 |
In the News || Media Releases || Events || Jewish Life & Celebrations || Careers || Newsletter Jewish Life & CelebrationsRosh HashanahSelected Readings from a Rosh Hashana Celebration© Excerpted from the Rosh Hashana Service of Celebration of The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in New York.
This service was arranged by Rabbi Peter Schweitzer originally in 1993, and later revised in 1995, 1998 and 2002. Full credit for the sources is available through The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism. A HUMANISTIC CELEBRATION
In each era of ancient Jewish history festivals were created which were bound up with the ideas, the emotions, and the conceptions of the Jews of that particular era. It was not necessary to create new holidays. The old festivals were altered and re- created, a new spiritual content was poured into them and they became new institutions. (Hayim Schauss, The Jewish Festivals)
The Jewish calendar begins in the fall with the celebration of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, the High Holidays. For many Jews, this is a time of awe and reverence, a time to seek forgiveness for human sins through fasting and prayer to an omnipotent God.
Humanist Jews see Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur as an affirmation of human power and human dignity. The High Holidays are a time to consider the possibilities for change, for improvement, for happiness that we human beings can create ourselves. Acknowledging human courage and independence, we achieve human dignity.
Adapting the form of our meditations to the content of their message, we can create a truly humanistic celebration of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. This compilation of readings is a combination of familiar passages and innovative language which, together, give evolving expression to our holiday themes.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are traditionally referred to as Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe. Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated on the 1st day of the 7th month, Tishri. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, comes on the 10th day of Tishri.
Both these holidays differ from other Jewish festivals in that the mood is not one of joy and celebration, but of profound, serious reflection. Therefore, the name, Days of Awe. They also differ from the other holidays because they are not related to any historic event or cycle of nature.
Various peoples observe the New Year at different times. The Babylonians began theirs in spring, the Egyptians began theirs in summer, when the Nile began to rise, and the Jews started theirs in fall, when all the produce of the fields and orchards were gathered and stored away.
The Jews were later influenced by their exile in Babylonia and began to number their months, in the Babylonian fashion, with the spring. In this way, the fall observance of the New Year comes out in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar.
Before the Babylonian exile the High Holidays were probably not distinct from the autumn festival of Succot, which comes shortly after Yom Kippur. In this context, Rosh HaShanah may, initially, have been devised as an appeasement of the rain god, at a time of judgment for agriculture and group survival.
As Judaism evolved in the rabbinic period, this agricultural connection fell by the wayside and the High Holidays assumed even more powerful and awesome religious significance: an omnipotent Yahweh now undertakes an annual judgment of humanity, especially of the Jews, rendering an initial verdict on Rosh HaShanah and a final verdict on Yom Kippur. Thus evolved the High Holiday greeting, "L'Shanah Tovah Tikatevu" -- "May you be inscribed (in the book of life) for a good year."
A DAY OF RECKONING
Our ancestors declared the dreaded power of this day.
Are we any less mindful of its important purpose?
They stood in judgment, their fates weighed in the balance.
Do we not stand in self-evaluation, our choices equally measured?
They implored and beseeched, and asked for atonement.
We introspect and reflect, and seek self-awareness.
They confessed before another.
We chastise before ourselves.
Like them, we stand poised before an ever-unfolding book of life,
We believe it is written by our deeds and by the events that befall us.
We strive to take responsibility for our lives and write the pages ourselves,
And accept, with courage and dignity, the pages over which we have no control.
SECULAR SPIRITUALITY
Awe and Wonder
When we gaze on distant stars
When we stand above mile-deep canyons
When we are embraced by the universe
We draw power and strength from the world around us.
When we marvel at sunset’s glory
When we hear the ocean’s roar
When we are soothed by a flower’s aroma
We draw imagination and creativity from nature’s beauty.
When we cry at the glory of birth
When we weep at the sorrow of death
When we exalt in the joy of love
We draw hope and comfort from the lives that surround us.
Place and Purpose
Adapted from Rabbi Hillel
I strive to live a life of self-reliance.
I strive to live a life of self-confidence.
I strive to live a life of personal courage.
If I am not for myself who will be for me?
I depend on others as they depend on me.
