Detroit Jewish Chronicle
and The Legal Chronicle
SECTION FOUR
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1944
VOL. 46, NO. 37
The Universal Overtones of Rosh Hashonah
which make us free and utter a
declaration of independence from
EDITOR'S NOTE:—The author of this article is Assistant Professor
of Practical Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary in lowly and unworthy aims. By
America. He is the former president of the Rabbinical Assem- frequent communion with the
Most High we derive stamina and
bly of America.
By MAX ARZT
Bosh Hashonah addresses us dom. To our forbears this ad-
with a distinctive vocabulary and versary was so real that they
often personified him. They called
introduces us into a unique realm him Satan and equated him with
of discourse. Its dominant motif the angel of death. Satan was
is one of solemnity and awe. In to them a vicious foe occupying
the blowing of the Shofar, the territory in the soul of man and
working havoc with increasing
characteristic rite of the clay, we ferocity unless expelled by hercu-
hear the shrill alarm and warn- lean will ano iron determination.
ing of the Tekiah. There comes The Shofar sounds the siren call-
to us the tremulous Teruah blast ing the people "like warriors in
of impending danger and the the day of battle to arm against
wailing Shevarim note of heart- the evil that resides within man."
Written large in the hallowed
rending agony. We are sum-
moned into the presence of God literature of Judaism is this rec-
who is seated in the heavenly ognition of the danger of sin and
assizes on a high and lofty moral deterioration. The doctrine
throne. The Book of Remem- that man was formed in the im-
brance in which every man's age of the Divine was counter-
deeds are recorded is opened. The balanced by the realistic warn-
record is sealed with the imprint ing that the heart of man is de-
of every man's hand. The angels, ceitful, being subject to processes
trembling with fear, declare, of spiritual disintegration. Juda-
"Behold the Day of Judgment." ism does not endorse the notion
A mysterious adversary, Satan, that man is instinctively good and
assumes the role of Kategor that progress is inevitable—a doc-
(prosecuting attorney) indicting trine which was so widely taught
man and calling for devastating during the 18th and 19th cen-
retribution. In our prayers we turies. It sees in human deprav-
reflect on the creatureliness of ity an element of our nature
man, on his evanescent and against which we must always
transitory existence—"Man's ori- be on guard. The underlining of
gin is dust and he returneth to sin is not an obsession of primi-
the dust. He obtaineth his bread tive and undeveloped mentalities.
by the peril of his life. He is It is a realistic appraisal of the
like a fragile potsherd, as the ever-present danger of man's re-
grass that withereth, as the flower verting to barbarism and bestial-
that fadeth, as a passing shad- ity. Our generation is witness-
ow, as the wind that blowcth, as ing the fullest and most tragic
the fleeting dust and as a dream realization of this menace.
Judaism traces the origin of
that vanisheth." It is the purport
of these sombre meditations to sin to the denial and defiance of
make us cringe before our Mak- the majesty of God. Man be-
er in utter contrition, to induce comes a slave to his passions
he fails of to the
recognize
the
us to acknowledge His sovereign- when
sovereignty
God of Jus-
ty and thus to win a favorable
Loving-kindness
Truth.
decision of life and hope by the tice,
He achieves
spiritual and
freedom
practice of Repentance, Prayer only when he acknowledges the
and Righteousness.
Our age is one in which terms Kingship of God. In the words
like sin, judgment and repent- of Judah Halevi, "He alone is
ance have fallen into desuetude. free who is a servant of the
Lord. The synagogue service of
We have almost forgotten the
Rosh Hashonah is in the nature
language of religious expression. of a coronation pageant in which
Yet our intuition is deeper than we acclaim God as sovereign in
our understanding. Somehow we ou•lives. The formal morning
sense, though we do not fully
service ovens with the intonation
comprehend,
prehend, that which is of
abiding good in the mood and of the word Hamelech—the King
—and a section of the Musaph
meaning of Rosh Hashonah. We service
is designated as Malchny-
flock to the synagogue in num-
Many
hers so large that space has to oth (Kingship) prayers.
the liturgical hymns composed
be reserved in advance. We may of
by poets of the Middle Ages
avow throughout the year that "The the theme and the refrain,
we are not pious, yet on Rosh The Lord is King." We are thus
Hashonah we manifest an intui- called upon to declare our un-
tive quest for religious experi- sw:erving allegiance to the Most
ence.
