“Shanah Tovah: A Happy New Year”

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Episode Transcript

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Welcome, I'm Rabbi David Lyon fromCongregation Beth Israel in Houston. At this
time, the Jewish community around theworld is engaged in the High Holy Days.
As I've shared with you before,They begin on the first day of
the Hebrew on Theft schre and lastfor ten days through Yom Kipoor, beginning

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with Russia Shanna, the Jewish NewYear, and ending on the tenth day
with Yom kip or the Day ofAtonement or the Day of Cleansing. It's
a ten day period of introspection,reflection, and repentance, and many means
are used to accomplish the goal torepent, to seek forgiveness, and to
set our way on a new path. Of course, some other holidays follow

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at These two major high Holy Daysas we call them, are significant to
us now and as we share timetogether privately and collectively in congregational worship.
But as we enter this season,what are the lessons and teachings that we
draw from to help us accomplish thetacit are so important at this high holy

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a season. For one, wecan turn to the twelfth century to my
monodies. He taught this free willis given to every human being. If
we wish to incline ourselves toward goodnessand righteousness, we are free to do
so. Such as the strength andpower of free will, and we know
it ourselves today. As rational,scientific and reason people of the twenty first

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century, we understand what free willand autonomy is all about. We make
personal choices on our own all thetime. My monodies goes on, and
if we wish to incline ourselves towardevil, we are also free to do
that. Certainly, it comes toproper logical conclusion that if we can choose

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one way, we can also choosethe other. He continues from scripture from
the Book of Genesis, chapter three, verse twenty two, we learn that
the human species, with its knowledgeof good and evil, is unique among
all Earth's creatures. Of our ownaccord, by our own faculty of intelligence
and understanding, we can distinguish betweengood and evil doing as we choose.

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My Monty's point is that unlike animalsthat our program, so to speak,
to accomplish what they were born andcreated to do, we as human beings,
contemplate, consider and think about allthe different moral choices we have to
make. He concludes, nothing holdsus back from making this choice between good

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and evil. The power, hewrites, is in our hands. It
is an awesome power, and anybodywho thinks that he or she is not
powerful is mistaken. The truth isthat power can be granted, it can
be given, it can be perceivedand understood. But at the end of
the day, we all have thepower to do and choose what we feel

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is right and good, or alternatively, what is not right and what is
not good. But it's the powerof this season that draws us to consider
what are the deeds that we didin the past year, and what are
we prepared to do differently in thefuture. The tongue that also teaches all
is foreseen and free will is given. Everything is in the hands of God

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except reverence for God. So Judaismthroughout history, from the Talmud and my
Monities to the present time, havealways seen the relationship between God and us
as something in a covenantal partnership.God grants us all the power we can
possibly handle and free will, butultimately we must choose what to do with

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it. And so I've often taughtand I'll share again that while God has
granted us all of our skills,abilities, gifts and talents. We have
to choose what to make of them. That is, our moral formation is
in our own hands to accomplish.We can only be so smart, so

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simple, so tall, so short, so ill tempered, or so kind,
because it isn't our nature or ourgenetic makeup. Perhaps we can even
improve on some of them, butnot all. But what we choose to
do with what we've been given ourunique gifts as a matter of our own
moral choosing and moral formation. Itisn't something we accomplish all at once,

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not even during these ten days ofrepentance between Russia, Shana and Yamki Poor.
But it is a means of comingcloser and ever closer to the kind
of person we will take pride in. For example, this past week,
I officiated at a funeral for aman who was ninety one years old.
The truth is, and his familytold me clearly that his beginning in childhood

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was difficult, lunching parents filled withbrashness and temperament. He himself had a
long way to go to overcome thepatterns that were instilled in him as a
child from his childhood home, sothat even when he had his own children.
He too was brash and ill tempereduntil he began to understand the effect
it was having on his family andalso on himself. The good news is

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that a year after year, slowlybut surely, he grew to be a
person who was easier to be with, and I'm told grandchildren had a profound
effect on him. Seeing the powerthat he had not only by his big
size, which was true of him, but by the way he spent time
with the grandchildren helped him understand thatthere was truly not only kindness within him,

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but that it served him better andthe relationships he hoped to create and
enjoy with others, including family andmany friends as well. At the end
of his days, he was satisfiedthat he met the obligations of his life
to his wife and family, tohis community and business, to his faith,

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and to his God. And sothe rush, the need for instant
gratification to get it right, orto feel that we must be morally completely
formed in short order, is false. It's a matter of using the time
that we're given to do the bestthat we can. Each day makes a
difference. Each Russiashana, each JewishNew Year is an invitation to continue the

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process. So when the time itteaches all is foreseen, it really means
that God has granted us all thatwe need, and if in times and
the stages of our life, willdig deeply within ourselves to find what's there
for what we need in those moments. Surely what I need today is not
what I needed when I was fifteenor twenty, and what I needed at

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fifteen or twenty is not something Ineed today necessarily, So each and every
days is that privilege to dig deeplyto fine what do I need that I
have to accomplish and to approach andencounter the circumstances that I face today.
And free will is given. Soit isn't a matter of God acting as

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a puppeteer pulling the string so thatwe can act one way or the other,
but rather to choose wisely, tocontemplate, to consider, even to
pray, maybe even for godance todo the right thing. Everything is in
the hands of God. Accept thereverence for God, and the word reverence
is important to understand. Very oftenin Hebrew, the word is irrah eurat

