Getting Out Of The Parking Lane
Our city turned a parking lane into a bus lane exactly during the time that our early morning Shacharisends. And if you don’t move your car, tickets are issued swiftly and automatically, with fines running close to $300. We pushed back our starting time for davening so we can finish with decorum and still retrieve our cars before they get ticketed. It usually works.
As I write this, today is Tzom Gedaliah, so our start-time was even earlier, and we concluded Avinu Malkeinu and Tachanun with plenty of time to get to Krias HaTorah and onward. Our shul is blessed with several Sifrei Torah, but when the person who opened the Aron Kodesh went to retrieve the correct one, an argument broke out among our congregants as to which Torah to retrieve. One of the Torahs was rolled to the reading from Rosh Hashanah. Another was set to the Maftir. And the third was set to the parashah of the week, which we had read on Shabbos afternoon. None of them were set for the passage to be read today, a public fast day. So, they began arguing over which sefer Torah was rolled closest to today’s reading. A flurry of opinions arose and finally the man leading Shacharis took a Sefer Torah and leined the appropriate passage.
All was fine until we looked at our clocks. During our discussion regarding which Sefer Torah to use, the minutes had ticked by. Time, it seems, does not stand still despite our holy reasons for squabbling by the Aron Kodesh. Now we had to rush through davening lest we get a ticket. Those who don a second pair of tefillin, the Rabbeinu Tam variety, were in a greater “bind,” so to speak. Time was running out. People were running out of shul. The bus lane was about to be opened up to the relentless, unforgiving drivers whose cameras photograph and ticket every hapless car parked in their lane.
As I mused over this irritating predicament, I thought more deeply into it. Eventually it became a metaphor for the Ten Days of Repentance. We have ten days to do teshuvah, correct our behavior and attitudes, and improve as Jews. And the clock is ticking! By Tzom Gedaliah we’ve already used up two days and there are only seven days left until Erev Yom Kippur. When Shabbos comes, we are already on the brink of Yom Kippur, when the “Divine tickets” will be issued. So, we must start working now to improve our middos, let go of grudges, and rectify any errors in our behavior bein adam l’chaveiro and bein adam l’Makom. Let’s use these days, which are fleeting, to make repairs and repent. We can get closer to each other and closer in our feelings about Hashem.
But there’s a time limit. We have to hustle and finish our avodah, and get moving before the time is up. I hope that I make it on time and I wish the same to all of you. Wishing everyone a G’mar chatimah tovah. n
Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox is a forensic and clinical psychologist, and director of Chai Lifeline Crisis Services. To contact Chai Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis helpline, call 855-3-CRISIS or email [email protected]. Learn more at ChaiLifeline.org/crisis.
