Yamim Nora'im 5782 @ BJ - Rosh Hashanah Services (Second Day)

hmm [Music] i [Music] i [Music] i [Music] oh [Music] we look forward to another day of traveling together through prayer and searching and longing for not only the dreams we have for ourselves and the changes that we need to make but for our collective community city country and world we begin this morning with harini before we begin i'd just like to ask wendy in the back door to please close the door so it's not distracting when people come in thank you so much thank you we begin on page 35 harini meka bella jalai taking upon us the mitzvah to love one another which is the baseline for which we move into the prayer searching also for god we have to create that connection with one another whether we're here in person outside or joining us davening on the live stream page 35. [Music] foreign [Music] me [Music] 37 [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] you may be seated we continue on page 45 miss moore shirohano the david will join together about eight lines from the bottom with after dabbling is foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] me [Music] those marking at your side or those in mourning are invited to rise now page 46 for mourinho is [Music] [Music] everyone's invited to rise if you're able page 47 to imran [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] you may be seated we can turn now to honduran 12 page 56. [Music] hello [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] little [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] my [Music] me [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] i [Music] [Applause] [Music] gratitude for being in the house of god wherever we may be outside inside in our homes to create the sanctified space of what it means to live in god's world in god's house [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] page 63 the middle of the page psalm 150. [Music] me [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] this [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] m [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] okay foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign 69. [Music] um [Music] um [Music] [Music] your shave [Music] is [Music] again [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] 70. [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] we turn to page 75 the last paragraph [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] is foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign foreign there is [Music] we turn to the top of page 80 to hit [Music] [Music] ah [Music] i [Music] no [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] i [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] the ark is open for the amidah which begins on page 81. [Music] um [Music] hello [Music] hey [Music] i [Music] [Music] between [Music] me [Music] [Music] forget it [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 85 [Music] yo [Music] foreign [Music] i am [Music] we continue with the kadusha we remain standing page 86. [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] m [Music] foreign [Music] 87 [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] we invite those who are able to now rise and face toward jerusalem to complete the amidah beginning on page 88. you you you you [Music] oh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] and of plea when uh in the zohar it says that we shouldn't be like dogs barking in our pleas which i think speaks to the the kind of distinctions of what wants and please are which is not beast-like wants that we we have as human beings the potential and tendency to just have wants that are ravenous ones and then there's the true deep and powerful ones that are coming from the depth of our soul which is what a venu volcano is supposed to bring out that distinction of really the important and the powerful pleas of what it means to be a human being so i invite us as the ark is open for our vienna volcano to use the traditional text was on page 92. i also want to acknowledge that the um the alternative text still uses avino malcano and if that image is not helpful just don't use it there there are many other uses many other metaphors for god that are put in its place but they still come back to it and if that change it the ark is opened for avino malcano on page 93 92 and we'll join together [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] me [Music] my [Music] me [Music] is [Music] let me turn out a condition then page 94 you may be [Music] a man foreign [Music] i on page 96 rowley said this yesterday during the course of the tv of course there are a number of honors opening of arcs and holding of toe roads and many ways that we try to lift up those in the community who have given up their time their money and really been the front lines in particular of our community in the last year those who have been giving out lunches in front of the building for the lunch program like beth or those who have been delivering food to those who are ill in our community there are countless ways that people have stepped up this year to make this community what it is and so given that many people are not in the sanctuary either people are outside or doverning from home we are not able to honor in all the ways that we typically would and we're not also in multiple locations so that um so those who are being recognized in that way for their particular efforts of this year are on the handout in which i think is also posted online as well as so we want to thank everyone who has been so generous with their time money um and all their uh efforts and honor those and and sometimes also people get on earth because it's the moment so uh we thank everyone please look at the list of those who have particularly this year stepped up in ways that we're extremely grateful 96. [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] m [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] [Music] sure hello [Music] i [Music] hello [Music] more [Music] more [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] you may be seated we now welcome our marshall team meyer rabbinic fellow grace gleason to offer words of torah uh before the reading of this very challenging