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dot nigh, which has often beentranslated to mean the fear of God or
God fearing a person who is extrareligious as God fearing. But it doesn't
really mean fear as we are afraid, but rather sometimes when we're afraid of
something, we mind the boundaries.We don't come too close. We certainly
don't violate the rules and laws thatare given us. Effect we're saying,

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when we're God fearing, we standin awe and we don't want to breach
the way. We don't want tobreak the rule. But when we say
reverence of God, it comes closerto what we really need to feel,
not only at this season, butalways, not fear of God, but
reverence awe that God is awesome andunconditionally loving. I don't know a faith

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tradition that doesn't include the ultimate loveof God. That God not only created
us in God's image, but madeus human beings uniquely conscious of that act
of creation, so that we canbe aware of God's good works by creating
us in God's image. And therefore, what else would we do but come

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back to honor the one who createdus with our gifts, our talents,
our skills and abilities, and thepower to choose how to use them well.
So the talmuement goes on to say, if you choose to pollute yourself
with sin, you will find allthe gates open before you. And if
you desire to attain the highest purity, you will find all the forces of

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goodness ready to help you. Iimagine you thought I would say something differently,
but the Talban makes it perfectly clear. If you choose to pollute yourself
with sin, you'll still find thegates open before you. What if the
gates the gates of repentance, Becauseeven the sinner can repent and return,

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especially using the ten days of repentancefor that purpose and finding that the opportunity
to come back is always available,the gates of repentance are always open.
But as we're also taught that jumpday of yum Kipor does not atone for
us until we reach out to eachother and seek forgiveness, first between us
and our fellow human beings, toseek forgiveness, to receive the apology and

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to move on, and then tocome before God to seek the same.
And when we come to God toseek forgiveness, God says, I have
forgiven according to your plea. Throughacts of prayer and acts of charity and
repentance, we accomplish the very humangoal to become something better than we are,

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or as some like to say,the best version of ourselves. I'm
not always sure what that means.I think it just means trying to be
at the very best we can eachday. And as a Thomas says,
if you desire to attain the highestpurity, you will find all the forces
of goodness ready to help you.That is, if we do incline in
the direction we ought to go,to be at our very best and accomplish

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not necessarily human perfection, but maybewe would call human holiness. Then therefore
all the gates, all the opportunitiesand ways are open to us because the
world is hungry for our effort todo the very best we can in our
own way, with our own handsand skills. And so this season is

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filled with deep opportunity that causes usto pause. And for those who do
participate on the Jewish holidays, it'sa call to the congregation, to the
synagogue to hear the sound of theshofar. And if you've never heard it,
I would urge you even to goto YouTube and to listen to the
sound of the chauffar. It's asounding tool, an announcing tool of the

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past, but it still resonates todaybecause it is such a uniquely Jewish sound,
especially at the High Holy days.When we call out the sounds,
they awaken us, to rouse us, move us. And the sound called
to Kiaga dola, the big soundof the chauffar that is sustained with one
long breath as long as the chauffeurblow or can hold out, is truly

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moving. It echoes within us andmoves us to accomplish the tasks of the
High Holy days. Now some mightsay, does it mean that you can
sit and do whatever you want allyear only to come around of the high
Hole days and repent. The answeris no. In fact, every day
is an opportunity and the privilege torepent, to make good, to seek

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forgiveness. And every Shabbat, everySabbath day is also called a yom kipoor
katan, a small yeung kipoor,a small day of atonement to do the
same. But if we need toisolate one day or one period of time
to do this work, this isit. And so we don't set out

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to do whatever we want only tocome back and Russia's shut and young peop
who were to repent. The truthis it, we're always becoming the persons
were intended to be. And ifwe do it well, if we do
it better and ultimately do it right, then we also invite God's blessing in
our life. Enjoy in, happiness, friendship, etc. Can unfold and

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be present to us when we lookfor it, to enjoy it and to
share it with others. I'm RabbiDavid Lyon from Congregation at Israel in Houston.
Listen again or share this message.You can find it at my podcast
called Heart to Heart with Rabbi DavidLyon. You can find it at Sunny
ninety nine dot com on the iHeartMediaapp. Truly, as the high Holy

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Days continue, I hope it's youropportunity, if you're Jewish to feel the
joy of the holiday and its meaning. If you have friends who are Jewish,
to wish them a happy New Year, perhaps even an easy fast on
Jankipoor, which is the custom,so that we can focus principally on our
feelings and purpose and not just onour physical needs. And if you have

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a little facility with Hebrew, evento say Shahna Tova, it means a
good year, and that's how towe wish each other. And for those
who are not Jewish, I wishyou too a shah na tova good year.
Because in many places of the countryschool has just begun. Our children
are taking their places and learning,and the fall season begins to unfold separate

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from the hot summer. We've allendured to begin to look forward to all
that awaits us in this academic,agricultural, and Jewish new year. So
as your week begins to I hopethat, even if you're not in synagogue,
that you'll take this time to considerdaily. What are the gifts,
skills, abilities, and ways thatGod has given you, granted you and

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blessed you. And now what willyou do with them? How will you
use them for good and for improvement? And if you stumble or sin,
please don't condemn yourself or anybody else. There's always the opportunity to do a
little better, and then some more, until one day we look back and
see that while no life is absolutelyperfect, there were always opportunities in ways

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to do better so that we canfind happiness and joy, prosperity, and
ultimately a very special gift of peaceand that's my wish for you. So
Shanatova a happy new Year. Iwish you well this week, and I
look forward to being with you againnext time.