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ROSH HASHANAH FIRST DAY 5769 The story is told of the Rabbi who came to speak to the Cheder class about Rosh Hashanah. Behind his back he held a shofar. “Who can guess what I have behind my back?” he asked the children. “I’ll give you a clue –you only find it in shul on three days of the year” “That’s easy - my father?” replied one of the kids. ~~~ We may well laugh but how true it is. I am not in any way taking issue with those of us who come to shul infrequently. I prefer to see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. I would strongly disagree with those who say ‘I can’t believe that some people only come to shul three times a year’ and rant and rave about coming more frequently. To paraphrase the Chief Rabbi, ‘How wonderful that in today’s day and age, at a time of unprecedented freedom and rampant assimilation that so many of our people choose to spend these days in the synagogue.’ Each of us has a Jewish spark, a pintele yid, and I firmly believe that when you cut through all the psychological and sociological and ‘nature versus nurture’ reasons for coming to shul on these days, you are still left with the fact that many of us come to give a little nourishment to our Jewish spark. The joke is told of the ardent Jewish self-proclaimed atheist who sent his son to a catholic school. The son came home and was explaining excitedly to his parents that ‘today we learned about the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost’. ‘Now you listen to me son’ the father replied sternly. ‘There’s only one G-d and we don’t believe in him’. That Jewish spark is always there, like it or not and it propels us to do things whether we realize it or not. ~~~ I do wish to take issue, however, with something else. Most of us here today are probably quite ambitious. Whether in our working lives, our family lives, sports and hobbies or whatever other area takes our fancy, everybody likes to be ‘driven’, to want to achieve and to outperform our previous achievements. We especially like our children and students to be driven to succeed. Who does not take delight in seeing an improvement in performance. How many of us, if offered a promotion at work, would say ‘well thank you very much but I’m not really very ambitious, I’m happy where I am so thanks anyway’ Of course there are many factors involved but in principle, I’m sure we’d all like to climb higher up the ladder. Why is it then that when it comes to our Judaism, our spiritual lifeblood, we are so ready to restrict ourselves to a particular level, to place ourselves in ready-defined categories – ‘I’m a once a year Jew’ ‘I’m a twice a year Jew’ ‘I only go on the festivals’ ‘I’m a weekend Jew’ ‘I already come to morning services once a week don’t expect more’ and so on and so forth. We do it in other aspects of our observance ‘I’m not so ultra-orthodox’ ‘we’re more traditional than orthodox really’ ‘we’re secular Jews’ ‘we’re non-practising’ ‘I don’t do that, I’m not religious’ etc. Of course we always see everyone who is more observant as being ‘meshuganne frum’ and those less observant as being ‘less frum than we are’. But if we are honest with ourselves, often placing ourselves into these ready made categories simply allows us to rest on our laurels. By putting ourselves in a particular category, we are effectively closing off further discussion. ‘I only come on festivals’ – in other words, don’t expect me to come any other time. ‘We don’t DO that’ so don’t bother talking to us about it. Of course, in reality as Jews we all have the same obligations. No amount of self-labelling will change that. It is a shame that by so readily limiting ourselves we preclude real growth from one year to another. If I am determined to be a ‘weekend Jew’ how can I hope to grow in my Judaism? Anything which does not fit into my ‘weekend Jew’ pigeonhole will automatically be rejected out of hand. ~~~ The Torah tells us that a Jew is a ‘mehalaich’, one who is on the move. Of course we all know about the proverbial wandering Jew, but it has a spiritual meaning too – we are constantly striving to improve, to increase our observance and our Jewishness. We have to make sure we are not stopping ourselves from growing by – consciously or otherwise – limiting ourselves to some preconceived mould.
In any other field we would expect to be increasing from one year to the next – at work when we carry out an appraisal, we are asked to report how we feel we have grown from last year to the next, likewise with investments, stocks and shares, if they stayed at the same level several years running we would probably want to find another financial adviser. Well nowadays we’d probably be grateful if they did stay the same and not go down. However in a normal market we’d expect a return. Why keep our Judaism on the same level year in year out? Is Judaism in recession too? Why not get a promotion? Why do we all impose boundaries on ourselves which limit our growth, some more and some less. ~~~ With all this talk about Shul, home is important too. The story is told by Rabbi Emmanuel Feldman, a Rabbi in Atlanta, Georgia in his biography “Tales Out of Shul” (a very entertaining book by the way) of how as a new Rabbi he had just told the congregation the story of the boy from a nonreligious home who visits his religious grandparents for the summer where he learns lots about Judaism and as he kisses the mezuzah when leaving them he says ‘Goodbye G-d I’m going home now’ and explained that we shouldn’t leave G-d behind when we leave shul. He thought people had got the message until one of the prominent members was seen leaving the shul after Yom Kippur and saying loudly ‘Goodbye G-d I’m going home now’ to the laughter of everyone else.
