This is a reworking of a Rosh Hashanah sermon I wrote a few years ago. I hope you find it meaningful.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">May you have a Shanah Tovah u'metukah-a good and sweet year!</p><p class="MsoNormal">Shalom/Salaam,</p><p class="MsoNormal">Rabbi Steve Nathan<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">As this first day of the New Year begins and you sit in synagogue you may well ask yourself, "why on earth are we here?"<span style=""> </span>You may think I’m joking, or perhaps just trying to wake you up from your slumber.<span style=""> </span>Well, in part perhaps I am.<span style=""> </span>But seriously I am asking you the question: “Why on earth are we here?”<span style=""> </span>Are we here because it’s what we’ve always done? Are we here because it’s expected of us?<span style=""> </span>Are we here because our parents, our spouse or children forced us to be?<span style=""> </span>Are we here so we can be seen?<span style=""> </span>Are we here so we can see?<span style=""> </span>Or are we here because we feel like our life and soul are on the line and we need to pray with everything we’ve got?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I would guess that most of us are here for a number of these reasons – if not all of them.<span style=""> </span>But my hunch is that most of us – myself included – would not say that we are here each year because of the existential crisis we are facing in our lives and because we feel like we need to make peace with God and do Teshuvah because our souls are on the line.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And yet, on some deep level I believe that we all think exactly this.<span style=""> </span>We may not realize it.<span style=""> </span>We may never realize it, but there is a reason beyond the social and communal aspects of today that draws us here each year.<span style=""> </span>There is something that calls us to community and to prayer.<span style=""> </span>The call of the shofar echoes within our collective unconscious nevertheless.<span style=""> </span>But what are we called to do?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Simple.<span style=""> </span>We have ten whole days to acknowledge all the wrongs that we have done during this past year.<span style=""> </span>Ten days to seek forgiveness from others.<span style=""> </span>Ten days to pray to God for atonement.<span style=""> </span>Ten days to hopefully find it within us to forgive ourselves – which is usually the hardest part.<span style=""> </span>Ten days.<span style=""> </span>A piece of cake!<span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It took us each an entire year to build up and write out the rap sheet of our crimes and misdemeanors.<span style=""> </span>Now in ten days we are meant to get rid of that rap sheet – no matter how long it might be – and start with a clean slate?<span style=""> </span>Of course, we could always throw it in the shredder and act like it doesn’t exist.<span style=""> </span>But we all know that if we do that we will be like Mickey Mouse chopping up the bewitched broom into a hundred pieces in Fantasia, each piece coming to life and creating a new broom.<span style=""> </span>A new entity all its own.<span style=""> </span>An entity with its own power and direction – yet also following in the same direction as its parent and siblings.<span style=""> And so we heap</span> regret upon regret, sorrow up sorrow, guilt upon guilt, until we are so overwhelmed that we either drown or simply ignore what’s going on within and around us completely.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">No, we can’t throw our list of transgressions into the shredder.<span style=""> </span>We must erase them all – or at least try to.<span style=""> </span>Yet it seems as if they are written with indelible ink.<span style=""> </span>But nothing is truly indelible.<span style=""> </span>There is always something you can find to erase the mark, remove the stain and make it appear almost as if it had never been there.<span style=""> </span>This we are expected to do in a mere ten days.<span style=""> </span>No easy feat!<span style=""> </span>And perhaps it is the daunting nature of this task that keeps us from truly engaging in it the way the tradition asks us to.<span style=""> </span>It’s not that we have missed the mark so many times this past year (although each of us probably has), but it’s the fact that we’re supposed to deal with all of this in a mere ten days in spite of the fact that most weeks we don’t get half the things done that we had planned because of a perceived lack of time.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Though we hear the shofar’s call to Teshuvah.<span style=""> </span>Though we know deep within our soul that it’s not merely what we’re supposed to do – but what we need to do – we give it perfunctory lip service and instead focus on reconnecting with family, friends and community to celebrate a new year.<span style=""> </span>Though this is important work in it’s own right, it is not a reason to spend a total of 2 or 3 days praying in shul!<span style=""> </span>So this begs the question:<span style=""> </span>“how do we make the process of Teshuvah more meaningful for us in such a short amount of time?”<span style=""> </span>I believe that the answer to this question first requires us to acknowledge that this task is impossible.<span style=""> </span>We can’t do it all in 10 days.<span style=""> </span>Teshuvah needs to be a yearlong process.<span style=""> </span>We need to look at ourselves every day if possible and see what we need to change or ask forgiveness for.<span style=""> </span>But beyond that it would also help if we were to view the 10 Days of Teshuvah – the most intense time for this process – within the larger scheme.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In his moving book “This is Real and You are Completely Unprepared” Rabbi Alan Lew, may his memory be a blessing, does just that.<span style=""> </span>In short he tells the reader we must each begin to look at this process not today, but exactly seven weeks ago on Tisha B’Av.