How To Listen

“V’hashev et ha’avodah lid’vir beitecha”- “And restore the service of Your House to the Holy of Holies.”
The root of the word “d’vir” is “daber”, to speak. The Holy of Holies is where God spoke to Moses. As specified in the Torah “Moses would go into the d’vir- or Kodesh haKodashim, and God would address him. So what does this represent?
“God communicating back. When we speak of Avodah, we are not solely focusing on what we do, but on both.” Rabbi Simcha Weinberg says “ “We initiate contact with God, and He initiates contact with us.”
Jewish beliefs agree that D’vir symbolizes the conversation. We don’t see God initiating contact with us as clearly as we did when the Temple still stood. But if we pay attention, we will see how God does things which are supposed to elicit a response from us. Avodah means to be open to an ongoing conversation between God and man.