The Father Who Ached for His Son
The following story can perhaps enable us to grasp a tiny fraction of the pining and yearning that the Ribbono shel Olam has for His children.
One Rosh Hashanah afternoon, a Yid encountered a teenager who came from a frum home, but who had, sadly, left behind everything he was taught. This Yid began speaking with him about the Yom Tov, and the boy revealed that he had been considering going to hear shofar. The man pulled a shofar from his pocket and blew thirty blasts right there in the street—leaving a deep impression upon the young man.
Somehow, news of this encounter reached the ears of the boy’s father; he couldn’t believe that his son, who roams the streets, merited to hear the shofar blasts. Over the coming weeks, he asked anyone he could find who had knowledge of the story to tell him any details that they could share about the encounter.
Why was the father so emotional about this?! Because the boy was his son! His son was so far gone... so distant from Yiddishkeit, and from everything that he had sought to give over to him... and still, the Ribbono shel Olam arranged for him to hear shofar! The father couldn’t get over this, and he constantly wished to hear about the event, over and over again.
Our Father Awaits Our Closeness
We are the children of the Ribbono shel Olam! And, no matter how far gone we are — when we turn to Hashem and we proclaim our desire to come closer to Him, it brings Him tremendous pleasure. He has so much pleasure from this. הדורות כל סוף עד ומביט צופה, He looks and sees to the end of the generations.... Which generation can this refer to if not for our lowly era?!
It brings the greatest joy and nachas to Hashem when we seek to rebuild the כלולותיך אהבת, the love of our nuptials—when we seek the desires and the connection with Hashem. And if we were to keep this in mind, we would be jumping for joy at the privilege and the closeness that we have with Hashem!