<span style=""> </span>Now, if you didn’t go to Jewish summer camp, or have a more in-depth exposure to Jewish tradition you may very well not even know what Tisha B’Av is.<span style=""> </span>Tisha B’av is the 9<sup>th</sup> day of the month of Av.<span style=""> </span>It the day on which, tradition teaches, the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians and the 2<sup>nd</sup> Temple was destroyed by the Romans.<span style=""> </span>This second destruction in the year 70 CE left the Jewish people without a homeland until the founding of Israel in 1948.<span style=""> </span>But why start on Tisha B’Av, the only complete fast day on the calendar other than Yom Kippur – and one of the most neglected holy days on our calendar?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In order to answer this question we have to look at what Tisha B’Av represents.<span style=""> </span>It was not just about the destruction of a building or a city, but it was about the utter decimation of our homeland and our home.<span style=""> </span>One of the traditional names for the Temple in Jerusalem was simply “bayit” or “bayit ha’gadol” – “house” or the “great house.”<span style=""> </span>The Temple was our people’s spiritual home.<span style=""> </span>It was the center of our ancestor’s existence.<span style=""> </span>When the walls of the Temple crumbled around them it was truly as if their home had been destroyed before their very eyes.<span style=""> </span>The people were left alone, without a sense of belonging or grounding, without a sense of safety.<span style=""> </span>The world was suddenly a frightening and dangerous place in which to live.<span style=""> </span>This, says Alan Lew, is where the spiritual journey of Teshuvah begins.<span style=""> </span>We must begin by allowing the walls of our own spiritual houses to be torn down – and we must be a witness to it – if not a collaborator!<span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style=""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""></span>The rabbis of the Talmud taught that the 2<sup>nd</sup> Temple was destroyed by the Romans because there was so much infighting among the Jewish people that they could not work together in order to defend themselves.<span style=""> </span>This may have been true, says Lew, but the reality is also that the Roman army was so powerful that no one would have been able to stop them.<span style=""> </span>The Jewish sin of sinat hinam – senseless hatred may have hastened the destruction, but the destruction was still inevitable.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And so for us the warring factions within our psyche and our spirit may hasten the destruction of our spiritual home (or in some cases delay it) but it is inevitable if we are to begin the work of Teshuvah.<span style=""> </span>We must feel the sense of loss, the sense of being ungrounded, the sense that we are utterly alone and indefensible in order to then begin rebuilding our lives.<span style=""> </span>And so we have seven weeks of feeling homeless and ungrounded to begin the work of Teshuvah.<span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of course, the reality is that we can also find ourselves frozen with fear once we realize that there is nothing protecting us any more.<span style=""> </span>We can simply focus on the loss and never move ahead into the future.<span style=""> </span>That is the danger of remembering.<span style=""> </span>Zachor – remember - is a central commandment of Judaism.<span style=""> </span>However, if we remember only for remembering’s sake and never allow ourselves to beyond the world of memory then we are doomed either to a life of stagnation or of unending repetitions.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And so we move ahead over a period of seven weeks.<span style=""> </span>Seven – the number of creation.<span style=""> </span>In seven weeks we must traverse the world of our psyche and our spirit, as well as the world of flesh and blood – friends, families, co-workers, acquaintances – and begin to recreate our world and recreate ourselves.<span style=""> </span>We must remember what we did that contributed to the destruction of our house and begin by forgiving ourselves.<span style=""> </span>We must remember that at any given moment the choices that we make are in fact just that, the choices that we made at that moment.<span style=""> </span>It may be difficult to accept that – most of us are so good at second-guessing and criticizing our “bad” decisions after the fact.<span style=""> </span>But the reality is that given what was happening in our minds and our hearts – as well as around us – at that given moment we made the only choice that we could at that particular moment.<span style=""> </span>We must accept this while also accepting the consequences of our choices and then forgive ourselves for being human.<span style=""> </span>Only once we have allowed ourselves to do this can we then do the important work of seeking forgiveness from others.<span style=""> </span>And once we have forgiven ourselves and sought forgiveness from those whom we have harmed then we can say that God, the power that makes forgiveness possible, has forgiven us.<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">This is true even if the other person does not forgiven us. For our obligation and our duty is to seek forgiveness sincerely.<span style=""> </span>If the other person chooses not to forgive us then the mark that was on our slate of transgressions is wiped clean and, according to tradition, it now moves over to his/her slate as something that s/he needs to focus on when doing Teshuvah.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Now this may all seem a bit overwhelming, but I do believe that there is wisdom that exists that can help us in this process and I would like to share it with you.<span style=""> </span>Since I first started thinking about this sermon the closing line of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Avinu Malkeinu</span> prayer kept playing in my mind.<span style=""> </span>I knew that it needed to be in some ways the lynchpin of the sermon, but I was not sure how.