Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Elder of Ziyon
Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur are called the High Holy Days. They are more holy days, than holidays, a
time for introspection more than a time of celebration.
The Jewish tradition says
that every year God reviews the lives of all of humanity and decides what will
happen in each life in the year to come. God decrees life or death for each
person, inscribing all who will live in the Book of Life.
On Rosh Hashanah Jews wish each other a happy holiday and good
year to come. It is a commandment to be happy during the holiday, a must. It
would be highly presumptuous to even suggest the possibility of a happy year.
Happiness for the whole year?! That’s too far-fetched and very possibly not
what would be the best for you. God’s plan for an individual can even be
painful so you couldn’t call the experience “happy” but it still can be “good”.
In the time between the
New Year and Yom Kippur the traditional blessing is “May you be inscribed in
the Book of Life.” The exact translation of the Hebrew reflects Jewish cynicism
(and negative experiences throughout our history) saying “May your name be well
written, all the way, in the Book of Life” and basically expresses the
sentiment: “I hope you don’t die next year.”
It’s kinda funny and
terrible at the same time.
Cultures around the world
have different New Year traditions, ways to celebrate and times of the year
that are considered “New Year.” I don’t think there is any culture that marks
the New Year with the same level of introspection about the year that passed
and the upcoming year, in the same way Jews do. How many people do you know
who truly reflect on the quality of their lives, what they have
contributed to their fellow man and the possibility of dying in the upcoming
year?
Jewish tradition says that before being right with God people
have to be right with each other. During the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur individuals reflect on their actions during the past year and ask
forgiveness from people they may have hurt during the previous year. People ask
God to forgive their sins AFTER humans forgive each other for hurting each
other. This is a very different emphasis than that of other religions and
cultures. Religious figures, God or prayers do not have the power to absolve
Jews from their sins. Healing can occur only when the individual takes personal
responsibility for previous wrong actions and asking forgiveness from
the person that was wronged.
Jews don’t need to be
good just to other Jews; we believe that it is crucial to be good to all
people, everywhere, to provide help where it is needed, to right wrongs
wherever possible, to make life better.
I am proud that Israel
upholds these ideals throughout the year, providing humanitarian aid around the
world as well as innovations that affect the lives of people everywhere –
everything from agricultural inventions that provide food and clean water in
third world countries to the modern day conveniences people in the western
world no longer know how to live without. One of the most disparaged nations on
earth, we probably provide the most to people worldwide (this is absolutely
true when Israeli & Jewish contributions to humanity are calculated per
capita).
Our country is not
perfect. No one is perfect. But we try damn hard. We argue all year long about
the right way to do things and about how to be better. We demand compassion for
our elderly, for the sick, for the strangers amongst us, for our enemies and
the people of other countries. Each year we take note of our nation’s
accomplishments and find that we have fallen short. As long as there are those
amongst us that are suffering, that are not being taken care of properly, we
have not done enough.
Each year we consider
what is wrong and in the next year we try to do better.
Surrounded by enemies who
openly declare their desire to see our destruction, weighed down by “friends”
who use a lot of the same terminology and slogans as our enemies, it is
difficult to know what will be in the year to come.
Who amongst us will die,
simply because we are Jews?
Friends and family,
colleagues and strangers will die from old age, disease and accidents. Others
will die because we are who we are.
Happy thoughts for the
new year, right?
Realistic ones.
On Sunday two Israelis
were murdered simply because they were Jews. The family of the terrorist
had a huge celebration, happy that he died killing Jews. People from abroad
wrote me saying that it is our fault, Israelis deserve to be attacked and why
can’t we all just work things out with a nice discussion? Nice.
This is our reality and
yet we refuse to be other than what we are. We do our best to do the right
thing for each other, for our nation and for the world. We will continue to do
so, whether others recognize this or not, whether this is appreciated or not.
This year I pray that my
friends and family, people I know and people I do not know will be inscribed in
the Book of Life. May the people around the world not have to experience the
suffering we have experienced.
A happy year would be wonderful but a good year,
one we learn from, grow and become better as a result… that would suffice.
Gmar hatima tova! May you
be inscribed in the Book of Life!
