This evening, as the sun begins to set and we prepare for the end of Yom Kippur, with the service known as Neilah, I want to tell you about a song. The first time I heard it, a few years ago, I stopped in my tracks and my ears perked up… but for really the silliest reason. The first line of the song is, “old pirates, yes, they rabbi.” And I was soooo confused! Why would the famous singer, Bob Marley, be singing a reggae song about rabbis?!?! It turns out, of course, that he wasn’t saying that at all. The song is called “Redemption Song,” and is very soft and unassuming… but so, so powerful and profound.
I discovered that Marley often in his songs uses the 1st person pronoun, “I,” which usually refers to the subject, the one actively DOING in the sentence, instead of “me,” which is the pronoun for the person receiving or having something done to them. The lyric I was mishearing ACTUALLY says, “Old pirates, yes, they rob I,” and he doesn’t mean some hook-handed, eyepatch wearing pirate; nor does he mean that he was robbed of some possessions. No, he’s talking about the slave traders being pirates, and they kidnapped me, they stole ME from my home. Marley is saying I - and my people - refuse to remain objects; the people to whom something is done. I am I; I am active, engaged, and able to influence what happens to me in this life. I am not passive, so those despicable pirates “robbed I.” They dragged my ancestors from my home and enslaved them for generation upon generation. But every time I hear the song, for just a quick moment, I still think Bob Marley is singing about rabbis…
For a couple of years, I questioned whether I should ever share that funny, almost silly, little association in a sermon, because the song is about slavery and oppression, and furthermore, it has come to mean a great deal to me. It’s profoundly inspiring, achingly and tragically prophetic, and yet it insistently and stubbornly maintains a sense of hope and light at the end of the tunnel; no matter what. Marley sings, “Won’t you help to sing these songs of freedom. Cause all I ever had… redemption songs.” In other words: yes, we sing redemption songs about eventually being free… but we sing them for right now, to work TODAY towards these goals we must all pursue; only then can we hope for redemption and peace in the future. So how can we focus on the task at hand, getting through the challenges of today, to hope for a better tomorrow?
Neilah is, in many ways, a Redemption Song. The introductory piyyut, medieval poem turned into a prayer, of Neilah, that Rabbi Miller just led for us, is Eil Norah Alilah. It is replete with the theme of redemption, even as each line sings about “this closing hour”: “Renew our days as of old,” “Restore your remaining flock to their former glory,” and the final line refers to the angels Michael and Gabriel, as well as the prophet Elijah, always the harbinger of the Messianic Era, and prays that they “bring tidings of redemption in this closing hour.” We then conclude Neilah, and thus the entire holiday, with the blast of a shofar and a chant of “L’Shanah Ha-ba’ah Birushalayim! - Next Year in Jerusalem.” Again, it’s about the ingathering of exiles, hopes for peace, and a prayer for salvation and redemption.
But I wanted to start with Marley’s Redemption Song, to remind us that our hopes and inspiration don’t only have to come from within our own community, or just from Jewish sources. If we truly ever hope for redemption and peace on earth, we are all going to have to learn from one another, respect the traditions and practices of other religions and communities, and work HARD for redemption TOGETHER. There’s one line in Redemption Song that always gives me chills: “How long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look? Some say it’s just a part of it; we’ve got to fulfill The Book.” There are always prophetic voices around us; people of morality and ethics, compassion and love, who challenge us to face what is broken in our society. We’re not anywhere near ready to work on fixing the biggest systemic problems; let’s just work on SEEING them for now, acknowledging their existence, and accepting that our status quo is NOT working for the majority of people as well as animals and plants on this planet.
It’s daunting to look at these deeply-rooted traumas, like the enslavement of African people, and the oppression that languishes on to this day, where some people find it offensive to say aloud that those people’s Black Lives Matter. It is, in fact, so hard to face the ills all around us, that we often prefer to silence those who point out the problems, rather than address them. Hence Marley’s ominous line, “how long shall they kill our prophets, while we stand aside and look?” When we chant the Al Cheit and the Ashamnu, the confessional prayers of our sins, and we beat our chest… how can we avoid the pitfall of just standing aside and gawking when truth and fairness is being silenced? That is truly a failing that we can all strike ourselves for, and try and resolve to do more in the year ahead.
The second half of that line is mainly meant for a Christian audience, I suspect. That the suffering of the prophet (or Messiah…), according to some, is just a part of the grand scheme of human existence, and the martyrdom of those individuals who speak truth to power is itself fulfilling and leading up to the prophecies of the End of Days as told in the Bible. But I just can’t shake that line. I think Marley is kind of saying it tongue-in-cheek, that those people, who say it’s all just a part of God’s Plan, are absolving themselves of responsibility. And this feels like a particularly Jewish point-of-view. We are not meant to stand aside and look, stay on the sidelines and let whatever is supposed to happen, happen. Why else would we strike our chest, if not to shock our system and try and get in the game, affect change?! Why blast the shofar repeatedly, and mandate that everyone needs to hear the cry of the shofar… and respond with action?! No, I firmly believe the only thing that is “a part of it,” of fulfilling The Book, is human beings taking responsibility to partner with God in Tikkun Olam, Repairing the World.
After I finish speaking, the Ark is going to be opened and remain open for another half hour or so, throughout nearly all of Neilah. I encourage each and every person in this room to not just “stand aside and look.” Come up to the ark and offer your own prayer, or think about a commitment or resolution that you would like to undertake in the new year. Not because God is up here, and not down there. Not because your prayers are stronger next to a Torah scroll. But because getting out of your seat, walking up these steps, in front of everyone, might just be the first steps you take towards affecting change, and helping to bring about redemption for yourself, your community, and maybe even beyond that.
I agree with Bob Marley, that we should all see ourselves as “I” and not “me,” as active players who make things happen in the world. We were not stolen away and sold into bondage, but the Jewish People have also suffered over the centuries and millennia, and our prophetic voices have also been silenced and killed. Another favorite line of mine from his song is “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.” Tonight is a wonderful night to free our minds from mental slavery, from the belief that we can’t change anything, and nothing is ever going to get better. It can. It will. This evening can be the beginning of redemption, as we sing about throughout Neilah. But not without our help, not if we stand aside and look. Free your mind, help redemption come about, and THAT is how we’ll fulfill the Book.
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