GueSt ColuMns

Hear Our Prayers

Two rabbis offer insight on why prayer is important in our lives,

especially at this time of year.

Compiled by Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

The Tears Of
Uncertainy

4714

Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg
Special to the AppleTree
here is something about the
sound of the shofar that makes
its voice the most anticipated
Rabbi
part of the Rosh Hashanah service.
Elimelech
The combination of the strong,
Goldberg
straight tekiah with the plaintive, bro-
ken notes of the shevarim-teruah
uncertainly. Possibly, she thought, her
I effectively reach us in ways that are
son's lateness was due to an extra-
penetrating even to the hardest heart.
large booty that he was collecting
Why is this mitzvah so woven into
from the spoils of his battle.
the prayer service of the Day of Judg-
On the other hand, perhaps he was
ment, Rosh Hashanah? The source of
dead. The anxiety of anticipation and
the wavering sound of the shofar is
the bonds of any mother, even the
derived from the tears of a mother in
matriarch of an ignoble family, could
;the Bible. This unlikely figure for our
not muster words to define both the
religious practice was not, in fact,
doubts and hopes that grabbed her.
;even Jewish.
She could only cry.
! The Talmud derives the form of the
The sound of the shofar is the model
teruah sound from the crying of the
of the prayer of tears. What words
mother of Sisera, a hated enemy gen-
can we use when all of our lives are
eral. Sisera was unfortunate to meet
hanging in the fragile abyss of this
the forces of the prophetess Devorah
world? Who can righteously proclaim
in battle and succumbed to defeat
his innocence in light of the great
and finally death at the hands of
bounty of life and its blessings that we
another woman, Yael. Sisera's mother
have been granted? Yet, who can but
cried when her son was late from this
help to hear in the straight sound of
;military campaign.
this horn the bastion call of a people
My rebbe of blessed memory, Ray
who have continued through the mil-
Yosef Dov Soloveichik, saw in this
lennia, despite all odds.
I unlikely source the message of the sho-
The shofar is the sound of the very
far and its central place in the Rosh
basic doubts and victory of our lives. It
Hashanah prayer service. The cries of
1Sisera's mother were the tears of
TEARS on page 175

9/29

2000

174

Have A Talk
With God

Rabbi Hal Greenwald
Special To the AppleTree
was fixing my sink when I learned
my first important lesson about
prayer.
Rabbi
Hal
In rabbinical school, you are
Greenwald
taught the rudiments of prayer. I
learned in a place that happened to
With one hand waving an Allen
be filled with students and teachers
wrench she demanded, and
who cared deeply about prayer as
received, full disclosure. My father's
a song of the heart. But at the end
declining health was weighing heavi-
of the day, graduate school has cer-
ly on my mind.
tain requirements. I learned when to
Poppy, she said, you got to talk to
cloven (pray), where to cloven and
God. You got to tell God how you're
what to say while davening. All of
feeling.
these pieces have very set parame-
"Thank you, Aura ..." I began, and
ters in a traditional Jewish context.
explained to her how I already had
None of which prepared me for
davened Shacharit that morning (in
Aura.
record time, I noted proudly to myself,
Aura is a tiny giant of a woman
but she waved her Allen wrench and
who patrols the University of Judaism
stopped me.
residential campus in Los Angeles, ever
"No, Poppy, not just there in the
on the lookout for a leaky faucet or
synagogue. You got to talk to God all
dejected countenance. She found both
I the time. You got to talk to God when
in me one day as I struggled with bad
you're going to work and when
piping and the illness of a loved one.
you're going on lunch break and
As we scrunched underneath the
when you're happy and when you're
bathroom sink and wrestled with a PC
angry, too.
valve, this Latin American immigrant
"You see me around here, I'm
confronted me directly: "Poppy, what's
always talking to God with my lips
wrong? You don't look so good." I
moving all the time. Maybe you think
didn't feel so good, either, but I was
Aura's crazy." The thought had
hardly inclined to share my personal
crossed my mind.
problems with a relative stranger. Still,
Aura was not to be denied.
TALK on page 175