THE,DETROIT .JEWISH MEWS Frickay, SepterpPer; 1
Rosh Hashana
and Yom Kippur
have a focus
on death for the
betterment of life.
198 t l 25 „!
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BY RABBI IRVING GREENBERG
Special to The Jewish News
OF
Death is a fact of life. From the
moment of birth, people begin to die.
How one reacts to death can criti-
cally shape all one's values. Budd-
ha's encounter with death when he
was a young prince turned him deci-
sively away from this-wordly life as
an illusion and snare. At Roman or-
gies, skulls were passed around to
stimulate even more frantic exces-
ses, with the admonition, "Eat,
drink, and be merry! For tomorrow
we die!"
Human beings cannot be mature
until they encompass the sense of
their own death. The terrible sense
of the shortness of human existence
gives urgency and significance to the
totality of life. To confront death
without being overwhelmed or dri-
ven to evasions and narcotizing is to
be given life again — as a daily gift.
Sometimes, people experience. this
gift in an accident, critical illness, or
the death of someone close. Too of-
ten, the effect fades as the presence
of death recedes and the round of
normal life becomes routine reality.
In the Jewish calendar, the
Yamin Noraim (Days of Awe)
structure the imaginative encounter
with death into annual experience —
in the hope that the experience will
liberate life. Unlike all the other
Jewish holidays, neither Rosh
Hashanah nor Yom Kippur is linked
to remembrance of liberation or the
commemoration of catastrophe. This
is the time for the individual to con-
centrate on mortality and the mean-
ing of life. The real power of the
days lies in their tapping into the
deep human feelings about death.
In the High Holy Days period,
the tradition guides the individual to
take up the challenge of death at
three levels. One, challenge is to con-
front the encounter with death itself.
Starting before and going through
this period, the Jew focuses on the
vulnerability of life and the limits of
the human.
The encounter with non-
existence is set off by the awareness
Irving Greenberg is president of CLAL:
The National Jewish Center for
Learning and Leadership (formerly The
National Jewish Resource Center).
acting in accordance with its values
and goals.
The second challenge is to deal
with the constant encroachment of
death in the person's life. Living can
also be a process of dying. Routine
and stagnation are forms of death in
life. People often stop growing long
before they are recognized as dead.
The key to a person's vital living is
perpetual renewal of life. The Jewish
tradition seeks to attain that goal by
a continual process of examining
life. The awareness of being judged
for life and death is a stimulus to
stop living routinely.
Out of the themes of non-being
and judgment flows the central
image which underlies the Days of
Awe season: the trial. Jews envision
a trial in which the individual
stands before the One who knows
all; one's life is - placed on the bal-
ance scales. A thorough assessment
is made: Is this life contributing to
the balance of life or does the net ef-
fect of the person's actions tilt the
scale of existence toward death?
The trial image captures the
sense of one's life being in someone
else's hands. The' shofar of Rosh
Hashanah proclaims that the Judge
before whom there is no evasion or
hiding is now sitting on the bench.
Sharpened self-awareness, candid
self-judgment and guilt flow from
the possibility that a death sentence
may be handed down at the end.
Like a firing squad, a trial for life
wonderfully concentrates the mind.
At the climax of the drama on
Yom
Kippur, Jews enact death by
"Blowing the Shofar" by Morris Katz.
denying themselves the normal
human pleasures. On this day, tradi-
tional Jews put on a kittel — a white
robe also worn when one is buried.
This image jolts people into a The life processes of eating, drink-
of creation. Whatever is born, dies. die?"
ing, washing, and sexuality are
heightened
awareness of the fragil-
By tradition, Rosh Hashanah is the ity of life. This
stopped for 24 hours. Guilt (in the
question
poses
the
"birthday" of the world or the deeper isssue: If life ended now, form of confession) and encounter
"birthday" of humanity. (Talmud
would it have been worthwhile? Is with the dead (in Yizkor memorial
Rosh Hashanah 10 a) This birthday,
prayers)land the final trial judgment
i.e. New Year's Day, is not the occa- one aware' and grateful for. the mira- dominate the flay. This could be a
daily existence?
sion for a party to wipe out the pas- cle of The
Rosh Hashanah and Yom morbid experience. But Judaism's
sage of time in the oblivion of cele-
Kippur
liturgies
on the world's encounter with death is in the serv-
bration but a time for taking stock. Creation and on focus
God as creator and ice of life. The deeper result and goal
The possibility of non-being leads to ruler of the universe.
By the is a new appreciation of life.
the question: What is it all worth?
To know how fragile the shell of
standard of Creation, human beings
What has been accomplished?
Continued on next page
can
be
judged
as
to
whether
they
are
"Who shall live and who shall