I nurture others as they nurture me.
I draw strength from others as they draw strength from me.
If I am only for myself, what am I?
Life is fleeting. I can wait or I can act.
Life is fleeting. I can deliberate or I can take a step.
Life is fleeting. I can choose to live or not to live.
If not now, when?
Living Spiritual Lives
When we lift up the fallen
When we comfort the bereaved
When we feed the starving
When we look beyond ourselves
Then we live spiritual lives
When we let others comfort us
When we let others teach us
When we let others guide us
When we open ourselves up to others
Then we live spiritual lives
When we cherish our roots
When we treasure our heritage
When we teach our children
When we look to our past and our future
Then we live spiritual lives
SOURCES OF WISDOM
Where do our teachings come from?
What are the sources of our wisdom?
We have a wealth of resources to draw upon.
We find lessons in time-honored ancient writings passed down in written and oral form by esteemed rabbis and teachers.
We find teachings in modern literature, poetry, and drama, as well as academic and scientific journals which address contemporary situations and challenges.
We draw lessons from the collective experiences of the Jewish people and of people universally.
We draw lessons from the experiences of our own families and own lives personally.
The Torah teaches us about freedom:
“And you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” (Lev. 25:10)
The prophet Isaiah teaches us about peace:
“Let nation not lift up sword against nation, nor let them study war no more.” (Isaiah 2:4)
Yiddish proverbs offer obvious truths and earthy observations:
“If you lie down with the dogs, you get up with the fleas.”
Persecution has taught us about resilience, survival, dignity and defiance, and also anxiety and fear.
Exile and emigration have taught us about sacrifice, continuity and change, and also assimilation.
Israel teaches us about the need for unity and a just and lasting peace.
The lessons are mixed.
There is no one source of our wisdom.
There is no one supreme source of truth.
We search for wisdom everywhere.
HOW WE WILL LIVE
On Rosh HaShanah we reflect:
Who shall live for the sake of others,
Who, dying, shall leave a heritage of life.
Who shall burn with the fires of greed,
Who shall drown in the waters of despair.
Whose hunger shall be for the good,
Who shall thirst for justice and right.
Whose tongue shall be a thrusting sword,
Whose words shall make for peace.
Who shall be plagued by fear of the world,
Who shall strangle for lack of friends.
Who shall rest at the end of day,
Who lie sleepless on a bed of pain.
Who shall go forth in the quest for truth,
Who shall be locked in the prison of self.
Who shall be serene in every storm,
Who shall be troubled by the passing breeze.
Who shall be poor in the midst of possessions,
Who shall be rich, content with their lot.
Contemplation, meditation, and reflection:
These return us to life:
We forgive ourselves the past,
we renew ourselves for tomorrow,
May we go forth with rejoicing,
to a year of great goodness.
MEANING TO OUR FLEETING DAYS
Who are we? What are we?
A leaf in the storm, a fleeting moment in the flow of time, a whisper lost among the stars.
We are tenants in the house of life; our days on earth are but a span.
Time, like a river, rolls on, flowing year after year into the sea of eternity.
Its passing leaves bitter memories of hours misspent.
Now they come back to accuse us, and we tremble to think of them.
But conviction and purpose give meaning to our fleeting days,
treasured teaching guides us, unquestioning love sustains us.
May we have the knowledge and strength to live responsibly.
May we be released from bondage to the past; released from the stranglehold of bad habits, making ourselves free to start afresh.
Let this be for us the beginning of a new season of life and health.
May we be liberated from the fear of death and from the scornful laughter that mocks our labors.
Though our lives be short, let them be full.
May our mortal days endure as eternal moments.
Knowing our failings, let us be patient with those of others.
Knowing our will to goodness, may we see in others a dignity that is human.
Every soul is precious,
and every life is a gift.
SOUNDING THE SHOFAR
Rosh HaShanah calls us to awaken from our slumber and take measure.
The Shofar cries out to alarm us. It is our wake-up call. As it says, If not now, when? (Hillel)
The blast of the shofar is a call to action, challenging us to resist evil, to strive for justice, to create peace.
Back to Rosh Hashanah
Back to Jewish Life & Celebrations
|
|
