It is about to begin. Ten days to get it all done. No more, no less. Ten days to determine what was and what will be. Ten days to determine if Hashem and the relationship we currently have with Him is our priority or just another casual acquaintance that we drop when something more important comes along. The sound of the shofar kicks off these Days of Awe which boils down to one question - where are we and where is Hashem?
דִּרְשׁ֥וּ יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּהִמָּֽצְא֑וֹ קְרָאֻ֖הוּ בִּֽהְיוֹת֥וֹ קָרֽוֹב
Seek Hashem from where He is to be found, call Him when He is close - Isaiah 55:6
The prophet Isaiah, in speaking to the Jewish people addressing their crumbling relationship with Hashem, urges us to be actively engaged in finding Hashem and nurturing our relationship each day. However, all the commentaries ask when is it that Hashem is not close to the Jewish people? Is he not everywhere around us? Their response is haunting. Hashem is always close to us, but we are not always close to Him. When is Hashem the closest with us? During the time between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur known as the Ten Days of Repentance.
Why during these 10 days above all other times of the year? It is during these days that we most deeply reflect on our lives. What have we achieved and what have we not yet accomplished? What did we do wrong and what can we put right? What are we here on this earth to do? During this time we are in a search for meaning.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l, in his book A Letter in the Scroll (entitled Radical Then, Radical Now in Europe), asked a poignant question about choice. In Parshat Nitzavim, Moshe explains that the covenant he is forging with the Jewish people prior to entering the Land of Israel applies to those present and to all future Jews til the end of time. For all those Jews born after the desert, we did not choose to be Jewish. We were born Jews. Thus Rabbi Sacks’s question - Why stay Jewish?
Yehuda Avner, an Israeli prime ministerial advisor and diplomat, met with the Lubavitcher Rebbe late one evening. As the meeting got started, Yehuda asked the Rebbe, “What is it that you seek to accomplish?” The Rebbe pointed to a candle sitting on a bookshelf and asked Yehuda what it is that he sees. Yehuda replied, “A candle.” The Rebbe responded, “No, it is not a candle. It is just a lump of wax with a string down the middle. When does the lump of wax become a candle? When you bring a flame to the wick.”
The Rebbe continued to explain to Yehuda that the flame here is the flame of Torah and the wax is the body of a human being. When our souls are ignited by the flame of Torah, that is when a person becomes a candle, achieving the purpose for which they were created. Our children are all molds of wax waiting to be inspired, waiting to be ignited and lit ablaze. Where exactly does that fire come from?
This fire stems from three places - the relationship/obligation that is bestowed upon us from Hashem, the impact our parents have in nurturing that flame through modeling/engagement and the manner in which the school plays a pivotal role in supporting the first two proponents.
In explaining an approach to the question posed by Rabbi Sacks, he explains that not all obligations that bind us are accepted freely. As a people of deep memory, story and history each of us holds the responsibility of the hopes of the generations that preceded us and the dreams of a future they fought for. Just as we did not choose to be born, choose who our parents are, or the place and time of our birth neither did we choose to be Jewish. Nevertheless, we exist as part of a story that began long before us and that will continue long after us. The question for all of us is, will we continue the story?
Ultimately, that lays on the shoulders of our parents. We are all key players in our story. We can choose to live it or to abandon it. It is a choice we cannot avoid and has immense consequences. What our parents model, the values that they bring to life in our homes and in our shared spaces will heavily influence this choice. The manner in which our schools speak about, recognize, and validate this fluctuating process between buy in and abandonment the greater the chance that the future of our covenant with Hashem will rest in good hands.
Our parents, our educational institutions and our community has given all of us the match with which to light the candle. The choice to light our own candles is entirely ours. The future of our story, of the covenant we forged thousands of years ago between us and Hashem and the ability to confidently say that our children and grandchildren will build Jewish families and homes are in the balance.
These ten days are when we formalize this choice for ourselves, for our children and for our Jewish future for generations to come. Ten days to light the candle of life and 355 days to feed it as it enlightens all those around it.
Wishing everyone a Shanah Tovah (Good Year) and a Chatimah Tovah (A favorable reckoning)!