Beyond the Days of Awe

While many Jews take their Judaism for granted, there are certain days of the calendar year on which we all become attuned to our faith. As we will soon see, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will bring Beth El congregants flocking to our sanctuary. In a conversation with Monsignor McSweeney, I learned that Catholics share a similar challenge. Akin to our “High Holidays Jews,” they have what they call “CEO’s – Christmas/Easter Onlys.”

Whether we come two days a year, or whether we make Beth El a part of our daily and weekly lives, we all can agree that the Days of Awe are unique and powerful. Our goal during this time is to rekindle the flames of our holiest selves. While the gates of repentance are always open, Jewish tradition teaches that the High Holy Days offer a unique opportunity. According to Rabbinic Judaism, on Yom Kippur the universe is aligned in such a way that God can more clearly hear our prayers.

The music, the liturgy, the drawing together of our community, and the memories we each bring, all serve to open us to the power of these days. Yet if the High Holy Days have no impact on the days beyond, as Jews, we have failed to fulfill their purpose. Our experience during the Days of Awe should influence every day thereafter.

• To be a Jew beyond the Days of Awe is to hear the blasts of the shofar and to awaken not only to our own faults but to the failings of our community. The blasts of the shofar call us to remember the world’s creation. God put the responsibility of caring for the earth in our hands, but we are not always worthy stewards. Our dependence on fossil fuels and resulting
  global warming threaten future generations. Let us make commitments on this birthday of the world to heal the earth we have been given by making changes in our daily activities.
   

• To be a Jew beyond the Days of Awe is not only to share the food we would have eaten on Yom Kippur with our soup kitchens and food pantries, but to take Isaiah’s words into our lives. The fast is not about afflicting our own souls, but moving us to be sensitive to the souls of others who are afflicted. Every day we need to care about those who are downcast by oppression, by hunger and by poverty. The High Holidays should move us every day to share our bread and to change our systems such as minimum wage and costly higher education so that those who are needy can provide for themselves and we can fulfill Maimonides’ highest level of tzedakah.
   

• To be a Jew beyond the Days of Awe is to pray not only that we, as individuals, are written in the Book of Life, but to pray for Israel’s destiny as well. On Yom Kippur we stand before God as if our own survival was on the line, and we promise to change. This Yom Kippur, Israel has been fighting for her security. On this day that God is listening more keenly than ever, let us pray for peace and security for our Israeli brothers and sisters as if it were our very own, for we are vitally connected.

The Talmud requires that the sanctuaries in which we pray have windows so that our prayers are not disconnected from the world outside. Similarly the prayers of our High Holy Days need to be connected to the actions of our everyday lives. May our prayers on these Days of Awe be answered and may this new year be one of treasuring our Jewish rituals and teachings, thereby filling our days with holiness, healing, and peace.