There are signs the holy days are around the corner; the shofar call each morning, the sun setting earlier, and the sermon preparation. Yet, there is one marker that is often overlooked: Psalm 27, the Psalm of Repentance. We recite this morning and evening as we say, “I seek to dwell in the house of God all the days of my life.” The Metzudat David points out the word dwell, shavti, literally means to sit. Thus, when I sit in the house of God, it will be good for me.
What is our usual tempo? Run, run, run. While on Zoom calls, we turn off our cameras so we can already work on the next task at hand. As we drive, our hands-free phones are running so we can make the phone call we put off from yesterday. When we put our work away at the end of the day, we are checking our calendar to make sure it is full tomorrow.
Yet, our Psalmist remind us in the days leading up to the High Holy Days, shavti, to dwell is to sit, to sit is to rest, and to rest is to acknowledge our Divine Creator that has created the world before our eyes.
This upcoming holy day season will be the year of the hybrid. Some will sit in their homes while others will sit inside a sanctuary. Yet, wherever we choose to be, we will sit; not out of idleness or lazy habits, but out of respect for the times when we abandon the moments to appreciate what we do have.
For after we sit, there will be a time to get up, stronger than when we sat down before, always dwelling in the house of our God.
