Sept. 25, 2024

Faith and Fandom: Balancing Spirituality and Passion with the Wisdom of Elul and Rosh Hashanah

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Season 7

What if you approached your spiritual life with the same passion and dedication as your favorite pastime? Discover how the parallels between America's beloved game of baseball and our relationship with God and Torah can inspire a more committed, fulfilling spiritual journey. From those who treat their faith as a weekend hobby to the devoted few who make it their life's work, we explore the diverse ways people engage with their spirituality. Learn about the profound impact each approach can have and why finding the right balance for you is crucial.

As we prepare for the high holy days, we offer a unique perspective on spiritual accounting. Much like an annual performance review, Elul and Rosh Hashanah are times to reflect on our achievements and growth over the past year. We'll discuss how to present your spiritual accomplishments to God, demonstrating your worthiness for renewal and blessings in the year ahead. This episode promises to inspire you to take a deeper look at your spiritual practices and elevate them to new heights.

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Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com



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many people choose baseball as their Sunday afternoon hobby, throw the ball around with their son.

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Others make baseball their pastime.

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I believe America considers peanuts, cracker jacks and baseball the great American pastime.

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And then there are those few folks journalists and players, catchers and pitchers, managers that consider baseball their full-time job, their nine-to-five, and the same can be said with this comparison to our relationship with Hashem.

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There are those that consider their relationship to God and to Torah to be a mere hobby.

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Sunday afternoon, when it's nice to enjoy learning with their son, definitely has merits.

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There is another group of people that considers their relationship to God to be but a pastime, when everything else is taken care of and time presents itself.

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And there are some folk that look to Torah and God as their nine to five.

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And even if they are in the office, they still spend all the moments waiting and longing until the time that they can go to study, to learn to perform a mitzvah.

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And if we take this comparison one step further, when we understand that Torah and God is a job and that does not cheapen our relationship with God, for the altar of Calum, told us the Asok B'divrei, torah is the blessing we make, which means it is a job.

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It is an Asek.

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We work for Hashem.

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It really brings into light why we care so much about Elul Shuvah and this time of year.

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Because, the same way that every person, every employee, has a performance review the year-end review, where you sit down to have this formal conversation with the boss to go over the notes as to what value you've brought to the company that is what happens on Rosh Hashanah.

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You have to sit down, sit right across the desk from the big CEO and stick out your notes and your accomplishments, mention the skills you've developed, why you believe that the company should renew your contract so that you can have another slice of life and do it again next year, because nothing is guaranteed on Rosh Hashanah.

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If we've learned anything from the past year, it's that Me Ba Mayim, me Ba Eish, me Ba Chanuk.

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All these things are frighteningly true.

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So what can we do and what is Elul about?

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It's about showing the boss that we are worth investing in and that we're going to take notes about what we can do better, to show ourselves and to show God where we have made true progress and why it is that next year I'm worth re-signing, I'm worth maybe even getting a bonus because I care about the company's goals and wishes.

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So please renew our contract for a year of life and prosperity, and that's how we perform well at the end of the year review at the upcoming interview with HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

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Thank you.