Rabbi Freedman's Yom Kippur Message for 5780
Chaverim,
In listening to the Yom Kippur afternoon Haftorah, Jonah, we usually focus our attention on Jonah and the whale. That is expected because it is graphic in the lesson that we cannot escape our responsibilities to God. But I would like to direct your attention to a different part of the story this year, that being the very end of the reading.
At the end of the reading, after God spares the city of Nineveh because of its repentance, Jonah is very upset because he feels that God has made him look like a fool when the city was not destroyed as he predicted. He goes outside the city to a hill in the blazing sun to sulk. God causes a gourd to grow up over Jonah to shade him from the sun but just as quickly has the gourd wither away. This really angers Jonah to the point of wishing for death. But then God speaks to Jonah, asking him if he is so upset about the demise of the gourd, something which he had no part in creating and which came and went overnight, then why shouldn’t God be concerned about the fate of the people of Nineveh who are God’s children, although they do not always see right from wrong?
The point of the ending of the Book of Jonah is simple: God cares about us and God has a stake in the outcome of our lives. In truth, we are the people of Nineveh. We are in temple appropriately repenting for where we have fallen short as individuals and as a society. That is all that God asks—that we recognize our own fallibility and take the first faltering steps toward doing better. When that is what we do, then, the prophet Isaiah tells us, God will take us back in compassion and in love. This is the central lesson of Yom Kippur: that the recognition of past failures is the first step toward future success as human beings.
Our communal confession, the Vidui, at Yom Kippur is our first step in that process. The virtues of recognizing our past failures will be a focal point of our time with Shana Merlin at the L’dor V’dor (Intergenerational) Service on Yom Kippur. In addition, during the break before the afternoon service, Mark Levy will be leading a discussion at temple about formulating a new Vidui for our times. What failures do we have in modernity that might not be covered by the traditional confessional? Also during that time, Rosa Schnyer will be conducting a meditation and yoga session. Finally, just as a point of information, my sermon topic at the Shacharit (morning) service will be the rise of anti-Semitism in our society and how we might address this threat to the safety and well-being of the Jewish people. (Members, you may see our full schedule here after logging in.)
On behalf of my clergy colleagues and our professional staff, as well as their families, Lori and I wish you an easy fast and g’mar hatimah tova!
Rabbi Alan Freedman