RECALCULATING
Over the past Hebrew month of Elul, observant and knowledgeable Jews have been taking the time, principally at daily services, to re-examine their lives over the year 5769; what was done right and what was done “not so right.” Did we measure up to our promises and expectations we vowed last year at this time? Just like the “new year’s resolutions” some of us make when the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, I would venture that many of our ideas and promises we set forth last Yom Kippur have not been fulfilled and realistically, all of us fall into that category. I would go so far as to propose that fully 95% of our promises to change, to be a better person, to be kinder or more generous, fell by the wayside by Chanukah and probably before that.
The first question to be asked then is; did we promise ourselves, before Gd, to do better this past year? And if we failed last year, are we willing to remake the same vow or even improve our promise for this coming year? If we feel it’s important, the answer is probably yes. I’ll be kinder to my spouse. I’ll walk the dog more often. I’ll come to Temple services more often. I’ll be more charitable, I’ll get more involved – these and dozens of other thoughts flood through our minds during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The ligurgy of our Machzorim is designed to provoke our minds into examining our thoughts and actions last year and resolve to do better this coming year so our promises are right on course.
What I want to address for a few moments this morning is not the content of our resolutions but examining the how and the why. Some may be thinking; “I’m a pretty good person already, do I really need to change? If I make a promise to improve my life in some meaningful way, how do I do that?
Our modern, frenetic lifestyles today often produce short term horizons. I’ll try to lower my cholesterol but it had better drop in a couple of weeks or I’m going back to the Dr. for a stronger medication. If you begin to regularly attend Shabbat services, will you see a change in your feelings or attitudes? O.K., I’ll give it a month otherwise I’m going back to sleeping in on Sat. morning.
How many here this morning have a GPS device in our cars? These are fantastic inventions and have allowed me to generally be on time to a location here in Chicago and the Joliet area rather than wander around aimlessly – after all, most men won’t ask for directions! It’s that wonderful female voice that, when we make a wrong turn, pipes up “recalculating.” In effect, it’s saying, “hey dufuss, you didn’t follow my directions so I’ll see if I can get you back on track.” This technology is modern genius! Do you have one of the newer digital cameras? Most of them have a “reset” button to restore the nominal values and settings on the camera if, by our excessive button pushing, they get out of adjustment.
When designing the Microsoft computer operating systems, Bill Gates’ programming engineers realized that if a program “locked up” in use, all the client had to do was press “Control, Alt, Delete” and the computer would unlock itself, get out of the program and return to a standby mode ready for its next instructions from the user. Apple computer users have a similar process available to them.
And here is where I offer you the proposition that Gd has, in his infinite wisdom, provided all of us a type of small voice in the recesses of our brains, that will, if called upon, allow us to rethink our life goals and help us “recalculate” if we get off course. However, that small voice will not activate unless we first recognize that our lives have gone off onto the shoulder of the road and we need to regain a safe operating space on our roads to the future. We must first admit to ourselves that we have, in some ways, violated or ignored one or more of the cardinal rules of the mitzvot of Judaism and our relationships with our fellow human beings and with Gd.
The author Hillel Zeitlin, wrote in 1928: “The ego is the strongest and most profound idol there is. It is the false god within the human being, and it entrenches itself deep within his physical being. The battle with the ego is one of the most difficult battles there is, but know, that as long as the ego controls you, you will be unable to enter the holy sanctuary of truth. The ego is the great lie of the “I” that separates you from Gd. When one begins to sense that the separate “I” is a lie, it begins to melt away because its only strength is in its ability to pose as the truth.”
Earlier, I mentioned that in our modern societies, our personal horizons have shortened. The speed of technology is now such that when we make a decision to call our broker to make a stock trade, by the time our order gets to Wall Street, the market often has changed drastically because the big traders and investment companies have programmed their computers to make the trades for them at lightening fast speeds. Their computers analyze the variables and either buy or sell all within a split second.
Human beings simply cannot analyze, react, and implement a decision that fast, so we have to shorten our horizons and hope we guessed correctly. As a result, our expectations of success are considerably lower. Now, I’ve used the stock market here as an example but we can easily substitute any other life situation and we’ll find much the same processes. Goods and materials that once were only available to us cyclically, are now immediately available to us. When the snow is piled high outside and we suddenly get a “hankering” for fresh strawberries, we’ll find them in the market imported from South America. We don’t have to wait until the new local growing season harvests. In many cases, we have become used to instant gratification in our lives. As long as our egos control our lives, we will be unable to enter into Zeitlin’s “sanctuary of truth.”
