40 of Our Favorite Things About Judaism
IHO our 40th Anniversary
1. Shabbat
2. Rosh Hashanah
3. Yom Kippur
4. Sukkot
5. Simchat Torah
6. Chanukah
7. Tu B’shevat
8. Purim
9. Pesach
10. Shavuot
11. Counting the Omer
12. Yom Ha’atzma’ut
13. Jewish Geography
14. Jewish Summer Camp
15. “Traditions”
16. How we keep it real
17. Clergy support
18. Sense of belonging
19. Food
20. God
21. Observing our Children’s Jewish practices
22. Community
23. Torah
24. Social Action
25. Choosing to be Jewish (every day)
26. Family
27. Tzedakah
28. Study and Learning through questioning
29. Reform Jewish Values
30. Israel
31. Jewish Humor
32. Kindness (G’milut Chasadim)
33. Jewish Music
34. Deed over Creed
35. Culture
36. Life Cycle Events
37. Yiddish
38. Jewish History
39. Talmud
40. Gematria
These 40 things, according to Facebook polls and conversations with many of you, are 40 things we love about Judaism.
40 is an important number in Judaism. It is the number of days and nights it rained in the Great Flood. It is the number of days Moses spent on Mount Sinai writing the Torah. It is the number of years the Israelites wandered in the desert. It is the number of years of King David’s reign. His son Solomon also ruled for 40 years. Elijah walked for 40 days until his experience in the cave where he encounters God.
40 also happens to be the number of weeks for human gestation, and according to the Talmud (which is not a medical document), the number of days between conception and viability of a fetus (B. Yevamot 69b). A mikvah is required to have 40 seah’s of water in it (a seah is a liquid measurement), and 40 is the age that a person attains understanding, according to Pirkei Avot 5:26. Because of that passage, age 40 is when a person is traditionally allowed to begin study of mysticism, what we sometimes call Kabbalah. The letter mem in Hebrew represents 40, which happens to be exactly the center of the Hebrew alef-bet. It is said that mem is in the center because when you take the first, center, and last letter of the alef-bet you get emet, which means "truth."
Remember, in the Torah, Talmud, and other sacred texts, numbers are not math. They are symbolic, representative of an idea, or simply used to mean, “a lot.” In the case of the number 40, it represents a great transformation. The Great Flood, Moses’ time on Mount Sinai, the Israelite’s time in the desert, and all the other Biblical references to the number I just mentioned were moments of transformation for our people.
And now, here we are, celebrating 40 years of Congregation B’nai Tzedek. Last month we had a wonderful Shabbat service honoring all five of CBT’s rabbis, and in three weeks we will gather for an amazing Gala at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach. Four other Shabbat services will be held celebrating different aspects of CBT: Social Action, Music, Education, and our Future.
If you are not aware of these amazing celebrations, I encourage you to pick up a bulletin and save the dates on your calendars. Rose Lesser and Debbie Biebelberg have been working tirelessly for over a year and a half planning these amazing celebrations along with their enormous crew of dedicated volunteers. I know I speak for everyone here tonight when I say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
If you, like me, would still like to celebrate our 40th anniversary on more occasions, tonight is our lucky night. As you should know by now, it is my custom to use Erev Rosh Hashanah as an opportunity to announce the year’s study theme. Education is so important to CBT, and starting the year off with study helps us all get in the mood for the many learning opportunities we have in the coming year. This year our study theme is a list of “40 of Our Favorite Things About Judaism,” that I will speak on throughout the course of the year in honor of the 40th Anniversary.
They are listed on a poster in the lobby as you may have seen on your way in, and as we discuss them, we will check them off, ending hopefully by next Rosh Hashanah. By the way, the topics will not necessarily be in the order they are on the poster. Upcoming topics will be announced through our one-way texting system, and anyone who wants a copy of the materials studied will be welcome to them if you miss a topic you are interested in. Ending by next Rosh Hashanah gives us 50 weeks to discuss 40 topics. Some of these will be discussed in classes on Tuesday evenings or on a Sunday morning or afternoon. Some of them will be discussed in sermons as I am going to do right now, starting with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Just about every holiday was mentioned by those who were asked. Add that to the fact that many people on their High Holy Day review forms last year asked that I discuss the holidays themselves during sermons, so it feels appropriate to discuss Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur today. So here we go:
Our 40 favorite things about being Jewish, topic #1: Rosh Hashanah.
