Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome. I'm Rabbi David Lyon fromCongregation Beth Israel in Houston. I'm so
glad that we can spend some timetogether now because the Jewish community is also
gathering for the high holy days,beginning on the first day of the Hebrew
month of t shre and through tendays of repentance. We begin with Russia
(00:23):
Shannah to celebrate the Jewish New Yearwith the expectations for sweetness, prosperity,
and peace, God willing, andthrough it time for introspection and contemplation,
so that when we reach the dayof yum Kipur, the day of Atonement,
the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, we will not only have reached
a moment of repentance and forgiveness withour fellow human beings, but also prepared
(00:49):
to stand before God and to dothe same thing. As we prepare,
we open a very special prayer book. It's called a machsur. It has
at its root the word that meansto return, and that's what we're doing
in essence, returning, returning toour best selves, returning to each other,
(01:10):
returning to God, returning to theway of Mitzvah, the way of
good deeds commanded to us through theteachings of Torah, and so repentance is
the word that encapsulates the function andthe purpose of our ten days. But
it is truthfully a return to thevery best that we can be. When
(01:32):
we open our prayer book a mahsur, it has as its ruth the word
return, because it is a bookthat helps us to accomplish the task that
we embark on. And in oneof those prayer books there are many versions.
There's some beautiful readings that open ourhearts and minds to the meaning of
the day and the season. Onesuch reading is a Hasidic reading. It
(01:53):
comes from the eighteenth century, andit says, just as the hand held
before the eyes can hide the tallestmountain, so the routine of everyday life
can keep us from seeing the vastradiance and the secret wonders that fill the
world. It's a beautiful text becauseit tells us that it is so simple
(02:14):
to hide the world all around us, even as a vast mountain might stand
in front of us. It's asimple hand that covers two small eyes that
can cause it to completely disappear beforeus, where we don't take note of
it. We're not awed by it, we're not moved by its size and
(02:34):
presence and the fact that we hadnothing to do with its creation. And
so if we don't look carefully atthe world around us, too, we
might miss what is there, thepeople who spend time with us, and
what is more important than the trivialmatters that sometimes trip us up or cause
us to spend too much time onthem. So the reading teaches, just
(02:58):
as the hand held before they canhide the tallest mountain. So the routine
of everyday life can keep us fromsitting the vast radiance and the secret wonders
that fill the world. What arewe called to do, then, to
open our eyes, to be awarewith all our senses about the world around
(03:19):
us. True enough, the worldaround us can cause us to fear or
feel concerned, but better to behonest, to see the world around us
as it is, because one ofour obligations and duties is to transform the
world into what it ought to be. If it's cruel to be kinder,
to contribute affection, mercy and compassion, if it is good, even then
(03:43):
to make it better. And ifpeople are suffering, to ease their pain
with the ways that we can throughall the works of our hands, the
ways that we contribute to the wellbeing of the community. Another reading helps
us to engage even more. Itsays in a mishnah from the third century,
(04:03):
therefore, was a single human beingcreated to teach you that to destroy
a single human soul is equivalent todestroying an entire world, and that to
sustain a single human soul is equivalentto sustaining an entire world. And a
single human being was created to keeppeace among human beings, that no one
(04:23):
might say to another, my fatheris greater than yours. To unpack this
teaching, it means first to startwith the end of it, that only
one person was created at the beginning. According to Torah in the Bible,
it says God created man Adam.Even his name Adam is at the root
(04:45):
of Adamah the earth. And soby saying that God created only one man
at the beginning, and we arethe descendants of a one human being,
that no one can say, myfather was greater than yours. That teaching
enables us to unpack it and tosee that we are all created with equality,
and we should look to each otheras fellow human beings. Brethren,
(05:10):
if you'd like to use that word. What's more, then we learn that
to save a single life is tosave an entire world, and to destroy
a single life is to destroy anentire world. Because each person's life is
the equivalent of the entire world,we matter. We are created to make
a difference. Before this day,before your own life, no one like
(05:33):
you was ever created, unique individual, special, blessed. The question is
what contribution will you make to aworld where you are a unique human being?
