ROSH HASHANAH SERMONS - MESSAGES

Recession. Unemployment. Foreclosure. Bankruptcy.  -- All words which we have heard, far too often, these days.
They bring with them, other words: Fear. Loss of identity. Stress. Divorce. Alcohol, drug, and physical abuse. Suicide. Desperation. Homelessness. Starting over.

It is the last 2 words, 'Starting over', which I wish to speak to. -- For Rosh Hashanah is largely about, 'Starting over'.
Each year, at this time, we come together as a congregation, formally at a temple or synagogue. Or, simply in the larger sense of 'community', by calling upon those whom we know share our heritage. And, we speak and pray of the year that has passed. And, of the year to come, as we 'Start over', with God's blessings.

Each year, we are given a new opportunity to begin our lives again. Knowing now what we did not know the day before... the year before.
Granted, for some of us, our lives had changed due to the nation's economic woes. In ways, perhaps, only dreamt of in fleeting nightmares. Yet, we all were affected.
It is that common experience that we can hold onto and share with others, knowing that they understand on some level.

And, as we share stories of our current life, someone in our close-knit or global community is apt to remember other times of great economic upheaval. And, how at those times, there was a fear that the world was coming to an end. All the while that misery appeared endless. And, yet, God allowed those in the middle of the tumult to 'Start over'.

Rosh Hashanah is not only the time when we ask God to inscribe us for another year in the Book of Life. Or, for a good year. Or, even a healthy year. It is a reminder that whatever comes our way, there is hope that we can always 'Start over', with God's blessing. That every day is an opportunity to renew our lives, our spirit, our faith.

May this very difficult year that has passed, which might have witnessed us robbed of our finances, not rob us of our hope and faith that God will allow us to 'Start over.'

Amen.

"A MISPLACED WHY"

Shalom!

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As we face the prospect of a New Year, while we witness last year's doorway closed and sealed, 'WHY' is an all-too-often common question.

'WHY' were our blessings not greater? - 'WHY' our loved ones moved away, divorced us, became seriously ill, or passed-on. - 'WHY' we lost our job, was passed-over for a promotion, or our business failed. - 'WHY' our savings evaporated along with the stock market's stability. - 'WHY' our debt far outweighs our assets. - 'WHY' the price of life's necessities require us to make difficult, and even truly painful choices. - 'WHY' our life was not more fulfilling, challenging, or happy. - 'WHY' so many bad things always seem to happen to us.
And, finally, 'WHY' God does not seem to hear or answer our fervent prayers.

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Any of these questions are certainly worth asking. Yet, far too much time is spent on them, when, instead, we should be asking a different set of 'WHY' questions.

'WHY' did we push our loved ones away, or deny them the love and respect that they deserved? - 'WHY' did we not help loved ones to seek and follow, necessary medical advice? Or, spend more time with them, as their life's candle's flame was slowly burning-out? - Or what we did to fall out of favor with our employer. Or, 'WHY' we believed ourselves to be invaluable and irreplaceable on the job. Or, 'WHY' we only plodded along, doing the minimum required at work. Or, 'WHY' we cheated our customers or treated them rudely. - 'WHY' we spent lavishly or saved so little money. 'WHY' we never prepared for hard economic times. - 'WHY' we worked so much and played so little. 'WHY' we did not do volunteer work, take stimulating classes, or begin a hobby. - 'WHY' we focus so much on the negative that happens in our lives. Or, on envying others. Or, not having empathy for the plights of our neighbors, co-workers, and fellow citizens of the world. - 'WHY' we do not take better care of the earth, this enormous place filled with wonder, that God has blessed us with.  
And, 'WHY' we did not actively and frequently seek out God, especialy during happy, healthy, and prosperous times. - 'WHY' we assume that God neither listens to or cares for us, simply because our prayers were not answered according to our wishes or expectations. - 'WHY' during the High Holy Days, we plead our case, promise God so much, and look forward to a year of blessings, only to return to our often frivolous wasting of our blessing to be a part of the New Year.

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This Rosh Hashanah, may we stop asking the wrong questions and, instead, focus on the awesome responsibilities and magnificent blessings, which God bestows upon us, His Children.
May we ask the correct questions and live up to the challenge of providing many of the correct answers.

May we all be blessed and inscribed for another year, in the Book of Life.

Amen

 

"WHY SHOULD I CARE?"

Rosh Hashanah. The New Year.
So, it's a holiday. A High Holy  Day, at that. - But, really... Why should you care?

