Last night I gave you five of ten values that were revealed through a congregational survey.
Those first five are:
- Torah – Guidance / Instruction
- Menuchat Hanefesh – Inner Peace
- Kavod – Respect
- Chesed – Compassion / Generosity
- Tzedek – Justice
I won’t keep you guessing as to the next five values, so they are:
Hachnasat Orchim – Welcoming
Kehilat Shaleim – Wholeness
Acharayut – Responsibility
Simchat Chayyim – Celebrating Life
L’azein – Balance
As we hear the Torah chanted later in this service, we will be introduced to Sarah, Abraham and Isaac, as well as Hagar and Ishmael.
One of the values that Abraham held above possibly all other values was that of Hachnasat Orchim. Among the principal figures in the Torah, Abraham was the most hospitable. His sense of welcoming has become one of the fulcrums by which the wheels of our traditions support and move us through time.
Sarah and Abraham’s travels may be seen as a search for a place where they can be made whole. It wasn’t until Isaac was born to Sarah that this aspiration became real.
Ishmael, to Abraham, represented a compromise. Therefore, the relationship between Isaac and Ishmael was one built on compromise.
So “happy” was Sarah at the reality of her pregnancy, at such an advanced age, that she laughed. And in our section of the Torah, sentence 6 of the 21st Chapter of Genesis tells us that not only is she laughing but those around her joined in her ironic happiness. Isaac’s appearance then, helps us to see the value in celebrating life.
Sarah’s sense of completeness and happiness created a feeling of community wholeness for most of the house of Sarah and Abraham. Not so for Hagar and her son Ishmael. In sentence 10, we read that Sarah tells Abraham to send – “Gareish” – (Hagar and her son) away from this now complete family. Abraham thought this to be cruel since Ishmael was his son as well. The narrative tries to explain that for Ishmael to be the harbinger of his own nation, Hagar and he will have to set out and find their own place in the world. The story reassures us that Ishmael will be fine in the end and would not have to be subservient to Isaac in the future.
Abraham had a responsibility not only for his legacy but to that of Hagar and Ishmael by letting them go. This action helped both parties to find balance within their circles.
Letting go can be difficult and a heart pausing action.
Rosh Hashanah, to many, is supposed to be a time when we look forward to a New Year with new ideas, new hopes, new pathways. But we cannot build those pathways without as solid a foundation as possible. We also cannot build new pathways without having them connected, in some way, to the paths that brought us to where we are today. Like our circulatory system, our world can be compared to one big organism, many pathways. Some are wide and open, while some narrow, leading to cul-de-sacs – I don’t like to refer to end points as dead ends.
What may make us hesitate in either our pursuit of progress or acknowledgement of progression is that both processes lead us into mystery – unknowns.
In 1810 England, Poet, Philosopher and Publisher, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote in his short-lived weekly periodical “The Friend” (a non- partisan political discussion magazine) “Omnia exeunt in mysterium” –
“There is nothing, the absolute ground of which is not a Mystery”. This is probably the most significant phrase that he coined as many incorrectly thought this phrase was of ancient Roman origin.
An ecclesiastical equivalent could be found in Psalm 90:10 –
כִּ י־ג ָ֥ז חִּ ִ֝֗ יש וַנ ע ֻֽפ ה׃
“…for they [our lives] pass by speedily and we become a mystery”.
And in Deuteronomy 29:29 we read: הַנִִּּ֨ סְ ת ר ֹ֔ ת לַיה ו ָ֖ה אֱֹלה ֵ֑ינו וְ הַנִּגְֹלֹ֞ ת ל ָ֤ׄ נָ֤ׄ וָ֤ׄ וָ֤ׄ לְָ֤ׄ ב ָ֤ׄ נ ָ֤ׄ יָ֤ׄ נָ֤ׄ ו ָ֤ׄ עַָ֤ׄ ד־עֹול ֹ֔ ם לַעֲשׂ֕ ֹות אֶ ת־כׇּל־דִּ בְ ר ָ֖ י הַתֹור ָ֥ ה הַז ֻֽ את׃ }ס{
“Concealed or mysterious acts or things concern Adonai; but with overt acts – things we know for sure, it is for us and our children ever to apply all the provisions of this Teaching.”
In other words, we can know what we know, we can believe what we think we know. But we cannot know what we don’t know.
We cannot know for sure what 5786 will bring us. Based upon the events and conditions set by the previous year, we can make educated assumptions as to how this year may play out. What we can control, however, is how we welcome this New Year.
