A relationship?

I always enjoy staying with my friends the Cohens in Far Rockaway when I have a speaking tour in NY.  Besides being a generally wonderful, kind and generous person, Mrs. Cohen usually offers me opportunities to sample the area’s abundant offerings of shiurim (classes and lectures).  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to hear Sarah Yocheved Rigler speak.

Last March a mutual friend of ours suggested that I connect with Sarah Yocheved;  that we might have a lot in common.  Sarah lives in Israel as I do, and yet, somehow life got in the way and I allowed the opportunity to connect with Sarah in Israel to slip through my fingers.

Now, here I am back in the US at the same time as Sarah Yocheved, and my friend Mrs. Cohen informs me that she is speaking locally.  So, we walk into the room packed with women and Mrs. Rigler begins speaking about having a relationship with Hashem – not only is this a subject that is near and dear to my heart, but the subject I have been planning on writing about in my next book!  On top of that, Mrs. Rigler began to quote statistics about the number of Jewish people who have embraced some form of Christianity – I was listening to my own lecture!

It was very hard to sit still for the rest of the lecture, which Mrs. Rigler gave so beautifully.  But I am proud of myself that I did.  At the end of the talk I did stand up and introduce myself and confirm to the audience the statistics which Sara Yocheved had given during her talk.  In addition, I added, 90% of the Jewish people who believe in Jesus that I counsel cite a lack of a personal relationship with God as the reason that they didn’t look to Judaism when they were seeking spirituality and introduced to Christianity.  I would say that at least 80% of these people had never even heard of the idea of a relationship with God within the context of Judaism and didn’t believe me when I told them that Judaism teaches it too.

I am so thrilled to finally hear this being taught within the Jewish community with my own ears.  I knew it wasn’t a new concept in Judaism, and Mrs. Rigler did a great job of explaining that the Rambam, the Ramchal and the Chofetz Chaim were all proponents of this idea.  No, Rebbe Nachman was not alone in teaching that we all need to take time each day to develop a personal and intimate relationship with God.

Have you taken time to talk to Hashem today?