and powerful story of akidata i'm grace gleason i'm one of the rabbinic fellows and i'm incredibly moved to be here in the sanctuary with all of you i was just thinking about last year when i was starting my fellowship remotely in north carolina watching the recording of the rosh hashanah service and hoping and praying that next year it would be possible to join together and here we are and i'm so grateful for this incredible community that extends beyond this room as well on 88th street and joining virtually in this torah reading for the second day of rosh hashanah we read the story of the akedah the binding and the near sacrifice of isaac when god calls out to avraham to tell him to do this terrible task to bring his son his only son who yesterday we read is his surprise son of old age to bring isaac to the top of mount moriah and offer him as a sacrifice avraham responds to god's call with what has become somewhat of an iconic response hineny here i am the beauty and the simplicity of this hini have elicited many commentaries throughout our tradition as well as many references in art and literature as in the title of jonathan saffron foer's book here i am or leonard cohen's song you want it darker among many others and most of our traditional commentators our rabbis say something to the effect of what rashi brings from the midrash tanhuma that hineny is a response of surrender it's a response of piety it's an expression of meekness and readiness the midrash says here i am i submit and i surrender at the very beginning of our torah reading we'll read genesis chapter 22 verse 1 elohim nisa at avraham god put avraham to a test this test as i always learned it when i first learned this story was whether or not avraham was willing to submit and surrender and say hiney so completely as to actually surrender his own son and if this was the test a test of submission avraham passed absolutely he was willing to do it but i want to offer a different claim to consider in more recent commentaries there's another school of thought that claims the opposite that the test was whether avraham who as we read yesterday was willing to banish ishmael his other son it was a test of whether avraham would now trust his own moral instinct and put up a fight with god to grab god by the lapels as it were as rowley spoke about yesterday and say god god what are you thinking no i won't do it and if this was the test avraham failed in chapter 22 verse 11 a malach adonai an angel of god calls out to avraham right at the moment that avraham's arm is lifted knife in hand with yitzhak bound and i can only imagine yitzhak's desperate cries in that moment and the angel calls avraham abraham and abraham repeats here i am here i am it's not so clear to me that this must always be a response of surrender there is another side of hini that perhaps god was testing avraham for hinani is not only a submission but it is also an assertion of self here i am here i am a human being with human concerns and love for my child and i matter and my life matters even in the face of mysteries that i can't understand the philosopher soren kirkegaard writes about avraham's willingness to sacrifice isaac as an exemplary leap of faith in trusting god no matter what god asks of us but to believe that we matter even in the face of this infinite universe this is another kind of leap of faith so i invite you on this first day of our new year to consider the two sides of hinani how might we say with humility hineni i am here and surrender to this moment with whatever it brings and whatever is required of us and how might we say with the perhaps god was testing avraham for i am here me and i'll fight some of us could use more of one and some of us could use more of the other and i invite you to contemplate which is more necessary for you in this moment where is a place in your life where you might approach with more acceptance of what is or what is a way that you are surrendering in your life that you no longer want to surrender perhaps part of what god wants from us is to say no i am here as we read this holy torah reading may we be inspired to answer the call of life with full presence with trust not only in the divine but in our own minds and hearts may we learn to say in the fullness of its meaning shanatova that's recall powerful the reading begins this morning on page 103 foreign [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] want to recognize judith glasgow and martha ecklesburg as well as deborah kalmas who's here and any of other folks who i it's hard for me to tell you know this here on the diversity equity and inclusion education committee which has been working really really hard to produce modules for us to study as a community on issues particularly of understanding how racism plays in our country around mass incarceration in healthcare particularly during the time of covet so those were piloted in the spring and we hope that many more people will get to experience them and particularly deborah judith and martha have put their heart and soul into this work and we hope many many people will avail themselves of the opportunity to do the learning in the coming year and we invite those who are part of the regular morning minion to please rise and join liz in this aliyah those who have been joining us day after day sometimes twice a day twice a week sometimes twice a day sometimes twice a month but who have been part of the of the ongoing community that begins the day together ends the day together in prayer it's been a incredible experience during the pandemic to find every morning turn the computer on put zoom on and begin our day with a community of sometimes up to 80 90 people who are present who are praying who are holding each other sustaining supporting and and we have continued and we will continue and now that we are here as of tomorrow every weekday we will be here in sundays we will be here in person as well as on zoom so it will be a multi-access mean to honor all the people who have made this commitment so if you're here please rise and join this in this aliyah [Music] foreign is [Music] [Music] foreign elohim m [Music] foreign [Music] and of course i did not mention the fact that the minion has been an enormous source of comfort