Jewish Life Digital Edition September 2015 | Seite 5

FROM THE TEAM

FROMTHE PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
“Teshuva, tefillah and tzedakah remove the harsh decree.” Teshuva – returning to the
ways of Torah; tefillah – turning to G-d through ‘avodah’ or Divine worship; and
tzedakah – doing benevolent acts, lovingkindness.
Throughout the Yomim Noraim we ask repeatedly for Hashem to show us mercy.
Reading the Chofetz Chaim’s Ahavas Chesed (Love of Kindness) brings home the great
need to do good deeds; lend money and do kindness to our fellow Jews through our
actions and also our words. Stressing that such acts of righteousness are a Torah
obligation and highlighting the great blessings one receives from Hashem for doing
them – as well as the severe punishment for not – the Chofetz Chaim, poses the
following sobering thought. Not just at Rosh Hashanah, but in our daily tefillah, we ask Hashem to “grant
peace, welfare, blessing, grace, lovingkindness and mercy to us”.
The Chofetz Chaim asks: “How can one lift his face to the Holy One and ask this if he has no desire to
deal with his neighbour in compassion and kindness. G-d would hardly accept his many requests if he
himself does not practice chesed.”
Hashem repays measure for measure. With so much emphasis today on “me”, the i-generation and the
ubiquitous social or often antisocial media, Rosh Hashanah is the oasis where one can focus on oneself in a
different way. A New Year, when we connect to Hashem as servants of the King with an even clearer
realisation that our entire lives are dependent on His chesed, after all, He is the One who “sustains life with
kindness”. Our deserving Hashem’s mercy is very much tied to the chesed we do for others all year round,
and particularly so at this time when the Book of Life is op V