Thankfully we associate Judaism with Shul but of course it goes far beyond that and is very much tied in with all aspects of our lives. How many of us who are staunch davenners when we come to shul every Shabbat would think of davening at home if we did not make it to shul one Shabbat? Yet the shul is only the icing on the cake, it is the davening which is the mitzvah, whether by oneself or with the community. There is clear proof from our traditions that we cannot limit our Judaism to a particular time or place. Perhaps the most widely observed mitzvah is kashrus. As we see clearly, it is one which, like food, affects so much of our lives. It certainly does not work to consign it to a time of day, once a week or even once a year. Every time we eat or buy an item of food, we are concerned with the kashrus laws. In this way we our also reminded of our Jewishness and our responsibilities. There are many other similar mitzvot. Shul is importance and shul attendance is commendable, but let’s not forget all the other ways that Judaism is relevant to our lives. The High Holy days are our ‘Jewish appraisal’. We come before G-d and give our reckoning of what we have done this year and of our aspirations for the future. I hope that we are all able to make some useful and meaningful resolutions and that next year we are able to genuinely say ‘I have grown since last year’ and not to walk out of shul and say ‘goodbye G-d’! In a few moments we are going to blow the shofar. The story is told of the gentleman whose wife woke him up frantically in the middle of the night to tell him that the house was on fire. ‘Thank goodness we bought a fire extinguisher then’ he replied lazily and proceeded to roll over and go back to sleep. The shofar is there as a tool for us to use. It is there to wake us up, to inspire us to thoughts of Teshuva, to introspection, to good resolutions for the new year. But we have to actually use it. The shofar by itself, just like the fire extinguisher, won’t accomplish anything for us unless we grasp it and use it to help us. I would like to take this opportunity to remind everybody that it is customary not to speak from now until the last shofar blasts at the end of Mussaf. Let the Shofar inspire us to even greater heights this year, let’s move up the ladder of Judaism and truly grow. Good Yomtov ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ROSH HASHANAH DAY 2 5769 Good Yom Tov – Shana Tova – Happy New Year ~~~ Let’s talk about a different kind of a chain. In the past few days many of us will have visited the resting places of our loved ones. Next week many of us will recite Yizkor. Around this time of year we remember those who are no longer with us. The root of the word in Hebrew is Zachor to remember. To remember is to connect the present to the past, to see time not just as a moment of the here and now. But as a link, a direct line to our past, and a link to our future, part of a chain of many generations. It is clear that the power of zechira, to remember, is a central theme in Judaism. We are enjoined to remember what G-d did for our ancestors in Egypt, remember the plagues that befell our enemies, the splitting of the Red Sea the revelation at Sinai. the manna. This past summer the Olympics took place. Did you watch any of the relay races, there is a team of runners, and each runner passes the baton to the next teammate. When each individual runner finishes their lap they wait on the sidelines and they cheer the next runner on. Not just because they are teammates, not just because they care for their colleagues, but because it’s their race too. If one does well, they all do well, if one wins, they win, if one gets the gold, they all get the gold. Each runner has invested thousands of hours training for this event… exercising. Eating the right food… Push ups, sit ups, chin ups, weight lifting and they make it to the commonwealth team and then on to the Olympic team, and they make it through the preliminaries, you’re in the finals now.. going for the gold… your leadoff man is at the starting line…… the sound of the gun… and he’s off… running with everything he has… he makes a smooth handover of the baton.. and the next athlete makes his rounds.. and the next.. it’s looking like victory… your team has opened a big lead… until the baton is passed to you… the last teammate… the anchor… your lead is almost insurmountable… all you have to do is run your lap.. your 400 meters… all eyes are upon you… your teammates.. your family.. your coaches.. your country.. the world… the pressure is getting to you… “I don’t need all of this” you think to yourself… I don’t need this extra stress in my life… but you look into the faces of those who ran before you.. and you see it in their eyes… you see all their efforts… all their years of investment… and they have already accomplished the hard stuff… you have the lead… all you must do is run.. run like you were trained to do… you can’t quit… it’s not just about you anymore. We are all part of an unfinished race, a race we did not