for people who are mourning who have been supported and sustained even from far away who have joined us on a daily basis to say kadesh and so for that a big yeshua to all the people who maintain the minion jesse and taylor actually who just joined the community this year took the introduce introduction to judaism class taylor joined the jewish people as well have jumped in in terms of volunteering as well and have been part of the re-entry committee which recognizes that when we are back in person and we're moving back in person we want to shift the way people experience welcome and that both in space in signage in how we think about who is walking into our community and the diversity that lives amongst the jewish people and within our families and so jesse and taylor have been a part of that effort so also folks who have been on that committee i don't see many in here but uh we we want to thank you for your service and the letter that was sent out about coming back which included a number of these things and which was spearheaded by paula kramer weiss um as part of the outcome of that committee and it was a very very beautiful letter in terms of what we want for our community and our collective expanded uh community so if i may add if there are any new members who have joined us this year here we invite you to rise and we know that we have been joined by members from across the country it's an incredible feeling of validation for our community for the work that we do but we have people who have joined us from all sorts of places and join us on zoom and virtually and participate together with us and so we welcome all those who are not here in the vicinity that are far away and are become formally a part of our community [Music] oh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] it's [Music] [Music] come [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] um i just want to recognize also um mim has enough hours of giving of this to community for generations to come jennifer silver who took me a minute to see who was under the math um has been along with rabbi carroll baylen dr carol baylen the joint leaders of the israel book club which has been going actually for many years and has provided a real anchor for those who are really interested in israeli literature and i know has been really really nourishing particularly during the pandemic so thank you for your leadership and ongoing uh cultivating of that community foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] hello [Music] for those who are ill if you'd like to recite we invite those to rise and as i pause during the misha barach please say the names of the loved ones who you're praying for out loud amen foreign [Music] foreign [Music] page 106. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh you may be seated we turn now to the mafia on page 106 foreign [Music] [Music] is um [Music] foreign [Music] may be seated annie and marielle will now chant the haftarah from the book of year meow which can be found on page 111 [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] we turn now to the prayer for our country on page 117 and invite everyone to please rise for the alternative prayer on the left hand side of the page our god and god of our ancestors we ask your blessings for our country for its government for its leaders and advisors and for all who exercise just in rightful authority teach them insights from your torah that they may administer all affairs of state fairly the peace and security happiness and prosperity justice and freedom may forever abide in our midst creator of all flesh bless all the inhabitants of our country with your spirit may citizens of all races and creeds forge your common bonds in true harmony to banish hatred and bigotry and to safeguard the ideals and free institutions that are the pride and glory of our country may this land under your providence be an influence for good throughout the world uniting all people in peace and freedom helping them to fulfill the vision of your prophet nation shall not absorb against nation neither shall it experience war anymore and let us say amen and the prayer for the state of israel at the bottom of the page israel of the universe except in loving kindness and with favor our prayers for the state of israel her governments and all who dwell within her boundaries and under her authority open our eyes and our hearts to the wonder of israel and strengthen our faith in your power to work redemption in every human soul grant us also the fortitude to keep ever before us those ideals upon which the state of israel was founded grant courage wisdom and strength to those entrusted with guiding israel's destiny to do your will be with those on whose shoulders israel's safety depends and defend them from all harm spread over israel and all the world your shelter of peace and may the vision of your prophet soon be fulfilled nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore going to take a few moments now to prepare for the hearing the sound of the shofar to acquire some focus and sharpen our kavanagh and open our heart to the this central moment in the service of rosh hashanah the essence of this day is to be able to hear the sound of the shofar yesterday we discussed a concept a text by the rambam by maimonides that talked about the shofar as an awakening call today we want to focus on the two rabbinic pieces one in the midrash that approach the founders of shofar from a different perspective first pirkei de eliza speaks about the scene that immediately follows the torah reading of this morning it says that midrash says that satan the one who wants us and human beings to deviate from being on god's path the one who is trying to always make us trip so the satan is his name in the rabbinic literature try to convince abraham and also isaac to not go to mount moriah and fulfill god's mandate but he was not able to prevail and so he was so frustrated that he was not able to prevail and prevent abraham to taking isaac and binding him on the altar in mount moriah to disrupt he went to sarah and he told sarah you know what's going on right now your husband is taking your son and binding him on the altar and he is putting the knife to his throat and he is murdering