Days of awe

Editorial

"Who will live and who will die?" asks the Yom Kippur liturgy. "Who in good turn and who all too suddenly? Who by fire and who by water?"

The words seem especially prophetic this year as natural disaster, national tragedy and international strife provide a somber backdrop for the Jewish High Holiday season.

Hurricanes batter the Southeastern states, seizing precious lives, destroying homes and businesses, and leaving families at peril. Charley, Frances and Ivan remind us of the force of nature's power and the randomness of its might.

The third anniversary of the 9/11 attacks hangs over the season, as we remember the innocent lives destroyed in a few moments of incomprehensible horror on a beautiful fall day. The toll of American soldiers killed in Iraq continues to mount, with more than 1,000 dead, as the violence escalates with no end in sight.

The unremitting conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is nowhere near resolution. Images of last week's bloody massacre in Beslan, Russia, where children were murdered for political purpose, remind us of the chilling propensity for violence in a genuinely frightening world.

The news provides sobering context for the High Holidays, a time of reflection and introspection when we contemplate the limits of our humanity and the vastness of the divine. During Yamim Noraim, the 10 Days of Awe between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we consider the year just past and contemplate the one ahead. Regret, reject, resolve is how Maimonides summarized the process of teshuvah, repentance, that is central to the season. Think about our actions, recognize our errors and resolve to mend our ways.

It is an exercise in tikkun hanefesh, repair of the soul, beginning with the first blast of the shofar and continuing through its last mournful wail. In re-examining and restoring our souls, confronting human frailty and earthly unpredictability, we acknowledge too our responsibility for tikkun olam, repairing the world.

And so we renew our spirits and replenish our relationships. We turn inward to better ourselves and outward towards our families, our congregations, our communities and our people, to bring ourselves and our world a little closer to the aspiration of what can be.

The message of Yom Kippur is that life is fleeting, its course as unpredictable as a hurricane's path, and that each day is precious. Let us reach out to those we love, enjoy the sweetness of the holiday season and the tempting promise that a new year with new resolve delivers.

L'shana tova tiketevu.

Home