High Holy Days
We are entering the
period of the High Holy days. The dates
are probably already on your calendar:
Wednesday, September 24th is Erev Rosh Hashanah, Thursday and
Friday, September 25 and 26, are the first and second days of the Jewish New
year; Friday evening, October 3rd
is Erev Yom Kippur, and Shabbat, October 4th is the Day of Atonement.
Have you ever asked
why they are most often not called Holidays, but rather bring our attention to
the root of that contracted word, and written as Holy Days? And why are they called “High?”
Passover in the
spring is also very holy, and certainly has elements of causing us to feel
elevated, stirred, rising through the centuries of our history, approaching the
path to Mt. Sinai on Shavuot. We have so
many festivals that bring us UP, that give us all an opportunity to connect
with community, to relate personally to our people’s history, to renew our
covenant of faith and ethics. So why is
it that in English these days have come to be given that description, that
title, of High Holy Days?
Well, let’s go back
to the original Hebrew names for the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement:
Rosh Hashanah - the
Jewish New Year - is called in the Torah
Yom Teruah, the Day of sounding the shofar, a sign of judgment, the day
on which it is said we are written in the Book of Life for the coming
year. It marks the beginning of the Ten
Days of Awe, of prayer, self-examination, repentance, and forgiveness,
culminating on Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement - a day of fasting on which we
are hopefully sealed into the Book of Life, and start again, purified, cleansed,
reborn to the gift of another year of life.
If those two days
are the primary focus of what we call the High Holy Days, then we need to zoom
out to a wider view of this season, as it actually begins at least a month
earlier, in the Hebrew month of Elul, during which we are encouraged to reach
out to family and friends and ask for forgiveness for offenses we might have
committed, even unknowingly. If we are
asked sincerely, we are also supposed to forgive others (We will have a much
more detailed discussion of this process of forgiveness at the Elul Workshop on
Sunday, September 7 at 2 p.m.). On the
Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, we observe Selichot, a service containing the
melodies and some of the prayers of repentance to get us into the mind-set of
the upcoming holy days. The Torah mantles are changed to white ones to
symbolize for us a return from sin to purity.
By the time we reach Yom Kippur, we have done the work as much as
possible regarding person-to-person relations, and so are ready to ask for
forgiveness from God for our own failings when we “missed the mark” of
fulfilling our soul’s purpose (Chet, the Hebrew word for one kind of
“sin” is an archery term and denotes
missing the mark for which we have been aiming).
Let’s zoom out even
farther for an even more expansive view of this season of the High Holy
Days. Four days after we break the fast
at the end of Yom Kippur, we enter into the harvest festival of Sukkot, the
time of inner transformation likened to a caterpillar transforming into a
butterfly during its enclosed period in a chrysalis. This joyous festival, at the conclusion of
the autumn harvest of the year in Ancient Israel, was called He-chag, The
Holiday, as it had such vital importance for an agricultural society. Even though we live in modern times, and many
Jews live in an urban environment, we still give thanks for our “harvest” to
the Source of our bounty. The American
holiday of Thanksgiving was based on Sukkot!
For seven days (or eight days outside the Land of Israel) we enter into
a small decorated hut with a leaf-covered roof through which the stars can be
seen, we eat and “dwell” there as much as possible, and integrate the inner
work we have achieved during the previous weeks of prayer and renewal.
When we emerge, we
are ready to fly as our best selves, rededicating ourselves to our highest
goals, and committing ourselves to doing mitzvoth, both in our personal lives,
and as good work in our community. Then…
and we are not done yet!... comes Simchat Torah, the “Joy of Torah,” when we
conclude our reading of the Five Books of Moses, and roll the scroll of the
Torah back to Bereishit, Genesis, and begin our reading and study all over
again, a portion a week for the entire yearly cycle.
These two months of
Elul and Tishrei are filled with layers of meaning – the yearly cycle of
nature, the intensity of repairing relations, reliving the lessons of Jewish
history, and reconnecting with the Creator, the Holy One, the unnamable Essence
of All Life.
If you would like
to follow a day-by-day source on instruction and meditation, I suggest “60
Days: A Spiritual Guide to the High Holidays [sic]” by Simon Jacobson. You will be immersed in
the sensations and personal journey throughout the series of holidays that
comprise our High Holy Days.
I invite you to
expand your participation this year, so that these transformational days truly
are for you “high” and “holy.”
Blessing for the month of Elul
5774
(August 27 – September 24, 2014)
May you seek and offer forgiveness during this time of preparation
for the High Holy Days, and may this season be both solemn and joyous as we are
stirred by the call of the shofar to
raise up the level of our soulwork during our lifetime, that precious
gift. May you be written and sealed in
the Book of Living Fully, and be you be blessed with a sweet New Year.
-
Amen.
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