Rosh Hashanah: Be Here Now

When the kids were younger, going to Beth Am on Friday night was a big deal, they loved it. So much so that if I was really struggling with them I would threaten them and say they would be punished and couldn’t go with me to temple on Friday night. Not really great parenting, using temple as a bargaining chip, but it was the only thing that worked. This was before they had cell-phones, before they were so exhausted from the week that going to shul became more difficult. I remember now how much they got-and still get from going to shul. On Fridays, on holidays, especially the high holidays, they look forward to coming to temple.

A couple of weeks ago (9/15/16) Rabbi Jay Michaelson, in the Jewish Forward newspaper, wrote an article on why you should not go to shul on Rosh Hashanah. He writes,

“There are at least three reasons for you to avoid your local temple or synagogue this Rosh Hashanah. First, the holiday’s themes and liturgy focus on the least believable, most misunderstandable aspects of Jewish theology. Sure, introspection is great, and asking for forgiveness from friends and relatives can be extremely powerful. But the Man in the Sky with the big Book of Life? The Birthday of the World? Who are we kidding here? Does anyone believe this stuff?”

He continues,

“Second, Rosh Hashanah is a series of mixed messages. The day itself is confused, an amalgam of celebration and repentance, conviviality and sobriety. Are we supposed to celebrate the Birthday of the World or get busy with apologizing to God? Do we wish each other a happy new year or a serious, pious new year?”

Michaelson concludes with an argument that the high holidays are just a show more than anything else.

So, he states three reasons to stay home: 1. The holiday themes of The Book of Life and Birthday of the world are not believable. 2. Rosh Hashanah gives us mixed messages. It is a holy day of contradictions and 3. Worship on the holy days is more of a show than of a prayerful experience.

Most of Jay Michaelson’s points are actually right on target but his conclusion is wrong. He is both misguided and a bit of a truth teller. I want to explore with you tonight Jay Michaelson’s admonition to boycott the holidays… especially now that we are all here!

I think it is true that many of us here will pray words that we don’t connect to, that might not make much sense in the context of our busy lives. Prayer does go against our rationality, but after all, that might be the very definition of prayer. On some level many of us believe that prayers go mostly unheard or that prayer just helps the pray-er feel better. Some of us don’t know why we pray yet we find ourselves relating to the words in the siddur and even noticing prayers of our heart when we are quiet enough to listen. On Friday nights we read in Mishkan Tefillah, our prayer book, “Prayer invites God’s Presence to suffuse our spirits. God’s will to prevail in our lives. Prayer may not bring water to parched fields, nor mend a broken bridge, nor rebuild a ruined city, but prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart, rebuild a weakened will. (165) If this is all that prayer does for us, dayinu-it is enough. It is enough and it is a reason to come to shul.

Praying together can be powerful and it is another way of reminding us that we are not alone in this world. We are part of something bigger and greater than ourselves.

Michaelson is correct when he notes that our prayers in the machzor, the High Holiday prayer book, might not be relatable, or accessible. This year more reform congregations have transitioned from the Gates of Repentance book that we are using this year, to the new Reform Machzor, Mishkan HaNefesh, a two volume set that is extraordinary beautiful in language, layout and accessibility. Beth Am’s ritual committee will begin next month to explore our new machzor study the feasibility of joining our area synagogues in using it next year.

Michaelson is also mostly correct I think, when he flippantly notes that most of us don’t believe in the Man in the Sky and a literal Book of Life. To this point I ask, “so what?” Why must we believe this to come to shul? I do have a strong faith and theology of a loving God who hears my prayers and I do not believe in the existence of the literal Book of Life that we all so desperately want to be written into.

And yet whether or not we attend shul on the holydays, we offer the words, L’shana Tovah Tikatavu. “May you be inscribed for a good year.”   We don’t take everything literally in our lives and this Rosh Hashanah salutation that has been with our people seemingly since the days of Mt. Sinai, is no exception. We do not have to believe in the theology that we are literally inscribed by God for a new year. In fact, there is nowhere in Torah that says “Thou shalt believe in God.” It assumes we have faith. And it is our faith, our hope that we will have a good year, a better year, which brings us here together. Religion is not based on rationality. Coming to the synagogue at this time, wishing each other well and a L’shana Tova Tikatavu helps us reaffirm our Jewishness and connectedness to our history as well. We share something that has been passed down by our ancestors when we sing L’shana Tova Tikatavu together and when we congregate and wish each other a happy new year, and offer a blessing for more time.

