Hi,
I’ve returned from Rabbi Deutsch’s son’s wedding.
It was beautiful!
… I had an interesting experience on my way home.
Davening (morning prayers) in the airport!
The ideal time for morning prayers starts with sunrise and continues for a few hours.
(There’s a little “wiggle room’ to start earlier when necessary.)
It’s best to daven before leaving for the airport.
But we had to leave too early for that. And would arrive in Chicago too late.
So it meant praying at the gate before the flight.
And that includes putting on my Tallis and Tefillin.
(Prayer shawl and black boxes containing, among other things, the Shma)
I went over to a corner and “did my thing.”
… A few things went through my mind.
One?
“Let’s make this fast!”
But I also thought about the meaning of praying as the sun rises.
Why is that the ideal time for prayer?
Here’s one idea.
The sun should fill us with a sense of awe.
How G-d placed the sun ninety three million miles away!
In just the right place for life to exist.
A little closer? Everything would fry!
A bit further away? The Earth would be one big freezer!
And to top it off?
He made a sunrise breathtakingly beautiful!
Its G-d’s way of saying,
“I’m here. And I would love to hear from you!”
What better time could there to “get in touch” by praying?
To say, “Thanks for the beautiful sunrise. Thanks for the reminder.
I’ll try even harder to make my day more meaningful”.
… For some reason, on WBBM, they always say, “Sunrise today will be at…”
I don’t know why they do it. Why it would be relevant to anyone but an observant Jew?
And I doubt that it’s in case Rabbi Katz has an early flight!
But if we do hear it?
(Or if we’re lucky enough to actually see the sunrise!)
It’s a good time to say,
“Thanks for the reminder.
I’ll try even harder to make my day more meaningful!”
All the best,