|
Let us begin by remembering
that the spiritual always points toward the unity of things not their
division. Judaism tries to help us to work from a higher perspective. To
celebrate the creation of the world, as we do on Rosh Hashanah, is to see
ourselves as an integral part of all that is and not to see ourselves as the
measure of all things. The egotistical , self-centered part of our mind,
"the evil urge" if you will, always leads us to experience our
separateness from the natural world. When we see ourselves as part of
creation, born primarily to tend the Garden and nurture it than we will be
acting out of our higher selves.
Rosh Hashanah is a call to
reintegrate ourselves into the fabric of the natural world and to do our part
to preserve the universe out of which we come.
A word from Nahman of
Bratslav. "The world was created only for the sake of the choice and the
choosing one. We as masters of choice should say; The whole world has been
created for my sake. Therefore, I shall take care at every time and in every
place to redeem the world and fill its want."
A Rosh Hashanah letter
from Mordecai Kaplan
The following message by
Mordecai Kaplan to the young people of his newly established synagogue, The
Society for the Advancement of Judaism, beautifully and simply captures the
essence of the Rosh Hashanah spirit. It appeared in the S.A.J. Review, Sep 11
1923.
|
My Dear Boys and
Girls:
I wish you all a
happy New Year. May the coming year not alone bring you happiness, but
also enable you to make others happy, your parents your relatives and
your companions.
Making others happy
is no easy matter. It is an art that requires a great deal of study
and practice. You probably do not suspect the true name of that art.
It is religion. To be sure, a great deal of what people call religion
leaves them unhappy, and often helps them to make others miserable.
But that is only imitation religion, and not the real thing. All real
religion, like the Book of Psalms, begins with 'asharei' which
means, 'O What happiness' and ends with 'Hallelujah', which is
a song of rejoicing.
We have established
the S.A.J. for the purpose of learning the true Jewish religion the
religion of our fathers. In that way, we expect to learn the art of
being happy, and making others happy. May I count upon you to be loyal
to this purpose which we have set for ourselves? May I expect that you
will help us with your readiness to carry out the little tasks we
assign to you? May I hope that you will display a loving interest in
all that is truly Jewish, spiritual, and ennobling? Why certainly ! |
From the Diary 1952 Rosh Hashanah - Yom HaZikaron.
In the this passage from
Mordecai Kaplan's Diary, he explains the meaning of Rosh Hashanah as Yom
HaZikaron. We can feel his delight in having thought of the explanation
shortly before he gave the sermon. He also hints at but does not completely
explain the central notion of the Kingship of God which is so important on
Rosh Hashanah. In other places Kaplan explains and reinterprets the notion of
God's sovereignty as meaning that we must not act as if our own will were the
supreme law but we must submit to a higher law which is the law of justice
righteousness and love. To submit to that law is to accept the sovereignty of
God.
|
Sunday September 21,
1952
The sermon today on
"The Quest for Universal Peace" was highly successful. There
were not two opinions about it. In the introduction I pointed out that
of all the holidays in our calendar Rosh Hashanah is the only that is
not designated in the liturgy by the same name as in common parlance.
In the liturgy it is called [Yom HaZikaron] as it is in the
Torah where the term Rosh Hashanah is not to be found. Originally the
[Yom HaZikaron] was celebrated not as marking the beginning of
a new year but as the beginning of the seventh month. Seven seemed to
connote for our ancestors completion or fulfillment. The fulfillment
in question was that of God's power in the world. The term [Zikaron]
is therefore not to be understood as "memorial" or
"remembrance" but as "proclamation." God is to be
proclaimed king by means of the shofar. The [Yom HaZikaron
] is thus the equivalent of "I am an American day." It means
"I am a world-citizen day," "I am a subject of God's
Kingdom" day. That's the kind of a notion that delights me and
gives propulsive power to the talk that I gave. This is especially the
case when I hit upon the notion shortly before I give the talk. If
premeditated too far ahead of time it loses its "kick." |
The diary entry is from "Communings of the Spirit: The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan, 1913-1934", edited by Mel Scult. To learn more, Go to JRF publication catalog. |