Your life matters, and that's whyour teachings, our laws, our
moral directives are all pointing us tobring everybody to a place where they can
(05:58):
be at their very best. Sometimes, as we say, to be in
our best selves are the best versionof ourselves. I'm not sure what all
of that means, except to saythat when we wake up in the morning,
we have an obligation to dig deeplyand to discover who am I?
What are my gifts? What isspecial that I can contribute to my home,
(06:18):
my family, my work, mycommunity that no one else can.
It doesn't have to be great,it just has to be good. And
in that regard, we bring valueto others. With the value we find
within ourselves. No one is greaterthan another. It all really depends on
(06:38):
the difference we can make with thework of our hands, and as we
appreciate the life that we've been givenanother mission. It teaches that Rabbi Akiva
taught how greatly God must have lovedus to create us in the image of
God. Yet even greater love didGod show us and making us conscious that
(07:00):
we are created in the divine image. What a Rabbi Akiva was teaching is
that it is one thing that Godcreated us in God's image, as it
says in Torah. And that's abeautiful thing. But what's even more is
it God created us and made usconscious that we were created in the divine
(07:20):
image. No other creation that wecan point to has the awareness, the
conscious awareness that God created us inGod's own image. And so there is
no animal on earth, no insect, no other creature that walks amongst us
is aware of God's creative act.No other animal praise, No other animal
(07:45):
seeks repentance before God and before others. They act according to their nature.
But only we are conscious of God'screative acts, and therefore we act and
live in relationship with God. Aswe do with each other. We seek
God for all that we need.We seek God for forgiveness for the ways
that we have transgressed and fallen shortof our goals and expectations. And in
(08:11):
that relationship we are constantly striving tobe better than we are and all that
we can be, living with anawareness of something larger than ourselves, that
is unique, that is special,and especially at the high Holy Day season,
we take it to heart. Wereturn to that special relationship with God
and transform it into some thing sothat we can truly be in the new
(08:35):
year more than we were in thepast. And another Hasidic teaching from the
eighteenth and nineteenth century, Rabbi Bunumsaid to his followers, our great transgression
is not that we commit sins.Temptation is strong and our strength is slight.
(08:56):
No, our transgression is that everyinstant excuse me, that we can
turn to God and we do notturn. How profound is it? The
Rabbi Bunam said, the greatest transgressionisn't that we fall shorter, that we
stumble, or even that we sin. We're human, We're bound to make
(09:18):
mistakes and sometimes to act on ourpassions and temptations. The greatest transgression is
that in every instant that God providesus, enables us, invites us to
return, and we don't. Thetruth is at all of us. It
might be you. We stumble,we struggle, we have temptations, we
(09:41):
have demons, we call them inso many ways, we really struggle to
be at our very best. Butthe sin is not in falling apart or
failing, but rather in the opportunity, in invitation to do better and to
return to God as it were,we don't. I hope that at this
(10:01):
high holiday season, whether you're Jewishor not, you'll appreciate it that even
in your own faith, tragicius andthe relationship that you create with God is
not to call you out to becompletely pious and righteous, but to help
you along the way as you riseup to feel gratitude and to share that
gratitude and joy with others. Andwhen you stumble to know that you are
(10:24):
not condemned, not all is lost, but rather an unconditionally loving God reaches
out to meet us where we areand to help us to complete the journey
where we need to be. That'sthe power and presence of return of repentance.
At the High Holy Days. It'sbeen said that in our synagogue sanctuaries,
(10:46):
when we come to worship on theHigh Holy Days, it is not
a room filled with righteous people,and it isn't a room where God expects
only to find righteous people. Rather, God prefers, and our tradition calls
on all of us who are brokenin any way to be present, because
it is not the death of thesinner that God seeks, but rather the
(11:07):
sinner, the one who transgressions,transgresses slightly or greatly, should repent and
return. That is the greatest tributethat we can give to God, that
we have used our life to dosomething good and where we couldn't, to
transform ourselves to do better, itsays in the twelfth century. According to
(11:28):
my Monite is a great Jewish thinker, every human being has merits and faults.
The righteous person has more merits thanfaults, the wicked one more faults
than merits. The average person ismore or less evenly bounds between the two.
