Kol Nidre Sermon, 5773

Many of you know that I have the great pleasure of reading stories to our Pre-School children. It is always a real joy for me. We have fun together and we sometimes learn something from each other. A while back I was about to read a story and I think it had in it a character who repaired watches. So, to get into the mood of the story, I asked all the children, “What do you do if you have a toy you really like and then it breaks? What do you do with the toy?”

Silly me. I thought someone would say, “You go to Mommy and Daddy and ask them to fix it.” But, no. To a child, everyone said, “You throw it out and buy a new one!” It was completely obvious to them. Even one’s favorite toy is dispensable and replaceable. They have learned, so early, that ours is a world of planned obsolescence, where the belief is that there is always a new toy out there which is the same or better.

I was surprised by that response. Actually, I was a little taken aback and a little saddened. I am an old- fashioned guy. I like traditions and dusty old things. And I like trying to fix things when I can. And I like some stuff even if it stays broken. I like feeling attached to things. I like memories and I like imagining that other people have had attachments and memories.

We are still at the beginning of a New Year. Newness is in the air; it is on our minds. As I mentioned on Rosh Ha-Shanah, it is on these days, more than any others, that we are inspired to come together in synagogues and pray for a new beginning. We greet each other happily, “Happy New Year!” But, let’s pause for a second and consider how we state that greeting in Hebrew. We don’t say –

– May you be inscribed for a New Year. We don’t mention the word “new – ” – at all. We instead wish for each of us a “ ” – a Good Year. The point is not the newness; the point is the quality of the year as we live it.

This point gains further resonance when we survey the place of the Days of Awe within the entire system of the Jewish calendar as set forth in th Torah. It is a real shame that for so many of us our exposure to Judaism is limited to these two holidays of Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur, in isolation. So let’s take this opportunity, while we are all together, to get a glimpse of the full flow of the Jewsh year, from start to end.

[hand out Jewish calendar sheet – explain format of sheet – order of months, dates in month, observances, themes]

[handout:]

The CYCLE OF THE JEWISH YEAR Event/Holiday
[supsystic-tables id=1]

God give the Israelites in Egypt their own calendar Israelites set aside a lamb for the Paschal sacrifice Exodus – Passover (7 days)

The first thing I would point out is that the Jewish year does not start with Rosh Ha-Shanah. As counter-factual as this might sound, this is not the Jewish New Year. The first month of the Jewish year is the month of Nissan. Passover, the holiday commemorating our beginning as a free people, is the key holiday of this first month and is celebrated at the peak of that month, at its Full Moon. According to the Torah, and this is the case in Israel to this day, Passover is celebrated for 7 days.

Right when we take possession of time on our own, on Jewish, terms, in this first month of our Jewish year, we actively mark the passage of time by counting days. Passover initiates that period called “Counting the Omer.” We count seven – yes, seven – weeks. The culmination of the counting is the celebration of Shavuot, when we received the Torah at Mount Sinai.

Then the prosaic routine of everyday living settles in. It takes a while until we get to another significant holiday. That is, indeed, Rosh Ha-Shanah. When does this holiday occur? Correct! Rosh Ha-Shanah is not the beginning of the Jewish New Year. As I mentioned last week, it is the celebration of the world itself. It is no coincidence that this celebration falls at the beginning of the seventh – yes, seventh – month of the calendar.

Why does this month of Tishrei have so many “big” holidays? Not because it is the first month, but precisely because it is the 7th! This month is to the year what Shabbat is to the week. It is a block of time reserved for special cultivation of our capacity for holiness through regeneration.

What is the agenda of this most special of months, the 7th?

Our common understanding is that this is a season of solemnity and of repentance. We approach God in fear and trembling. This is, of course, a major component of observing Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. But, sadly, too many of us think that this must therefore be the main message of Judaism. Other cultures celebrate a New Year by partying and having fun; Judaism, we think, is a sad, grim religion of fasting and beating our chests in communal guilt.

But this is a self-fulfilling caricature that is not based on the facts. We need to reorient ourselves regarding the connections amongst the holidays of the Seventh Month of the Jewish year. Let us study the pattern of the Jewish calendar:

Just as the celebration of Passover is reserved for the peak moment of the First Month, the time of the Full Moon, with the first 2 weeks of Nissan used to prepare for that festival, so, too, the central holiday of this month is not Rosh Ha-Shanah and it is not Yom Kippur, despite our current practice. They are actually preparatory holidays leading to the central moment of this month, the festival that begins at the Full Moon of the month, the festival of Sukkot.

What is the theme of Sukkot? There are many, of course. But our liturgy helps us focus on the main theme by giving Sukkot a description – – the Time of our Joy.

[take folding chair – speak to empty chair]

It’s joy! The central theme of the central moment of the Jewish Year is the importance of joyous living!

Why don’t we know this? Why are we sitting here today, while on Sukkot our seats are empty? Why is this room full tonight – a night when we can’t do anything, when we can’t eat or drink in fellowship – and not on Simchat Torah – the culmination of our Festival of Joy – when we can sing and dance and eat and drink together as a mitzvah? Why isn’t every seat in the house taken then?

Why don’t we know this? How is it that the assimilated Jews of Soviet Russia understood this but we don’t? Why don’t we take this to heart? Are our souls asleep or switched off? If we wish to cry this Yom Kippur, then let us cry for the unemployed, for sure. For, I tell you, these days there are too many Jewish souls that are un-employed and under-employed.

What should we do with souls that are not used or with souls that are rusted or broken? Unlike our toys, we can’t throw them out. They are not disposable or replaceable. They are all we’ve got.

I asked last week – what has Judaism given the world. Besides what I mentioned last week, another gift

it has given is the directive – “If it’s broken, fix it.” Don’t throw it away; don’t ignore it or hide from it; don’t make believe you can side-step it in exchange for something new.

This is our world – “If it’s broken, fix it.” This is the concept of tiqqun `olam – repairing the world. These are our lives – “If they are broken, fix them.” We decalre everyday in our prayers –

– God heals the broken-hearted, binding their wounds. (Ps. 147:3) These are our souls – “If they are broken, fix them.” This is the possibility and the mitzvah of teshuvah

– repentance.

When we fix the world, when we fix our lives and help others fix theirs, when we fix our souls, we have not thrown out the old for the new. The patina of time is still with us. The memories of the past are not forgotten. Like a tree that sheds its dead leaves during this Fall season so that it may blossom and bloom again, we are renewed.

Last week I mentioned that Judaism gave the world the gift of a new conception of time. When we see how Judaism lays out its calendar, we can see how it organizes time to support this value of renewal. We are never too old or too young to learn this value.

Let us see how this one theme is emphasized so often in our calendar. [review handout]

Atonement is there, of course. Sure – Holiness is important. But every month we remind ourselves of this most precious gift. Judaism does not chase after the New. Rather, in hope and joy, it holds out before us our capacity for Renewal.

Latest posts by Rabbi David Greenstein (see all)

What do you think?