Will we welcome this New Year with open arms or folded across our chests. Will we lend a hand to those in need or clench our fist to protect what little we may have. Will we open our eyes to the changing world or will we shutter our vision to preserve nostalgia.
For us, Kehilat Shaleim – Community Wholeness represents a value shared by our US Pledge of Allegiance. Whatever interpretation of the pledge, the word “indivisible” can be found in all of them because that word is synonymous for wholeness. An opposing term for divisiveness is indivisible or whole because they can be defined as a state of being where we are intact, without separation of parts. A sense of unity.
Two friends spent years working together and when they retired, they found common ground over their shared professional path. Once a week, they would meet to walk and talk about how they worked together. They would occasionally look up other colleagues who retired and found what paths their lives took. They caught up on their own families and spoke of their similar and different interests that they have been developing with the time they have been given in retirement. Over the years, their routine became a protective bubble around their relationship until one day, they discussed a subject that was avoided for fear of creating a division between their proprietary and safe relationship. The subject is not important, however the fact that they broached a topic that they both clearly avoided reflected a sense of trust between them. So, they began to discuss concerns, fears and hesitations. While both had differing opinions about how they conduct their own lives, they did find several core values that they both shared. Weren’t not for opening their conversation to assumed taboo topic, they opened each other’s eyes to new ways they can learn and grow closer together. They found shared values that did not shake their entire foundations and for that their relationship became stronger. They now have new ideas on new topics to care about and share with each other. Their heightened level of “Kavod” – “Respect” was not shaken but became deeper.
The New Year presents us with many new challenges and with those challenges there will invariably come new responsibilities.
“Acharayut” – “Responsibility” for us at CBS requires each of us to take ownership of the totality of our existence. When we look outside to our garden, we see literally fruits of our labor that reflects that shared ownership. Building, cultivating, sustaining and sharing those fruits can be a lot for an individual to manage. But our community takes ownership of one aspect of its existence and understands that their job, while not the most important, is essential to the overall sustainability of our real and metaphorical garden.
Like CBS, we must work to join our essential selves with our authentic selves to find the clarity to reveal our personal values. We can’t just walk down the hallway of values in the structure of our lives and pick out the shiniest most appealing values to take with us. It doesn’t work that way. Value Sets are not intended to be aspirational, they are intended to help see who we are now in stark reality. To do this, we need to be honest with ourselves and trust ourselves to be authentic in this intentional exercise. You can see how vital something like this is and how helpful it can be going forward.
I’d like to think that we are here today to celebrate the fact that we all made it through 5785 and have started 5786 with the people who matter most to us. For this, your presence here should be gratifying on many levels.
Some years ago, I used to reserve Wednesday lunchtime to talk with Charles. Every time I arrived at our usual location, Charles would already be at our table. After the initial greeting, he would sigh and ask me “What is the meaning of life?” I would always respond by saying that life is a gift and we shouldn’t spend too much our limited time alive examining the gift for its reason but to celebrate the fact that we have this life to share with others. After that prolonged greeting we would set out to solve the problems of the day. And every year, around his birthday, I would also ask Charles how it felt to be the new age he attained. His consistent response was “I don’t know. I have not been this old before or at least I don’t recall being this old before. I’ll let you know this time next year how it felt.” I would then ask him how the last year went for him. And he would say to me “Well, I’m here today so it went pretty well”.
Charles lived one of the longest lives of anyone I’ve ever known. More than that, he lived one of the fullest lives of anyone I’ve ever known. For him, every day was a celebration that needed to be experienced with others.
With all these ten values that have been touched upon these past 24 hours, we can, once again look for the Ecclesiastical model to help us format and save 5786 for good.
And instead of offering contrasting virtues, I would like to offer complimentary values.
In Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:1 we read:
לַכ ָ֖ ל זְמ ֵ֑ן וְ ע ָ֥ת לְכׇּל־ח ָ֖פֶץ תַ ָ֥ חַת הַש מ ֻֽ יִּם׃ }ס{ “A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven”: A time for Torah, A time for Inner Peace A time for Respect, A time for Compassion A time for Justice, A time for Welcoming A time for Wholeness, A time for Responsibility A time for Celebrating life, A time to find Balance
To conclude, let’s stay silent for a moment.
Look around and find the eyes of the people around you. Say nothing but quietly pause when you make eye contact with someone and move on to someone else.
Hold on to this moment and make this a part of your Rosh Hashanah blessing.