rosh hashanah » o pinio n

The Season

Guilt
Or The Season
Of
Our Joy?

Of
Our

T

here is nothing like the approach of
them.
the High Holidays to bring on what
For Sephardic Jews — whether their ori-
is supposed to be the epitome of the gins are in the West (Spain and Portugal)
Jewish experience: guilt.
or in the East (North Africa or the Middle
I certainly am not going to say
East) — the High Holidays, or at
there is no place in Judaism for
least preparation for them, starts a
introspection and improvement of
month before Rosh Hashanah with
the way we live our lives. No reli-
selichot, prayers requesting forgive-
gion or spiritual practice worth its
ness. These prayers take place either
name would exclude these neces-
in the middle of the night or very
sities for growing into compas-
early in the morning. You would
sionate, caring and just people.
expect a month’s worth of crying and
There is, however, a difference
cringing, but attendance at Sephardic
between guilt and introspection
selichot, where for the most part the
Michael
and self-improvement.
entire congregation joins in singing,
Chernick
Guilt is a totally negative emo- Times Of Israel is rather upbeat. The general feeling
tion. The person who experiences
is that although we may not have
it feels worthless and expects
been our best selves and should do
punishment for his or her wrongdoings. The better, nevertheless we have a loving Parent,
source of the expected punishment may be
who is ready to accept our imperfections if
God, fate, natural disaster or disease. Fear
we just try harder to be the image of God we
is the feeling that accompanies this sense of
were created to be.
oncoming and deserved catastrophe.
The music of the Sephardic selichot is joy-
For many — if not most — Jews, these
ous, and the liturgy encourages rather than
are the emotions the High Holidays stir up.
blames. The service ends with participants
And there is a history to this, but mostly
wishing each other “May you merit many
an Ashkenazi one. Who cannot be shaken
and good years.”
by the words of one of the main liturgical
A similar feeling pervades Sephardic
poems of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. If you
called “Unetaneh Tokef ” (“Let us speak of
decide to engage in breast-beating in a
the awesomeness.”) In it, the poet speaks
Spanish-Portuguese synagogue during one
of God writing each Jew’s fate for the year
of the Yom Kippur “confessions,” you’ll find
in His book at this season: “Who will live
yourself alone in that activity. I once asked
and who will die? Who by fire and who by
why this behavior, which is so common in
water?” The list of potential calamities ends, the Ashkenazic synagogue, is absent in the
thankfully, with some relief. The poet prom- Spanish-Portuguese liturgical choreography.
ises that repentance, prayer and tzedakah
The answered I received was, “We are not
will avert God’s decree.
required to debase ourselves before our
Sephardim do not recite this “scare
Father who loves us. We should be conscious
prayer” as part of their High Holiday liturgy, of our failings, but not overwhelmed by
and there is a distinctly different feeling
them. The One who created us will help us
about guilt and the “Days of Awe” among
be who we should be if we ask for His help.

66 September 29 • 2016

But we don’t have to belittle ourselves in
order to receive that help.” This is not a story
about guilt. It is a story about how the Days
of Awe can be days of joy.
Chabad Chasidim say that this pre-
High Holiday period is when the world’s
Sovereign is not in His palace, but rather
out in the field. This is the season when
we enjoy the immediate presence of God.
Because He is in the field, we are free to ask
anything of Him. How would any of us feel
if we could have a private audience with a
ruler and be granted whatever we might
ask? Any visiting diplomat would jump for
joy.
In many ways, Chabad is teaching the
same lesson as the Sephardim: This is not
a moment to wallow in the sense of worth-
lessness that comes with guilt, but to see
ourselves as children of our Sovereign and
Parent, who is ready to grant us the good life
for which we wish in return for us becoming
more compassionate, just as He is compas-
sionate, and more merciful, just as He is
merciful.
Beyond Ashkenazim and Sephardim,
there is a Jewish sect called the Karaites,
who follow only the written Torah. Because
they deny rabbinic interpretation, and
because the Torah does not say specifi-
cally that we must blow the shofar on Rosh
Hashanah, they don’t. Still, they call the first
day of Tishrei, as we do, “Yom Teruah.” We
translate this phrase as “the Day of Blowing
the Shofar.” They, however, refer to the day
as “the Day of Friendship” with God.
This is no appeal on my part for end-
ing the practice of shofar blowing, but it
would be healthier for all of us to view Rosh
Hashanah as a day when two friends who
may have lost close touch with each other
during the year renew their friendship once

more. Then the sound of the shofar, which
also blew at Sinai, would remind us of the
wedding of God and Israel. It would remind
us of the symbolic Shofar of Redemption,
when the world will know the joy of free-
dom and plenty for us and all the nations.
And mostly it would remind us of the trum-
pets blown in ancient times at moments of
joy: “On the day of your joy and your festi-
vals and new moons, sound the trumpet ...”
(Numbers 10:10.)
The Mishnah tells us that “No holidays
exceeded (in joy) the 15th of Av and Yom
Kippur” (Mishnah, Ta’anit 4:8). The story
of the 15th of Av is too long to tell here, but
the idea that Yom Kippur was a day of joy
is rather mysterious to a contemporary Jew,
who experiences it as a day of guilt. Where
is the joy in repeating “For the sin we have
committed,” using every letter of the Hebrew
alphabet?
I believe we know that when we begin
on a new path, when we try to set ourselves
right, the feeling of trying to start a new and
better way of life fills us with the kind of
happiness, excitement and, yes, trepidation
that goes along with beginning any journey.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the
beginning of that journey, and to move for-
ward into it, we must look back to avoid the
pitfalls that have made our previous travels
less valuable and enjoyable.
If we do that well, and face our new jour-
ney’s ups and downs with strength, faith and
optimism, things may not go perfectly from
an onlooker’s point of view, but with our
sense of self-worth intact, our life journeys
always are journeys toward growth and bet-
ter self-understanding.

*

Rabbi Michael Chernick holds a doctorate in rabbinic
literature from Yeshiva University.