Rosh
Hashana 5777 day
Private
Act Publically Done
Rabbi
Larry Freedman
Temple
Beth Jacob of Newburgh
There’s a lot of
preparation for Rosh Hashana that we, the staff and Board and volunteers and I
do for you. And every year, as part of my preparations I remember what you do
for me.
When I am
preparing, I know I am preparing for a big crowd and I’m very mindful of
that. I want to respect how everyone
comes out for Rosh Hashana. I’m always astonished that while we have so many
fun, uplifting things going on in the synagogue week in and week out that you
miss, you’re always here for this week; you come out for the most serious week. It always humbles me. Because so many of you are here, I am always
on the lookout to understand why and what motivates you. I know that guilt motivates some people. I think that is a terrible motivator but for
some people it works. But beyond guilt,
what else is going on?
Let’s see if we
can talk about what is happening here so that we can all understand better why we
all attend and maybe we can encourage those folks who don’t to come back. I’m going to offer a few ideas I’ve been
learning.
First off, I’m
thrilled and amazed that you’re here because this, gathering here, is a huge
act of faith. We arrive dressed up
anticipating -what exactly?-
something. Maybe spiritual
uplift, nostalgic warmth, theological challenge, personal growth, personal ethical
challenge or something else. There are
many reasons. What an act of faith that
is. You come looking for something and
you have no guarantee it will happen.
Yes, you’ve done this before but past performance can never be a guarantee
of future returns so there is an act of faith here. I’ve been reading a series of Talmudic lectures
by Emmanuel Levinas.[1] In one of them he speaks about prayer and
Jewish life as similar to the artistic impulse.
Just as an artist doesn’t really know what the end product will be, he
proceeds anyway. Indeed, the artistic
impulse, this desire to create something is simply that: a desire. It is inchoate, unformed until the first
sketches are made and then the work begins not on the finished product but what
will become the final form for no
artistic act ever comes out fully formed at the very first moment. The final form is the artist’s play between
the intangible idea and the concrete world.
So it is with us.
We come here
looking for something, something different to each one of us, yes, but
something. We want something and we are
brave enough to come here and create it.
It starts out as a vague idea and will become something by the end. Just what, we don’t quite know but we are
here to create it all the same.
As I mentioned
last night, the new machzor is designed to allow you to have that creative
space. Different readings, different
styles, different theologies all in one book in the effort to allow you to find
the words that speak to you and your unique spirituality.
Here’s another
reason I suspect you’re here and a good example of the way our machzor works. Turn to page three, if you will. You’ll see that page three is in blue. That is a sign that it is for personal
reading, personal study. As you’ve seen this
morning there are times when you may prefer to linger on a page or skip
ahead. You may even find it more
uplifting and rewarding to ignore the rabbi’s sermon and find passages that
speak to you more. I’m okay with that.
On page three
you’ll see a text from the Roman era with commentary from around the 6th
century followed by medieval commentary followed by words from the 20th
century. This is a conscious attempt to
bring in a wide range of voices. And
what does this text say? It begins with
the quote from Mishna, “On Rosh Hashana all the inhabitants of the world pass
before God like b’nai maron.” I think we
all understand that Rosh Hashana is the beginning of the ten days of repentance
and that we appear before God but what are b’nai maron? The Talmud helpfully tells us that in
Babylonia it was pronounced “amarna” not “maron” and that someone said it was
like the ascent of Beit Maron and somebody else said, no it means like soldiers
in King David’s army.
Okay,
perfect. Makes more sense. Not really.
So we go to Rashi, a famous commentator from France who is actually helpful. Amarna has something to do with sheep passing
through a small gap to be counted one by one.
The ascent of Beit Maron was very narrow and so walkers went one by one. And David’s army? Here Maron means something to do with
lordship and David’s soldiers passed one at a time to be counted. Three metaphors. You are sheep being cared for and counted
lovingly, every last one. You are hikers
making your way on an arduous narrow path one by one, but determined. You are soldiers, ready for battle, filled
with responsibility and each single soldier important and accounted for.
Our final
commentator points out that you can choose your metaphor but the bottom line is
this: each one of us is important, each one of us is accountable. As we pass through these days, there is no
hiding. We, each one of us, is seen and
counted and judged and we alone are responsible for our actions.
Why are you
here? Because you are brave enough to be
counted. Because you who might tremble
at your own honesty say, I have done good and I have done wrong and I am
prepared to acknowledge that. You will
not hide. You are willing to make that
lonely journey on that arduous path. You
are ready to be acknowledged and prepared to fight the wrongs you have
done. You are ready to know that in the
end, after 10 days, you will be cared for like an innocent little lamb. That is why you are here. Because you are strong and you are honorable
and you will admit fault with a brave face and not be the coward who runs from
this battle.
But wait, there’s
more. It turns out that you are not
alone. You are with us. We are all here together. In Torah study, we’ve been reading about King
David and King Solomon. One of our texts
for study is Me’am Loez, an 18th c. commentary coming out of
Turkey. There is a comment appearing as
Solomon dedicates the Temple in Jerusalem.[2] In his dedication he asks God to listen to
the prayers of the community. That’s
fine but the question is raised: what about the prayers of the individual? Well, according to Me’am Loez, there is a
hierarchy. Prayers for the entire
community have more merit before God than prayers for the individual. In part, I suspect, because they are not selfish
prayers but also, Meam Loez tells us, that when you pray for the whole
community, you are including some very good, top notch people there. You include many righteous people and the
prayers that include the righteous are difficult for God to ignore. And even if you did not have righteous people
among you, surely you have some very good people among you and those people
with their ordinary good deeds become a very powerful petition before God. God cannot ignore so many good deeds among
the community and therefore cannot ignore the prayers that arise from the
people who have done those good deeds.
So, Meam Loez teaches, if you want to pray for health, pray for your
health and the health of the
community. If you want to pray for
strength, pray for your strength and
the strength of the community. Together,
we are more powerful and God cannot resist our prayers. Mind you we don’t always get them answered as
we want but that’s another sermon. For
now we understand that God will listen to our prayers because God cannot ignore
the community. Just dwell on that
teaching for a moment. We, all of us
together, determine God’s actions. We
insist God hear us; a Jewish notion that we are not powerless during these
days. Humble, yes, but not weak.
Why are we
here? Because together we are
powerful. While all of us have made
mistakes, we have also done good deeds and God cannot ignore that. Alone, you’re on your own. Alone you take a chance but together? We’ve got your back. Together we have the strength to stand before
God, confess our sins, beat our chests and yet know that we are not being left
out to dry. Together and only together,
we get a fair hearing from God. As for
ourselves, as individuals, would we have the discipline, the strength of
character to have a ten-day period of introspection? Few of us would. But together, together we agree to these
days. Together we accept our ancient
practice. Together we will make it through
these days and what’s more we’ll celebrate them. Together we sing the songs, read the prayers,
reflect on the readings in our machzor.
Together we can get that done and only together and that’s why you are
here.
A pitch for one
more thing we can do together, alone.
You all have cards promoting the 10 Q project. This is something you sign up for online and
each day you receive an email with a thought-provoking question. As we enter in to these ten days of
reflection, here is a chance to reflect privately, together. You answer the questions privately and after
Yom Kippur they are sealed away. Next
Rosh Hashana you’ll receive your answers back.
This is a wonderful chance to join in a communal effort of tens of
thousands but in your own way.
We come together
to celebrate the new year in our own way together. We have a machzor that has us all enjoying
the same tefillot but in our own way reading what we want to read. Why are you here? Because you are an individual and part of a
community and there is no better place to be than with your own thoughts
amongst your people and your family and your friends. Shana tova.
A very good year to you and to us all.
May we all be blessed to step out of this sanctuary feeling refreshed
and renewed and strong ready to face these next days.
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