My Mom is wild about me. 
This has nothing to do with the fact that I was an exemplary child. 
I’m a first born, mild mannered, rule follower. 
Easy. 
My Mom was a stay at home Mom who did all the things expected of her. 
All signs of love. 
That is not how I know my Mom is wild about me. 
I know it from the thing she had the hardest time getting me to do.
Learn how to swim. 
My Mom was bound and determined to have me learn to swim. 
Perhaps because she didn’t swim well herself. 
Perhaps because the Mishna says a parent has to make sure a child can swim. 
Maybe it was something else. 
She was determined. 
I, on the other hand, docile, rule follower that I was, had an equal determination to the contrary. 
I could not do it. I would not do it. 
We spent at least a month in England in the summertime and from a young age, swimming instruction was high on the agenda. 
Never mind that it was cold outside and the water freezing and unheated. 
Never mind that I couldn’t put my head under water. 
I would not do it. 
Stamp my foot couldn’t do it. 
We went to every local  pool and tried every instructor. 
When we went to Israel, I knew if there was a pool at the hotel my Mom was already canvassing for a teacher. 
She never met a pool that didn’t have an instructor available.she never gave up on me. 
She knew I could do this. 
When we were kids we saw a comic movie in Israel about a Sephardi man who had eight daughters and desperately wanted a son. In one scene by a pool, I watched the scene unfold and then I laughed out loud. The lifeguard in the movie had been one of my myriad swim teachers. 
Miraculously, because my Mom never gave up  - I eventually learned how to swim. 
Even more wondrously - I love to swim. 
Either every stroke I take I feel my Mother’s love and her unabated faith in me. 
I know something about you. 
Your Father is wild about you. 

As we head into the High Holiday season, we are in the Hebrew month of Elul and we are preparing ourselves for the High Holiday season. We are  preparing  to coronate the King. On Rosh Hashana we will say a prayer called Avinu, Malkeinu, our Father our King. Our lives hang in the balance.
Yet our Father is saying, I want a relationship with you. I believe in you!
The purpose of this time is to connect. To do one thing that will bring us one step closer to our true selves and ultimately to our Creator. 
A sin is a disruption. 
A Mitzva is a connector. 
We want to build on our good deeds. 
Our Father is here and eager to help us swim. 
How do we know He’s wild about us?
Close your eyes. Quiet the noise about yourself. 
Put your hand on heart. 
What do you feel?
You feel the whooshing of your heart. 
Beat in and beat out. 
Gd is saying I believe in you, and I’m showing up with that belief, over and over, as I keep your heart beating, giving you the life support you need to live your best life. 
Ani LDodi vDodi Li. I am to my beloved as my beloved is to me. 
This verse about the loving relationship between Gd and the Jewish people is actually preceded by the verse Dodi li v’ani Lo
My beloved is to me and I am to my beloved. 
Gd actually shows up first in the relationship. He does not play it cool, He shows all His cards. 
He says I’m here. Be confident in my love for you. 
That assurance opens up the door for us to respond and show up and deepen the connection because we are assured that Gd is wild about us. 
Around the year 931 BCE the Prophet Samuel was born. 
A number of years before his birth a prophecy was delivered saying that a leader was going to be born and his name would be Samuel. Subsequently, many mothers with dreams and aspirations for their sons, named their newborns Samuel. Ultimately Samuel was born and he was the fulfillment of that prophecy. 
Our Sages ask, what happened to all those boys who were so hopefully named Samuel?
It turns out they all turned out to be prophets as well. 
If you believe in your child and raise them with aspirations to greatness, you will inspire them to those levels. 
By believing in them. 
By letting them know they are so beloved. 
By being dedicated to their success. 
Our Sages teach us that “the King is in the Field” during Elul. 
That’s an odd expression. 
Kings are usually found in palaces. 
A flesh and blood king we know does this too. 
Britain’s King Charles goes on “walkabouts” to meet his subjects. He goes to meet them where they are - interested in inquiring to their well being, showing his care and concern in their indigenous places. He doesn’t stand on ceremony. He goes to them. 
So too with the King of Kings. 
He is on a walkabout, wanting to connect to us, His beloved children. 
And when we feel that love, when we know that our parent will stop at nothing for our success, then we are primed to respond, to show up, to do better. To meet our potential. 
To finally learn how to swim. 
Shabbat Shalom and so much love.