אם ירצה ה׳
🎯 Thème principal :
Pourquoi l’homme reste endormi spirituellement, malgré la vérité de la Torah et l’existence de Dieu ?
🔍 10 raisons majeures expliquées dans le cours :
- L’interdit attire – L’homme est attiré par ce qui est interdit (adrénaline, défis).
- Le découragement – On pense que la tchouva doit être parfaite et totale, alors qu’elle se fait jour par jour.
- L’inconscience – On vit dans un état de sommeil spirituel, comme Adam endormi avant la création de Ève.
- Le plaisir du péché – On sait que c’est mal, mais c’est agréable, donc on continue.
- Les chocs émotionnels – Souffrances, traumas, ou déceptions qui créent une révolte intérieure contre Dieu.
- Colère contre Dieu – "Je suis fâché contre Lui, donc je ne veux plus Le servir."
- Le regard des autres – On vit selon les normes du monde, pas selon la Torah.
- Le manque de conscience universelle – Le monde refuse de se réveiller sur le sort d’Israël ou sur la vérité divine.
- L’illusion du temps – On pense qu’on a le temps, mais chaque jour est unique et compte.
- Le manque d’éveil personnel – On sait la vérité, mais on ne la vit pas.
✨ **Message central **
Chaque mot de Torah est une lumière, une bougie pour elle et sa famille.
Le vrai cadeau, c’est l’éveil de la conscience – celui qui transforme la connaissance en vécu.
🧠 Citation clé :
« Ben Adam, qu’est-ce que tu dors ? »
Ce n’est pas un appel à se lever physiquement, mais spirituellement – à réveiller sa conscience à la vérité de Dieu, à la mission d’Israël, et à la beauté de chaque jour.
📌 Conclusion :
On ne peut pas changer toute sa vie en un jour.
Mais on peut faire un pas aujourd’hui.
Et ce pas, s’il est répété chaque jour, devient un chemin de lumière.
🕯️ Wake Up Your Soul
🔥 “Ben Adam – Son of Man, Wake Up!”
We open the first morning of Selihot with a piyut that starts:
Ben Adam, mah lekha nirdam?
“Son of Man, how can you still be asleep?”
Not gibor, not ish, but ben Adam – a descendant of Adam ha-Rishon.
Why use the son instead of the father?
Because Adam was created never to taste death, pain, poverty or divorce. One bite of a fruit and ten curses later, the world was broken. The poet turns to us: “You who carry his DNA – have you still not learned from one mistake that cost the universe?”
🎯 The Core Question
The single question that hovers over Elul is:
“Why don’t we wake up?”
We know:
• G'd exists.
• Torah is true.
• A single sin can tilt worlds.
Yet we hit “snooze.”
I want to give at least ten honest answers. Ten mirrors so each of us can find his own face.
🔍 Ten Reasons We Stay Asleep
-
The thrill of the forbidden
The moment something is assur, adrenaline kicks in. The Gemara (Kiddushin) says the adulterer only flees when the husband walks in – the danger itself fuels the desire. -
The mountain looks too high
“Teshuvah for life? Impossible!” So we do nothing.
Torah’s answer: Not “for life,” only today.
Abraham kept 175 years because every morning he said, “Just today I will serve.”
That is why tomorrow is called machar – same letters as rachamim. Each dawn is blanketed in new mercy. -
Emotional shutdown
A woman married a charming man who turned out to be narcissistic. Shabbat became a battleground. She still believes in God, but pain has sealed the door. Millions carry such wounds; the heart sleeps to survive. -
Anger at the Judge
A businessman who gave tzedakah, put on tefillin every day, lost his child and his savings. He told me, “I’m angry at G'd.”
I answered, “That means you still believe in Him an atheist can’t be angry at nothing.”
Yet the anger paralyzes. -
Unconscious cry for attention
A child misbehaves precisely when the father is on the phone. The child doesn’t want to break the lamp; he wants the father to look.
Sometimes the soul “misbehaves” so Heaven will finally turn its gaze. -
Global anesthesia
The world sleeps through Yemen, Syria, 170 000 dead in Ukraine. But the moment Israel defends itself, streets fill with flags. Why?
Israel’s existence is evidence of G'd. The world’s conscience therefore must keep Israel in focus, because to acknowledge Israel is to acknowledge the Creator it prefers to ignore. -
We confuse knowledge with consciousness
A driver knows the speed limit is 90, yet pushes to 130. At 140 he crashes.
In court he says, “But I knew the limit!”
The judge answers, “You knew, but you were not conscious.”
Spiritual sleep is the gap between da’at (knowledge) and hakarah (lived awareness). -
The illusion of time
We think we have years to fix things, so we lose decades. In truth, only today is in our fist. -
Addiction to comfort
Pleasure is a lullaby. Netflix at 2 a.m. is cheaper than therapy and easier than growth. -
We have never seen the light
Rav Constantine, secular Moroccan Jew, died clinically in a car crash. His soul stood in a courtroom of light. He begged:
“Give me 120 years of the worst suffering – just let me feel that light one more minute.”
He returned, enrolled in yeshiva, sleeps on a bench, and never stops speaking of G'd.
Once the light is truly seen, the question flips: “How could I ever have slept?”
✨ The Selihot Prescription
The poets do not ask for a once-in-a-lifetime overhaul.
They whisper:
Ha’irah libenu le-avdecha be-emet
“Awaken our hearts to serve You in truth.”
Truth, not length. One honest day at a time.
How?
• When the alarm rings tomorrow, say: “Today I will guard my eyes, my tongue, my wallet – just today.”
• Before sleep, ask: “Did I awaken for even one minute to Your presence?”
Stack 365 of those minutes and you have a year of teshuvah.
📌 Final Call
The piyut ends:
Kum, kera ba-ad matara – “Arise, cry out in the night!”
Not because G'd is deaf, but because you are asleep.
Shake the walls of your heart until the soul sits bolt-upright and says:
“I was sleeping – but no longer.”
That is the entire Selihot. That is the entire Elul.
That is the entire life of a Jew.
🎶 Le-shanah tovah tikatevu ve-teiḥatemu – May we all be inscribed and sealed for a year of being *awake.