start, but a race we cannot quit. A race we dare not quit. Our lives are not ours alone; we are part of a team stretching back through the generations People who lived through the Holocaust, pogroms and the gulags, who survived the inquisitions and expulsions. Let’s go back in time, back to the days of the Holy Temple. Go back to the days of the Roman destruction of the Temple, the days of Masada, the Macabees, of Mordechai and Esther. Go back to the days of David and Goliath, Joshua and Jericho, go back and remember the days when our ancestors were slaves in Egypt, remember them, they were all on our team. Remember our teammates, remember their heroics, and remember their sacrifice. Remember their way of life; remember their commitment to G-d, now it’s our turn to take the baton and run. You see this race began with Abraham. It began with G-d selecting a team that would be a light unto the nations. A team that would demonstrate and perform acts of kindness each and every day, a team that would know that each and every moment of life must be utilised to make the world a better place. As Moses says in his farewell speech to the Jewish people in the book of Deuteronomy… “This day, G-d your L-rd, commands you to perform these decrees and the statutes, and you shall observe and perform them with all your heart and with all your soul. G-d has distinguished you today to be for Him a treasured people… and to observe His commandments and to make you supreme over all the nations that he made. For praise.. for renown.. and for splendor… and so that you will be a holy people to G-d…”This was and is our mission… our challenge.. our goal post.. our finish line.. l’saken olam b’malchus shakai… to fix the world.. to prepare the world… for a new world order… for this were we and ancestors chosen… for this were we and ancestors placed on the team And we were given the baton to pass from one person to the next, from one generation to the next. Those heroes of our past, those giants upon whose shoulders we stand upon. Those team-mates, did not have it easy, yet they did their job. They held that baton. They held on to it in the most difficult and challenging of times, they held it through fire and hell, and no Roman, no Nazi, no Communist, no one could ever get them to drop the baton. No one could ever get them to stop running, to quit the race. ~~~ Fifteen years ago when Mikhail Gorbachov first introduced glasnost to the Soviet Union, as a gesture to the Jewish community he invited an international delegation of rabbis to visit Moscow. Rabbi Yisroel Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, was one of the rabbis selected. On the last evening of his trip an old man named Berke asked Rabbi Lau if he could escort him to his hotel. As they walk Berke begins to cry “you came here, you taught us, you spent Shabbos with us, you lifted us up so high and now you are leaving us and we will be left her, here alone back in the depths of despair. Rabbi Lau says “Reb Berke, how old are you” “I’m 86 years old” “What do you do for a living” “I’m a butcher.” Reb Berke the Russians won’t care if you leave, I’ve made some connections here during my visit, let me work on it tonight and tomorrow you’ll join me on the flight to Israel. The old man lets out a loud krecthz, oh to see Yerushalyim, to touch the Western Wall, what I wouldn’t do to kiss the ground of the Holy Land but how selfish can a human being be, how much can a person only think about themselves. I have one daughter, she has two children, two young boys one seven years old and one six years old they are my grandchildren, my ainiklach. Once a month my daughter brings my grandchildren to visit their Zaide, that day is so precious to me I get all dressed up in my Shabbos clothes and I place one grandson on one knee, the second grandson on the other knee and I say with them Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokainu Hashem Echod. I say with them Torah tziva lonu Moshe. I teach them about Moshe Rabeinu I teach them about Shabbos and Pesach. I teach them who they are, those two hours a month are the only two hours of Judaism they get, and those two hours are the most precious two hours a month of my life. If I leave with you who will tell them that they are Jewish, who will see to it that the chain continues, who will teach them to be proud to be a Jew? Somewhere in the world today there are two brothers in their early twenties and they know about their heritage they know that they are ambassadors because their Zaide was willing to sacrifice his welfare for them. We all boast about our Zaides, my Zaide was a shochet, my great grand father was a rabbi in Warsaw. It’s all very nice, nice history, but what it is so much more important than who your Zaide was is who YOU are, who your children are and who your grandchildren are. What are we prepared to do to ensure that our Jewish heritage is passed on to the next generation? Are was devoted as Reb Berke was to our children and grandchildren’s Jewish education? What are we prepared to give up?
