The story is that the Baal Shem Tov had a very close student, the person he chose to blow the Shofar for him. The Baal Shem Tov sat with the student and taught him all the meditations and the correct way to blow the Shofar. The student wrote it down and had papers upon papers in his pocket. The Bal Shem Tov took the papers out of his pocket without him knowing.

It was time of Musaf and he reached into his pocket and didn’t have the meditations. He didn’t know what to do. He started to cry because he was a failure. He was blowing the Shofar because he was supposed to be the person who did that, and he was crying. He was blowing and crying.

They came to the end of the prayers and the teacher said, “I took away the meditations.” He asked, “Why?” The Baal Shem Tov said, “Sometimes you have to open up gates. You know which key to use in which door. Sometimes you have to break open the doors. Tears are the gate that breaks open all the doors. I saw this year you had the keys, but you needed your tears.”

I think for all of us to know before we come to the prayers we have ideas, but the way we connected today was the perfect way. It was not by accident or coincidental. It was perfect for what each of us needed and what we needed to make this the best possible year.