High and to the moral law which
What actuates us to come to emanates from Him as the initial
-
the synagogue is something deep step in freeing ourselves from
er than a consciousness of kind.
of the corrosive influence of sin and
For of all the high moments
the Jewish calendar, of all the in the attainment of moral con-
year, stancy and consistency.
significant dates of the
A discipline for self-renewal
Rosh Hashonah is most deficient
i n particularistic tone and tenor. and spiritual reclamation is of-
It marks no decisive event in the fered in the words Teshuvah (Re-
history of our people and re. pentance), Tefillah (P r a y e r),
Volves about no central person- Zedakah (Righteous conduct).
alit. Rather it speaks to us in Ere the universe was established,
say our sages, God created re-
moral and universal tones, stress-
ing the failings as well as the pentance, thus offering the sin-
ner a chance to release himself
aspirations of all humanity. w e
Can distill something of supreme from the process
grip of of
sin.
The sinner
self-appraisal
ho n a .
significance and of singular relev- w i
ance out of the poetic and mystic and self-judgment feels weighed
fancy that pervades the pages of down with a sense of regret and
is assured of the possi-
the Mahzor and permeates the rem. orse..
. of moral renovation. The
observance of the Days of Dread. Way
For Rosh Hashonah brings into conscience of man needs first to
bold relief the true character of be activated if he is to avail him-
. power of re-
our earthly nature and cautions self of the healing
us against that which debases our l)entance. Thus Nlannonales hears
life and brings schism into our in the sounds of the Shofar the
soul. It points the way to moral following appeal to the dormant
regeneration and purposeful liv- soul, "Awake ye sleepers from
. your slumbers and rouse you from
ing. It carries a message of re your lethargy. Scrutinize you".
demption for a world in travail
-
and a heartening hope of recup- deeds and return in repel
Remember your treat• -
eration to an ailing humanity.
r:TY
The liturgy of Rosh Hashonah forget eternal truths
is centered around the basic of the hour, who ge Aationa. 1-
whist
illusions
Daily
. weakness of our human nature vain
, profit nor deliver." ts
the capacity to sin and the ten-
Make
Once aroused
dency to moral depravity. The
Hara, the evil impulse, is stupor, 'Ilan must k
identified as man's invidious en- alert. Hence Prayer
identified
enlY. Being invisible, he snipes
at us in treacherous fashion. If and requirement for
offered no resistance, he degrades covery. Prayer endows
man below the level of the beast, the moral courage nee
lues
and effaces the divine image in resistance to temptation
which he is made. He drugs men
into selfish complacency and de- mastery of circumstance:
prives them of their will to free- prayer we reaffirm the ti-
strength to extricate ourselves into norms of behavior. Hence
from the realm of impurity and the third element of the formula
is Zedakah,
self-renewal
to attach our life to the verities for
that are enduring. But noble as-
See OVERTONES—Page 16
pirations need to be translated
its
1944 • 5705
A HAPPY \EW YEAR
To You of the house of Israel
• • •
This Rosh Hashonah finds millions of our people on the threshold of deliverance. They wait and
pray for liberation to free them from the horrors of more than a decade of oppression. De-
cisive war developments to come fill us with hope that this will be the last holiday which so
many of our people will celebrate in an environment of sorrow and darkness. But mass depor-
tation and death still threaten to overtake large numbers before victory comes. The spirit of
hope and the faith of the Jews of Europe can be sustained and strengthened through our
active interest in their welfare.
My personal and heartfelt greetings to you
all during this New Year season—the begin-
ning of another serious year of work and
opportunity.
Working together, the problems of the
World can be met. We face it with hope
and confidence that right will prevail and
that a new day, bright with Peace and
Happiness, will dawn. ere long, in our
troubled world.
We can be thankful for the past:
For
it has brought us new friends and the op-
portunity and obligation to serve. We look
to the future confidently and with the re-
solve to continue to render the service on
which the reputation of Moe Leiter and
Associates has been built.
MOE LEITER
My Best Wishes and Happiness to You All
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