A community two is judged in thismanner. If the merits of its
(11:48):
citizens outweigh their faults, it iscalled righteous. If they're faults outweigh their
merits, it is called wicked mymonities was a rationalist, and he understood
the logic of is teaching and taughtit well to us. But what a
period of repentance also provides us isthat despite all of our wickedness or all
of our faults, even one gooddeed tips the balance in our favor,
(12:13):
and forgiveness is granted because we've demonstratedand shown that despite our past and some
of our misgivings, we have theopportunity and the privilege to grow from those
life experiences and to do better thanwe have. What a joy to know
that a faith tradition does not condemnus, but rather encourages us and inspires
(12:35):
us to do better each and everyday. That is why in Judaism or
comes after this life is a matterof some conjecture, and certainly a matter
of faithfulness. But there is noproof in what waits for us, except
that we say that the world thatwe live in now is the here and
(12:56):
now. This is the reality wecan observe and see and know. So
if there's some heaven, it iscertainly heaven on earth. And if there's
some hell, it's the life thatwe create for ourselves here but whether there
is a hell waiting for us isnot a convincing argument and not a faithful
statement in Judaism. But we dospeak of olamhaba the world to come,
(13:18):
that it should be filled with theopportunity to find peace and rest from all
of life's travails. But while we'reliving here, we should do our very
best and know that we are notdoomed or condemned, but always encouraged to
find our way and to return.And Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation about Israel
in Houston. To listen again orshare this message, find it at my
(13:41):
podcast called Heart to Heart with RabbiDavid Lyon at Sunny nine dot com on
the iHeart media app. And asthe Jewish holidays begin at this high holy
day season, it is customary togreet each other or wish someone sha natova
a good to you or shannatova umtukabecause mittuka means a sweet ear as well.
(14:07):
Apples and honey, round hollow withraisins all reflect and symbolize the sweetness
we expect and anticipate, and theround hollow the annual cycle of the year
is reflected in the round shape,which is different than the hollow we eat
during the year. So as everyfaith tradition has symbols and holidays, prayers
(14:28):
and hopes, it is certainly myhope that you in the Jewish community and
others too, may benefit from thesereflections and look forward to a season ahead
of good health, prosperity, andpeace. Thank you for joining me.
I look forward to being with youagain next time.
Welcome. I'm Rabbi David Lyon fromCongregation Beth Israel in Houston. I'm so
glad that we can spend some timetogether now because the Jewish community is also
gathering for the high holy days,beginning on the first day of the Hebrew
month of t shre and through tendays of repentance. We begin with Russia
(00:23):
Shannah to celebrate the Jewish New Yearwith the expectations for sweetness, prosperity,
and peace, God willing, andthrough it time for introspection and contemplation,
so that when we reach the dayof yum Kipur, the day of Atonement,
the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, we will not only have reached
a moment of repentance and forgiveness withour fellow human beings, but also prepared
(00:49):
to stand before God and to dothe same thing. As we prepare,
we open a very special prayer book. It's called a machsur. It has
at its root the word that meansto return, and that's what we're doing
in essence, returning, returning toour best selves, returning to each other,
(01:10):
returning to God, returning to theway of Mitzvah, the way of
good deeds commanded to us through theteachings of Torah, and so repentance is
the word that encapsulates the function andthe purpose of our ten days. But
it is truthfully a return to thevery best that we can be. When
(01:32):
we open our prayer book a mahsur, it has as its ruth the word
return, because it is a bookthat helps us to accomplish the task that
we embark on. And in oneof those prayer books there are many versions.
