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Shabbat T'Shuva
Given by Clifford S. Fishman on September 30, 2006 (7 Elul 5766
)
Reflections on the High Holiday Liturgy
B'Rosh Hashanah yika-teyvun,
Uv-yom tzom kippur yeychateymun.
You recognize the words: they begin the third paragraph of the Unetaneh Tokef in the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur service, in the repetition of the Musaf Amidah:
On Rosh Hashanah it is written,
And on Yom Kippur it is sealed.
Last week on Rosh Hashanah,when Cantor Helzner chanted it, we chanted it with her, and on Monday, more than 900 of us will do so again:
B'Rosh Hashanah yika-teyvun,
Uv-yom tzom kippur yey-chateymun.
After we repeat it, Cantor Helzner chants the next paragraph, which in English reads,
How many shall pass away and how many shall be born; who shall live and who shall die; who shall attain the measure of man's days and who shall not attain it; who shall perish by fire and who by water; who by sword, and who by beast; who by hunger and who by thirst; who by earthquake and who by plague; who by strangling and who by stoning; who shall have rest and who shall go wandering; who shall be tranquil and who shall be disturbed; who shall be at ease and who shall be afflicted; who shall become poor and who shall wax rich; who shall be brought low, and who shall be exalted.
And as our Cantor chants the list, periodically she, and we, chant again;
B'Rosh Hashanah yika-teyvun,
Uv-yom tzom kippur yey-chateymun:
On Rosh Hashanah it is written,
And on Yom Kippur it is sealed.
and when the list is complete, we chant:
"Ut'shuva, u'tifilah, u'tsedaka, ma'arivin etroa hag'zayrah:
but repentance and prayer and acts of kindness can avert the decree."
Powerful Moment, but...
It is an incredibly powerful moment, one of the high points in the High Holiday liturgy -- even though we know it is not true. Each of us could point to many events in our own family's histories, let alone historical events, that contradict it.
Particularly since Rosh Hashanah in 2001, it has struck me as one of the most problematic passages in the liturgy. This year on Rosh Hashanah, it hit me that way again. If we accept this prayer as literal truth, it means that on Yom Kippur in 2000, God decreed that the heroes and victims of September 11, 2001, would perish ba-esh, by fire, or baraash, by the equivalent of an earthquake.
If we accept this passage in our liturgy literally, it means that three years ago on Yom Kippur, God decreed that thousands of people in Louisiana and Mississippi and Texas would perish bamayim, by drowning, and hundreds of thousands would lose their homes and be forced to go wandering; and we would have to accept the same unacceptable conclusion about the much larger number of people who died or were impoverished in the Tsunami that struck in much of the Pacific.
The very idea that God would -- decree - any of these things is obscene. I cannot-- I refuse to believe that. I expect that many of you feel the same way. Which necessarily means that we cannot take this prayer literally.
Then Why?
This is no new major insight; every religion struggles with the fact that terrible things sometimes happen to good people, while evil people often enjoy lives of comfort and ease and influence. Surely the rabbis who, so many centuries ago, included this prayer in our liturgy, also must have known that the vision, the promise of this prayer simply is not the way the world works. Surely the Rabbis knew then, just as we do today, that we have very little control over the impersonal forces and random events that may uproot us or disrupt our lives --- just as, for most of our history, our ancestors had little or no control over events and forces that threatened our existence as a people. And surely the people who over the centuries filled synagogues on the High Holy Days and chanted this passage, surely they knew these facts, too.
So why is this prayer in our liturgy; and why is it so powerful and so moving
I cannot speak for the rabbis who composed this prayer and included it in the HHD liturgy. Some day, perhaps, I'll research what the sources say about its origins and purpose. Today, I only offer my own reaction to it.
A Wish and a Challenge
This passage belongs in the liturgy, I believe, and is so powerful and so moving, not in spite of the fact that we know the world does not work that way, but because we know, as our ancestors knew, that the world does not work that way. This prayer belongs in our liturgy, it seems to me, because it expresses our profound wish that things were that way -- that good people would always be rewarded and evil people would be punished, and that repentance, prayer and righteousness could guarantee us a year of life and health and achievement.
Oh, if only...!
But this prayer does more than merely express a wish. It also issues a challenge: it challenges us to live our lives as if repentance, prayer and righteousness could give us that guarantee.
We have very little control over the impersonal forces and random events that may uproot us or disrupt our lives. But teshuva and t'filah and tsedaka - repentance and prayer and acts of kindness - these are things we can control; these are things we can do, to improve our own lives and the lives of those around us.
Because if we accept that challenge: if we do repent the hurt we have caused to others and to ourselves, and try to make amends; if we do pray -- for the strength to not repeat those hurts in the year to come; and if we do perform acts of kindness to others, then, no matter what actually happens to us, we will have helped in the task of Tikkun Olam, the healing of the world.
May we all be sealed for a good year.
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