Today I woke up at 10:30 am. Wasn’t feeling so well. Did not manage to say Modeh Ani with kavvana. Davened shacharit by myself at home. Davened minchah with a minyan at the Yeshiva at 2:30. The shaliach tsibur rushed through Ashrei so that I didn’t even get to read half of it. Later, at 7pm at Ohei Rivka, I stood in the pews with all the other Jews (including Dan, my high school drum major) while they davened late minchah. Since I wasn’t davening, I thought on this question: ‘Why should we want to know God’s name?’ It’s a question that I found myself caring about a few days ago when I was studying the blessing before Torah reading. It says, “May we and our offspring and the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel – all of us – know Your Name and study your Torah for its own sake [ונהיה אנחנו וצאצאינו וצאצאי עמך בית ישראל, כולנו יודעי שמך ולומדי תורתך לשמה[ . Wow. Inserting a line of Hebrew into English text is very confusing.
After thinking about why I might want to know God’s name while Dan was davening minchah, Dan and I studied some of the Talmud, Tractate Berachot. He calls it Berachos because he reads Hebrew the Ashkenaz way. Dan and I have studied several times for about 15 minutes in between minchah and maariv, and it’s always been a blast. He’s really enthusiastic about Talmud and Torah, and he’s got a very good mind. I like Dan. He’s a friendly bloke. I’m glad that he and I have the opportunity to catch up with one another. Before I saw him last week, I hadn’t seen him in 10 years.
Can you imagine meeting God and forgetting his name? Very embarrassing.
װעלכע דן איז דאָס?