him at that moment when sarah heard this she wailed in pain and fainted midrash also says at that point she died because the next parasha is which tells about the death of sarah and so the midrash says if you want to know what the sound of the shofar should sound like should sound like the whale of sarah our matriarch when she heard from satan the news that her son had died powerful midrash yes you know in terms of the we were spoken speaking yesterday about the visceral nature of the cry of the shofar and literally here it is the literal cry of this woman who um doesn't really know the full story also she doesn't know that her son has been saved i mean there are actually many midrashim about her reaction but in this story that she's told that he's being sacrificed and and just the that voice that is um you know it it also reminds me of the way that the ripping of the clothes you know when someone you hear initially someone dies that it's just a very like visceral reaction and that in many ways also it's it interesting from the structure of this service we've just read um the akida and now we move into the the the tour the the service of the takiacho farm the sounding of the shofar so in in some ways also we're carrying her whale from the experience of reading this very troubling i mean grace gave a beautiful teaching on the the experience of the akida from the point of hey nani but it's a deeply it's a deeply troubling text and for all those that we've sacrificed in the world or near sacrifice in many ways that we're we should in some way feel the cry we take on the cry of the brokenness of the pain of of mourning of of sacrifice of the injustice that is in the world and and so to to have that voice of sara in our in our in our bones uh is i think a really really powerful so it's not an inner awakening in the sense as we discussed yesterday but it's an awakening that comes from the sensitivity and the empathy with the cry of this mother who cries for the loss of her child i mean there's no perhaps greater i mean captured also in christian in the christian sacred story right of the mother who cries for the child i mean it's a universal universal um situation with which every body every human being can empathize and so it's the awakening to that pain and that suffering which exists in the world which is part of life which is part of the fabric of the universe and even more radical text i would say yeah is the text in the babylonian talmud and it appears in massachusetts and so in the talmud the question is asked what does the qiyah and shwarim and what should they sound like exactly i mean we see in the text and we don't exactly know how these sounds are to be produced sam is going to sound the shofar jonathan did yesterday ilana will sound outside how do we know what these sounds are like so this is what the talmud says and i will give you a little background in the book of judges there is the story of the prophetess and judge devorah she and the general barack want to fight against the canaanites who are occupying part of the ancient land of israel and so they go to mount tavor with ten thousand soldiers and they want to fight against the king whose name is yavin king of in the khazor part of israel and so as they are fighting the general of the canaanite army his name is sisra sistra is brought in by a woman named yael who is not even a an israelite she is the wife of heather the kenite and she brings through a ruse brings shish into her tent because he's thirsty he's tired she promises him water she gives him warm milk to drink brings him into the tent and when he falls asleep because he is exhausted and after drinking the warm milk she takes a mistake and drives it through his temple and kills him and then the story in the book of judges after the song of devorah which we read here in parashat we read all over the world it has the next scene turns to the mother of sister of this general who's just been murdered she's back home waiting for him and he's delayed and he's delayed and the text says that she whined because she's so worried she's so anxious that her son is not coming back and perhaps he's been killed in battle she gives herself some comfort by thinking that he's delayed because he's actually collecting the spoils of the war but deep inside she knows that her son perhaps has lost his life and she wails and the talmud says the shofar on rosh hashanah should sound like the whales it's called the eva hear the sound of this world so it's this is the sound of the wailing of the mother of the enemy the mother of the enemy sarah is our mother our matriarch so the sound of the cries of sarah we can understand but it's radical the wailing of the mother of the pain and the heartbreak of the mother of the enemy it's a i mean it's an extraordinary mijosh in the sense of the imagination of the rabbis to also empathize with the enemy um and you know in as you said everyone can imagine the pain of saran and the the notion of the loss of a child which is equally true about the enemy's mother right that that there isn't actually no distinction between one mother to another in this case one an israeli or a palestinian who loses a child you know to war um and so that the fact that the midrash the the talmud awakens us at this moment also of doing our own soul searching about our own mistakes and who we might have harsh feelings for are the way we divide the world up and good and bad the midrash breaks the norm of saying well on our side we we're the one who are wailing they don't have the same story but in the mirroring of these two stories you see that in i mean not always but in this moment that the cry is equal that no one has better or worse pain and it's a visceral pain of the cry of these mothers who are traumatized by the so-called death i mean it wasn't i find it extraordinary that the rabbis how many years almost 2 000 years ago came up with it with this story to tell us what the so far should sound like a radical beautiful powerful somebody says today empathize with the sound with the heartbreak and the pain of the mother of the enemy you're called naive you're called a traitor you're called the softy you call the lefty you're called whatever we can't mention the pain of the palestinians without