There's some beautiful readings that open ourhearts and minds to the meaning of
the day and the season. Onesuch reading is a Hasidic reading. It
(01:53):
comes from the eighteenth century, andit says, just as the hand held
before the eyes can hide the tallestmountain, so the routine of everyday life
can keep us from seeing the vastradiance and the secret wonders that fill the
world. It's a beautiful text becauseit tells us that it is so simple
(02:14):
to hide the world all around us, even as a vast mountain might stand
in front of us. It's asimple hand that covers two small eyes that
can cause it to completely disappear beforeus, where we don't take note of
it. We're not awed by it, we're not moved by its size and
(02:34):
presence and the fact that we hadnothing to do with its creation. And
so if we don't look carefully atthe world around us, too, we
might miss what is there, thepeople who spend time with us, and
what is more important than the trivialmatters that sometimes trip us up or cause
us to spend too much time onthem. So the reading teaches, just
(02:58):
as the hand held before they canhide the tallest mountain. So the routine
of everyday life can keep us fromsitting the vast radiance and the secret wonders
that fill the world. What arewe called to do, then, to
open our eyes, to be awarewith all our senses about the world around
(03:19):
us. True enough, the worldaround us can cause us to fear or
feel concerned, but better to behonest, to see the world around us
as it is, because one ofour obligations and duties is to transform the
world into what it ought to be. If it's cruel to be kinder,
to contribute affection, mercy and compassion, if it is good, even then
(03:43):
to make it better. And ifpeople are suffering, to ease their pain
with the ways that we can throughall the works of our hands, the
ways that we contribute to the wellbeing of the community. Another reading helps
us to engage even more. Itsays in a mishnah from the third century,
(04:03):
therefore, was a single human beingcreated to teach you that to destroy
a single human soul is equivalent todestroying an entire world, and that to
sustain a single human soul is equivalentto sustaining an entire world. And a
single human being was created to keeppeace among human beings, that no one
(04:23):
might say to another, my fatheris greater than yours. To unpack this
teaching, it means first to startwith the end of it, that only
one person was created at the beginning. According to Torah in the Bible,
it says God created man Adam.Even his name Adam is at the root
(04:45):
of Adamah the earth. And soby saying that God created only one man
at the beginning, and we arethe descendants of a one human being,
that no one can say, myfather was greater than yours. That teaching
enables us to unpack it and tosee that we are all created with equality,
and we should look to each otheras fellow human beings. Brethren,
(05:10):
if you'd like to use that word. What's more, then we learn that
to save a single life is tosave an entire world, and to destroy
a single life is to destroy anentire world. Because each person's life is
the equivalent of the entire world,we matter. We are created to make
a difference. Before this day,before your own life, no one like
(05:33):
you was ever created, unique individual, special, blessed. The question is
what contribution will you make to aworld where you are a unique human being?
Your life matters, and that's whyour teachings, our laws, our
moral directives are all pointing us tobring everybody to a place where they can
(05:58):
be at their very best. Sometimes, as we say, to be in
our best selves are the best versionof ourselves. I'm not sure what all
of that means, except to saythat when we wake up in the morning,
we have an obligation to dig deeplyand to discover who am I?
What are my gifts? What isspecial that I can contribute to my home,
(06:18):
my family, my work, mycommunity that no one else can.
It doesn't have to be great,it just has to be good. And
in that regard, we bring valueto others. With the value we find
within ourselves. No one is greaterthan another. It all really depends on
(06:38):
the difference we can make with thework of our hands, and as we
appreciate the life that we've been givenanother mission. It teaches that Rabbi Akiva
taught how greatly God must have lovedus to create us in the image of
God. Yet even greater love didGod show us and making us conscious that
(07:00):
we are created in the divine image. What a Rabbi Akiva was teaching is
that it is one thing that Godcreated us in God's image, as it
says in Torah. And that's abeautiful thing. But what's even more is
it God created us and made usconscious that we were created in the divine
(07:20):
image. No other creation that wecan point to has the awareness, the
conscious awareness that God created us inGod's own image. And so there is
no animal on earth, no insect, no other creature that walks amongst us
is aware of God's creative act.No other animal praise, No other animal
(07:45):
seeks repentance before God and before others. They act according to their nature.
But only we are conscious of God'screative acts, and therefore we act and
live in relationship with God. Aswe do with each other. We seek
God for all that we need.We seek God for forgiveness for the ways
that we have transgressed and fallen shortof our goals and expectations. And in
(08:11):
that relationship we are constantly striving tobe better than we are and all that
we can be, living with anawareness of something larger than ourselves, that
is unique, that is special,and especially at the high Holy Day season,
we take it to heart. Wereturn to that special relationship with God
and transform it into some thing sothat we can truly be in the new
(08:35):
year more than we were in thepast. And another Hasidic teaching from the
eighteenth and nineteenth century, Rabbi Bunumsaid to his followers, our great transgression
is not that we commit sins.Temptation is strong and our strength is slight.
