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. 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