Inter-Active Judaism 

A sentimental lady visiting a college campus paused before a huge old tree.  Waxing poetic she exclaimed, “O wonderful elm!  If you could only speak, what would you say to me?  The senior showing her around, a forestry student, replied, “It would probably say, ‘Pardon me, I’m an oak.’”

We are perhaps living in one the most changing times during our lifetime.  Most of us are constantly re-orienting ourselves to the new technologies that abound.  Communication is being transformed.  From IM-ing to texting –instead of letters and telephones- to an increasingly wired-world at home, office and while we’re at neither home nor office.  I, for one, love some of the conveniences these new technologies (and upgrades) offer.  I particularly adore the convenience of the amazing search capabilities that enhance study, which was only a fantasy when I was a student and a young rabbi.  At the same time, these new technologies and constantly changing platforms and upgrades pose a challenge: keeping abreast with the changes and mastering them.

But when you think of it, change and our ability to adapt, has always been the chief message of the High Holy Days.

The source for the commandment to blow the Shofar is the verse: “Tik’u va’hodesh shofar…” (“Sound the Shofar at the new moon, at full moon for our feast-day. This is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the G-d of Jacob.”) The Rabbis focused on the words hodesh (month) and Shofar (ram’s horn). They interpreted these words according their respective “roots” which mean “to renew” and “to improve”. Shofar, to the Rabbis, carried the implicit allusion to hadshu ma’asayhem and shapru ma’asayhem: renew your deeds, re-invent yourselves and improve your ways.

Aside from adaptation to external changes in the world (global warming –or cooling-, recessionary times, illness etc.), which are a constant feature of our life on Earth, the High Holy Days are a time to focus on transforming ourselves for the better. Yes, we may be re-inventing ourselves in order to keep up with a changing economy or situation. However, it is worthwhile -indeed, incumbent upon us- to focus on ourselves, as individuals, irrespective of our relationship to the changing surroundings. Even if many or all of our circumstances remain constant, it still behooves us to use this time of year to look at the prospect of acquiring or jettisoning a Second Nature. We must look at the possibility that we have allowed certain objectionable traits to become our Second Nature. From another vantage point, we perhaps have become too comfortable with ourselves and are in need of acquiring new and positive traits that may become our Second Nature. That is what the Rabbis meant by focusing on the root verbs meaning “renewal” and “improvement”

May these High Holy Days be a time of Renewal and Hope for a better future for us and the world at large.

Beryl, Adina,Erin and I wish each and every one of you a heartfelt Shana Tova Umtukah – A Happy and Sweet New Year.

RABBI Shmuel Mann