(08:56):
No, our transgression is that everyinstant excuse me, that we can
turn to God and we do notturn. How profound is it? The
Rabbi Bunam said, the greatest transgressionisn't that we fall shorter, that we
stumble, or even that we sin. We're human, We're bound to make
(09:18):
mistakes and sometimes to act on ourpassions and temptations. The greatest transgression is
that in every instant that God providesus, enables us, invites us to
return, and we don't. Thetruth is at all of us. It
might be you. We stumble,we struggle, we have temptations, we
(09:41):
have demons, we call them inso many ways, we really struggle to
be at our very best. Butthe sin is not in falling apart or
failing, but rather in the opportunity, in invitation to do better and to
return to God as it were,we don't. I hope that at this
(10:01):
high holiday season, whether you're Jewishor not, you'll appreciate it that even
in your own faith, tragicius andthe relationship that you create with God is
not to call you out to becompletely pious and righteous, but to help
you along the way as you riseup to feel gratitude and to share that
gratitude and joy with others. Andwhen you stumble to know that you are
(10:24):
not condemned, not all is lost, but rather an unconditionally loving God reaches
out to meet us where we areand to help us to complete the journey
where we need to be. That'sthe power and presence of return of repentance.
At the High Holy Days. It'sbeen said that in our synagogue sanctuaries,
(10:46):
when we come to worship on theHigh Holy Days, it is not
a room filled with righteous people,and it isn't a room where God expects
only to find righteous people. Rather, God prefers, and our tradition calls
on all of us who are brokenin any way to be present, because
it is not the death of thesinner that God seeks, but rather the
(11:07):
sinner, the one who transgressions,transgresses slightly or greatly, should repent and
return. That is the greatest tributethat we can give to God, that
we have used our life to dosomething good and where we couldn't, to
transform ourselves to do better, itsays in the twelfth century. According to
(11:28):
my Monite is a great Jewish thinker, every human being has merits and faults.
The righteous person has more merits thanfaults, the wicked one more faults
than merits. The average person ismore or less evenly bounds between the two.
A community two is judged in thismanner. If the merits of its
(11:48):
citizens outweigh their faults, it iscalled righteous. If they're faults outweigh their
merits, it is called wicked mymonities was a rationalist, and he understood
the logic of is teaching and taughtit well to us. But what a
period of repentance also provides us isthat despite all of our wickedness or all
of our faults, even one gooddeed tips the balance in our favor,
(12:13):
and forgiveness is granted because we've demonstratedand shown that despite our past and some
of our misgivings, we have theopportunity and the privilege to grow from those
life experiences and to do better thanwe have. What a joy to know
that a faith tradition does not condemnus, but rather encourages us and inspires
(12:35):
us to do better each and everyday. That is why in Judaism or
comes after this life is a matterof some conjecture, and certainly a matter
of faithfulness. But there is noproof in what waits for us, except
that we say that the world thatwe live in now is the here and
(12:56):
now. This is the reality wecan observe and see and know. So
if there's some heaven, it iscertainly heaven on earth. And if there's
some hell, it's the life thatwe create for ourselves here but whether there
is a hell waiting for us isnot a convincing argument and not a faithful
statement in Judaism. But we dospeak of olamhaba the world to come,
(13:18):
that it should be filled with theopportunity to find peace and rest from all
of life's travails. But while we'reliving here, we should do our very
best and know that we are notdoomed or condemned, but always encouraged to
find our way and to return.And Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation about Israel
in Houston. To listen again orshare this message, find it at my
(13:41):
podcast called Heart to Heart with RabbiDavid Lyon at Sunny nine dot com on
the iHeart media app. And asthe Jewish holidays begin at this high holy
day season, it is customary togreet each other or wish someone sha natova
a good to you or shannatova umtukabecause mittuka means a sweet ear as well.
(14:07):
Apples and honey, round hollow withraisins all reflect and symbolize the sweetness
we expect and anticipate, and theround hollow the annual cycle of the year
is reflected in the round shape,which is different than the hollow we eat
during the year. So as everyfaith tradition has symbols and holidays, prayers
(14:28):
and hopes, it is certainly myhope that you in the Jewish community and
others too, may benefit from thesereflections and look forward to a season ahead
of good health, prosperity, andpeace. Thank you for joining me.
I look forward to being with youagain next time.
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