We live in a mostly secular nation. What is driven by religion is mostly that of Christianity. - Granted, that a minority of schools are closed for the New Year, but what of the other schools? And other societal institutions? - You probably are expected to work that day, and, if you will not, you are expected to request it off. Probably using on eof your precious few vacation days. Most all stores and banks remain open, as will most government offices. Mail will be delivered. Newspapers, also. Other than a 15-second blip showing folks entering a synagogue for services, TV will not cover the specialness, that is Rosh Hashanah.

So, what is there that is so special about this day, that you should care?
For starters, it pays homage to God. And, that should be a sufficient reason.

God has given us a gift. One of countless ones. He created our world and all that is in it. He imbued man and woman with aspects of His greatness. He has given us free will. And, minds. And, most importantly, perhaps, souls.
He has laid out for us a smorgasbord of opportunities. He has given us His laws, His commandments to be used as a roadmap and a guide for daily living. He has given us tools for shaping our lives. He has provided sources of comfort. And, challenges with which to strengthen ourselves, inwardly, as well as outwardly.

And, each year, as with each day, God has given us a way to renew our lives and spirits. He has provided us with a uniformly celebrated day with which to seek Him out. To thank Him for our blessings, whether they seem to be great or small. To thank Him for our very lives and those of our beloveds. - To begin, again, a process of atonement for wasted days and opportunites. For sins commited against Him, against our fellow man, against our world's natural treasures. - He has provided this day as a new beginning. One in which we can renew our inner-selves. Our passions. Our commitments. Our physical being. Our relationships. Our promises to God.

This day, Rosh Hashanah, is so very different a day, not because the rest of the world seems to ignore or make little importance of it. But, it is different, and special, because we are Jews. We have a covenant with God. Because, if we do not set aside days to be special, then all is simply mundane. And, this world and our lives which God has blessed us with are anything but mundane.

So, go forth and rejoice!

Live a holy life.

Give praise to God!

Amen.

 

OF PROMISES MADE AND TO BE KEPT

It's come again. When we least expected it. Snuck up on us, while living our busy, stressful life.
The New Year.

Of course, we wonder whether or not we fulfilled promises made to God, last Rosh Hashanah. If we did, we beam with inner satisfaction. If not, we begin the perennial process of rationalizing why we were unable to keep them.

Do we truly imagine that God does not know why we might have failed to keep our end of 'the bargain'? And why He kept his? --  Do we believe that God does not take note? Do we dare to examine this?

While a basic belief is that God will always forgive us, we should remember that God does observe us. He is the ultimate judge. And, as we read in the Bible, He is willing to mete out punishment when deemed necessary or appropriate to do so. Adam and Eve. Moses being denied access to Israel, after leading his people to freedom and for forty years. And on it goes...

God is not vengeful. He yearly offers us an opportunity to ask others for forgiveness and to seek the same from Him. An opportunity to give freely to others. An opportunity to pray more often and for more than our own needs. An opportunity to be inscribed in the Book of Life for one more year.

Yet, how often do we pay Him only lip service?

Do not confuse our New Year with the secular one. Resolutions... Promises... Are not meant to be broken. - Our New Year promises are meant to be our personal covenant with God. - Do we take promises made by our spouse, children, or best friends, lightly? - Do we not expect our boss' word to be kept? And they, our word?

There is the saying that you should act as honorably when alone and only God is watching you, as you act when others are around.

God also asks that we seek forgiveness from others to whom we have sinned, let down, abused,  ignored, or...

Yet, how many of us start to ask for pardon, but cannot get the words out. For fear of seeming weak, or of admitting a trespass, or even just acknowledging to ourselves that we are not perfect and have harmed another person. - We fool ourselves into thinking that our acts were not all that serious. That our other actions toward that person, more than made up for our transgression. - But ask your child whether or not your outburst or unreasonable criticism was washed away with an act of love. Ask your spouse whether or not you truly gave of yourself to them or if you spent quality time with them. Ask your parents whether or not ignoring them, daily, except for when you needed money or other assistance, healed the pain of their loneliness. What of your friend who was in need, and you chose to golf or dine out instead of spending your valuable time with them? Co-workers of whom you gossiped in order to 'fit in' or to pass by on the way up the corporate ladder... Would they truly not hold a grudge? Not hope for an apology? - Do we apologize to ourselves for not living up to our potential? Do we treat ourselves with any real dignity? Or do we succumb to the humiliation or being used because it is easier than forging our way to a higher sense of self? Do we shut out others for fear of being hurt, without accepting the fact that only with risk can we find treasures? Do we take the easy way out because it is easier than trying and failing? Do we settle for less than we desire or deserve?

