September 2, 2010
Wow, what a week we have experienced in Northeast Ohio. 90 degree days are not normal here and we are heading into our fourth one in a row. The humidity has stayed fairly low. As far as I am concerned it has been a week full of the blessings of wonderful summer days and nights. Enjoy them and give thanks for every moment of pleasure you have in your life.
Selichot at Beth Shalom: Join us for an ice cream social at 7:30PM Saturday night and then stay for our Selichot-Penitential Prayer Service to begin our holiday worship.
Rosh Hashanah: Wednesday night, I pray we are squeezed next to each other in our Sanctuary to usher in the New Year 5771. Services begin at 8:00PM.
Washington Middle East Peace Talks: Hopes are not high as the peace process resumes. Hopes may not be great, but miracles do happen. How wonderful it would be for all the inhabitants of the Middle East if real progress toward peace occurs this time. Extremists in all camps will do their best to limit success. Moderates in all camps are getting tired and fear for their security. Hatred and warfare have stolen any trust that previous agreements hoped to foster. Enemies can only find trust by working together to halt the hatred. I pray for trust to grow and peace to blossom for Israel and its neighbors.
Rosh Hashanah Message: Instead of Torah Time I am including the message I wrote for the Hudson Hub and its sister papers.
Almost every Jewish person I talk with mentions that the High Holidays seem so early this year. Tradition teaches that Jews are supposed to start thinking about repentance during the last month of the previous Jewish Calendar Year. So Rosh Hashanah, that begins the night of September 8th, seems to provide less preparation time.
Now you may be asking yourself why does the holiday come so early and why is preparation time necessary? After all New Year’s is all about celebrating, right?
The fact of the matter is that the holidays are right on time based on the Jewish lunar calendar that is intercalated to be able to run parallel to the secular solar calendar. The lunar year normally has 354 days. To keep it even with the solar calendar there are seven leap years in every cycle of nineteen years. Ah, but leap years only add one day to the calendar. Not so for the Hebrew Calendar. To keep the seasons all evened out with the solar year leap years add an additional month of either twenty-nine or thirty days. Next year Rosh Hashanah will begin twenty days later in September. So let me repeat the Jewish year begins right on time.
Still even on time it seems early to us. Cantors and Rabbis have less time to prepare their worship service and the sermons that are included. More to the point Jewish people have less time to engage in the act of ‘teshuvah’, repentance. The High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are nothing like the celebration of January First. The family dinners and gatherings are the only resemblance to that day.
Theologically, the Ten Days of Awe press Jews to reflect on their lives as we spiritually await God’s Judgment for the coming year. To prepare for that time, it is incumbent upon us to reflect on our lives, to repent for our wrongdoings, and to return to living everyday being the best people we can be.
Reflecting on our lives leads us to delve into our souls. The search for meaning and mission seems almost innate in human beings, but the Jewish High Holidays stress the value of such introspection. The holidays may give an amazing hint as to why the field of psychotherapy was developed by Jewish scientists. Analysis, fostered by the High Holiday mentality, is part and parcel of Jewish life.
Repenting for our wrong doings comes next. God is an all-forgiving parent. We can pray to God for forgiveness at anytime, but we do so more during this holiday season. Forgiveness from other human beings is something tradition teaches us we must seek out from the wronged party. In Jewish tradition God does not forgive our wrongdoings to others. The task of asking others forgiveness is not pleasant or easy, yet it is part of the holiday tradition. And then often the most difficult atonement is that which we do toward ourselves. You see, Jews also have to forgive themselves for not achieving and being all we hope to be.
Now we must return. The first return is to doing more to follow the righteous path that the Holy One gave us in the Five Books of Moses. That guide directs Jews to be the most decent human beings possible. Returning to the path often means putting others first. The goal is a better world for all.
Yes, the holidays are early but right on time this year. From Labor Day weekend until September 18th tell your Jewish friends: "Shanah Tovah," a good year. May all of you be blessed with a sweet, happy, healthy and peace-filled 5771.
Shabbat Shalom and an early Shanah Tovah.
Rab E
sezring@gmail.com
