The Jewish New Year has arrived. But my people do not gather to celebrate, but to reflect and pray. We perform t’shuvah, an act of self-reflection that encourages improvement in our lives.
The High Holy Days help us return to our true selves. Through liturgy, silence and fasting, we are inspired to ask and answer questions that we have suppressed in our daily payroll and car pool jobs. We ask ourselves important questions we have forgotten or were too busy to ask about who we are and how we should live. We are reminded that we are powerful, vulnerable, curious, and complex human beings.
we are loving beings. We are the ones who mourn. We are longing and wondering beings. We are life givers and care givers. We are meant to fail. We are mortal beings. It’s amazing how we forget what’s important and how we go about our days with little awareness of its core truths. Because they are awkward and uncomfortable. Because it’s slippery like moss. Because they don’t make any money.
During the High Holy Days, we separate ourselves from important but temporary relationships for days and years. We go to that essential place, the rock on which we stand, and address the wounds that lie within us, the joy that fills us, the dreams that inspire us, the questions that trouble us. Masu. A prayer book called Machza is a reminder of the essential aspects of ourselves that are regularly pushed aside, standing in line after the laundry that needs to be done, the papers that need to be graded, the nose that needs to be done. It’s a technology that can help you. Wipe clean. The High Holy Day itself is an opportunity to put those concerns aside for just a few hours, knowing that we can return to them and return to the fullest dimensions of humanity: loss, joy, guilt. It is the technology that makes it possible. , our shame, our hope, our relationships. We will take care of that courtyard for a while.
It’s official: the new year has begun. Each of us has taken the first step on a 365-day journey. The last person standing there waiting for your arrival is a welcome party…a welcome party for one. Look, you’re exactly one year older than I am now. Who will you be? Will you be happy to meet your new self, or will you be disappointed? The answer is completely up to you.
• Labideen Shapiro is the spiritual leader of Temple Emanuel in Tempe. Contact rshapiro@emanueloftempe.org and visit the Rabbi Dean Shapiro page on Facebook..
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