Shabbat Message from Rabbi Forman - 9/29/06

For this I waited? It better be good. On Shabbat, during the Amidah section of the service when we read of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, we might come across a tiny asterisk that has the following words placed next to it: "On Shabbat Shuvah insert". Guess what? Shabbat Shuvah has arrived, and we get to read that extra line which we have been skipping
all year long.

So what does it say that is so important that we only read it on Shabbat Shuvah, this Sabbath that falls between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur? The words are: Remember us for life, Ruler who delights in life, and inscribe us in the Book of Life, for Your sake, God of life.

For such a short sentence, it's striking that the word "life" occurs four times. That's a lot of life squeezed into a little package. Not surprising then, is the notion that life is the highest value in Jewish living. Not martyrdom. Not adherence to Mitzvot. Not learning or even good deeds. Living is.

Staying alive and keeping others alive. What is surprising, though, is that not all religious traditions share this ultimate value. Perhaps that is how religious fervor gets a bad name. If being religious meant you were committed to something as universal as life, how different our world might be.

On this Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of turning, perhaps we all might reconsider what religious living might mean for us. There might be something to it, after all.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Joseph M. Forman

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Shabbat Message from Rabbi Forman - 9/14/06

Selichot - literally: forgivenesses - is the name of the service traditionally held at midnight on the Saturday before Rosh Hashanah. Often this service features diminished lighting and solemn music to imbue a sense of the upcoming drama of the High Holydays. Selichot repeats a phrase that readies us for the New Year: "Hasheveinu Adonai,
v'Nashuva -- Renew us, O God, and we shall be renewed."
If only it were that easy. To show up, read a few prayers from a book and express a desire to change is not quite how transformation really occurs - despite the insistence of the Selichot liturgy. Intention, as a recent TV commercial brilliantly relates, is not really enough. Neither is lip-service. Acknowledging the need to change parts of our behavior is difficult enough without the added burden of actually changing! Ah, the challenges of being human . . . .

So what are we to do? Are the words of our tradition useless? Hardly. They can instill in us a vision of our highest aims. That is the primary purpose of all worship. The words of prayer speak of our highest image of ourselves.

On this Shabbat, as the Jewish world readies itself for a New Year, we might take a few moments to consider the year that is about to end. What were its high points? How did we excel at the tasks we value most? And where might we have bettered ourselves? Such introspection is not easy. This Shabbat of Selichot, of forgivenesses, is a
wonderful occasion to begin looking within - not merely encouraging others in our lives to forgive us our failings, but recognizing that we are at once imperfect and blessings to all of them.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Joseph M. Forman