WHAT WILL WE Do TOMORROW?
Neilah (evening drash)
So here we are, at the final hour of Yom Kippur. While heaven’s gates of forgiveness are always open, the the gates of this day of spiritual cleaning and renewal are closing. I have explored with you over the last 10 days four possible paths to the divine: nature, community, wisdom / self-knowledge, and the life and death moments in our lives: births, the passing of a loved one, and a day such as today when we focus on our lives and deaths. It’s easy for most of us to feel closer to our souls at a moment like this: surrounded by community on a day filled with rituals and confessions. The question that I have is, what will we do tomorrow?
We live so much of our lives focusing on a particular date: a due date, a Bat or Bar Mitzvah, a graduation, a wedding, etc. There is no question that certain days feel more significant than others, there is a difference between Yom Kippur and a random Thursday in Autumn, but it’s also true that our actual lives are not just about special days, but about how we live on a so called “normal day”. How do we encounter the divine in our lives when we are not in nature, not gathered with community, not accessing wisdom, and not experiencing a life and death moment? How do we ensure that the spiritual gains that we have experienced this day don’t become a discarded new year’s resolution by this next weekend?
The day after a wedding is a better litmus test for the marriage than the wedding celebration; the Shabbat after a Bar Mitzvah says more about the young adult’s continued journey than what they pledge during their big day. It’s good that we circle certain dates on the calendar and look forward to family gatherings, life-cycle celebrations, vacations, trips and new beginnings. And perhaps we also need to focus more on the day after these moments.
It seems like anyone can be sober for a day, and yet it takes commitment to be sober the day after that and the day after that. Or as the unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt said on her tv show: “You can do anything for 10 seconds”. As we conclude this intense day of atonement and forgiveness, let’s explore one last route to the divine in our lives: the everyday.
There are experiences that impact us, and can change us, but for the change to really stick, we must integrate the change into our “normal” lives. Jewish mysticism speaks of four worlds: assiyah - physical creation, yetzirah - emotional formation, briah - the intellectual realm, and atzilut - the spiritual dimension. And there are also 7 sephitot that allow us to understand what it means to be made in the image of God. As God is loving, we have Chesed - loving kindness. As God has inter strength, we have Gevurah - limit setting. As God has Tiferet - the beauty of balance, we can achieve balance between giving and receiving. As God is Netzach - eternalness, we can endure. As God is Hod - splendor, and praise; we can appreciate the here and now. As God has Yisod - foundational righteousness, we can tap into foundational righteousness of our own. And as God is Malchut - Shechinah, the divine presence that dwells in all places and every moment, we too can feel the divine in our lives. Every moment is a divine one when we open to it and live lives of meaning and connection.
So where do we go next? What comes after Yom Kippur? The day after Yom Kippur. It’s not just a trite saying that tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives. It’s an important reality to embrace. Today is not only a day to ask for forgiveness, it is a day to be forgiven. Tomorrow is when you decide what to do with the clean slate that you have achieved though the rituals and self-reflection of today. Tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of your new and improved life.
There are so many places that we can go next. In four days begins the joyful holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah which start on the full moon and last 9 days. What comes after the intensity of Yom Kippur? The sublime joy of feasting, celebrating, singing, and dancing under the stars on Sukkot. We’ve done the hard work, now experience the happiest side of our traditions.
Every week this congregation is here providing festive meals, socializing, meaningful song-filled services, classes for young and adult, various entry points into a community built on education and making a difference in the world. This Sunday our Beit Sefer and Gan drop-in programs for 4 years olds through 7th graders will be learning how to make a sukkah harvest hut, and how and why we shake the lulav and etrog, the Jewish rain stick, aka the Hebrew light saber. Our adults will gather for their own version of this hands-on lesson about Sukkot, and then a multi-generational study of the ancient wisdom of Pirke Avot - the ethics of our elders, and then Adult Hebrew. Our next Sunday afternoon concert is Hot Club Faux on Sunday November 17th at 3pm, the next monthly Shabbat Dinner is a week from Friday as part of our HeBrew Fest Sukkot BBQ, and Latkes and Vodkas is on Saturday night November 23rd. What is the point of mentioning these events? For you to think about how to take this beautiful, inspiring, cleansing Yom Kippur energy and do more than mark down the dates for the High Holidays in 2020. This is an informercial to encourage you to live your true best self, not only right now as the Yom Kippur sun is setting, but tomorrow as well, and also the day after that.
“But Rabbi, do you expect all of us to become transformed into devout Jews?” No, but I ask all of you to make a real commitment to personal growth and community involvement. If you usually come twice a year, try coming four times. If you are here once a month, try it once a week. Set a goal for this year, and take the next steps to get there.
Where can you find God when you are not in a national park, surrounded by community, engaging in learning, or in the place where life and death meet? Look for God in the details, look for holiness in the messy details of our lives. Try to see a glimpse of heaven when you are stuck in traffic, waiting in a long check-out line, or on hold on the phone with your bank. Our Jewish wisdom teaches us that God is found wherever we lift our eyes to heaven. “I lift up my eyes, up to the mountains, and ask ‘where will my help come from?’ My help comes from the One, who created heaven and all the earth.” (Psalm 133) Our sense of the divine comes when we feel connected to this universe and the people that we share it with. I bless all of us that tomorrow continues a year of meaning and connections for all of us. Your Jewish community will be here for you; please be here with us. I hope to see you all real soon. Shana Tovah!
