The journalist and media personality Sivan Rahav Meir posted a video in which students from the Ami"t Eitan High School in Ma'ale Adumim are seen reciting forgiveness prayers on a boat at sea. How did they get there? Here's the explanation.
Rahav Meir wrote, "Why do people recite forgiveness prayers late at night or early in the morning? To change not only the order of the day but also ourselves. Just as we changed the time, we want and can change our character. In the Ami"t Eitan High School in Ma'ale Adumim, they decided to make an even bigger change: they rented a boat, traveled at midnight to the beach in Ashdod, and went out to recite Selichot at sea."
Rahav Meir noted that "the educator Rabbi Shlomi Dehan explained this, in a message relevant to all of us: 'In the sea - just like in our soul - calm and storm serve in its mixture. We felt there the struggle between tranquility and the waves. In the generation of screens, all of us need renewal and excitement; we need to try to touch the heart of the student and create an experience that will remain forever.'"
Dahan added: "On Yom Kippur, we read the story of Jonah the prophet, who was changed by the upheavals of the sea. After all, the captain shouts at Jonah the sentence that stands at the heart of our Selichot: 'Man, why have you fallen asleep? Get up and call to your God!' which we also tried to hear. We are all a little sleepy in the routine of life, and I recommend to everyone these days to look for a way that is a little breaking of the routine, to wake up."
