Rosh Hashanah 5772
Sermon 2011- The Music of Life
By Rabbi Arnold Saltzman
We count the Jewish New Year 5772 in ‘theological’ years and in spiritual terms: 5772 years since the creation of the world by God.
One of the secrets of this holiday is that no one wants to miss a birthday, yet, while we wear kippot and dress in honor of the holiday, gather our families for a Yom Tov meal, its not like a party, although a party has its time and place.
Even those who must go to work today are aware of its significance. Israeli’s may not be religious, but the mood, pace, and peace of the holyday descends upon them as surely as it descends upon us.
Peace? What peace is there rabbi?
We suffered the terrible loss of a loved one – unexplainably.
We suffer pain, sickness and illness in our family.
We have seen devastating loss through earthquake, rains, hurricanes, floods,
acts of nature and chance which have changed our lives forever.
We hear everyday of people who are seeking work, it could be us.
Life at times seems like an endless collection of worries, a veritable worry-mill.
“So, Rabbi, did I come here for you to nudge me, to remind me of my tsores? My troubles?” Is that what Rosh Hashanah is about?
The year 5772, a measure in time, in human terms, reminds us that we are human in the number of our years, and that God is beyond number.
Time, I teach my students, is both real as a measure, and artificial as a measure. Outside our lives, our world, our solar system, our universe, time has no measure. God is measureless.
We can measure in relation to objects, planets, and know the years of a person. We can count the seasons of life and the holydays, and the number of sermons we give. we can count our birthdays, but does that tell us anything about our lives?
We call these days – Holy Days –
We believe that life is holy, and our journey is to raise up our life and the lives of others whatever the measure of your days. Doing this is fulfilling life.
The force of life, of Judaism, of goodness, is the strength of our commitment to make our lives better, our words better, our gestures meaningful, our purpose so strong that we cannot be turned away. For we cannot be turned back, we will win the fight to make justice prevail, to care for those in need in our community and our world, to win the argument that we will not abandon those who suffer in our country. Other religions believe this. We are not alone in this belief. We will not give in to doubt, and nihilism, or the bookkeeper’s assessment that we have no money or not enough. We will not shout out ‘There is no God!’ Instead we will say a prayer, light a candle, sway in the wind, sing of God’s beautiful world.
Aha, Rabbi, you’ve gone mad. You can’t ignore reality. Your using magical thinking and it wont help.
Time –
is both real and an artificial construct of relativity. We measure our moments, but do we take measure of our deeds?
Words can injure people. Do we measure our words?
There is a Yiddish saying:
“Tzein hot Gott gemacht zum halten der tzung in dein mol!”
Teeth were made to hold your tongue in your mouth!
And what about e-mail?
How committed are we to not abuse our words?
Words can say:
I love you
I take you to be mine
You are consecrated to me
This is my solemn vow
You are my life
Together we will be better than either of us is alone
You make my life worth living
You are my child
Return Home Safely
I will miss you
We live under the shelter of the Divine
Hear my Prayer
Forgive me
I’m sorry
Lets begin again
I’m grateful
Mm! Delicious!
The writer, Naomi Regan, who lives in Jerusalem wrote:
“I was unpacking my suitcase after a short weekend getaway when I realized I couldn’t find my scarf. A great sense of loss overwhelmed me. I remembered the exquisite colors that had given me so much pleasure every time I looked at my scarf. I remembered its lovely silkiness as it touched my fingers and draped so tightly around my neck.
And now, I thought, I would never touch it again. How had I not been more careful with it? I mourned. How had I not cherished it more, recognized its worth more while I had it? I wondered, too, if its loss was not a punishment for me for some sin. And then, a thought occurred to me. Slowly, I went through my suitcase again, and there, in a corner, was a plastic bag I’d assumed was empty. When I opened it, I found my scarf. I touched it, filled with joy and gratitude.
Suddenly, I thought of myriad things, large and small, whose loss I would be quick to feel was a punishment but whose presence I often overlooked as a blessing. I promised myself to never again wait for their loss to feel gratitude for their presence. I promised myself to thank God every hour, every minute for each small blessing.”
Is life just an hour glass with countless grains of sand rapidly moving through unstoppable until the sand is gone?
Is life this moment which has already changed before we finish the sentence?
I would make the argument that life is blessing, seeing the blessing, counting the blessings, every day, even remembering the blessings of the past – Zikaron – today is a day of remembrance that we are here because of those who came before us and the good life they have given us, the good teachings that have been handed down to us.
We must see, feel, hear, taste, sense that life is the greatest gift even when we’re overwhelmed by life’s difficulties. We must not allow a total eclipse to remove the fact that the sun is there, and that I can believe that God is there for me, for us.
Rather than the metaphor of an hourglass – we should should experience life as music – measured spaces with a great song, with great orchestration. Life is a force which continually renews itself – the Autumn brings the falling leaves to the ground in order to enrich the soil of the earth. We repeat, because there is meaning in the repetition: A forest burns and before long, a new forest is turning the ash covered landscape into a green flowering world.
Yes, the beauty of the world seems cruel when we’re remembering the ashes of the forest which came before – or we can see the beauty in the finality, and in the new life, the color tinged with a somber hue reminding us of the past while admiring the present.
Rosh Hashanah, reminds us to appreciate the autumn and return of the seasons of life, an eternal theme. We return to God, and turn to God for forgiveness, for mercy, for justice, for strength, for health, for love, for understanding our purpose here, for comfort from unbearable physical and emotional suffering. We pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and Israel. We pray for Peace for the United States and the world.
In gratitude for life we pray that each of us appreciates life and all its blessings. We pray for a Shana Tova U’metukah – A good, healthy, prosperous, and sweet New Year – L’Shana Tova Tikateivu.
My family including Carol Nissenson, Michael Saltzman, Josh Saltzman, and Hagar Sadan extend our very best wishes for a Shana Tova u’Metukah.
Rabbi Arnold Saltzman