Neilah Sermon
Another High Holiday season is coming to a close. Yes, we've still got Sukkot and Simchat Torah coming up, but everyone's mood changes after Yom Kippur. This is the big one. So as we get ready to conclude our services and our holiday, what do we take with us? Is there something you can hold onto, and take with you, into that auditorium for the break-fast, and back into your homes and lives for the year about to begin?
That, to me, is the central question. And you all know by now that my answer has to do with Pride. That has been my theme for these holidays, and that will also be the final thought I hope you leave with, and that you internalize.
What does Pride mean to you, and how can it become a tool, a vehicle, to help you improve your life? But that is only one part of my message, which leads me to the topic of tonight’s sermon, and the final installment in my series on Pride.
So much of society today is about both instant gratification and self-gratification. What will work for me? What will serve ME the best, right NOW? These questions certainly dominate our thoughts about the economy, healthcare, the government, the environment, and even how we run the congregation, and how decisions get made in our homes. Judaism and the rabbis in every generation have battled against this. Yes, it is human nature, and understandably we need to protect ourselves, worry about our families, and make sure we have enough security, shelter, education, and food. But Judaism demands that we think past ourselves. Isaiah said it in our Haftarah this morning, “God doesn’t want your sacrifices, doesn’t want you to ask God for help and forgiveness, if you are going to mistreat the widow, the orphan, and the poor.”
I began my series on Pride with the self, the individual. I believe we have to start internally, understanding ourselves better and feeling good about who we are, but that is only the starting point. We begin there, but we must move outwards. We must expand that circle and look outside ourselves, then outside our families... and then outside our communities.
The self is not the end, just as Neilah is not the end. Our services this evening conclude, but our year, and our ability to transform and improve, has only just begun.
I had a lot of thoughts about what my final sermon would focus on, what the last circle would be. I’m sure each of you could think of a different option, and I encourage you to keep expanding your own circles, and contemplating other areas where you can feel more Pride, and where you can work to make a difference. But for me, tonight, the final circle is Pride in being Jewish. Now I know that not everyone in the room IS Jewish. This sermon is not meant only for the Jews in the room, because I think these principles can apply both to other religions, and to everyone’s relationship to Judaism.
Furthermore, this IS a Jewish congregation. And there are problems in this world that I feel stem from a lack of pride in who we are, and what it means to be Jewish. So I ask your forgiveness, today on Yom Kippur, if you feel this topic does not apply entirely to you... though I sincerely believe that it still might.
But when I look around and I see a growing disconnect between young people in Israel and young people in the rest of the Jewish World, where we feel we have nothing in common, and neither community understands the other, I feel a need to say something. When we hear about people like Bernie Madoff, about scandals surrounding rabbis, or corruption in Israel, or even the issues regarding honesty right here in our own building; I know that it can be hard to feel pride in being Jewish.
No one is saying there aren’t challenges. I am not pretending there aren’t reasons to be fed up with both Israel and Judaism. I know that religion has a lot to answer for, and that when Christopher Hitchens writes a book called, “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” he has good reasons for saying that.
HOWEVER, we cannot give up because there are challenges. We cannot throw out our heritage, or forget about our history, or stop defending the things we love, simply because they are not perfect. I’ve got my issues with Judaism, with Israel, and with the Torah, and I’ve aired them here several times. But I stand before you this evening, and I say that I am still proud to be Jewish.
One of our greatest rabbis, Hillel, taught, “Al Tifrosh Min Ha-tzibbur,” “Do not withdraw from the community.” He doesn’t give all the reasons why the community is great, and why your grievances do not matter, or are not legitimate. In fact, he wouldn’t write this if people didn’t have issues with their community, or didn’t have a desire to indeed leave. Nevertheless, Hillel tells us, “Do not withdraw.” If you love something, if you feel great pride in it, you will find a way to stay, and find a way to make it work.
In my previous four sermons, I gave you reasons and examples why you should feel pride. I am not going to do that tonight. It is late, the gates are closing on our service, and I know that our attention is beginning to drift elsewhere. Tonight’s message is, “Feel pride in being Jewish.” Each of us has to figure out what that means for ourselves. How will I feel it, how will I pass it along, and how will that sense of pride become sustainable?
I tell you now, that it must happen. I believe our future depends on it, which is why I am dedicated to this work; to helping build up pride in ourselves, our families, our Ohev community, the Conservative Movement, and the Jewish World.
The central theme of Neilah is “to be sealed.” Now that we hope to have been written into the Book of Life, we focus on being sealed into it, so that it becomes permanent. Nearly every prayer in our service that includes the word, “Kotev,” meaning “Inscribe,” has been changed, and they now all say “Chotem,” “Seal.”
The other major difference in Neilah is that once we begin the repetition of the Amidah, the bulk of the service, the Ark will remain open the entire time. As I did last year, I invite you, at any time once the repetition has begun, to come up on the bimah, whenever the mood strikes you, and take a moment for your own prayer in front of the Ark. Even if someone else is standing here, you can stand beside them, and we can make room for anyone who wants to come up.
I ask you, whether you choose to come up on the bimah or not, to think about this question: Can you seal the word “Pride” into one area of your own life this year? I gave you five areas, and there are certainly more, but can Pride become a focus, and an imperative, for you to make an improvement in one area or another? Like the shofar blast, which will conclude our service, Pride can be our call to action, that wakes us up and inspires us to make a change.
Another great rabbi, who lived shortly after Hillel, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, taught, “Repent one day before your death.” His students asked him, “But how can we know when that is?” His reply, “You cannot know.” That is why we must make our changes today.
On the first evening of Rosh Hashanah, I anticipated a question you might have about this sermon series, stated simply, “Why Pride?” My answer, which I give you now, is this: It is optimistic. It creates self-confidence as well as joy in the accomplishments of others. It makes us stand up for what we care about, and want to pass it along to others, especially the next generation. And they will want to take it on, when they see the passion and excitement it evokes in us.
That is why I chose Pride. And that is what I hope and pray for all of us in the year to come. Shana Tovah and G’mar Chatimah Tovah - May you all be inscribed, and inscribe yourselves, in the Book of Life!
No comments:
Post a Comment