Rabbi Michaelson’s second challenge to us: that the holidays are of mixed messages is true and it is also irrelevant to an argument that seeks to convince us to stay home on Rosh Hashanah. It’s 2016! We live lives of mixed messages.  We are experts at multi-tasking, we thrive on busy-ness and we all live in a world that is telling us we should be individuals and celebrate our differences, that we should be proud of who we are and yet we are often punished and even killed for such a celebration.   Yes, our world is one of mixed messages! How great it is that we can be in shul together on Rosh Hashanah, incorporating all the messages while away from demands, expectations and obligations; away from the world where we are rewarded for doing and attaining more and more. No, whether we read the words on the prayer book page or whether we close our eyes and rest while with our community in shul, we are here, acknowledging that it is exhausting to live in our world of mixed messages. Here and today we slow down and begin to focus on what really matters. You see, we can distill all the mixed messages into one that is most basic and fundamental, and the very point of this Holy Day. The message of this day says, slow down and return. Return to the Source that is within us and all around us. There is no mixed message to the holy days. Rather there is only one message expressed in many different ways so that we might all have access to it. Whether we sing Happy Birthday to the world or we beat our chest at the ashmu prayer that reminds us of all our waywardness, the message of Rosh Hashanah is clear. Return. God does not care how much money we make or what we wear. What matters is Teffillah~prayer, Tzedkah~ giving charity and Tesuvah, returning. We celebrate and we remember and we return. One message. I do not believe we should stay away from shul because we might experience a mixed message here. On the contrary, come to shul on the high holidays so we can hear the message delivered in several different ways.

Lastly, Rabbi Michaelson says that Rosh Hashanah is more of a show than worship. He writes, “Before the High Holidays, my rabbi and cantor friends spend weeks practicing every detail of the services, like b’nai mitzvah with receding hairlines.”

Here, Michaelson is right too– this IS the most stressful time of year for rabbis and cantors. It is also a time that we, leaders of sacred communities, are required to think hard and long about what it is that we want to say, to offer and we ask ourselves, how might our prayersong or words speak to people so that we might be inspired to live more meaningful lives and help mend this world. I think Michaelson is wrong to poke fun of rabbis rehearsing. After all, these High Holidays are about showing up—all of us—showing up. And your clergy want to show up to you who mean so very much to them. It is hard to lead worship and so we rehearse. Rehearsing and preparing are aspects of this blessed profession that the vast majority of us wouldn’t give up for anything.

Michaelson writes, “Take the High Holidays out of context, and you’re left with a religion of finger-wagging. The guilt; the sins; the chest-beating….!”

I think today the Judaism of finger wagging and guilt inducing, is over, done-with, or it should be. I wouldn’t ask anyone to come to a shul that did that. One of the first things Kyle shared with me about his Judaism growing up was that his rabbi gave finger-pointing sermons and families would just get up and leave. I don’t know rabbis today who do that kind of preaching or have that kind of rabbinate—although I am sure they exist. Our holidays are about recognizing that we miss the mark—about transgression and asking forgiveness. We cannot live a good life with out admitting our guilt. That we are wrong sometimes, that we did something we shouldn’t have done, that we didn’t do something we should have, and that we didn’t do enough! Surely this is a holdy day about guilt, but it doesn’t end there. There are things we feel guilty about and what better way to deal with guilt than to admit to ourselves how we feel and be in connection with others who are also guilty, also asking for forgiveness. What do we do with guilt on the Holy Days? We get rid of it! We admit it, say we are sorry and then try not to do it again. Yes! We have failings and they can be pointed out! However, our fundamental essence is good and we come here on these days to renew in ourselves an awareness of our innate goodness. And anyone who shames you, makes you feel guilty for who you are and not what you have done, who wags their figure at you is wrong and that is not the message of Rosh Hashanah.

And still, Rabbi Michaelson does like other Jewish holidays. He recommends Sukkot, Passover and Shabbat for their joyous and life affirming qualities. I certainly agree—Sukkot and Simchat Torah are often missed because they come right on the heels of the Days of Awe. It is a shame because they are joyful and beautiful; celebrating life, gratitude and all that we have been given. If you have never been in a sukkah or danced with the Torah on Simchat Torah—try it with us this year!

Tomorrow we will hear the call of the shofar together: Together in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah. Together we will worship, repent, transform and renew. We will be grateful for the past year and express hopes for a healthy, blessed year ahead. We will note the auspiciousness of these days and maybe even feel holy ourselves.

I am glad you are here.

L’shana Tova Tikatavu. May this coming year be of blessing for each of us, our loved ones and our sacred congregation.

Ken Yihi Razton.