September 2007

A friend of mine described her family’s Yom Kippur observance when she was a child:  “We got all dressed up, we went to the synagogue and stood outside so everyone would see us in our fancy clothes, then when services began we went home.”

No doubt many of us have been in synagogues during the High Holy Days when the most important thing on people’s minds seemed to be the latest fashion, and the main activity was to see and be seen.

Part of Chaverim’s appeal is that a visitor would not have that impression of us.  Even our members whose main participation is only during these High Holy Days come with a modesty and seriousness of purpose that fits the intention of the holidays, as described in the Torah:

“Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement.  It shall be a sacred occasion for you, and you shall afflict your souls and bring an offering to Adonai.”  (Lev 23:27)

The Rabbis interpreted “afflict your souls” to mean for this one day we suspend our physical appetites, to focus entirely on the state of our souls.  To that end, we abstain from five categories of physical pleasure:  no eating or drinking; no bathing; no anointing the body with oil; no wearing leather shoes; no sexual relations.  (The bathing restriction is interpreted to mean no luxuriating in a hot shower for twenty minutes.  Simple washing for hygienic purposes is permitted!)

Of these restrictions, no eating or drinking is certainly the most familiar, and the most challenging.  As the day lengthens and our hunger pangs increase, we are reminded of those less fortunate than ourselves who regularly go hungry because of hardship, rather than by their own choice. 

For this reason it is no accident that the High Holy Days is the time of year when our Jewish community has the largest food drive of the year.  The food drive is called Project Isaiah, because on Yom Kippur we read this powerful message from the prophet Isaiah:

“Is this the fast I look for?  A day of self-affliction?  Bowing your head like a reed and covering yourself with sackcloth and ashes? … Is not this the fast I look for:  to unlock the shackles of injustice…to share your bread with the hungry…when you see the naked to clothe them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin.”

On Yom Kippur we pray--we plead--for forgiveness for all the ways we have fallen short of the mark, all the ways we have not lived up to our higher selves, all the ways we have not fulfilled what God wants of us.  We ask to be judged with compassion rather than strict justice.  In one of the climactic moments of the service we are told:  “Repentance, Prayer and Tzedakah temper judgment’s severe decree!”

Yom Kippur will give each of us ample opportunities for repentance and prayer.  I am urging our entire congregation to include tzedakah as well, by bringing bags of non-perishable food to our in-town services.  It is an act of generosity to donate food all year long, but all the more so during these Days of Awe when we are weighed in the balance.  The Torah tells us we are to bring an “offering to Adonai.”  Surely a gift to the Food Bank is exactly that!

Shanah Tovah -- May we all be written and sealed for a good new year.

Rabbi Helen