Imitatio Hominus

We make God in our own image.  Ask any child.  They will tell you that God has brown hair, a long beard and sits on a throne.  Kids conceive of God in the only way they can; they look at the universe and draw parallels.  The Ultimate Master probably resembles some powerful patriarchal figure, at once benevolent and stern.

As we grow from children into adults our thinking becomes more abstract.  We know that the Almighty is not physical.  The Holy One is neither make nor female: He is unknowable in any human way.  Our conception morphs from a secure portrait of God to a more fluid, ethereal idea.

As we grow, more mature faith teaches that God is beyond our senses.  Yet, there is another sense which we all posses but do often access.  It goes beyond description, even though everyone knows what it is.

Abraham Joshua Heschel told the tale of the shoemaker.  The old cobbler had a problem with his morning prayers.  If he stopped to daven at Synagogue his morning’s work would be delayed.  Worse, if the shoemaker spent time at the Shul mind would not be on God but getting through his prayers quickly.  On the other hand, as a God-fearing Jew, he knew his responsibility.

With trepidation he brought his problem to God.  “Ribbono Shel Olam, is it enough when I raise my hammer that I sigh?”

Some of the holiest prayers are nothing more than a sigh.  In fact, the greatest prayers originate in the moment when we feel most keenly.  From deep within comes a great wellspring of feeling.  The Hasidim used to say that there are times when a sigh can break the whole universe.  All the prayers in the Siddur are for one purpose; to ignite the internal soul fire.  In other words, we pray in order to express our experience of life, the way we feel it.  A sigh then is a response to feeling life. And that is why a sigh can be so holy. 

To feel life is the entryway to prayer – in fact it is a prerequisite.  Sighing is a great prayer because it expresses wonder.

Prayer is an answer to life.  What then is the question?  It is your name.  The realization that we are called by the One.  It is an expression of profound proportions.  A sigh, a word uttered with genuine conviction, is a prayer for it is a response to God