Rosh Hashanah means "head of the year," and it is one of four new years on the Jewish calendar, according to the Talmud in tractate Rosh Hashanah. We have a new year for animal tithes, a new year for kings, and a new year for trees in addition to Rosh Hashanah. The new year for trees we call Tu B'Shevat, and we'll get to that one in January, and the new year for tithes and kings we don't celebrate anymore, but it is interesting to note that the new year for tithing usually falls around mid-April. I have no idea if that is why the IRS chose April 15, but it wouldn't surprise me.
There are many traditions on Rosh Hashanah that help encourage us to have a sweet new year. We dip apples in honey. We eat round challah, preferably with raisins in it. The round shape of the apple reminds us of the circular nature of then year, and the shape of the challah reminds us of a crown, that this should be the year the Israelites are crowned with glory. Remember, at that time crowns were not gold and jagged, they looked like a bedazzled turban. So the dough is the turban, and the raisins are the jewels.
There are some stranger customs. You may have heard of eating a fish head on Rosh Hashanah. If you think that is strange, it is a Sephardic custom to eat a sheep head on Rosh Hashanah. This is based on Deuteronomy 28:13, “Adonai will make you the head and not the tail…” The idea is that we should be at the front of all of our endeavors throughout the year, and never lagging behind anything we set out to do.
The holiday itself comes from the Torah, as it says in Leviticus 23:24:
Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of horns, a holy gathering.
Hopefully you heard that and thought to yourself, "What? The seventh month? How can the first day of the year be in the seventh month?" The Jewish calendar is a fascinating and often confusing thing. Suffice it to say that in the thousands of years between the writing of the Torah and the canonization of the current Hebrew calendar, the way we count the months has changed.
So letting that go, that leaves us with what we do: have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing horns, a holy gathering. The Torah gives us no other instructions for celebrating Rosh Hashanah. It doesn't even call it Rosh Hashanah. That name comes from the Talmud. The Torah has plenty to say about Yom Kippur, but only those three phrases for today.
So let's break them down:
Have a sabbath.
A sabbath is a day of rest. Usually we think of a sabbath as a cessation. In Hebrew the word Shabbat is the same root as the word shvittah, meaning a workers' strike. This also makes us think of a sabbath in terms of what we don't do. We don't go to work, we don't light fires, we don’t do any of the halchically restricted activities. That can make it sound like a boring day, but there are all kinds of things do on a sabbath. We spend time in prayer and study. We gather with family and friends. We can go on a hike or have a picnic or play cards. There are all kinds of things to do to designate a sabbath, both on Rosh Hashanah and every Shabbat. Of course, the most important thing is to attend services. So I’ll see you all tomorrow morning. But I’m sure that afterward many of you have plans to share a meal with friends and family. That’s a big part of what this holiday is about.
Next, a memorial for blowing of horns.
This might be the defining moment for Rosh Hashanah celebrations. Blowing the shofar. Everyone I know grew up with a bal tekiah, a “shofar blower,” who was absolutely amazing. This is especially true for those of you who are growing up here with Joel Rosen. There is something fascinating about using a ram’s horn the same way the Israelites did thousands of years ago. It connects us to a long chain of history and peoplehood. But it is meant to shake us up, too.
Let’s be honest. The shofar is not like a trumpet or a saxophone. It does not produce a beautiful, melodic sound. It is harsh and jarring. It is meant as an alarm, both in the sense of something to wake us, and in the sense of something to make us aware. We are not only to listen to the horn, we are to have a memorial for blowing of horns. We are supposed to remember something. Perhaps it is that visceral connection to our ancient roots that we are supposed to remember. Perhaps it is our upbringing and listening to the shofar every year for however many years we have been here.
Perhaps we are supposed to remember why we are here in the first place. Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the year, and a chance for a new beginning for each of us. The shofar’s blast is a way of grabbing us by the ears and yelling, “Remember what you have to do this year!” Not for our job or our home, but for our soul. The shofar is our spiritual alarm clock. It calls us to action, so that by Yom Kippur we are ready to make ourselves better.
A holy gathering.
This one is easy. Here we are, together at CBT. It’s a holy gathering!
In our Saturday morning Torah study we have just gotten to Leviticus 19, the beginning of the Holiness Code. The Torah portion that this is connected to is called Kedoshim, and we mentioned that it is much easier to translate the word Kedoshim to the English “Holiness,” than it is to define holiness.
