Rosh Hashanah 5783 Day 2
As most of you know, I “retired” from the pulpit rabbinate just
over a year ago. But retirement for rabbis is a strange and wondrous thing. I’m
still a rabbi – I didn’t give up my license! And I’m still rabbi-ing! But not
full time, and more or less on my own terms. I have the privilege of continuing
to serve you on an occasional basis at services, I still teach my Lunch and
Learn class as I have for over 20 years, and I still serve the broader community
by overseeing Jewish divorces and conversions – more often now that I have more
time. But I can skip a board or committee meeting without wondering how they
got on without me or whether they were upset that I wasn’t there. In short, I
have fewer responsibilities. I cook and bake more, which is awesome for me! And
I have more time to reflect and philosophize about what was and what will be.
Like
now. Today. These Days of Awe, these Yamim Nora’im we have just entered are supposed to be a time
of introspection in the form of cheshbon
hanefesh, an accounting of the soul, leading to teshuvah – repentance or turning oneself around. The prayers of
this Rosh Hashanah day get us started on that path – we admit to generalized
wrongdoing and ask God to forgive us and “write us in the Book of Life”, to
give us another year, another chance. On Yom Kippur, we will in earnest confess
all of our sins, real or imagined, in the form of the short confessional we
call “Ashamnu”, and the long
confessional we call “Al Chet”. Some
machzorim have additional sins to confess – and some machzorim also have
mitzvot, positive accomplishments to confess, to remind God and ourselves that
we aren’t as bad as the Ashamnu and Al Chet would have us believe. About 20
years ago, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin published such a list, “For the Mitzvot We
Performed”, based on the Al Chet - I used to hand it out at services. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AkBlitQmdWSRnc5xz58pyBlsx6Bpwbw7/view?usp=sharing)
These
things, these confessions of guilt and reminders of our positive traits have
great value, because they give us a more complete perspective of ourselves and
remind us that we are works in progress – there is no finality to our lives, although
there will of course come an end. But I must tell you that I don’t believe that
that end is going to be determined by God today, or tomorrow, or on Yom Kippur,
or on any other day. On the other hand, we do write for ourselves our own Sefer
Chaim, our own Book of Life, by simply living our lives as best we can in the
time we have, and to find meaning in even the simplest things.
And
that, my friends, brings me to Sukkot! More specifically, it brings me to one
of the most misunderstood books of Tanakh, Kohelet – Ecclesiastes, which we
read on Sukkot. I seriously believe that Megillat Kohelet is the antidote to
problematic Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur theology, just as Chag Sukkot itself,
HeChag – the ultimate celebratory festival, is the antidote to the ascetic breast-beating
Yom Kippur. And I want to talk to you about Kohelet and Sukkot today because I
think we moderns need them in order to get through Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur. We need Sukkot, and we need Kohelet. More than we know.
Yesterday,
we read and sang the haunting and truly disturbing Unetaneh Tokef – we will do so
again in a little while. Today is the Day of Judgment, “Hinei yom hadin!” the
angels cry out. God is going to decide who will live, who will die, who will be
at ease, who will suffer, and so on. Uteshuvah utefila utzedakah ma’avirin et
roa hagezeirah – but repentance, prayer and charity reduce the severity of the
decree. Is it really so?
We
get a hint, derived from Kohelet himself, immediately after uteshuvah utefila,
that there’s a certain transience and fragility to our lives that we cannot
control, despite our best efforts. That is, to say that perhaps repentance,
prayer, and teshuvah won’t save us from death this year after all. Adam yesodo
mei’afar, v’sofo l’afar – man’s origin is dust and his end is dust – it’s
actually a close paraphrase of Kohelet himself. That paragraph also says we are
“Ukh’tztitz noveil” – like the flower that withers. And that word, noveil - to
wither, I believe is from the same root as hevel, the word in Kohelet that is
so often translated as “vanity” but which really implies a mere wisp of breath.
Kohelet
is a true existentialist – i.e., he deals with the problem of human existence
in a way which specifically rejects the seemingly harsh, arbitrary determinism
of God’s judgment as laid out in the Machzor. In his brilliant translation of
Kohelet, Robert Alter points out that Kohelet seems more often than not to use
the word Elohim, which we always translate as God, to mean Fate, or the fates,
or mere chance. We don’t know, and we can’t know, what will be. So we take what
comes – and find joy in what we can and what we have.
