Temple Israel of Greenfield

Recently  met with a dear friend who told me that he thought we had an awesome synagogue and nice people, and then he hit me with this:

“Although I am Jewish, I have no idea what the High holidays are, can’t relate at all to the Hebrew, don’t feel connected to God, if there is such a thing,  and feel quite uncomfortable at services.”

I hadn’t heard that message quite so clearly before.

When I mentioned this story to other congregants I was not surprised that a number of you felt quite the same. After all, many of us are infrequent synagogue goers , and many of us did not learn the significance and spiritual importance of this season as children. To many of us the Hebrew is a challenge, the theology is a problem, the services are way too long and the meaning of the services are not at all clear, so today I thought I would give over the High holidays standing on one foot.

Standing on one foot derives from a Talmudic story of a person who came to scorn Judaism at the Yeshiva of Rabbi Shammai. Teach me the Torah, he sneered at the rabbi,  while standing on one foot. The rabbi angrily threw him out of his Yeshiva.

He crossed the street, found the Yeshiva of Rabbi Hillel and posed the same challenge. Rabbi Hillel stood on one foot and told him, “that which is objectionable to you, do not do to another, the rest is all commentary, now go out and learn.” Apparently, the simple and patient answer of Rabbi Hillel penetrated the scoffer who then became a student of Hillel’s and a great rabbi in his own right. So, I will attempt to give over a summation of the High holiday season while standing on one foot.

From the Torah we get scant information about this holiday. We are told, “in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts. This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months for you.” So far so good. We are told when to rest and what to hear.

This time of rest and hearing the loud blasts is our designated time for introspection. This is the time to ask ourselves really honest questions: Have I been kind to my family? To my co-workers, to the needy, to my people in Eretz Israel? Have I moved to make things better or has the armor of indifference subsumed my soul? Have I done my part to make the world a better place?

Min Hametza karatiya, anani vmerkavyah. From a place of contraction, from a place of my own aloneness I call out to God and pray that God will hear my voice. During this Rosh Hashanah season, the narrow space of the shofar calls out into the entire length and breadth of the world through each of our souls. The sound of the shofar is beyond words.

As my teacher Rabbi Gershon Winkler says, “Blowing the shofar is a holy ceremony of blasting away all that stands between us and a lucid encounter with the Shechina, the divine presence that dwells within each of us. It is a sacred sounding that invites us to bring to the surface our deepest yearnings from the most narrow, vulnerable places within us, and to breathe them forth to the wide-open expanses of endless possibility.”

According to The Rambam, the 12^th century philosopher from Spain and Egypt, “the sounding of the shofar on RH is a scriptural decree which implies the following, “arise, arise, you who are fast asleep, and awaken you who slumber. Search your deeds and return in sincerity to your Creator. Those of you who have lost sight of the truth, who are distracted from it by transitory vanities, look well into yourselves and improve your behavior.”

The midrash continues that there are 3 books. One for the wicked, one for the righteous and one for all the rest of us, the avaryonim, the in betweeners.  As you can imagine, the wicked will have a difficult year, the righteous will have a great year and the rest of us can avert the severe decree through saying we are sorry to those we have injured, drawing closer to God, giving tzedakah and further developing our spiritual life.

However, many commentators have issues with this theology. We know too many wicked people who prosper and too many righteous ones who falter. We know that sometimes bad things happen to good people and the other way around. How are we supposed to wrap our heads around this?

Just look at the floods in Pakistan, the devastation in the Gulf of Mexico, the earthquake in Haiti, the one and half million innocent children who were destroyed in the Holocaust and we can see that there is not always a direct relationship between being good and innocent and living without disaster.

I think the meaning of these 10 days of awe, the Yamim Noraim,  is to aim in the right direction and try to become better people. Regardless of what the result is, our job is to improve. Although the tradition seems to teach that good things will happen if we act positively, intuitively we sense that doing good deeds and being kind to each other is the way to go even if we hit hard times.

In Pirkei Avot, the sayings of our ancestors it says,  “Do not be like servants who serve their master expecting to receive a reward; be rather like servants who serve their master unconditionally, with no thought of reward.”

In addition, even if we are having a hard financial year, which I know some of us are, we are still enjoined to give to our favorite causes, because by giving we continue to say yes to life.

You have probably heard the story of the beggar and the rich man who have an encounter before RH. The rich man gives him a much smaller amount than he did the last year explaining that he has had a hard year and that extra money is not plentiful. The beggar responds, “just because you have had a bad year, you don’t have to take it out on me.”

My rebbe of blessed memory,  Shlomo Carlebach, , teaches this about Rosh Hashanah. RH is the time to get all the anger, jealousy, and pettiness out of our hearts.  If I’m petty with other people, G-d forbid, then G-d is petty with me. The reverse is also true. The more I open my heart for other people in kindness, the more I open the Gates of Heaven for the world, the more the gates will be opened for me.  On RH each of us can open gates for one another by making amends with our spouses, our children, friends, even the beggar on the street whom we have treated with disdain, and the entire world.

Reb Shlomo also teaches that RH  is not the time to pound ourselves and feel guilty about all the ways we have missed the mark. Come back on Yom Kippur for that. On Rosh Hashanah God sends new life into this world. God sends the possibility of inner simplicity and purity that makes it easier for people to connect to their souls and to one another – if we are open to receive.

How do we open ourselves to receive this Rosh Hashana. Where do we begin?

I believe that we begin by giving thanks.  On Rosh HaShanah we give thanks for two very special gifts – the gift of life and the gift of our heritage and faith.

Some of you have heard me mention that  we Jews originate  from the tribe of Yehuda. The root of the word Yehuda has hodot within it, which means to give thanks.  We Yehudim, are a tribe of people whose very name means, whose very essence is about, giving  thanks.

Reb Shlomo  Carlebach tells the story of the hunchback he met sweeping the streets of Tel Aviv right before the High holidays.  Discovering that the street sweeper was from  Piacessna he asked him if he had ever met the Holy Piasetzner rabbi.

“Met him, he was my rebbe from the time I was 5 until I was 11.”

Shlomo, was thrilled. He had always wanted to meet someone who had known the Piasetzner.  Can you tell me anything about this great man, anything about his teachings?

I remember very little of those times. Shlomo pressed him. Isn’t there at least one thing you can tell me about the Piasetzner?

The hunchback thought and he said. There is one thing. The Rebbe taught us, Gedenset shon, Die gerst sach in die velt ist tun emetun a tova,  meaning  My Dearest children, there is  always an opportunity to do someone a favor.

The Hunchback went on, “ Do you know how many favors you can do for others in a camp. Changing a bandage, listening to a heartbreaking story, opening your heart to a lonely soul….the only way I got through the camps was to always remember to do somebody a favor.

And here as I sweep the streets of Tel Aviv do you know how many opportunities I have to do someone a favor?

Although my life is hard and sometimes I don’t think I can go on, I remember that teaching from my rebbe, and I am able to press forward.

After Sukkot, Shlomo returned to Tel Aviv and inquired into the whereabouts of the street cleaner. When he was told that he had left the world, Shlomo pledged to tell this story around the world, the mitzvah of remembering to do somebody a favor.

The reward of doing someone a favor is in the process of doing it. We can all think of times we extended ourselves for another and the good feeling that comes as a result of that. Our sages teach us that mitzvah goreret mitzvah, a mitzvah leads to a mitzvah. My we all be blessed to find ways to do favors for each other  and by so doing may  we increase the quality of our lives, and truly “treasure each day.”  Lshana Tovah….