25 Aug KI TAVO: AROUSING HASHEM’S COMPASSION

A member of the Jewish
community in
Minneapolis once
brought me to give a
speech in that
community, and the man
who picked me up at the airport was none
other than the owner of the Mall of America,
the largest mall in the United States, who is a
wonderful Torah Jew. In the car, he told me a
beautiful story.
His wife had made a trip to Israel around
Thanksgiving time, leaving him with the
children. On Thanksgiving, all the kids had
school except the youngest, who was getting
restless at home, so the father brought her to
the mall. They sat at the kosher eatery at the
mall and ate some fries.
There they met a religious family from Los
Angeles that was attending some event in the
middle of the country. The father worked as
a Rabbi in a school. They could not afford to
fly, so the family decided to turn it into a
road trip. They stopped off at the mall to eat.
After speaking with the family for some
time, the mall’s owner asked the children if
they wanted free passes for some of the rides
at the mall. They of course emphatically said

yes. He went downstairs and, as the owner,
easily obtained several passes. He came back
to where the family was waiting, and he
placed the passes in the mother’s hand.
She looked at him in disbelief.
She explained that during the whole trip, the
children were complaining that they wouldn’t
be able to afford the amazing rides at the
mall.
“I learn from a book about bitahon [faith in
Hashem] every day,” she said, “and I told my
kids that if Hashem decided that they should
go on the rides, He can put the passes in my
hand at any minute. And that’s just what
happened.”
The owner of the mall told me how at that
moment, he genuinely felt how he was just a
puppet in Hashem’s show, just a pawn in His
plan to help this beautiful family. He realized
that he’s not the owner of the country’s
largest mall, he’s not a high-flying executive
– he’s just Hashem’s agent, His messenger
through which His will is carried out.
Nothing more.
This is an important message for us to
internalize as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah.
What we want on Rosh Hashanah is to arouse

Hashem’s compassion, that He judges us
with mercy, and not on the strict level of the
law. This means that we want Him to judge
us not according to our actions, based on
what we’ve actually done, but based on who
we really are, who we try and aspire to be.
A cop once ticketed for me for speeding.
What mattered to him was only that I was
driving above the speed limit. It didn’t matter
that I had flown back to the city that morning,
was then driving home after delivering an
inspiring speech, and was on the phone
dealing with important community matters.
We want Hashem to treat us differently, to
take into account the bigger picture, how we
are inherently good and want to do the right
thing, even though the results aren’t always
what they should be.
And the way we arouse Hashem’s
compassion is by seeing ourselves the way
this mall owner saw himself – humbly, as
dependent entirely on Hashem. If we take the
credit for our achievements, then we will be
held responsible for our failures. If we pride
ourselves for the good results, then we are
accountable for the bad results. But if we
focus not on the end results, but on our
intentions, recognizing that we make our

effort and then Hashem brings the outcome,
then we will be forgiven for the times when
the outcome wasn’t right. If we want Hashem
to see the broader picture, who we really are,
then we need to look at the broader picture
– how Hashem controls everything – and at
who we really are – just frail human beings
who depend on Hashem for everything.
May we all be worthy of Hashem’s mercy
and compassion, and be blessed with a
wonderful year of joy, health and prosperity,
amen.