<span style=""> </span>This prayer, with its haunting melodic refrain, is one of the hallmarks of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy.<span style=""> </span>And yet we do not chant it today because we are taught that prayers that are direct petitions to God for help are not to be recited on Shabbat, a day that is to be dedicated to simply appreciating God and God’s world.<span style=""> </span>But even though we will not be singing it today, its sentiment is an essential part of the process of Teshuvah.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After chanting a litany of requests for God’s assistance and forgiveness we end with the verse “<span style="font-style: italic;">Avinu Malkeinu, honeinu v’aneinu, ki ein banu ma’asim. Aseh imanu tzedakah v’hesed v’hoshiyanu.”</span><span style=""> </span>This is translated in our Mahzor as “Our Creator, Our Sovereign (traditionally rendered as “our father, our king”) be gracious with us and respond to us, for we have no deeds to justify us; deal with us in righteousness and love, and save us now.” Of course, all translation is commentary, but this modern, egalitarian, politically correct translation is similar to most of the traditional translations.<span style=""> </span>The Silverman Mahzor with which many of us from Conservative backgrounds grew up translates this as “Our Father, Our King, be Thou gracious unto us and answer us; for lo! We are unworthy; deal Thou with us in charity and loving-kindness and save us.”<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">It is this particluar translation that has troubled me almost from the moment when I first really read it and understood what I believed it was saying.<span style=""> </span>My interpretation of it was, in short, “God, please be good to us and answer our prayers even though we are worthless and undeserving.<span style=""> </span>But please treat us with charity and kindness regardless of that fact.”<span style=""> </span>This was not a sentiment that I wanted to associate with my Judaism.<span style=""> </span>I didn’t want to believe the fact that Judaism views human beings as basically worthless.<span style=""> </span>First of all, that contradicts the teaching that we are each created in God’s image.<span style=""> </span>Secondly, if we are basically worthless then why bother doing Teshuvah since inevitably we’re just going to mess up again?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">While struggling to find a new translation that could help me understand and accept the underlying meaning of this prayer I came across Alan Lew’s discussion of this verse in his book.<span style=""> </span>Basically, what Lew (who was a long time practitioner of Zen Buddhism as well as being a rabbi) said is that the verse simply means that no matter what deeds we have done, no matter how much preparation we have done for Teshuvah, when the moment arrives to face God, ourselves and those whom we have harmed we are utterly unprepared.<span style=""> </span>It is as if we are totally empty.<span style=""> </span>We have nothing in us.<span style=""> </span>As the title of his book says “this is real, and you are completely unprepared.”<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The act of Teshuvah is about as real as it gets, and no pre-planning can help in the end.<span style=""> </span>It all goes out the window.<span style=""> </span>The only thing that matters at that moment is – that moment, itself and what we do with it.<span style=""> </span>Our house has been destroyed.<span style=""> </span>The constructs and facades on which we all build and rebuild our lives each and every day are gone.<span style=""> </span>The ground beneath us has either disappeared or is constantly shifting.<span style=""> </span>We only have ourselves and this moment and now we must do what we must do.<span style=""> </span>Again, this can be terrifying as it creates a sense of emptiness and aloneness within us.<span style=""> </span>But remember, the prayer is stated in the plural and must be chanted in community.<span style=""> </span>So even though it is frightening and even though Teshuvah is ultimately an individual act, the fact that we are doing it in a communal context can give us strength to face ourselves and the moment.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So now that we’ve acknowledge our sense of emptiness and groundlessness how do we go about doing the difficult work of Teshuvah?<span style=""> </span>I would like to offer four pieces of advice that I hope will be helpful.<span style=""> </span>I will call these the four essential truths of Teshuvah:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->1 – Life is difficult.<span style=""> </span>Stop trying to deny this. Life can never be totally satisfying because everything is temporary and impermanent.<span style=""> </span>Even our great ancestral home, the Temple, could not last forever. Nothing in life is eternal (a mixed blessing). If we try to act like things are permanent then we are only going to make it more difficult for us to do Teshuvah – and to live.<span style=""> </span>The guilt and pain we feel will pass, as all thing do – whether good or bad.<span style=""> </span>Being mindful of this and acting from this place of understanding will enable us to seek forgiveness from ourselves, others and God</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.25in;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->2 – Pain is an inevitable part of life because of the reality of life's impermanence. Don’t be afraid that confronting our mistakes will cause others or ourselves pain.<span style=""> </span>Pain is not something that we can ever avoid as human being. However, we can add to the pain and create suffering because of our inability to let go of habits, beliefs, patterns, thoughts, and feelings that keep us stuck in the past. Suffering is what keeps us frozen in the past or obsessed with the future and prevents us from truly being in the present and doing Teshuvah.<span style=""> </span>If we never let go of the feelings that we felt as we watched our walls tumbling down around us we will never be able to move on our to even think of rebuilding a new home for ourselves.