They held on tight; they made
sure to pass on their heritage, their mitzvot, their mission to the next runner,
to their children, to their grandchildren. They dreamed of a day that Judaism
would be able to be practiced openly, proudly, without fear, without
intimidation, they dreamed of a day where they could see the finish line. They
dreamed of today. Do you realise how much easier it is to be a Jew today, there are no KGB agents spying on you to see if you teach the alef bet to your children. No, today you can send your child to Cheder where they and many other children can sit and learn in a modern classroom about the beauty of Judaism, let us take this opportunity and run with it. Jewish women used to go to frozen lakes and break an opening in the icy water so that they could immerse in the mikvah. Today you can go to a most beautifully decorated mikvah with the finest fittings. Making it a most spiritual and relaxing experience, let us take this opportunity and run with it…. And what about keeping kosher. Since the days of manna from heaven, keeping kosher has never been easier kosher stores, kosher sections in supermarkets, kosher food on airplanes, cruises, kosher junk food, kosher health food, kosher Chinese food. Let us take this opportunity and run with it. What about Shabbos? In the 1920s people in New York would quite literally look for a new job every Monday morning, because they refused to work on Shabbos. Nowadays most employers are very understanding. We must connect to these memories of the past, and we connect by continuing the race they began, by holding on to the baton of Judaism. By staying on the track. They did not run for 3000 years only to have us quit now. You see, when we think of our heritage, of our history, of our ancestors we should not view them as some "once upon a time" story. Rather the memory should motivate us for continuity, to continue to live as Jews. As proud Jews, as gold medallist Jews. For many this may be difficult, It may be too much at once. Shabbat, Kashrut, Mikvah, Jewish Schools. "I hear what you’re saying, relay race, Olympics, team-mates, batons, very nice. And yes I don’t want to let my team-mates down, but frankly, Rabbi, I was not raised this way. Or, I’ve always lived like this, I can’t suddenly change, it’s just not me". There is only one answer I can give you, It’s really quite a simple one, a one word answer - exercise - start working out, start slowly, just like a person who is out of shape who’s spent too much time sitting and eating crisps and drinking beer. He’s not going to be able to get out there and do the London marathon. You have to start working out, start with some simple exercises. A little stretching, some chin ups, some sit ups, some push ups, some walking and before you know it you’ll be on your way to a better body, a fitter body, a healthier body, and you’ll feel good about yourself. Small steps, little by little. It’s no different with Jewish observance, with mitzvot. You have to start with some stretches, a mitzvah here, a mitzvah there, a walk, a jog, one Shabbat a month go to shul, you’ll daven a little, make sure not to overdo it now. Come a little late, hear a short sermon. Maybe an aliya, some singing, a Kiddush. You start loosening up, getting those Jewish muscles working. Get the right equipment. A kippah, a talit, wear it proudly. Put up a mezuzah on the front door, might as well put them on the bedroom doors too. Of course make sure you don’t get too religious When we start working out, what happens? It becomes part of our daily lives, and it begins to feel good, it feels right, even when the muscles ache and you’re shvitzing away, you still feel good. You get used to something.. You start with small steps. And as time goes on, Walking to shul becomes natural, wearing a kippah in public is no longer uncomfortable, keeping a kosher home is within reach. Changes in life may be difficult but they are a necessity. As human beings, as Jews we must grow, we must move forward.
If we’re going to be members
of the team. If we’re going to represent our people, our heritage, we have to
move forward and what better time than at this time of year, a time when we
think about those who came before us… Imagine you’re in a huge stadium, you’re on the track and the stadium is mobbed, packed to capacity, you look around the stands and you see faces. Many faces, faces of the past, you see the victims of the holocaust in the box seats, and there behind them thousands of Polish Jews, Russian Jews, German Jews. You see those who were expelled during the Spanish inquisition. You see Rabbi Akivah and all the great sages of the Talmud and Mishna. You see the great heroes of our past, Mordechai and Esther, Judah the Macabee , King David and King Solomon, Joshua, Aaron, Moses. Near them are 3 men and 4 women, can it be. Yes, Yes ,it is, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rivkah, Rochel and Leah, they are all here and they are looking at you, smiling, cheering, screaming go, go, go. Bring home the gold, you can do it. Do it for all of us. Do it for G-d. Do it for yourself, and there on the track are your parents and grandparents. They are running towards you, reaching out to you, and you to them, they pass the baton. You hold it tightly in your hand. Let us make a commitment today to take the baton of Judaism and run with it, to run like we’ve never run before. They’re all watching, they’re all waiting, let’s not let them down. Remember whatever you do, don’t break the chain! |