Rabbi’s Column - October 2010
As not everyone was able to attend all of our High HolyDay services and hear the full text of all the sermons, I thought that I would take this column to share them. Rabbi Goldman used to mail out his High HolyDay sermons to the congregation. To save paper, I will summarize the series here and let you know that you can see the full texts on sholomravsermons.blogspot.com. The paragraphs below summarize Rosh haShanah evening, Rosh haShanah morning, Kol Nidrei, and Yom Kippur morning respectively. There is also a sermon which serves as an introduction to our trimester theme of Genesis from Rosh haShanah morning II.
Each year at this time, the Rabbis suggest that we engage in a process known as a cheshbon nefesh, literally an audit of our souls. I have several colleagues who use the month of Elul (that precedes Rosh haShanah) to schedule all of their regular check-ups with doctors and dentists. The metaphor of a metaphysical annual check-up is a useful one for us to consider as we engage in the work of t’shuvah. In that sense, we can consider the turning of the leaves, the cooling of the air, and the excess of mailings we receive from the Temple, as that postcard that comes annually for our physician reminding us to schedule an appointment. After all, we would be disappointed if our physician just phoned in a refill of our prescriptions and signed off on our charts that we were the same as last year, without giving a battery of tests and an examination. Only then are we ready, even if there is little change, to accept our prescriptions for a new year. Using the model of Elizabeth Gilbert (not the one confirmed at Temple Sholom)’s Eat, Pray, Love, we have translated this prescription into Hebrew - Torah, avodah, and g’milut chasadim.
Just as the doctor looks over the same body each year, to see what has changed, so do we look over the same Torah each year - except we note how we have changed, rather than the scroll. Each year brings us a different perspective. We grow and change and have different experiences - hopefully an increased wisdom - and so can find different lessons in our sacred text. But Torah means not only the five books of Moses, but all of Jewish learning. Just as we would not accept a doctor who was not always learning about developments in medicine, as well as keeping track of our health, so we, too, need to continue our education and see how our beliefs and even our rituals have held up. Continued study, for which there are many opportunities here in our own Temple (see page ? or the Eitz Chayim section of our website). Join us as we study Genesis together this trimester, Biblical history the next, and theology in the spring.
Avodah means prayer to us today. To our Biblical ancestors, it signified their worship, which was a physical sacrifice. Avodah in modern Hebrew means “work” - and we should not be surprised that prayer, like a doctor’s prescription for exercise, not only takes work, but returns more, the more we exert ourselves. Although prayer can be shown to be efficacious for its self-reflection and meditative processes, prayer brings along with it a relationship with the divine. All of us can learn the lesson from twelve-steppers, who profit from knowing when things are beyond their control and that there is strength in acknowledging a higher power.
Finally, we might think that g’milut chasadim was the easiest of our three-part prescription to fill. As Reform Jews, we swim in the pursuit of righteousness as a mighty stream. Yet, social justice is a strident voice. G’milut chasadim is defined as acts of loving kindness. The strength of love is that it goes beyond mere infatuation to an acceptance of those whom we love for who they are - warts and all. If we extend this idea to our acts of g’milut chasadim, we may have to help those who are ungrateful or who behave in ways we disagree with - whether it be in building a cultural center in lower Manhattan, promoting the security and peace of the State of Israel, engaging meaningful political dialogue to make progress in our society, to save Muslims drowning in Pakistan, or the economic victims in our own country..
That is our prescription for the coming year, so that we may become more healthy in our Judaism: Take some Torah and call me in the morning. Engage in enough prayer to raise your blood pressure a few times each week. Have a balanced diet of good deeds, even if some are not your favorite. Then may we all have a healthy Jewish new year.
Rabbi Joel N. Abraham
As not everyone was able to attend all of our High HolyDay services and hear the full text of all the sermons, I thought that I would take this column to share them. Rabbi Goldman used to mail out his High HolyDay sermons to the congregation. To save paper, I will summarize the series here and let you know that you can see the full texts on sholomravsermons.blogspot.com. The paragraphs below summarize Rosh haShanah evening, Rosh haShanah morning, Kol Nidrei, and Yom Kippur morning respectively. There is also a sermon which serves as an introduction to our trimester theme of Genesis from Rosh haShanah morning II.
Each year at this time, the Rabbis suggest that we engage in a process known as a cheshbon nefesh, literally an audit of our souls. I have several colleagues who use the month of Elul (that precedes Rosh haShanah) to schedule all of their regular check-ups with doctors and dentists. The metaphor of a metaphysical annual check-up is a useful one for us to consider as we engage in the work of t’shuvah. In that sense, we can consider the turning of the leaves, the cooling of the air, and the excess of mailings we receive from the Temple, as that postcard that comes annually for our physician reminding us to schedule an appointment. After all, we would be disappointed if our physician just phoned in a refill of our prescriptions and signed off on our charts that we were the same as last year, without giving a battery of tests and an examination. Only then are we ready, even if there is little change, to accept our prescriptions for a new year. Using the model of Elizabeth Gilbert (not the one confirmed at Temple Sholom)’s Eat, Pray, Love, we have translated this prescription into Hebrew - Torah, avodah, and g’milut chasadim.
Just as the doctor looks over the same body each year, to see what has changed, so do we look over the same Torah each year - except we note how we have changed, rather than the scroll. Each year brings us a different perspective. We grow and change and have different experiences - hopefully an increased wisdom - and so can find different lessons in our sacred text. But Torah means not only the five books of Moses, but all of Jewish learning. Just as we would not accept a doctor who was not always learning about developments in medicine, as well as keeping track of our health, so we, too, need to continue our education and see how our beliefs and even our rituals have held up. Continued study, for which there are many opportunities here in our own Temple (see page ? or the Eitz Chayim section of our website). Join us as we study Genesis together this trimester, Biblical history the next, and theology in the spring.
Avodah means prayer to us today. To our Biblical ancestors, it signified their worship, which was a physical sacrifice. Avodah in modern Hebrew means “work” - and we should not be surprised that prayer, like a doctor’s prescription for exercise, not only takes work, but returns more, the more we exert ourselves. Although prayer can be shown to be efficacious for its self-reflection and meditative processes, prayer brings along with it a relationship with the divine. All of us can learn the lesson from twelve-steppers, who profit from knowing when things are beyond their control and that there is strength in acknowledging a higher power.
Finally, we might think that g’milut chasadim was the easiest of our three-part prescription to fill. As Reform Jews, we swim in the pursuit of righteousness as a mighty stream. Yet, social justice is a strident voice. G’milut chasadim is defined as acts of loving kindness. The strength of love is that it goes beyond mere infatuation to an acceptance of those whom we love for who they are - warts and all. If we extend this idea to our acts of g’milut chasadim, we may have to help those who are ungrateful or who behave in ways we disagree with - whether it be in building a cultural center in lower Manhattan, promoting the security and peace of the State of Israel, engaging meaningful political dialogue to make progress in our society, to save Muslims drowning in Pakistan, or the economic victims in our own country..
That is our prescription for the coming year, so that we may become more healthy in our Judaism: Take some Torah and call me in the morning. Engage in enough prayer to raise your blood pressure a few times each week. Have a balanced diet of good deeds, even if some are not your favorite. Then may we all have a healthy Jewish new year.
Rabbi Joel N. Abraham