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->3 - Inner peace and contentment is an achievable goal – regardless of what our internal voices and stories might tell us.<span style=""> </span>But inner peace is not ultimately dependent upon external forces or circumstances.<span style=""> </span>Just as we cause our own suffering through our habits and actions we are also the source of our own “cure”.<span style=""> </span>By using the power that is within each of our souls – that which we call God - to bring about our personal sense of forgiveness and redemption we can achieve peace – at least in this moment.<span style=""> </span>Everlasting peace may be a fairy tale, but peace and contentment right now is within our selves.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->4 - Finally, we must set down a path of action that will bring us back home to God, our souls and ourselves.<span style=""> </span>This path is multi-faceted, but is the essence of Teshuvah.<span style=""> </span>Returning to the One.<span style=""> </span>Returning to the community. Returning to ourselves.<span style=""> </span>The ability to do this is within us. Each of us may find a different way to walk the path, but walk it we must.<span style=""> </span>We must walk it alone, but knowing that others are walking beside us, in front of us and behind us, with the Divine Presence embracing and comforting us as well.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Now some of you may be saying to yourselves “hmm, these seem similar to the four noble truths of the Buddha.”<span style=""> </span>And you are right.<span style=""> </span>For this is my Jewish understanding of the wisdom that Buddhism has to offer regarding how we live our lives.<span style=""> </span>For I believe these truths not to always be so self-evident, but I do believe that they are universally applicable (with slight variations from traditions to tradition).<span style=""> </span>You will find many similar concepts within Judaism – especially within Kabbalah and Hasidism.<span style=""> </span>But assuming we accept these four truths, or some variation of them, how do find this strength to walk the path.<span style=""> </span>How do we connect with the Divine within us and use it to help us find forgiveness and peace?<span style=""> </span>The key is to be found in the second part of the final verse of Avinu Malkeinu.<span style=""> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Aseh imanu tzedakah v’hesed v’hoshiyeinu</span>.<span style=""> </span>I translate this verse (and I believe that the Hebrew supports this) as “Create with us <span style="font-style: italic;">tzedakah v’hesed</span> – righteousness and abundant kindness – and bring us salvation.”<span style=""> </span>What we are imploring, actually commanding, God to do in this verse is to work with us to create righteousness and justice, balanced by kindness and compassion, so that we can have the strength to walk the path towards salvation.<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, believed that salvation referred to those things for which people ultimately search: holiness, meaning, peace and the betterment of our world.<span style=""> </span>In order to achieve individual, communal and worldly salvation we being with the Divine-human relationship.<span style=""> </span>We begin by creating together with God tzedakah and hesed, righteousness and justice, with which to rule ourselves and the world.<span style=""> </span>We work to create kindness and compassion with which to comfort ourselves and our world.<span style=""> </span>If we can create these and constantly strive to keep them in balance then we can follow the multi-faceted path of Teshuvah.<span style=""> </span>We can then begin the work of rebuilding our personal and communal houses, while accepting the fact that – just as with the Sukkah that we will build in a little over a week – the houses are not permanent.<span style=""> </span>They will eventually come down one way or another, and so we will begin the task again, head down the path again, and seek our Source again – day after day, week after week, month after month, new year after new year.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And so, let me conclude with my final reconstruction of the last verse of Avinu Malkeinu as a blessing for all of us as we walk this path alone together:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Our Beloved Parent – comforting us, guiding us, teaching us</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Our Revered Sovereign – instructing us, directing us, supporting us </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Be gentle and gracious to us, help us to find the answer within us, even though we realize that at this very moment we are empty.<span style=""> </span>There is nothing in us.<span style=""> </span>We are each a blank slate ready to be written up by our own hand – guided by you.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Create for us and instill within us the divine qualities of <span style="font-style: italic;">tzedakah</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">hesed</span> –</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Righteousness and overflowing love.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">May we act rightly towards ourselves; may we be loving and compassionate towards ourselves so that we may find forgiveness within us for ourselves.<span style=""> </span>May we use those divine qualities of <span style="font-style: italic;">tzedakah</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">hesed</span> to turn outward and seek forgiveness from others and to grant forgiveness to others so that we can work together to create a world filled with peace, joy, overflowing love and compassion.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is our prayer.<span style=""> </span>Amen</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <!--EndFragment-->
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Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to <a href="http://mindfultorah.blogspot.com/2009/09/four-noble-truths-of-rosh-hashanah.html">Mindful Torah</a> at 9/17/2009 11:55:00 PM