High Holidays
On the High Holidays I am reminded of a comment from one of our great modern Jewish sages, Jack Benny. It happened once that Benny was preparing his Sunday radio program, which would begin at 4:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, a few hours before sundown before the beginning of Yom Kippur. Benny would have been finished before Kol Nidre in California, but his East Coast audience would already have seen the sun set. He told an assistant that he wanted to make mention on the show that in California it was not yet Yom Kippur. He reportedly said “I wouldn’t want people to think that I am desecrating this holiday by working on it.” The assistant joked that all the Jews on the East Coast would be in synagogue anyway, and wouldn’t know about it. Jack Benny shook his head and said, “I wasn’t thinking of the Jews. I wouldn’t like the Gentiles to think I didn’t respect my own religion.”
Our Scripture often describes us a “light to the nations, a holy people.” Let us consider, as we enter our High Holidays, how brightly we radiate the light of our faith and Jewish identity. Our collective presence on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah is a light that radiates its warm glow within us, and shines brightly into the world around us. It is the light of dignity and truth, the light in which we see ourselves and are seen by others, the light by which we judge ourselves and are judged by God.
Our tradition places great value on this idea that we are to be a light to the nations, for it is through us that God’s Presence is made manifest, God’s truth is proclaimed. In our Midrash the question is asked, ‘How does God change and affect the world? Where do we see the impact of God’s Presence?’ So, we are reminded-- my hands ought to be the Hands of God, my voice must become the Voice of God. And in the Book of Proverbs [20:27] we read “Ner Adonai nishmat adam -- the spirit of Man is the lamp of God.” May this Holiday season enable us to shine brightly as God’s light, that we glow with the light of truth, justice and righteousness. May our Holidays become an opportunity for us to enlighten ourselves and our world.
Lechu v’nelcha b’or Adonai -- Come, let us walk in the Light of God.
On the High Holidays I am reminded of a comment from one of our great modern Jewish sages, Jack Benny. It happened once that Benny was preparing his Sunday radio program, which would begin at 4:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, a few hours before sundown before the beginning of Yom Kippur. Benny would have been finished before Kol Nidre in California, but his East Coast audience would already have seen the sun set. He told an assistant that he wanted to make mention on the show that in California it was not yet Yom Kippur. He reportedly said “I wouldn’t want people to think that I am desecrating this holiday by working on it.” The assistant joked that all the Jews on the East Coast would be in synagogue anyway, and wouldn’t know about it. Jack Benny shook his head and said, “I wasn’t thinking of the Jews. I wouldn’t like the Gentiles to think I didn’t respect my own religion.”
Our Scripture often describes us a “light to the nations, a holy people.” Let us consider, as we enter our High Holidays, how brightly we radiate the light of our faith and Jewish identity. Our collective presence on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah is a light that radiates its warm glow within us, and shines brightly into the world around us. It is the light of dignity and truth, the light in which we see ourselves and are seen by others, the light by which we judge ourselves and are judged by God.
Our tradition places great value on this idea that we are to be a light to the nations, for it is through us that God’s Presence is made manifest, God’s truth is proclaimed. In our Midrash the question is asked, ‘How does God change and affect the world? Where do we see the impact of God’s Presence?’ So, we are reminded-- my hands ought to be the Hands of God, my voice must become the Voice of God. And in the Book of Proverbs [20:27] we read “Ner Adonai nishmat adam -- the spirit of Man is the lamp of God.” May this Holiday season enable us to shine brightly as God’s light, that we glow with the light of truth, justice and righteousness. May our Holidays become an opportunity for us to enlighten ourselves and our world.
Lechu v’nelcha b’or Adonai -- Come, let us walk in the Light of God.