Yes, at Rosh Hashanah, there are many promises to re-examine. To re-commit to. - There are many of whom we must seek pardon. - There is finally a time, during our crazy, non-stop days, to just sit. Or stand. And pray. In unison and in silence. - There is a time to ask God for another year. A good year. A year of hope and health. A year of prosperity in our trappings, but more importantly, in our hearts and relationships. A year when we finally step off of the curb and cross the street in order to reach our own Promised Land where our goals and dreams are fulfilled. A year when we truly will act upon our promises to God, to the best that we actually can.

May you find peace, and hope, and health, and love in the coming year.

Amen.

A NEW BEGINNING, A NEW YEAR

Calamaties befall us, all.
Cancer. The death of a child. Chronic pain. Loss of income. Loss of a spouse to death or divorce. House fires. Bankruptcy. And so many more tragic events...

These are calamties of great magnitude. Each bringing with it a rippling effect.
Cancer can drain not only your soul, but your income, your energy to participate in family matters or work. Your caregivers and loved ones can be tested, as they have never been tested before.
Your son dies in a car crash, not of his doing. The hole inside of you makes you one of the 'living dead'. Your other children try to get comfort from you, in vain, because you have nothing to give.
When your spouse leaves you for another, depression often sinks in... Affecting your work and other relationships.
Loss of income often brings a loss of self-worth, as well as a dependency upon others for 'just the basics' of life.
A hurricane destroys your home, taking with it, every tangible vestige of your life's history.

Yes, each calamity brings not only great stress for you, but most certainly ripples which threaten the well-being of those around us. Those whom we love.
Sometimes, we wonder whether or not Job had anything on us. Our heads and spirit barely stay above water. And our ability to tread that 'water of life' diminishes with each passing day.

Somehow, we survive. Somehow, we get up and push onward. Some days with a massive effort. Some days, void of emotion. Some days, just going through the motions. - But, we do survive.
My father, God rest his soul, used to say that any day, when he rose from bed and his head was higher than his feet were, had to be at least an 'okay day'
Do you tell yourself that when you rise? Perhaps you should. Perhaps it will help to make  the day's struggles seem less burdensome.

God provides us with inner strength and survival tools which we often underestimate or simply ignore.
The human spirit is blessed with an innate desire to exist. A desire to reach out and explore God's universe, if only the microcosm that is our community, or even only our own backyard. - To tap this strength, we might need to reach out to our neighbors. But haven't Jews always reached out in times of need? Didn't it take families and neighbors joining together, to build the Land of Milk and Honey, Israel, with God's blessings? Didn't it take Jew helping Jew in the Nazi deathcamps, to survive each horrific day and endless night? And didn't it take the bravery and efforts of Jew and Gentile, alike, to end the atrocities of those deathcamps?

God gives us tools with which to survive our daily calamaties, be they large or small.
Obviously, God has blessed us with the Torah. Within it's words are ideas, feelings, and truths. Words to inspire, guide, and even warn us.

God has given us minds. Minds which we all too seldom tap into sufficiently, or stretch to new limits.

God has blessed us with a world filled with wonders. Many of which we can use to get by, day by day. - Trite as it might sound, God has given us the sun which comes up, daily. Even after it's light is hidden from view by clouds or an eclipse. - We can see flowers beaten down by a harsh rain or a cold winter, only to bloom again.
God has filled our world with many examples of adversity being overcome. Of new beginnings. New rays of hope.

Yes, God promises each one of us, a new beginning, a New Year.
Whether it is with Him, after our death, or here in His garden, under His watchful eyes.

Rosh Hashanah represents a 'New Beginning'. - But as with any gift, God leaves it up to us to make the most of it.

Some calamaties are of our own doing.
We don't buckle-up, or we drive drunk. - We don't give our best to our employer, who then lays us off. - We take our spouse for granted. - We ignore our children's silent cries for attention or help. - We make mistakes and do not bother trying to correct them. - We slight those around us. 

Some calamties are not in our control. But what we do in their aftermath, greatly, is, up to us.

As we enter this New Year, may we tap into God's words, study the Torah, learn from our surroundings and neighbors, and, most of all, reaffirm our bond with the Almighty.

May you and yours be granted a 'New Beginning', this New Year.
One inscribed in the Book of Life.
And, may you be blessed by the hand of God.

Amen.

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