Brad Hirschfield: September 2008 Archives

There are many customs on Rosh Hashanah: blowing the shofar, eating apples dipped in honey, and long hours of prayer and meditation. But until I watched the cartoon adventures of Todd and God on You Tube, I never knew that taking communion was one of them. What else would you call the practice of God appearing to a young man and offering him the chance to consume God's body as a way of experiencing spiritual renewal in the New Year?

Actually, I love the fact that this very funny video (complete with allusions to the Simpsons as well as Beavis and Buthead), produced to teach the practice of eating a new fruit on the second night of Rosh Hashanah, does so by taping in to the power of a practice that is synonymous with Christianity. It demonstrates the universal urges that we meet with particular practices. There is no such thing as a "Jewish spiritual need", because Jews are not essentially different from other people. But there are brilliant Jewish practices which meet fundamental human spiritual needs, and this new fruit thing is one of them.

Boredom and lack of spiritual connection are challenges we all face. They are the root causes of so many problems in our lives, from cheating on our spouses (over 50% of Americans admit they do), to misery at work (over one third of us report that) to just feeling empty and lonely inside. Eating a piece of fruit, no matter how good it is, will not solve that. But we all need practices which renew us and help us feel that renewal is always possible. And it doesn't hurt that this one acknowledges that even by the second day of the New Year, those feelings can set in.

The shofar is the most widely recognized symbol of Rosh Hashanah, and has been synonymous with Judaism since antiquity, when it was used to marl Jewish graves more often than the Star of David. So how we use the shofar probably says something larger than the evocative drama it provides on the High Holidays. From this single instrument, we will hear as many as 100 different kolot, literally voices in Hebrew, as we carry on this ancient tradition of hearing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. And it's all about listening -- to the many voices which flow out of a single instrument, and deepening our ability to appreciate them all.

The blessing recited before the shofar is blown, is on the hearing of its notes as a kol, a single voice. Even the one who blows the shofar makes the blessing - not on producing its sounds, but on taking them all in as one. In an increasingly divided world, this is not a bad practice for the other 363 days of the year as well.

But if it is all about oneness, why so many different sounds? And why repeat the blowing at so many points in the service? Wouldn't one giant blast of the ancient ram's horn be enough? That depends on how we listen. Will we listen to the many blasts as individual sounds, or as a growing symphony?

There have been many questions about the idea that all things are forgiveable. This comment by J, is a good example. I hope my response to J is helpful to all of you who are wrestling with this idea, and perhaps a bit fearful of what embracing might entail. You are right to recognize that its a big claim, but it it deeply rooted in Jewish tradition and wonderful things can happen when it is embraced judiciously.

Mr Hirschfield Sir : The necessarily universal forgivability of all acts deemed unforgivable by some must therefore entail, according to you, that they necessarily forgive even those who are about to massacre them en masse. This is a very Christian idea, is it not? Remember the Amish who forgave the killers of their children; ...

For starters, we should never assume that the values which a community holds most dearly might not be lived more fully in some other community. I have often found that the practices and insights of non-Jews hold up a powerful mirror of the things to which I aspire as a Jew. In fact, this kind of mirroring is often how different religious communities grow. But that is not the main thrust of your interesting observation, to which I want to respond.

I think that you, and many of the commenters here, are confusing the fact that all sins are forgiveable with the idea that such forgiveability demands that all people forgive all sins. From a Jewish perspective, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there may be times when it is entirely appropriate not to forgive a particular act. But that decision is a function of the one doing the forgiving, not the nature of the transgression.

I know this may be uncomfortable because it leaves all of the power with us -- we can not hide behind the claim that "it's simply too bad to forgive". And since we all like to think of ourselves as basically forgiving people, it is uncomfortable to take responsibility for the decision. Such is life and the power of choice!

We can only forgive the transgressions committed against us, so I am not even sure what it means to forgive somebody else's murderer, unless we are forgiving them for the pain which they caused us. But for the hurts which others have caused us, we can always make the decision to forgive without losing our integrity. In fact, I have found that sometimes, it is in those moments that we really find it.

As the Jewish people spend Tuesday and Wednesday celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, we ask ourselves the most important questions about the year ahead and what we hope to make of it - questions including who shall live and who shall die. Now, Jewish terrorists in Israel have offered their own twisted version of an answer, with the attempted murder of Israel Prize winning, Peace Now activist, Professor Zeev Sternhell.

And because I have recently called on the religious leaders of other communities to take a strong stand against the terror committed and celebrated in the name of their own traditions, I must do no less now. Because of that, and because I am personally horrified by these events, I call on all Jewish leaders, regardless of personal political opinion, to condemn this action and to place that condemnation at the center of their Rosh Hashanah messages.

It is most important that those who support the settler community do this - for the integrity of their cause, for the safety of the State of Israel and for the good of humanity. And if there is some problem integrating those three, then there is a problem with their understanding of one of those concepts.

I know how easy it is to be carried away by a messianic/apocalyptic version of settling the Holy land because I once had that vision and acted on it. I appreciate the thinking that animates those who placed the pipe bomb at Professor Sternhell's door because there was time, almost 25 years ago, that I supported similar actions. And I know that only when those who are sympathetic to the politics of such fanatics stand up to them about their methods, does a real breakthrough occur.

This You Tube video, entitled Israelis for Obama is amazing. It does not provide a great deal of new information about his policies, which are not all that different from McCain's when it comes to Israel. It does something far more important. It shows the Israel to which Obama is committed i.e. pluralist, sophisticated, multi-lingual, racially/ethnically diverse, artistically accomplished, militarily powerful, and committed to peace.

One person asked me, "but what does it tell us he will do about Iran getting nukes and what that will mean for Israel". It tells us that Obama will work with people like those in the video to make sure that neither Israel nor the world gets destroyed, if Iran goes nuclear. I know that is not as sexy as scaring people into WW III, but it strikes me as far smarter.

Frankly, I hope that the Republicans produce something this constructive and engaging also. Then we could stop competing over who will better respond to doomsday scenarios we don't want to happen, and ask who will do a better job of nurturing the vision we have for Israel, the Middle East and America.