There’s
a tradition that the man Kohelet is actually King Solomon, and that Megillat
Kohelet is a bookend to Shir Hashirim – the Song of Songs also attributed to
King Solomon. Shir Hashirim is written in his youth and early manhood; Kohelet
in the autumn of his years, reflecting on his life. So why do we read Kohelet
on Sukkot?
One
obvious answer is that Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem on Sukkot, so
of course we would read something attributed to him. But a closer reading tells
me more – i.e., that it is the philosophy of Kohelet and his instruction to
enjoy what life we have the best we can that is the reason. In rabbinic
tradition, Sukkot is regarded as the most joyful of all the chagim – even more
than Pesach!
The
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgy and theology tell us we have sinned, we
need to reflect, we need to make amends, we need to apologize – what Reb Jason
spoke of yesterday. Sukkot, and Kohelet, tell us not that it is all “vanity” –
that is a mistranslation – but that there must come an end to that sort of ascetic
self-afflicting behavior, and also that there must be an acceptance that we are
all imperfect - and that that is okay! We should be grateful for what we have, the
gifts of God and Creation, share it with others as much as we can, as we are
commanded to by the Torah, and to enjoy the simple pleasures of life – to eat,
to drink, and to love.
The
idea of eating and drinking fits in perfectly with Sukkot. It’s a celebration
of the harvest. And Solomon dedicated the Temple on Sukkot precisely because
the people would be there for the Festival of Sukkot. And he turned it into the
biggest party ever held in Jerusalem! With apologies to the vegetarians here -
eight days of barbecue and wine and singing and dancing! But I also said that
Kohelet said one of the simple pleasures in life that we must enjoy is love.
I
have a new favorite quote from Tanakh, from Chapter 9, Verse 9 of Kohelet:
רְאֵה חַיִים עִם אִֹשָה אַֹשֶר אָהַבְתָ
רְאֵה חַיִים עִם אִֹשָה אַֹשֶר אָהַבְתָ
“Enjoy happiness with a woman you love - all the fleeting
days of life that have been granted to you under the sun—all your fleeting
days. For that alone is your share out of life and out of the means you acquire
under the sun.” That’s you, Lynn.
In my view, Kohelet is neither hedonistic nor cynical –
he tells us that we are to live with as much joy as we can – yes, and to serve
God in joy as well. He affirms joy and finds meaning in the small things in
life, which is transient – hevel. Food, drink, love – also friendship and joy –
these are the things that move Kohelet after all the riches he claims to have
amassed, all the stuff he has owned. Ultimately, all that stuff is irrelevant
and useless, and never satisfies – “A lover of money never has
his fill of money, nor a lover of wealth his fill of income. That too is hevel”
– a transient wisp.
"There is nothing better than man rejoicing," and "nothing is better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and be joyful." Kohelet also exhorts us to "Go, eat your bread with joy, drink your wine with a content mind; for God has already graced your deeds."
Kohelet
seeks wisdom, and what he means by that is both understanding and meaning. What
are the things that really matter in life? It’s not stuff – stuff that can’t go
with you to the grave, stuff that will ultimately fall into the hands of
others. It’s the intangibles that matter.
And
that is why we seek to heal relationships during Aseret Yamei Teshuvah, the Ten
Days of Repentance – so that on Sukkot, we can celebrate with the great joy
that comes from knowing we have healed others and ourselves. That is my prayer
for all of us.
Chaverim,
Lynn and I hope you will be able to join us on Sunday, October 9 at our home
for pizza in the hut, and more, sponsored by the congregation. We must have
your reservation in the synagogue office no later than 1:00 PM Monday, October 3, so
we can be sure to have enough pizza, salad, fruit, dessert, soft drinks, and of
course – wine! There’s no charge, but donations will be gladly accepted.
We
wish you a Shanah Tovah Shel Shalom, Bri’ut, Simchah, Chochmah, U’Mashma’ut – A
Happy New Year of Peace, Health, Joy, Wisdom, and Meaning.