Often people will say that holiness is godliness, but that isn’t exactly a precise definition. God is certainly holy, and God is often referred to as HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the Holy One of Blessing. But that still doesn’t define the word holy.
I like to think of holy as meaning separate and on a higher plane. All of the things we do to designate ourselves as Jewish—how we eat, how we dress, how we worship, how we treat others—all of these things can be holy. We do it differently, and in a way that elevates each other. Separate and on a higher plane.
So when I look around here and see us gathered to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, I do see a holy gathering. We are here to make ourselves better people, surrounded by people we love who are working on the same thing. By being here tonight we show that we are a kehillah kedoshah, a holy community. By being here for 40 years, producing excellence in education, social action, and matterness, we continually show that any gathering with CBT members is a holy gathering.
All the more so tonight, as Rosh Hashanah begins, we are gathered for sacred purpose. We have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of horns, a holy gathering. All of which help us understand why Rosh Hashanah is one of our 40 favorite things about Judaism.
Topic #2, Yom Kippur.
Where the Torah is lacking in instruction for Rosh Hashanah, it makes up for it with how to commemorate Yom Kippur. In the same chapter I mentioned earlier from Leviticus describing Rosh Hashanah with one verse, we get six verses about what to do on Yom Kippur. It is to be a complete sabbath, a Shabbat shabbaton, a day of afflicting our souls, a day of sacrifice, day of atonement, a day where all work is forbidden, and anyone who does work is threatened with ostracism (Lev. 23:27-32). Earlier in Leviticus we read about the expiation of sins ceremony that the High Priest did for the entire Israelite community on Yom Hakippurim. In Numbers these instructions are repeated, and specific sacrifices are delineated.
Yom Kippur is referred to in our liturgy as yom hadin, our day of judgment. On Yom Kippur we spend the day in prayer and study to repent for our sins. We actually have an opportunity to do this every day during the prayer service, but if a Jewish person is going to go to synagogue only one day in the year, this would be the day. We fast, abstain from bathing, stay away from perfume and deodorant, all to help us focus on our spiritual needs instead of our bodies. We might wear white or avoid wearing leather. Some will even wear a kittel, a white robe that is only worn on one’s wedding day, in one’s coffin, and on Yom Kippur. All of this helps with our main goal for the day: making tshuvah.
Tshuvah shares its root with the word lashuv, to turn. The prophet Jeremiah uses this word to describe the best possible relationship between God and the people of Israel.
Im tashuv Yisrael, If you return, O Israel–declares Adonai—Im tashuv eilai, If you return to Me, If you remove your abominations from My presence And do not waver, and swear, "As Adonai lives," In sincerity, justice, and righteousness -- Nations shall bless themselves by you And praise themselves by you.
Jeremiah describes returning, or repenting, as the tool by which we will merit the respect and admiration of other nations. Other people will look to our example and live by it.
Tshuvah meaning “return” means we return to God and faith, to the best version of ourselves we can be, before we were corrupted by prejudice and negativity.
Tshuvah means more than just returning, though. It means repentance.
Judaism acknowledges that human beings are not perfect. God created imperfect beings that do good and bad. We try to do good. We try to react positively and work toward the best things in the world. It doesn’t always work that way. We make mistakes. We sin. We miss the mark. T'shuvah is the device God gives us to fix our mistakes and make good on the times we have missed the mark.
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, in his book The Thirteen Petaled Rose, writes, “Repentance is not just a psychological phenomenon…it is a process that can effect real change in the world, in all worlds.” We can, together, change the world through the power of t'shuvah. Repentance is the device by which we end the cycle of “an eye for an eye,” and begin the process of healing ourselves, our families, our nation and our world.
It might be a little odd to describe Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, as one of our “40 Favorite Things About Judaism,” because the heaviness of the day does not lend to the feeling of describing something as a favorite. But if we do succeed in our process of t'shuva, we might find that our atonement creates a feeling of at-one-ment, a feeling of togetherness with our community. After a day of truly repenting and taking steps toward perfecting ourselves, we hear that final blast of the shofar that heralds the end of the Holy Day, and we could find ourselves in a kind of euphoria, at peace, and ready to be better.
May this High Holy Day season come to be one of our favorites, and may we find our celebrations of the 40th anniversary be blessed with fun, safety, health, and peace.
Shanah tovah umetukah! Wishing you and yours a happy and sweet 5777.
No comments:
Post a Comment