The following is from Rabbi Justin Goldstein of Congregation Beth Israel. Do you have thoughts you’d like to share? Send them to info@onejewishasheville.org and we’ll make sure it gets posted.
Why Am I Here?
It is a long day of prayer, meditation and study. In a language most do not know fluently, using metaphors many do not connect with deeply. So, why? Why Rosh Hashanah?
Dr. Elana Stein Hain teaches, “The High Holidays serve as a metaphor for life itself. During this season, we enter into an experience that has been curated for us, that existed before we ever did and which has elements that we are comfortable with and elements that challenge us…This is true of life in general: I participate in a world that I don’t completely shape, with others who think differently than I do, within a system that I did not create…
…The High Holidays then bid us instead to think about meaning, about the control we do have. If life is not about what we choose, it is about how we choose to engage with what we encounter…How will we choose to see life, and how will our attitudes guide our actions?”
Why Am I Here?
We can re-envision the world anytime – what makes Rosh Hashanah useful for re-crafting ourselves and the world?
For thousands of years, even to this day, the Jewish people have invested a transformative energy into this day. All around the world, the Jewish people will gather in synagogues and sacred spaces to engage in similar practices focused on bettering ourselves and our world. It carries the power of what John Searle referred to as the power of “collective intentionality.” Our personal experience is amplified by the historical and global collective experience, transcending space and time, of the Jewish people.
Why Am I Here?
Rosh Hashanah happens with or without me, so what makes me so important that I need to participate?
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught:
היום בו נולדת הוא היום בו החליט הקב”ה שהעולם אינו יכול להתקיים בלעדיך
The day you were born was the day the Holy One decided that the world could not exist without you.
A community is made up of individuals. Our Sages taught that just as there are 600,000 souls who stood at Mount Sinai there are 600,000 letters in the Torah. The Torah says “all Israel” stood at Sinai – me, you, our ancestors and our offspring. If one letter from the Torah is absent, the whole scroll is invalid. Every one of us is an essential component to the equation. Without you, 1+1 does not equal 2. Your presence is not only for the sake of yourself and your own experience, but every other person present is also impacted by your participation.
Why Am I Here?
Especially for those who only come a few days a year, the synagogue is not always a comfortable environment. Many feel that somewhere in nature where one can be in awe of the world, or a place with personal meaning would be better suited than the synagogue – so do Rosh Hashanah in a shul?
The Beit Knesset is so much more than a building. The truth is, it need not be a building at all! A Beit Knesset is, literally, a “gathering place.” It is not made up of the brick and mortar, but the people who invest in it and put their hearts and souls into it. It is not so much here because of where ‘here’ is, but because of with whom we are here.
With heartfelt wishes for a joyous, festive, happy, healthy and sweet new year.
May 5776 fulfill all of our hopes and dreams