Rabbi's Corner

Today, the last Shabbat prior to Rosh Hashanah, is the 357th day of Israel’s war with Hamas.
 
How do we celebrate a “sweet new year” when over 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza? How do we feel “joy” when the war has spread to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon fighting Hezbollah and to the east on the West Bank? How can we close the door on 5784 when every day, rockets are reigning down on Israel: Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nazareth, and so many other places, keeping 80,000 Israelis evacuated from their homes? Where do we find hope when the trauma and horror of October 7th plays over and over in our minds like a nightmare stuck on “repeat?” How can we rejoice when we experience antisemitism and anti-Zionism in deep and tangible ways here at home, causing us to re-think long-held relationships, partnerships and norms?
 
This is not the first time our people has lived through crisis and horror. Each time, we discover the inner strength, persevernce, spirit, and courage to simultaneously experience joy and fear, celebration and grief. We Jews have survived because of our tenacity, resilience, and determination. We survive because we celebrate and affirm life itself.
 
Even in the midst of anguish and war, we celebrate. Even when we are in mourning, we pause for the moments of joy. Joy always triumphs over fear. Celebration of sacred moments, sacred time, takes precedence in Jewish tradition over sorrow. When we are in mourning and sitting shiva, shiva pauses for Shabbat. If we are sitting shiva during a holiday, shiva ends when the holiday begins, since the commandment to celebrate Shabbat and holidays supercede mourning and sitting shiva.
 
So when Rosh Hashanah arrives on Wednesday evening, we WILL celebrate. We will thank God for granting us the blessing of another year, a new opportunity, renewed hope. We will pray that the war will soon end and peace will prevail. We pray that the new year will bring renewed life, shalom and shelimut – peace and wholeness.
 
The survivors of the October 7 Nova festival demonstrate this notion of holding these two contrasting emotions simultaneously: mourning and rejoicing, in the motto created shortly after October 7: “We will dance again.” They demonstrate with words of poetry, music, art, and tikkun olam, repairing our world, that to be Jewish is to affirm and celebrate life, even in the midst of our tears.
 
Click here to see Israelis dancing in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel: “We don’t let the enemy break our spirit and take away our joy. We will dance again – od nirkod shuv.”
 
The Orange County Jewish community will gather together to commemorate the one-year anniversary of October 7th, on Monday evening, October 7th at the Merage JCC. The evening is gratis and open to all. However, pre-registration is required since so many attendees are expected (you have the option of attending at either 5 pm or 7 pm). See the flyer and registration link below for details.
 
As I hold these dual emotions in my heart going into the High Holy Days this year, I carry the need to celebrate and observe our holidays with joy alongside the feeling of heaviness on my shoulders from the challenges we face. I find comfort in the words and blessing of Reform Movement poet laureate Alden Solovy:
 
Wildly Unimaginable Blessings
Let us dream
Wildly unimaginable blessings…
Blessings so unexpected,
Blessings so beyond our hopes for this world,
Blessings so unbelievable in this era,
That their very existence
Uplifts our vision of creation,
Our relationships to each other,
And our yearning for life itself.
 
Let us dream
Wildly unimaginable blessings…
A complete healing of mind, body, and spirit,
A complete healing for all,
The end of suffering and strife,
The end of plague and disease,
When kindness flows from the river of love,
When goodness flows from the river of grace,
Awakened in the spirit of all beings,
When G-d’s light,
Radiating holiness,
Is seen by everyone.
 
Let us pray —
With all our hearts —
For wildly unimaginable blessings,
So that G-d will hear the call
To open the gates of the Garden,
Seeing that we haven’t waited,
That we’ve already begun to repair the world,
In testimony to our faith in life,
Our faith in each other,
And our faith in the Holy One,
Blessed be G-d’s Name.
© 2020 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com
 
 Shana Tova U'mutakah - Wishing all a good and sweet year, filled with "wildly unimaginable blessings."