Last night, during our Kol Nidre services, and again this morning, we have stood before Gd and recited or sung: “Avinu Malkeynu,” as an integral part of the Yom Kippur confessional, imploring Gd to forgive our sins, frustrate our adversaries, and favorably inscribe us in Gd’s Books of Goodness, Merit, and Forgiveness, and we will repeat this gorgeous prayer twice more today, asking Gd to offer us an opportunity to push the “reset” button to get our lives back onto the proper track. Our GPS units are “recalculating” the proper courses for us, all we have to do is follow the instructions.
Instant gratification is not the truth, our Torah is the truth, and once we recognize and begin to follow the precepts of the 613 Mitzvot of our faith, the “I” in the ego will begin to melt away. This is the life course I’m referring to when I mention getting back on track. Examining our life courses within the precepts of our Torah is the goal. The question now is, how close can we get to Torah perfection? Through study and practice. I mentioned last night that I will be encouraging Judaic study over the course of this coming year, but study alone will not address the entire issue. Becoming better informed about Judaism is a great beginning. Study plus practice; putting into motion those precepts of personal and business ethics we will study will surly help. As you can readily see, one singular approach won’t quite address the issue.
If we resolve to change, to adjust our life courses, if we are willing to listen and act upon our religious GPS units as they say, “recalculating,” we stand a very good chance at improving not only our own lives, but the lives of our mates, our families, our friends, and our community.
We have sinned against you by . . . We beat our breast in a show of apology and contrition at our actions over this past year, and by doing so, we resolve to do better. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Yom Kippurs “reset” button for our lives this coming year! Today is the day we read this amazing prayer and resolve to put ourselves on a life course to be better individuals. We can do it – individually and collectively we can follow Gd’s recalculated course – all we have to do is concentrate a little harder and promise ourselves to make that all important improvement in our lives. Now, I did not say it would be easy, nor do I advocate a wholesale, complete life change in one fel swooop. I suggest all Gd wants us to do is to make changes in our lives in small, incremental steps over this next year. Several small annual steps over the next decade will ultimately produce huge results.
At this point, you may be asking yourself, “o.k., I will generally buy what Rabbi is saying, but how do I do this? How do I decide what change to make? And, once I make my decision, how do I make this life change?” All are great questions and the answers could and do fill volumes but briefly, to make a change, we first have to recognize a problem then begin to craft and implement a solution. I suggest that a great place to begin is to look at the Shabbat and our observance of the Torah mandated day of rest. I am not a “hard liner” on this but realizing that the Torah says we should rest on the 7th day, we should strive to set aside our 6 day a week activities for a 7th day of rest. We can use the day to have genuine conversations with our families. We can leave the office and the desk piled high in favor of a good book and a walk around the neighborhood. We can come to the synagogue to thank Gd for all we have and for creating a mandated day of rest. We should try to do all these things.
Shabbat is a weekly mind clearing experience. Coming together as a family on Friday night, sitting at a beautiful dinner lovingly prepared, saying Kiddush and Motzi thanking Gd for the bounty on our table, engaging in conversation with our loved ones, what a wonderful way to end an often hectic week. Putting Shabbat into our weekly lives would be an excellent place to begin a change. Now don’t think that trying one or two Shabbatot will be the cure. Shabbat rest is cathardic, it is a true gift from Gd and once instituted into our lives, you’ll wonder how you existed without it. It will take a month of Shabbatim to begin to see any real change but if you begin the process and work at it diligently, positive change will come.
Our Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services emphasize Teshuvah / change. Shabbat is a great “reset” button, so is learning as I spoke about last evening. Either or both of these avenues to lifestyle change can bring us huge personal dividends and I urge you to strongly consider taking on either of these mitzvot. Yes, they will change your life, and you probably won’t hear that voice saying “recalculating” as often because you’ll be on a very good personal life course. No one is asking us to take on all 613 mitzvot at one time – it’s impossible! I’m asking that we consider taking on 2 or 3 this coming year. If we learn them and practice them, then next year, we’ll talk about a few more.
The liturgy of our Yom Kippur service are Judaism’s “control / alt / delete” key strokes. The prayers are designed to make us think about our lives this past year and how we can recalculate and get onto the right track. The material was written hundreds even thousands of years before computers but it is very timely and should cause us to examine our lives and change our lifestyles. It’s all up to us. Why not promise yourself to change just a little bit. Surely a small change will pay you big dividends.
L’Shana Tovah Tikatevu