Rabbi Shalom Bochner
We live so much of our lives focusing on a particular date: a due date, a Bat or Bar Mitzvah, a graduation, a wedding, etc. There is no question that certain days feel more significant than others, there is a difference between Yom Kippur and a random Thursday in Autumn, but it’s also true that our actual lives are not just about special days, but about how we live on a so called “normal day”. How do we encounter the divine in our lives when we are not in nature, not gathered with community, not accessing wisdom, and not experiencing a life and death moment? How do we ensure that the spiritual gains that we have experienced this day don’t become a discarded new year’s resolution by this next weekend?
The day after a wedding is a better litmus test for the marriage than the wedding celebration; the Shabbat after a Bar Mitzvah says more about the young adult’s continued journey than what they pledge during their big day. It’s good that we circle certain dates on the calendar and look forward to family gatherings, life-cycle celebrations, vacations, trips and new beginnings. And perhaps we also need to focus more on the day after these moments.
It seems like anyone can be sober for a day, and yet it takes commitment to be sober the day after that and the day after that. Or as the unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt said on her tv show: “You can do anything for 10 seconds”. As we conclude this intense day of atonement and forgiveness, let’s explore one last route to the divine in our lives: the everyday.
There are experiences that impact us, and can change us, but for the change to really stick, we must integrate the change into our “normal” lives. Jewish mysticism speaks of four worlds: assiyah - physical creation, yetzirah - emotional formation, briah - the intellectual realm, and atzilut - the spiritual dimension. And there are also 7 sephitot that allow us to understand what it means to be made in the image of God. As God is loving, we have Chesed - loving kindness. As God has inter strength, we have Gevurah - limit setting. As God has Tiferet - the beauty of balance, we can achieve balance between giving and receiving. As God is Netzach - eternalness, we can endure. As God is Hod - splendor, and praise; we can appreciate the here and now. As God has Yisod - foundational righteousness, we can tap into foundational righteousness of our own. And as God is Malchut - Shechinah, the divine presence that dwells in all places and every moment, we too can feel the divine in our lives. Every moment is a divine one when we open to it and live lives of meaning and connection.
So where do we go next? What comes after Yom Kippur? The day after Yom Kippur. It’s not just a trite saying that tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives. It’s an important reality to embrace. Today is not only a day to ask for forgiveness, it is a day to be forgiven. Tomorrow is when you decide what to do with the clean slate that you have achieved though the rituals and self-reflection of today. Tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of your new and improved life.
There are so many places that we can go next. In four days begins the joyful holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah which start on the full moon and last 9 days. What comes after the intensity of Yom Kippur? The sublime joy of feasting, celebrating, singing, and dancing under the stars on Sukkot. We’ve done the hard work, now experience the happiest side of our traditions.
Every week this congregation is here providing festive meals, socializing, meaningful song-filled services, classes for young and adult, various entry points into a community built on education and making a difference in the world. This Sunday our Beit Sefer and Gan drop-in programs for 4 years olds through 7th graders will be learning how to make a sukkah harvest hut, and how and why we shake the lulav and etrog, the Jewish rain stick, aka the Hebrew light saber. Our adults will gather for their own version of this hands-on lesson about Sukkot, and then a multi-generational study of the ancient wisdom of Pirke Avot - the ethics of our elders, and then Adult Hebrew. Our next Sunday afternoon concert is Hot Club Faux on Sunday November 17th at 3pm, the next monthly Shabbat Dinner is a week from Friday as part of our HeBrew Fest Sukkot BBQ, and Latkes and Vodkas is on Saturday night November 23rd. What is the point of mentioning these events? For you to think about how to take this beautiful, inspiring, cleansing Yom Kippur energy and do more than mark down the dates for the High Holidays in 2020. This is an informercial to encourage you to live your true best self, not only right now as the Yom Kippur sun is setting, but tomorrow as well, and also the day after that.
“But Rabbi, do you expect all of us to become transformed into devout Jews?” No, but I ask all of you to make a real commitment to personal growth and community involvement. If you usually come twice a year, try coming four times. If you are here once a month, try it once a week. Set a goal for this year, and take the next steps to get there.
Where can you find God when you are not in a national park, surrounded by community, engaging in learning, or in the place where life and death meet? Look for God in the details, look for holiness in the messy details of our lives. Try to see a glimpse of heaven when you are stuck in traffic, waiting in a long check-out line, or on hold on the phone with your bank. Our Jewish wisdom teaches us that God is found wherever we lift our eyes to heaven. “I lift up my eyes, up to the mountains, and ask ‘where will my help come from?’ My help comes from the One, who created heaven and all the earth.” (Psalm 133) Our sense of the divine comes when we feel connected to this universe and the people that we share it with. I bless all of us that tomorrow continues a year of meaning and connections for all of us. Your Jewish community will be here for you; please be here with us. I hope to see you all real soon. Shana Tovah!
Rabbi Shalom Bochner