jumping immediately into the failures of their leadership their worship of violence all sorts of things just a moment empathize with the pain of people who are suffering on our side on their side on all sides why can't we do this right why can't we empathize with the pain of other people who suffer in the world and that's the call of the of the rabbis of the talmud to rise to rise and to hear this in the sound of the shofar it's an incredible powerful pain is not particular you know and we think of honoring our particular ism in the you know and there's a push also against universalism and obviously there is a a power and an important aspect of our uniqueness and our solidarity of of as a people yet um it has its limits and and in these two stories that we hear about the yellow lotus there is no boundary around pain in in that sense and and the cry also that we are giving with the shofar on rosh hashanah is not only a jewish cry it's for the cry of the world which we're a part of but it's not we're just thinking about our own particular pain we're thinking about the collective pain of of humanity which is today is the day that human beings were born not the day that jews were born it was the collection not even the day the world was born right so it says today is the the day that humanity that adam and eve were created on this day right and there's a beautiful teaching that the cry of the shofar is like the cry of the baby being born you know it's the day so there's that sense of like this is the world we live in and and and i i think the only the other thing i would say one of the differences right with the text about sarah is that she's waiting but she doesn't know the truth cicero is is um cisera's mother is waiting and and the truth is is that he's dead already and both those pains are really profound also that we anticipate uh horror and we wait with a lot of pain in that moment it's obviously not the same as knowing but it also lifts up the the the pain that exists in the world of of not knowing what's going to be and anticipating all the horrors that exist in this world and and some of them of course come true and that is the cry of the shofar so let us hear the shofar this morning in that spirit of human suffering sensitize ourselves let those cries of so many millions and millions of people here in our city and all around the world mothers fathers children the cry of loss and pain suffering illness i invite you to rise on page 119 we'll recite the verses that appear right there in the middle of the page that are organized so that the first letters of each line spell the words kerasatan break that which is pulling us away from our goal from god from meaningful lives from hearing the sound of the shofar to clean and cleanse the path from all the impediments that do not allow us to hear purely and primordially this sound [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] we're going to stand in a couple of moments of silence as felicia goes outside to join those who are sitting on 88th street for the sound of the shofar just a few moments to focus and open our hearts [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] tequila [Music] tequila [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] did [Music] [Music] love hey [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] i [Music] i'm [Music] i i [Music] am [Music] i [Music] i am [Music] 121 [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] oh foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Laughter] [Music] my [Music] foreign [Music] see [Music] [Music] i ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] good [Music] let me be seated before we go into musaf we'd like to spend a few moments unfolding some of the concepts and the ideas we've discussed the first night and and yesterday morning about shemitah and the opportunity that this year 5780 to to reflect and to record [Music] our optics how we see ourselves how we see our society how we use our time how we use our resources what are the bonds that connect one person to another in our society opportunity to reset and i think we've been using the word radical many times in the last couple of days we just talked about this very radical text about the mother of sisra and truly our tradition is really radical and this concept of shmitah many commentators have indicated it's perhaps one of the most radical of all the all the ideas in the an overwhelmingly radical document text which brings to the ancient world ideas that were truly revolutionary that had been unheard of like establishing a day of rest which society had a day of rest and it was not until recently relatively speaking in terms of the development of humanity that there was is the establishment of a universal day of rest which many people still don't use but it's been legislated so late in the history of humanity and think about it the torah already establishes this as being at the fabric of creation so there are many many ideas like this found in the torah and in the jewish tradition that are truly revolutionary and perhaps the idea of shemitah is one of the most revolutionary ideas because it asks us to reconsider our relationship to time the fact that we don't control time but time controls our lives we think we control time we don't control time we all wear watches but we don't control time the fact that we have to let go of property rights federicia discussed yesterday discussing the first night who would think today that you could establish something like this every seven years there's no more property it's the land is ownerless and the most i think revolutionary of all the ideas in the book of devarim is about a remission of debts every seven years people who owe money and can't repay the debt is forgiven it's it's a it would be considered to be crazy except it's in the torah so nobody can say well you know this is a lefty idea or it's a crazy idea no i mean this it's in the torah so let's talk a little bit and we've been talking about this felicia and i for the last few weeks about what's at the foundation and what does the torah wants us what's the shift in terms of mindset that the torah wants us to make with these uh propositions or these mandates because they're not propositions