High Holidays Primer

#HighHolidays
#teshuva #sovereignty #redemption #shofar #repentance #judgement

Elaine Braun-Keller, Ritual Chairperson

Teshuvah
For most people, The Word associated with both Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is teshuva, returning, but more practically, confession, repentance and forgiveness. (I also think it’s a great time to return borrowed books and 8 tracks). From myjewishlearning.com:

“Teshuvah can be done at any time, but the High Holiday season, and Yom Kippur especially, is considered an especially auspicious time for it. The process of repentance, as laid out by Maimonides, includes three stages: confession, regret and a vow not to repeat the misdeed. The true penitent, Maimonides says, is the one who finds himself with the opportunity to commit the same sin again yet declines to do so. Prayer, charity and fasting are also said to help one win forgiveness.”

In Judaism, there are two types of sins: sins against fellow humans (such as stealing or adultery or gossip) and sins against God, i.e. breaking or not observing the Mitzvot. Sins against fellow humans can only be atoned when restitution is made. This may be by acknowledging one’s offense asking forgiveness of the one sinned against. The month of Elul is a good time for this.  However, sins against God can only be atoned through performing teshuvah. The High Holidays are a great time for that.

Sovereignty, Malhuyot
It makes no sense to ask for forgiveness for sins against God, unless God is sovereign. Otherwise we would have to go around to all the other gods and ask their forgiveness too. So the sovereignty of God must be acknowledged. We do this in shul on Rosh Hashanah by reciting the Grand Aleinu, as was the practice in the Second Temple. The Grand Aleinu is the same prayer we say today at the end of every service, with an extra twist. When we recite the Aleinu after every service but we don’t fall to the floor, but we bow in acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty. On the HH’s, however, we prostrate ourselves on the ground. The prayer has two parts: We declare that God is our God, that is the God of Israel, and that God is also the universal God. In some utopian future, idolatry will be abolished, that the wicked will be changed. It is important to understand what is not said: Not that everyone will be a Jew. Not that the wicked will be destroyed. Not that wickedness will be destroyed, but that the wicked will turn to God and away from wickedness. Rather, it expresses the vision that one day there will be a recognition of the unity of all people of the world.

Shofarot
The Biblical name for the holiday we know as Rosh Hashanah is Yom Teruah, the day of “blasting” (the Shofar). The Shofar blast signals awakening and revelation. It was heard when the Israelites left Egypt, in the fire and thunder at Sinai, and at the walls of Jericho. In this season, it is first heard during the month of Elul that precedes Rosh Hashanah. Elul is sort of a gradual awakening, not only that summer is ending, but is is a reminder to for us to think about our relationships with others. Who have we treated unfairly during the year? We think about it. We are expected to speak directly to the people whom we have hurt either through our actions or through our words, and ask them to forgive us. While we should have asked forgiveness immediately upon realizing our transgression, now we have an entire month to accomplish this task. Each morning at services, the Shofar is blown to remind us of our responsibility to others and to this world. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the shofar has an urgency. It says WAKE THE HELL UP BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

Judgement
The heart of the liturgy begins at Musaf, which is the “additional service” added on Shabbat and holidays to the morning service. It’s unfortunate, that in many congregations, people leave before Musaf. To quote Rabbi Carolyn Braun “They listen to Genesis (read during the Torah service) and practice Exodus”. The high point of the service is NOT the Rabbi’s sermon. It is arguably Unataneh Tokef. This is recited during the Musaf Amidah. Unataneh Tokef, which is translated as “Proclaim the sanctity of the day” in our Machzor, it is more literally “we give power” or “we lend power to the holiness of this day”. We are the active participants. 

We speak of fear of judgement even on behalf of the angels. We imagine that we are passing before our Sovereign “one by one like a flock of sheep”, being judged and measured for the years remaining to us. Of course, this is not intended to be literal, but a powerful reminder that nothing is permanent in this world. We acknowledge the temporary nature of our lives: 

“We come from dust and return to dust. We labor by our lives for bread, we are like broken shards, like dry grass, like a withered flower; like a passing shadow, a vanishing cloud, a breeze that passes, like dust that scatters, like a fleeting dream”

and that we have a brief time, symbolized by the ten days, to change or lives for the better of the world:

“On Rosh Hashanah it is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed.

But teshuva, tefillah and tzedakah can remove the severity of the decree”. 

What is the decree? Literally, it is death, but this not intended literally. It is closer to spiritual death – something we all experience some more of the time than others. A life lived devoid of meaning. A life with little self awareness. A life lived without the absolute amazement of life itself. A life lived in pursuit of meaningless goals. The Machzor is giving us a roadmap for change. There is no “or” between the three parts of the map. Repentance and prayer and deed of kindness are all part of the path.

Forgiveness
The piyyut (a poem, usually of Medieval origin)  Avinu Malkenu is a neat summary of the petitionary prayers said during the ten day period. It’s recited every day during the ten days except for Shabbat, when petitions are prohibited. We have spent the whole month of Elul evaluating our behavior and asking forgiveness of those we have wronged. Now we petition for God’s forgiveness. We begin by proclaiming the uniqueness of our Sovereign (see above Malhuyot), and ask for help to return to “complete innocence”, to the day of Creation. Many of the lines of this piyyut come from the daily liturgy: grant us a good new year, frustrate the designs of our adversaries, grant glory to Israel, accept our prayer, act for your sake if not for ours. Some are unique to period: inscribe us in the books of goodness, redemption, merit, sustenance and forgiveness. Five books corresponding to the five books of Torah. But, there is a sense of desperation here:
Avinu Malkenu…hear us, pity us, spare us
Avinu Malkenu…have pity on us and on our children
Avinu Malkenu…graciously answer us although we are without merit; Deal with us charitably and lovingly save us!

We are all familiar with the lovely tune that evokes such strong emotions. The High Holidays have begun! Sometimes, it can be difficult to sing it without getting a little verklempt. Despite the obvious male orientation, which some people find so hard to overcome, there is not one among us who cannot say or wish to say to our parent “ I wish I had done this or that and not this or that, please, please forgive me”. It is a universal prayer.

Redemption
The period between Elul and Yom Kippur takes us on a journey. At the end, if we’re lucky, we feel spiritually cleansed and awake.  Rabbi Alan Lew (z”l) describes this in his beautiful book “The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation”, otherwise known as “THIS IS REAL AND YOU ARE COMPLETELY UNPREPARED”:

“On this journey our soul will awaken to itself. We will venture from innocence to sin and back to innocence again. This is journey from denial to awareness, from self-deception to judgment…We will move from self-hatred to self-forgiveness, from anger to healing, from hard-heartedness to broken-heartedness. This is the journey the soul takes to transform itself and to evolve…from deadness to renewal”

Sources: