There is a remarkable teaching in the Talmud – a fourth century rabbinic text that states that when the developing fetus is in the womb, an angel holds a candle, helping the child-soul to see from one end of the universe to the other. Through this illumination, the soul understands the meaning of life and especially his or her individual purpose and role that needs to be lived. And when the baby is born, the angel touches them right above the lip, leaving the indent we are familiar with, and the baby forgets everything.
This teaching suggests that our spiritual development, our growing into wisdom, is not about learning something new. It’s about remembering what we’ve forgotten. The journey of our lives is about recovering that original light of the soul that is always present in us, but that is covered over by the beliefs about ourselves and others, by busyness, by striving for our version of success.
Every year, the Jewish people gather in the fall to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year and ten days later, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. In the month before these holy days, we focus on teshuvah – the Hebrew word for “return.” We are focused on returning to that original light to re-discovering who we really are and what our purpose is beneath all the noise of everyday life. Ultimately, we are focused on returning to the loving creative awareness that we all are beneath all the concepts and ideas we have of ourselves.
In the process of teshuvah or return, we examine where we’ve missed the mark, in our relationships with ourselves and others, in our work, in what we prioritize. How do our choices and behavior reflect or not reflect the person we want to be, that we know we can be? What is in the way? Are our obstacles external or internal? In what ways can we change course?
This teshuvah process is not just an internal process. Our tradition asks us to seek out our significant relationships to understand if we’ve been the cause of hurt, to ask for forgiveness, to initiate the process of repair in concrete ways. And, we are asked to work towards being forgiving, to have difficult conversations for the purpose of letting go so our natural love and connections can flow.
When the holiday of Rosh Hashanah comes, we gather in the synagogue – adults take off work, children take off school and through liturgical prayer, sermons, sharing and discussions, we engage in this process as a community. Besides being the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah is also about celebrating creation. As human beings, our tradition sees us as both part of creation and co-creators with God of the world we want to live in. We engage with the question – what do we want to create this year? What choices in our lives will help us create our visions and our dreams. The primary symbol of Rosh Hashanah is the shofar – a rams horn whose primal cry is meant to awaken the soul to return.
The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called Yamim Nora’im – Days of Awe because we internalize the reality that we are all significant and we are all connected, and therefore our choices matter. Like a stone dropped in a pool of water sends ripples to the outer edges, so our thoughts and actions actually have an impact on ourselves and others. What do we want that impact to be?
When the holiday of Yom Kippur comes, we return to the synagogue and abstain from food and drink for a full 25 hours where we focus on compassion for ourselves and others. The process of personal and spiritual development that we have been undergoing for the past forty days requires honesty and vulnerability. We sometimes don’t always like what we see. In order to have the strength to make real changes that will stick in the coming year, we need to have compassion for our perfect imperfection. We need to know in the deepest way that in God’s eyes, all our mistakes, all of our struggles, and just a necessary part of the journey. And as we engage this process for ourselves, we extend this compassion and forgiveness to others. They too, are perfect imperfection, and are on a growing journey.
This year Rosh Hashanah begins on the evening of October 2 and is a two day holiday ending on sundown on October 4th. Yom Kippur begins the evening of October 11 and ends on sundown on October 12th. While we have specific days that we focus on this personal and spiritual development in community, our tradition invites us to always be engaged in this process. As we hear the sound of the shofar during this High Holy Day time, I wish all of you a year of renewal and transformation towards your deepest vision of who you can be.