Every end means a new beginning. At the end of our Morning Yom Kippur service we are only 4 services away from the end of our spiritual journey over the last 10 days, the end of our fast and indeed that new beginning for our cleansed and shining souls.
There is something uplifting in Yom Kippur’s physical deprivation of our daily pleasures and this unique opportunity to open the door to our personal growth.
Conquering our flesh makes us realise the power of our minds, which we need to bring transformative changes into our lives and thus, the world. In addition, we also have the power of our Jewish spirit, which helps us to conquer the fear of the unknown ahead of us.
The most controversial prayer of the High Holidays liturgy “Unetaneh Tokef Kedushat Hayom”[1] which means “and let us acknowledge the power of this day’s holiness” reminds us that not everything is in our power or under our control.
Right now you might ask me, Rabbi, what did you just say? On the one hand everything is in our power and on the other hand – not at all? Could you please be less rabbinic and make up your mind!
Well, both of the statements are right.
The Prayer Unetaneh Tokef acknowledges the unknown element of the new year ahead. No one knows what, exactly, will happen to us in the new year and which of us will live or die. This prayer helps us to face our deepest fears about life and our future in the new year. It also reminds us that sometimes not being in control is for our own benefit.
However, after taking us through the deepest of our fears, the end of this prayer lifts us up with the positive message of things that are in our power and what we can do to make our year a better one: Teshuvah – retuning to our true self, Tzedakah – sharing generously with others and Tefilah – setting our intentions on becoming the best we can be.
The Unetaneh Tokef prayer was discovered in the 12th century in the “Book of Memories” written by a famous Rabbi Ephraim of Bonn[1] after their recent Holocaust – the devastating massacre by the Crusaders, which swept through the Jewish community, particularly in Germany.
This prayer is one of the examples of how the survivors of the Crusades massacre were trying to come to terms with the tragedy which had befallen them.
The explanation they came up with was by taking more responsibility upon themselves. Not God but themselves. That’s what is so admirable about our Jewish soul, about our people’s history and our way of dealing with the challenges life constantly throws at us: being resilient and having a deep sense of responsibility for our lives and the world.
A Jewish delegation met the Dalai Lama, who had been living in exile since 1960, when his homeland was occupied by China.[2]
The Dalai Lama asked the Jewish delegation a question: “Tell me, what is your secret? How can a people that has been persecuted and exiled and vilified throughout the centuries maintain its religion and its sense of [shared] identity?…I want to know your secret so that I might better help preserve my people.”
The Jewish delegation gave a variety of responses, including my favourite: “the power of the Jewish spirit, which is always more powerful than the vicissitudes of life and weapons of repression”[3].
Our indefatigable Jewish spirit is a gift to us from our ancestors and it is one of the most valuable tools we have, to make our new year a good one.
In order to make the best of this special gift let us look into the main components of the Jewish spirit. To me, the Jewish spirit means:
- Being willing to start the change with yourself:
Rabbi Yisrael Salanter[4] once said: “When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.”
Yom Kippur gives us this unique opportunity and space to do just that – to start changing the world by making a change in ourselves. We have 4 more services today to do just that!
2.Being honest: One of the longstanding and respected members of our community reflected on my Rosh haShanah sermon about optimism by saying that there is no such category as a pessimist. They should be called a realist. Being honest and acknowledging the reality of life is an important part of the Jewish spirit. Still, as David Ben-Gurion[5] once said: “In order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.”
3.Being courageous: It takes courage to be honest with yourselves but also to act. It is not enough to identify the problem, need or obstacle. We need to act upon it. Not all of us are born courageous but we can all become courageous. Sometimes by simply getting out of your comfort zone might be an act of courage but then it will become a habit.
We need to be courageous to accept that a good year does not always mean no problems. Have you ever been told that life is easy? As the prayer Unetaneh Tokef will remind us this afternoon, we can’t always know the challenges we will have to face but we can always choose the way we respond to them.
4.Sharing responsibility for one another: One of the most powerful moments of Yom Kippur is the prayers of repentance we do together as a community. We repent together for the sins we have committed and for the sins we have not. It is because when one sins, they put a stain on the whole community.
5.Sharing a vision: Would you like our community to be a place of joy, spiritual nourishment, a strong advocate of moral and ethical values, deliverer of social justice and care not only for our members but also for our society? If we want to make a real impact as a community, we need to be in it together.
Sharing a vision can start with a small step of support even for one particular event, which you feel passionate about. For example, are you tired of antisemitism? What have you done to combat it? If you want to build bridges rather than walls, join our inter-faith visit to one of the biggest Hindu Temples in North London on Monday, November 13th or an event at our synagogue on Thursday, November 16th to make soup for the elderly and vulnerable members of our EHRS family together with the group from the Hindu Temple. Or our Iftar celebrations in April among other opportunities.
As Henry Ford said: “Whether you think you can or cannot, you are right”. And I know that together, we can.
Let’s start it by strengthening ourselves and thus strengthening each other.
The end of Yom Kippur will mean a new beginning for us and I know that we will make it a good year for ourselves, our community and thus, the world.
[1] ונתנה תקף קדשת היום Forms of prayer for Jewish Worship, 8th edition, the Reform Synagogues of Great Britian, 1985, p.456-458.
[1] Rabbi Ephraim ben Jacob (1132-1200 or 1221?)
[2] Jewish Dimensions of Social Justice: tough moral choices of our times, Urj Press, 1998, p. XV.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Rabbi Israel ben Ze’ev Wolf Lipkin “Salanter” (1809-1883) is the founder of the Mussar movement – a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement.
[5] David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973) was one of the founder of Israel and the first Prime-Minister of Israel.
