Yom Kippur lesson

A story I heard from my wife, who heard it from her teacher and possibly right back all the way…

Imagine a man walks into a store, a small market owned and run by an elderly, hard working, proud proprietor. The man lays down a whopping order: five crates of flour, a case of drinks, boxes of canned vegetables, these and thats and more of those – a list miles long. The proprietor sweats, strains, stretches, climbs, shlepps, and brings everything to the front, packs it, carts it and rings it all up. With his hands shaking from exhaustion and dripping with beads of labor, he presents the final bill. The man reached for his wallet only to find it’s gone. He shrugs and whispers, “Sorry.”

“CHUTZPA!!!!!” yells our hero and sends him out with a good boot to the tuchus.

Now, imagine the scenario again, but God runs the store. You walk in and ask for the world: five crates of forgiveness, a case of livelihood, boxes of health and happiness, blessing, compassion, these and thats and more of those – a list miles long. The Almighty strains, stretches, climbs and shlepps and lays everything on your doorstep, packs it, carts it and rings it all up. When you reach for your wallet of merit, you realize it’s gone. You shrug and whisper, “Sorry,” and turn to shuffle away.

“CHUTZPA!!!!!” He yells. “You think I want your money? Take it for free – it’s all yours!”

You see the difference? That’s Yom Kippur. That’s how He (the One with the capital H) relates to us and how we’re supposed to feel.

Yom Kippur’s not necessarily the day for detailed numeration of one iniquities – every day is equally fitting for that. Rather Yom Kippur, the day itself, wipes the slate clean. All one needs is a heartfelt, sincere, deep, rumbling of regret, recognition of wrong and cataclysmic yearning for the spiritual Truth. With that, a divine dust storm of purest white races through our existence and blankets our innermost being with the shrouds of holiness and purity. Yom Kippur is such a gift. Use it well.

May we be well sealed,

Rabbi Lynn

Rosh Hashana, 5768

Rosh Hashana – innocently mistranslated as “the new year”, more accurately rendered as “the head of the year”, but most deeply understood as “the head makes the difference”.

The word shana שנה shares the same root as לשנות meaning to change. Yes, it marks the new year, and more Jewishly sets the tone for the entire coming year as the head leads the body, but most superbly teaches that our calibration of thought – the power of the mind – most defiantly impacts the system, affecting the greatest change. As the root of a tree supplies the nutrients and all life-giving elements to its branches, leaves and fruit, so too the שכל sechel (Hebrew for mind) touches every output of the human condition. Like trickle-down ethics. The word for thought is הרהור hirhur, the word for pregnant is הרה harah, and the word for mountain is הר har. All thoughts are actions in gestation, on the precipice of making their mountainous debut – a salient visage on the landscape of one’s life.

“I think, therefore I am” is not necessarily the Jewish approach to one’s existence. But “I think, and what I think is what I am”, now that’s more like it. Case in point, one who thinks of one other than one’s spouse at that moment when one most shouldn’t, is reckoned as positively adulterous. Our mind is what separates us from the rest of creation. It is the very place where Divine image is anchored.

The Talmud records the debate as to when the world was created, in Tishrei (the first of which is our Rosh Hashana) or in Nissan (the fifteenth of which is Passover). Nissan is counted as the first month in the Torah, but our tradition renders Tishrei as the first of creation. The great family of Tosefos reconcile the two opinions as complimentary – their tradition had always taught (well before the Talmud) that one reflected the physical creation while the other marked God’s thoughts of creation (anthropomorphisms allowed in this business) – His plan. In the end is the deed, but in thought it exists first. We celebrate the thought as the beginning. We recognize the essential and revel in our spiritual likeness. We plan our year, rather – as God did – create ourselves in thought, and to the extent with which we find conviction, inspiration, humility and devotion, we may stand the chance to see the fruits of such purity of mind and clarity of purpose in the coming year.

To drive the point home, we’ll mention numerous times how Rosh Hashana is the beginning of the creation of man. Those biblical mathematicians have already worked out, then, that creation itself started six days earlier. Correct, but the purpose of creation, its goal and manifestation, is in you. The whole world serves as your canvas and tool belt. In you lies the spark of the Divine, the Infinite. You are where it all begins.

On Rosh Hashana, we create ourselves anew. Using our faculties of hope, ambition, desire, emotion, critique and intellect, we can override the system and change ourselves with atomic proportion. Think. Think hard. Think powerfully. Think humbly. Think Jewishly. Be the head and not the tail, and you’ll wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.

כתיבה וחתימה טובה ksiva v’chasima tova – may you be written and sealed for good.

Rabbi Lynn

Prepare to meet your maker...

This Shabbos, Jews around the world will be reading the Torah portion called Netzavim, named for the first verse which reads, “You are all standing (netzavim) today before the Almighty, your God: your leaders, your tribal heads, your elders, your judges – every person of Israel.” Moses, on his last day, had gathered the nation to deliver his final message, to review the covenant which God had offered and we accepted.

In Kabbalistic writings, the word today, hayom, in the Torah always refers to THE day, Rosh HaShanah. In fact, this portion of the Torah always coincides with the Shabbos before Rosh HaShanah and, in a sense, is alluding to our impending approach to the coming days of judgment where we, as a nation in utter unity, will present ourselves to our Creator for ultimate accounting. There’s an apparent contradiction of sorts, however, in our sentiment towards this holy day of reckoning. Rosh HaShanah is, after all, the day of judgement, followed 10 days later by the day of atonement, and yet the tone of the day is jubilant – there’s no mention of confession, guilt, sin, there’s no heaviness to the service, the liturgy is full of the Almighty and Israel’s praise, the meals are festive and lavish – have we forgotten this is the day of reckoning? Which books are opened? That here we confront our own accountability and the unspeakable finitude of life itself? Doesn’t sound like a party, does it?

True, the prospects are menacing, but these are merely subconscious themes of the day which are more specifically addressed in the preparation before Rosh HaShanah, and the 10 days following until Yom Kippur. Yet the day itself, one where the entire nation presents itself for judgment, bespeaks a far greater message. One where all joy surpasses fear. We stand as one with the Almighty in fulfilling His will and bringing the world to its completion. This is the mission we accepted, and, more importantly, for which we were accepted. Yes, we have fallen short, and yes, there is much to repair. But the covenant itself, the mission and intimate partnership with God, is tremendous cause for celebration. It is precisely at the time of reckoning, when we realize the extent of our responsibility, with Whom we partner, the mission in all its grandeur, and the privilege of participation, no matter how difficult.

It is said that the biggest blow to all our spiritual enemies - those which tempt our resolve and subpoena our every move in the Heavenly tribunal – is the very fact that we walk into the courtroom on our own volition, in perfect acceptance and appreciation of what judgment really means. They’ve been trying to put us one trial, but we beat them to it and volunteered ourselves. The Jewish People rises well above its simple, fallible, and ultimately forgivable humanity. Rosh Hashana is the joy of getting into the night club of all night clubs, and even though what lies beyond the great velvet ropes upstairs may be daunting, critical, punishing and painful, the entry is so so sweet. Praiseworthy are we who stand in judgment, for the privilege of being chosen for the job.