their mandates and particularly with the concept of remission of debts how does it want to reset the way we so in in chapter 15 in the book of durham which is where the cancellation of deaths appears um there's something very powerful about the text which um thinks which uses the word ah over and over again the word brother as a as opposed to the person or the israelites and so one of the powerful i think shifts in the the structure of the shemitah is to go from and we've said this a couple of times from giver to to borrower from rich to poor is to orient society around siblinghood that no matter where you are on the what is perceived really and i think this is another thing that shemitah tries to disavow a hierarchy the perceived hierarchy of humanity which often puts rich above and poor below we also have a hierarchy around many other things around professions or around gender or around race ethnicities but what shmita tries to do is to see everyone as your ah as your brother and so we go from one releasing our own power in whether that's through land ownership or through having someone indebted to us and say no it has a very egalitarian push to say you're my brother you know and and in that reorientation it's a radical shift because we often think in very narrow terms in brotherhood right or sisterhood or siblinghood and what shmitah reorients and rediscovers is that sense is that you you're we're part of the same family and society should be structured from that very baseline which is not the way society is structured that's not the way our country has been built for all the highest aspirations not the way israel is built also you know that the notion is that society should be built on the notion of that sense of family rather than around economy and and the sense of care which is not around empathy which is i'll give you something or you can borrow something from me or even i'll leave the corners of my field for you because i'm a nice person and the torah mandates it but actually that we're the same and we come from the same blood and the same system and we are of one another and that is i think a very very powerful um reorientation and and you know a handful of people walk to tosh like they're like so tell us what to do you know like give a program i mean the taurus program is is radical and it would be uh impossible to implement since most of us are not farmers but the senses the the person who we see on the street lying there is is our brother right that we reorient in every way around how we are in relationship with um with the world and with our community not just inside the sanctuary but out on the street and that is a really radical orientation um is to see people as the brother or sister or our nibbling and and just to be clear that this is not a proposition that is a permanent proposition of a collectivistic society that's not what the torah is saying this is not a communist collectivistic approach to economy to society and so on this is once every seventh year there's a reset yes because as time goes on and and we live in a economy of private property and the torah respects and honors private property and and people's work and the fruit of their work and so on and so forth right the torah respects that but but as we get caught in that system so property becomes the bl and i think it messes with our perspective it warps exactly our perspective and we begin to see the other as other and we begin to see a society of us and them of i and my rights and them outside of me and this is an attempt once every seven years to recreate as felicia was saying you know for from other to brother and from i to we to reset and then we set again on the course of another six years of normal times and over the course of six years our perspective also gets warped again and so we need to reset and hopefully you know the effect is like a spiral so cumulatively over time we begin as a society as a community to acquire a more permanent sense that the other is not other but brother or sister i mean i remember last summer in the cro in the midst of the of the pandemic when the homeless people who were in our city in city shelters it was deemed for them to be too dangerous to be there were no vaccines at the time as you will remember people close proximity to each other in homeless shelters and they were brought to a number of hotels here on the upper west side and it was very problematic it was done in the wrong way and there were many many issues with the way in which this was executed nonetheless nonetheless these people were in our neighborhood homeless people poor people and so many people complain what are they doing right here and this is what shemitah wants to avoid is to say okay we'll look at the problems of society we'll try to solve them but until we find a solution this person is my brother my sister and we can't have people here in the streets going through the indignity of having to use the walls or the parks as bathrooms it's not their fault and that's what the torah is saying poverty is not their problem that's the torah is saying this poverty is not their problem it's our collective problem it's not because people don't want to work by the way there are 800 000 people in our city who today stop receiving unemployment checks and benefits these are artists these are waiters and waitresses people who work in theaters and so on this is not their problem these people want to work there's not enough work to go around now with a pandemic and with the economy of the city depressed as it is now and so that's what the torah is saying have a little kindness open your heart well it actually says don't become hard-hearted or tight-fisted and that expression is used in devarim 15 because there is a tendency and i think we've seen this over the last 18 months to get extremely protective around our our what we own and and unless we might not get the debts that we offer the loans that we offer back and the torah it's not only a collectivist for this year notion of these are all our problems but this is also a spiritual refinement of the soul which is and it makes sense that the torah understand that we when we get nervous or that we tend to close off and it's trying particularly in the shemitah year to say no