Jews around the world are celebrating the High Holy Days. These 10 Days of Awe begin with Rosh Hashanah, (the Jewish New year) and end with Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). It would be easy for this column to focus on the rituals involving food. After all there are several thousand years of tradition and recipes passed down through generations that tell their own delicious story. But to do that skirts the true spirit of what this holy time entails. Rabbi Hara Person tells us that “the High Holy Days are the time when we grapple with the big questions about life and death, faith and hope, forgiveness and anger, loss and new beginnings.” This period is an opportunity for change and time to take stock of our lives and how we live them. It is a time to look at our past and challenge ourselves to recognize our own faults and failures. It is a time to take the opportunity to plan for the future and how we see our place in it. It is a time to look at the problems in the world and see if and where our actions are supporting them or helping take them to resolution. This is a time to truly atone and exhibit a willingness and commitment to make the change necessary for redemption, forgiveness and growth. It is a time to put our new commitments into action.
At Yom Kippur, we begin by expressing our true and heartfelt apologies to family and friends for any transgressions against them in either word or deed. Letting hurt and slights to dwell in our minds and hearts is not healthy or helpful for any relationship. Acknowledging we have been wrong is difficult. Recognizing we have hurt people we care about and love is painful. But doing so makes the road to forgiveness easier.
When we view the broader world, seeing a problem and complaining about it in the comfort of our home or with like-minded friends and family is pretty normal. Unfortunately, this does nothing to alleviate the problem we are concerned about. All too often we view problems in the world as so large they are out of our control, and beyond our ability to effect any kind of change. Therefore we give up, feeling that actually doing something is too monumental and the risk too great. In our country and the world many people are facing discrimination, bigotry, hatred, poverty, hunger, homelessness, and war. Natural disasters are decimating whole swaths of our earth leaving all too many inhabitants dead or without the basic necessities of life. And despite the overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, we still have individuals and leaders who will not accept the fact our climate is changing. That change is affecting everyone on our planet. Hopefully we are not too late to curb the devastating results of inattention to this critical matter. White supremacists, neo-nazis and the Ku Klux Klan are marching openly in our streets and spewing their venomous hateful rhetoric against all people who do not agree with their ignorant and despicable notion of humanity. Speaking out against ignorance and hate should not be difficult. We sadly seem to have become so immune to the vitriol that their language has found its way into every day commentary. Calling someone a nazi when you don’t agree with them or their position is now common place. And yet to do so diminishes the pure evil they represent and reduces their actions to simply something disagreeable instead of deadly. Allowing this menace to creep into the very fabric of our society is not acceptable.
When we know we must turn our concerns from fears that plague us in the middle of the night into actions what do we do? Where do we begin? Will we take to the streets and march against what is happening in America today? Will we write letters to our elected officials? Do we make an effort to talk to individuals and groups with differing opinions and try to find common ground? Will we educate and inform ourselves so we know and speak from facts and not fiction? Or, will we continue to maintain our silence out of fear of retaliation or just plain apathy? If the latter is the case then we must remember and accept that silence speaks volumes and gives the impression of agreement. The options in front of us may not be easy. In the end each of us must choose which direction to take.
On Yom Kippur, we are not given much of a choice on which path to follow. In order to truly atone for our transgression we must move beyond prayers and words of contrition to action. The true test of Yom Kippur begins with taking personal responsibility for all we have done or not done and then committing ourselves to do better and be better.
To all my family and friends both new and old and those I have yet to meet: A gut gebentsht yohr, “A good and blessed year.”
• Chava Lee is the President of Congregation Sukkat Shalom, A Reformed Jewish Congregation.
