By Rabbi Joey Haber

I once took a trip with my wife to Dubai. At one point during the trip, our tour guide brought us to a spice market. We spent around an hour perusing through the market, marveling at the countless different types of spices that were being sold, taking in the aromas, and hearing about the different properties of the various products.

Then, after about an hour, the tour guide said that we needed to leave, because we had an appointment for a tour of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

As we were about to leave the area, we noticed a different market. We asked the guide what this was, and he explained that it was Dubai’s famous gold market. Gold products could be purchased there for significantly cheaper prices than elsewhere.

“Wow, so let’s go check it out,” we said. “But we can’t,” the guide insisted. “I already told you, we have an appointment at the Burj Khalifa. We need to run.”

I told my wife that we were living through a classic mashal. What we experienced was, truly, the story of so many people’s lives.

Instead of bringing us to the gold market, and allowing us to buy precious jewelry, the guide kept us for an hour at the spice market and then rushed us out to see a tall building. We spent an hour looking at spices, when we could have been checking out gold.

Our “tour” of this world brings us opportunities to acquire “spices” and to acquire “gold.” The “spices” are enjoyable, and have a pleasing and alluring “aroma,” but offer little long-term value, as opposed to the “gold,” the mitzvot that we are able to perform during our brief stay in this world. Unfortunately, however, many people get distracted by the “spices,” and end up without any “gold.” They are too preoccupied with vanity, with fleeting pleasures and delights, and fail to make time to acquire “gold,” to involve themselves in the things that really matter. Each morning, before Shema, we pray that Hashem should lead our hearts to love and fear Him. The question arises; how can we pray to Hashem that we should love and fear Him? Is this not our responsibility? The Talmud teaches, “Everything is in G-d’s hands, except the fear of G-d.” Hashem controls everything except our decision of how to act. We are given free will, the choice to do the right thing or the wrong thing. Why, then, do we pray to Hashem that we should love and fear Him?

Rav Moshe Feinstein answered by noting that we don’t ask Hashem to give us love and fear, but rather that He should direct our hearts toward love and fear. We ask Hashem to help us by removing the distractions that lead us away from Torah and mitzvot. We ask Him to keep us away from the “spices” so that we can focus on the “gold,” on the things that really matter. Of course, the choice of whether to go to the “spice market” or the “gold market” is ours. But we pray for Hashem’s help, asking that He keep us away from the distractions that pull us away from the important and valuable things in life. One of the purposes of Yom Kippur is to bring us to the “gold market,” to redirect our focus and attention. We withdraw from everything else in life, even our basic needs, and spend the day immersed entirely in kedushah. We go to the extreme of forgetting about everything, including food, and remain in the synagogue the entire day, evaluating ourselves, reassessing our choices in life, and talking to Hashem. We remind ourselves of the difference between “spices” and “gold,” that what really matters in life is our relationship with Hashem, and the many meaningful contributions that we can and should be making.

Let us take advantage of this precious opportunity to redirect our focus onto the “gold,” and commit ourselves to pursue that which has real value, and which lends our lives true meaning and significance.