Erev Rosh Hashanah 5781 ~ Sept. 18, 2020

One of my favorite early morning prayers, asks God to help each of us to have the wisdom to make the right choices each day, to choose wisely the people we associate with and to find the right manner to deal with the others who might negatively impact on our day or our life. There is no prescription dispensed in the prayer, only a mindful reminder to ourselves. The morning prayers remind us that we have an obligation to make sure the choices are informed, wise, considerate, and compassionate. And they shouldn’t be done in an automatic fashion or just because we have always done so and they feel safe—as in brisket for Rosh Hashanah and chicken every Shabbat.

For most of my life, chicken has been the food served, in some form, at our Friday evening Shabbat dinner table.  Roasted, baked, fried, barbecued, in a sauce, or as a soup.  Why? Because it is a tradition! What would Friday night be without chicken? Well, one Thursday, I turned to Lisa, and said “I am simply tired of eating chicken. It seems that every Friday night we eat chicken -- chicken this way, chicken that way. How about a change: Kiddush over the Wine, Motzi over the Challah, then Pizza, or Lasagna?” 

Well Lisa heard what I was saying, and she said that she was tired of eating the same boring chicken each Friday night as well. So, Lisa decided to make a different dish for Friday night supper. She said it would be a surprise. And when I came to the table for Shabbat dinner, our dairy dishes were out. And I could smell the tomato sauce cooking over some dish in the oven.  We said, Kiddush and Motzi, and then she brought out the main dish, freshly baked in the oven, cheese on top. And as we dug inside, Lisa turned and said, “I hope you like it.” And when I inquired as to what it was, she said “Vegetarian Chicken Parmesan.”

Even when we try to depart from old paths, as with the vegetarian chicken, we often end up in familiar ones because they do feel safe. What can we do as Jews? Listen to our tradition and then dare to move ahead.

How do we find direction and courage? By keeping in mind what one great rabbinic teacher, Rabbah said in the Talmud.  Rabbah asks a question - tzippita liyshua? "Have you anticipated for yeshua, your salvation?  Perhaps we need to evaluate what anticipation means, what do we look forward to?  When we were younger anticipation had whole different criteria than it does than in our current moment of life.  For example, changing my grandson diapers was not my idea of anticipation today, though singing to him and playing hide and seek with him certainly is; but thirty years ago, changing his father’s diaper was life fulfilled.  While 40 years ago, I might not have thought about 40 years from now, my financial wizards, and AARP constantly remind me that the magical seventy is even closer than I want to imagine.

Throughout the High Holy Day season, we are very conscious of these anticipations of past, present and future. Have we lived up to what we thought would be our greatest achievements, and the normal in our lives? There is one refrain that will constantly pop up: “chadesh yameynu kekedem.”  I’m certain you know these words as they are the ending words when we put away the Torah(sing them): “hashivenu Hashem eylekha  v’nashuva, chadesh yameynu kekedem.” Most translate these words as “renew our days as in past.”

I would like to reflect upon them with a different twist…may we recognize the expectations of past…may we reflect upon them…and may we use them to build yameyenu, our days, for the future. It’s not that we should recognize ourselves as a different person. That is not what Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is all about. As one rabbi put it so very well: “It’s not to reinvent ourselves. Rather, it is to return to the self that has always been inside of us. To get in touch with our own essential nature.” (Rabbi Micah Streiffer.)

So Rabbah’s thought provides us with a place to open our thoughts today.  “Tzipita leyeshua?” At what point in our own personal life, have we accepted the truths about our anticipations and accomplishments?  Are we prepared for the challenges and the choices that will face us in this New Year 5781?  “Hashivenu Hashem eylekha v’nashuva, chadesh yameynu kekedem.” Turn us toward You, Hashem, and we will return to You. And as Mahzor Lev Shalem and Siddur Lev Shalem refreshingly translate: “Make our days seem fresh, as they once were.” And let us say: Amen.