Yom Kippur 5776 - September 23, 2015
Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in
Lindenhurst
· Let us proclaim the sacred power of this day for
it is awesome and full of dread.
· The angels in heaven rush about dismayed—they
are seized with fear, with trembling. They cry out, “Behold! The Day of
Judgment!”
· Who shall live and who shall die.
· Who by fire and who by water.
· Who shall be secure and who shall be troubled.
· On Rosh HaShanah it is written and on Yom Kippur
it is sealed.
Every year we return to
this text penned nearly 800 years ago. We read our lines in this divine
drama where God, the Divine Judge stands on high documenting and deliberating
over all that we are and all that we have been and records our fate in the Book
of Life. In these moments where we imagine ourselves standing at the
precipice of fate, we become keenly aware of High Holy Days past, present, and
future. This moment becomes all of history in one breath, one note—this
is all there is, this is all there ever was, this is all there ever will be.
The genius of these Ten
Days of Repentance is in this dramatic resonance—this ability to connect us to
the experience of the infinite. Through this entire season, we feel truly
connected to Jewish history and experience, to our ancestors thousands of years
back and to our descendants thousands of years into our future. Is it no
wonder that we keep coming back, then, year after year after year? How
many experiences in our daily life connect us so poignantly to all of Jewish
history? When else do we feel this connected to the infinite?
We imagine romantically
that, once upon a time, we had daily encounters with the mystery of the
universe. Once upon a time, we felt a sense of awe throughout the year.
Once upon a time, The high holy Days were not the entirety of our Jewish
life, it was merely the pinnacle of it.
BUT, the reality—the
truth—is that if the High Holy Days is our CENTRAL experience with Judaism, or
with the Jewish community or, for that matter, with God, then we are missing
out.
A rabbi and a soap-maker
once went for a walk together. The soap-maker said to the rabbi: “What good is
Judaism? After thousands of years of teaching about goodness, truth, justice,
and peace, after all the study of Torah, and all the fine ideals of the
Prophets, look at all the trouble and misery in the world! If Judaism is so
wonderful and true, why should all this be so?”
The rabbi said nothing.
They continued walking, until he noticed a child playing in the gutter. The
child was filthy with soot and grime. “Look at that child,” said the rabbi.
“You say that soap makes people clean, but see the dirt on that youngster. What
good is soap? With all the soap in the world, that child is still filthy. I
wonder if soap is of any use at all.”
The soap-maker protested,
and said, “But Rabbi, soap can’t do any good unless it is used!”
“Acha! Exactly!” cried the
Rabbi. “So it is with Judaism. It isn’t effective unless it is applied in daily
life and used!”
For Judaism to work, to be
relevant in our lives, it has to be applied to our lives and on a regular
basis. While immersing ourselves in the rites and rituals, prayers and
melodies of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are all well and good, what does this
do for us in the middle of January? Where is that feeling of history and
meaning and connectedness throughout the rest of the year? Judaism was
never built to be a twice a year event—on the contrary, we have a stunning
tradition that has the potential to bring a sense of history and meaning and
connectedness to our everyday life.
We have rites and rituals
that can transform our day, our week, our entire year. But we must be
willing to use them—to apply them to our day, our week, our entire year.
And so, you ask, what are these magical rites and rituals that,
supposedly, can transform my ordinary existence into a life of meaning?
How can Jewish history possibly be relevant to my regular life? Why
should I waste my time and energy on some arcane traditions—can they really
make me feel connected?
The simple answer is, yes.
Through the celebration of festivals throughout the year, a plethora of
traditions, and adding Shabbat into our lives, we really can find historical
relevance, meaning and a feeling of being connected to each other as well as to
the infinite.
Festivals
The High Holy Days, Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are intense!
They have extraordinary melodies, liturgical poetry, and high drama: each year we imagine a divine court
room. We ask the question: who shall live and who shall die! I
even love the severity of it all. It
feels very real and it connects me
to my vulnerability, reminds me that I have the power to change my life, that I
can push myself to make things right with anyone with whom I have tension or
conflict.
But if this were the all
of my Jewish life?!
This is the hard stuff, the
scary stuff, the depressing stuff. These are the rituals we do out of
guilt and, at times, out of shame. While there is great meaning in facing
our guilt and coming through the severity of tradition—there is very little joy
in it—what about the fun?
Judaism was never meant to
be a religion dominated by guilt and restrictions and discomfort. We Jews
are about the joy and the fun and celebration of life. We are commanded to have glorious feasts
for nearly every occasion and to even get drinking a few times a year. We
love to sing and dance and rejoice whenever possible. We have more
words in Hebrew for joy and happiness than any other emotion.
Each of our holidays - from Sukkot to Simchat Torah; Hanukkah to
Purim; Passover to Shavuot; gives us the opportunity to connect with our
history - but through the happiness
of giving thanks and rejoicing in all that we have experienced, all that we
are and all that we have.
