bodies so rough and undeveloped? We have
lived our entire lives as a lump of flesh. Demeaning fantasies, frivolous
thoughts, and unworthy urges invade my attention. I am constantly
preoccupied with meaningless illusions. I hold myself completely
responsible for this tragic descentfrom the precious nearness of God
to this unsettling chaos. This disturbing awareness eats away at our
hearts and minds. We are distraught, but we do not know how to help
ourselves. This is why we have banded together. We want to find out
how to improve our desperate condition. If all of us work together and
use these strategies to unite our hearts in the service of God, perhaps
with Gods help, we will not live in total waste and despair. We may yet
rest in the sheltering presence of God, even while we live this earthly
life.

Rabbi Steven Moskowitz

Congregation LDor VDor