actually the practice is to release not tighten up um that and and we have in the midst of fear and uncertainty there is a mentality this scarcity that pervades and so whether it's our clean streets on the upper west side that when they don't look that way anymore we get very tight around who should belong i understand that i understand that reaction i mean i think we all understand that reaction we all you know we all want to have the beauty and the clean cleanliness and the comfort and so on we and and it's it's it's troubling and where did this come from we say you know we i pay taxes i do my work i do i i behave i'm a good citizen so why but on the other hand we have to stretch that's right i think that's what the torah is trying to hone in on is to say we have tendencies and they're not by the way the torah and our tradition doesn't diminish wealth you know it's not like people shouldn't be wealthy that it's actually a good thing right for people to be able to it's not to say that we should all um not want these things but that in a cycle we can get caught up in a cycle that that forgets what we're supposed to be awakened to and with privatization and a certain amount of desire for success and the sense of separation of one to another that we forget at the essence what it's what god would imagine for the world even if it is not here yet and so in a cycle a ritual cycle really we're exercised to try something different and to go back to some simple basic orientation towards humanity and the land and money and which and there are a number of texts one of which um we studied about the sense that god has abundance that god has given the world there's as i think we all know there's plenty of food to feed the world there is absolutely no reason that god hasn't provided enough food to feed the world yet we're stuck in a world where food insecurity is profound there's famine in parts of the world and we have to orient in in a time of moving out of scarcity into abundance and there are all these beautiful texts about if we stop the flow of god's abundance we're committing a sin basically we're holding on too tightly to what we have in order that it it blocks the flow um which is a really really powerful and challenging orientation and i think one of the ways we can actually think this year about what what do i have and what needs to flow from me and it also pushes against the notion that we're deserving of all we have um you know in in our time that notion is of privilege or or it's it's a fight against also meritocracy i earned all the things i have you know and that is not what the torah orients around the torah orients is that at the baseline everyone is equal and there is not a sense that well that person really deserved all that and it doesn't mean that some people don't work harder and some people work less hard but at its core the toro wants us to see equality and to strive for god's flow to go to everyone and for us to orient around the notion of a society built around a family society rather than um you know the other the torah wants us the jewish community the jewish society to be the anti-egypt that's how it presents it that why we were in egypt to know what it was like there the narrow mindlessness the holding back the inequality the oppression all those things we have to leave behind and we have to be the mirror image of mitzrayim we have to be the mirror image of the narrowness we have to be open and kind and generous and let it flow and let it go and so this is not hold back and this is what this year invites us to the seer of shemitah we hope that we are putting some seeds so that we will continue during the year to examine these ideas as a community we'll have many many opportunities to learn to study to examine even to practice some of these things and hopefully it will begin to affect the way we see each other we see the world and the way we live and the way we interact and perhaps out of this transformation will begin transformation is not out there transformation begins with us with our community and then hopefully we can make it grow and expand we're going to continue now with the service of musaf we invite you to rise on page 123. after khatsika dish we're going to begin the amidah together and then we will pause to have a few moments of quiet personal prayer page 123. [Music] uh [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] hello [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] m [Music] page 125 i'm sorry not 125 141 [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] hello [Music] [Music] [Music] hello [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] m [Music] my [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] the [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] 143 [Music] um [Music] [Music] know [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] zoom [Music] [Music] my [Music] m [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] give up [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] high [Music] [Music] me [Music] um [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] um [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] [Music] go [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] 145. [Music] [Music] [Music] okay [Music] um [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] my [Music] [Music] 149 [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] oh i invite you not to rise to orient yourself towards yerushalayim to conclude and complete the amidah which you'll find on page 127 the silent amidah 127 towards the bottom of the line of the touch the bottom of the page atom 127 through page 139 you you you you you you you you mm-hmm i [Music] am [Music] me [Music] [Music] oh i [Music] [Music] the ark is now open for eleno on page 154 [Music] i [Music] so [Music] i [Music] i i [Music] foreign [Music] my i've been standing now to chant with the heavenly being on page 157 praying that god will purify our hearts to hear the calling of service to serve god and humanity with the fullness of our being [Music] [Music] oh [Music] earth [Music] foreign [Music] foreign yeah [Music] 158 [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] we know that god remembers everything nothing escapes none of