We have been given this amazing
heritage as a gift, filled with fun and joy—let’s not limit ourselves to only
the seriousness and severity any longer.
Traditions
Franz Rosenzweig, the
influential 20th century Jewish theologian, argued that the point of the
mitzvot and Jewish traditions are to bring us closer to God. Therefore,
he argued, if a particular Jewish practice does not bring you closer to
God—does not “ring a bell” for you, don’t do it. The catch is, however, how are you going to know if a particular
mitzvah or tradition works for you unless you try it first?
Adding something Jewish to
your daily life does not have to be a completely daunting experience. You
do not have to completely overhaul your daily schedule or even your kitchen
appliances all at once!
If you want to make a dramatic change, I will of course be happy to help
you in any way—but living a more Jewish life does not demand that you change
your life into something that looks like Orthodoxy. Adding meaning to
your every day existence can begin with the simple things:
· Say sh’ma at night before you go to bed.
· Or, say it in the morning, when you wake up.
· Have a mezuzah on your door and kiss it when you
leave and return to your home.
· Make a habit of giving tzedakah—in other
words, have a tzedakah box in your home and, for example, put a quarter in it
every day.
· In fact, have Jewish stuff—have a tzedakah box
and Shabbat candlesticks and Jewish art.
If someone were to walk
into your home, would they know you were Jewish?
· Be thankful every day and, even try to say a
blessing when you can
· When you are at the grocery store and you have a
choice to do so, buy something kosher.
· Subscribe to a Jewish magazine or e-zine or
daily e-mail (like the Forward, or the URJ’s 10 minutes of Torah, or Zeek, or
Sh’ma - a Journal of Jewish Ideas)
Shabbat
Out of all of the
traditions that you can incorporate into your life, the top one, the easiest
one, quite possible the best one has got to be—Shabbat.
Somewhere along the
timeline of modern American Jewish history, Shabbat fell out of fashion.
For that matter, rest has
seemed to fall out of fashion.
Within the last couple
hundred years we started thinking of Shabbat as a burden, a task, a set of laws
to follow. We let all of the technicalities associated with traditional
observance cloud our vision of all that Shabbat has been and could still be.
In its most basic understanding, Shabbat is merely a day of rest and joy;
our tradition has always understood that not only do we need to rest by
sleeping every night, we need waking rest as well.
Throughout the week we are
workaholics; we take orders from everyone around us; we are
obsessed with being the perfect success but more often than not, we see only
how we have failed.
Throughout the week we do
and create and invent and push and drive....
But on Shabbat, we reflect.
We rejoice in the fact that
not everything is in our power and this
gives us permission to let go. We
don’t have to try to be perfect. We can
rest with things as they are; we can
accept ourselves as we are.
On Shabbat we focus on being instead of doing.
Shabbat is one of the
greatest gifts that Judaism has brought to the human race—a time of family, a time of rest, a time of being, a
time of joy.
Yet it is a gift that we,
the Jewish community, tend to put in the closet and forget about.
I think we need to recover
and reclaim Shabbat as our rightful inheritance - not because Shabbat needs us,
but because we need Shabbat.
We live in a world of
constant busy-ness, constant motion, constant visual and audio
stimulation. Sound bytes and emails and
text messages blur past us, making it seem like life is speeding past us faster
and faster.
We need to stop. We need time to slow down, once a week,
every week. We need to look into the
eyes of those we love and listen to them tell about their day, their week,
their life.
It is time to bring Shabbat
into our homes because Shabbat helps us maintain our sanity as well as our
humanity.
It is time to make Shabbat
for ourselves as well as for our families because Shabbat brings us closer to
those in our homes as well as to Jews all over the world.
As the great Israeli author
Ahad HaAm once said, “More than the people have kept the Shabbat, the Shabbat
has kept the people.”
And, again, making Shabbat
on a weekly basis does not mean having to overhaul your life and everything
that you do. It can mean:
· Not picking up the mail on Saturday
· Lighting candles on Friday night.
· Making time for family and friends
· Having dessert
· Taking a nap
· Learning something new
· Trying something new
· Having a glass of wine
· Taking a walk
· Counting your blessings
Let Shabbat transform you
and your experience of the world around you.
Make space to be rather
than to do. Make Shabbat.
Ultimately, it all comes down to the rabbi and the soap maker.
We have to use Judaism and apply it to our lives in order
for it to “work”.
Don’t let the High Holy Days be the beginning and end of your
Jewish experience.
Try being and doing Jewish all year long.
As you leave the synagogue at the end of Yom Kippur, know that you
take your Judaism with you.
Try to see the world through Jewish eyes; understand this world according
to Jewish values; and care for yourself and those around you with a Jewish
heart.
Embrace Judaism in your everyday life and your everyday life will
be transformed into something truly sacred.
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