On the first day of Elul (exactly one month before Rosh Hashanah), the High Holy Days begin with the blowing of the shofar. This year, when we hear that first inspiring blast of the ram’s horn, we will inevitably also hear the cries of October 7, 2023, and the painful silence of the world. The infamous October 7 was then, on the Jewish calendar, the day on which the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated, the end of the High Holy Days period. For many in Israel, that conclusion was an abrupt and horrific end, and for the hostages, the beginning of indescribable and unacceptable suffering.
And yet we celebrate the High Holidays, this year, last year, and in the future, and beg the Eternal One, whose ways are often inscrutable, to bring shalom to Israel and to all the peoples of His earth, even to those who would deny us our right to exist.
Of course, it is good to follow the media, to stay informed, to be alert, to know who our attackers are. But the question is how deeply that information influences my daily life. Do I now see an anti-Semite behind every tree? Do I accept every negative and threatening message as truth? Does the news determine my daily thoughts, actions, and behavior? Do the media control me because I cannot control the media? Have social media become my new idols, and is there no longer any place for the Eternal One, the God of Israel, in a life ruled by fear?
The High Holidays whistle and blow us back, if we were unexpectedly, but understandably, momentarily lost, obsessed with worries and fears.
The sound of the shofar calls us to wake up, not to continue dreaming, to face reality, but at the same time not to drown in a reality that is ultimately beyond our control.
It is good that so many people are awakening from their attempts to assimilate, precisely because of the rampant anti-Semitism, and are restoring the path to their roots, their Jewish identity.
But such a restoration, resulting from a dangerous and threatening environment, is unstable and needs a solid foundation. And that is the period of the Jamiem Noraïm, the High Holidays, or better translated: the Awe-Inspiring Days. Days that inspire awe for the deeper meaning of our existence here on earth.
“As long as you’re happy,” I often hear people say. Happiness is what it should be all about. But is that approach correct? Is happiness the essence of our existence?
The main purpose of the awe-inspiring days is to cultivate respect, submissiveness, and awe. When awe is lacking, chaos ensues.
The current anti-Semitism is only a stepping stone to a much greater danger: polarization. And polarization leads to anarchism and, as the Pirkei Avot warns us so starkly, anarchism leads to people devouring each other alive. If you doubt that, look around you and see…
And so we must first wake up on Rosh Hashanah, each as an individual, dare to face our shortcomings on Yom Kippur, and then make ourselves vulnerable by publicly living in a fragile sukkah without a protective roof and thus completely dependent on what will descend upon us.
And when we have gone through all this physically and spiritually, we put aside social media, newspapers, and especially deliberately misleading television images, and dance from a place of spiritual unity on the last day of Sukkot, the Closing Festival, with the Torah firmly clasped in our arms, looking forward to a year of Shalom.
Am Yisrael Chai, the Jewish people live and survive!
לשנה טובה ומתוקה בגו”ר
Binyomin Jacobs