our actions none of our thoughts nothing escapes we're asking god at the same time to remember the covenant and to remember us for life and to rescue us for the sake of the covenant to rescue us from our predicament and to give us fullness of life such 141 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] me [Music] tikki [Music] take [Music] at the bottom [Music] m [Music] maintaining the vision of a world redeemed it's difficult to forge that vision in the situation in which we find ourselves in our personal lives and where humanity is the world is but the tradition invites us to forge that vision and to keep it as our north star and with god's help to move relentlessly and courageously towards that vision and that's what suffereth is about the shofar gadol brexit that will sound to announce the world has come to a place of peace and justice and love and kindness page 106 hallelujah [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] page [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] here [Music] foreign [Music] 166 [Music] [Music] [Music] page 169 towards the end of the page one 69 bessefer heim [Music] [Music] is [Music] m [Music] no 170. [Music] yo [Music] oh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] and you may be seated one [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you me [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign foreign foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] coming now to the end of the of our prayers for the second day of rosh hashanah there's still eight days to go we just ascended on the platform upon which we continue to build until we get to yom kippur and then on yom kippur we ascend even more and hope to reach a place of real deep genuine teshuva and also please god to achieve forgiveness so there's a lot of work to be done between now and then we don't go back to our regular lives just as it's not is nothing happened we hope and we invite you to build on the work that was already done in the last few days as well as the work that was done on elul to prepare for these days and so it's a constant ascent so during the next few days those of you who will join the minion will be able to come 15 minutes early to do some praise of slijot so tomorrow morning in person here at 7 15 in the morning for silicon 7 30 for shaharit those who wish to continue to join and zoom will be able to continue to join on zoom friday also 7 15 and 7 30 7 15 seconds 7 30 shaharit we have mean arabic we have arabic tonight at 15 i would say but leah what time are people we don't know okay at the end at the end of the at the end of rosh hashanah when it's dark already you add 10 minutes and we have a read and the tomorrow min khanavita let me continue with it but the idea here is that add something each day of personal reflection of soul searching recite psalm 27 recite avinu malcano do something that will continue to bring you into deeper places in your own soul in your own chuva in your own search and get us ready for yom kippur a couple of words about so of course we have shabbat this shabbat we're all invited to come if you have vaccination you're welcome to join us for yom kippur we know that it's going to be more crowded the last couple of days and we know that everybody wants to eat and then come at the last minute at the last moment that is uh and find a seed here so we urge you to eat your meal just a little bit earlier and to come here with plenty of time to check in you've seen that it's been really smooth and really really wonderful so all the people who have been doing this work on our staff and the people that we've hired to this work we really owe them a huge debt of gratitude that everything was safe and everything was organized and when you see them thank them and yom kippur is going to be more crowded and a little bit more challenging for them and for us so we urge you to exercise patience remember the spirit of the day of yom kippur don't lose it it's a day of patience a day of forgiveness a day of compassion and so come in that spirit with generosity we'll all get in those who have signed up to get in we'll get in those who will be in the street please god the weather will cooperate and we'll have beautiful meaningful and holy services for yom kippur so just remember come just a little bit early and come in peace and uh don't forget also to bring your check for west campaign west side campaign against hunger the food pantry at the church of saint paul and san andreas felicia reported yesterday that their entire sanctuary where we pray every year that sanctuary is filled with boxes of food because such is the need and the need is growing and so we need to help them what we bring in terms of contributions on the call nidra night is a huge help to them so be generous be open-hearted and also remember that we have a collider appeal in our own community to support the work of our community and so we're going to ask you for your generosity at the time of call nidre to support the work that we all do together throughout the year this year of shemitah in particular when we really want to explore this idea and live and inhabit the idea of shemitah so we are going to ask you for your support so as well begin to think about how much this community means to all of us and the support it is it deserves and we hope everybody also will be generous as much as you can and open-hearted and continue to strengthen this community which means so much to all of us to so many of us here now in other parts of the country in other parts of the world as well anything else so maybe we'll end with yeah well shalom the prayer that peace will come will come nearer to us this year yes [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] just also a big thank you to our musicians to dan to ismail to all to shoko and to satoshi also to dimitrios doing the sound behind this door to all the people who are making sure that the live stream is beautiful and that it conveys the beauty and the holiness of our services to the ushers and the to everybody who helped thank you and shana tova tiva to everyone [Music] you

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Length: 234min 15sec (14055 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021