Yom Kippur 5764

Living as a Jew

                  What does it mean to live in relationship with God? Over the course of the last year, it has been remarkable to me how many people have said that they want to have a greater spiritual aspect to their life; that there is a sense of there being something missing from their lives; that they want to get to know God. But God seems so remote, so irrelevant to the stresses of our everyday lives. Yet we know, somewhat intuitively, that God is also at the root of life itself. The reason for this is that God is our link to eternity. We want to be linked to something larger, to play a role in a larger plan. In short, we want our lives to mean something in a broader sense. We want to know how to live in such a way that it makes a difference that we were here. And so we turn to God in search of meaning. Yet, how do we reach God, how do we make connection with the Eternal One? How do we truly live?            

                  Towards the end of this morning's Torah portion, Moses made a most curious statement. Moses said, I have placed before you life or death, blessing or curse; choose life in order that you and your descendants may live. It seems an obvious choice. Who in their right mind would choose death over life; curse over blessing? But there is a catch. Moses is not addressing mere existence; Moses is speaking about living a life that means something.

                  So how do we live a life of meaning? Moses answers that question in two ways. The first answer is what you might expect; that an essential part of living a meaningful life is to keep God's commandments, laws and teachings. In Torah, we have received a set of commandments-some positive, some negative; some obviously based on rationality and many that are not. These commandments are the basis of Jewish law or halacha. Observance of halacha has for centuries been at the center of Jewish life. It formulates Jewish identity, it is what Jews do. Without halacha, Jewish law, there is no Judaism, it is what makes us who we are.

                  Halacha also serves as a concrete expression of our relationship with God. For example, on Yom Kippur we stand in a relationship of humility before God. Part of living a meaningful life is to understand that we are not the end all and be all for the existence of the universe. Thus we stand humbled before the Creator and we are repentant for having done certain things that are contrary to God's will for us. But how do we express our sense of humility? What avenues do we have to express our penitence to God? God gives us the first clue by ordaining that Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is to be a day of self-denial. Thus, self-denial becomes a form of penitence before God. But what does self-denial mean? Our Rabbis interpreted self-denial to include denying oneself food. We stand repentant before God this day and to demonstrate the depth of our penitence, we stand here hungry and unadorned. The halacha that we should fast gives us a structure to demonstrate our sense of repentance on this Day of Atonement. Through observance of the halacha of fasting, we demonstrate the sincerity of our penitence to God, to each other, and to ourselves.

                  But halacha is not enough. Moses also tells us that the way to a meaningful life is to love God, to listen to God's voice, and to walk in God's ways. In Moses' oration, all three of these are separate from observance of God's laws and commandments. Therefore, they must mean something different from just observance of halacha. So what does it mean to love God, to heed God's voice and to walk in God's ways? This morning's Torah portion does not address these issues directly but we have an additional source that does address the subject in a rather remarkable way.

                  That resource is this morning's haftorah. A haftorah is a reading from another part of the Hebrew Bible, in this case from the prophet Isaiah. Haftorah portions were chosen carefully to supplement or clarify one or more points raised in the Torah portion. On festivals, they often also emphasize themes that are integral to the festival observance. This morning's haftorah addresses the contrast between the formalistic observance of halacha and the observance of halacha with the proper intent, or, in Hebrew, with kavanah.

                  And, what do you know, the halacha being discussed is fasting on Yom Kippur. At God’s direction, Isaiah is railing against the Jews of his time because they are going through the motions of fasting but without the requisite kavanah behind it. To put it in modern terms, Isaiah is telling us that it is not enough to fast and spend the day in temple if we leave our cell phones on vibrate in order to keep in touch with the office. It's not enough to express consternation about our lives and confess our shortcomings if we aren't going to do anything to change them. It is not enough to bemoan the state of the world and yet do nothing proactive to bring about peace and justice. Fasting, halacha, is not enough; only when halacha is joined with kavanah, a true intention to do better, along with actually doing better, can it be said that we are responding to the voice of God; that we are walking in God's ways. For when we do these things, Isaiah tells us, the Righteous One will walk before us and, therefore, we will be walking in God's footsteps. Even more profoundly, Isaiah goes on to say that if we will follow God's ways, then when we call upon God, God will say, Heneini, Here I am. Just as when God called upon Abraham and Abraham answered God Heneinei, so too will God answer us. What is the nature of our relationship with God? Our relationship is a reciprocal one. If we are willing to be there for God, then God will be willing to be there for us.

                  In other words, when we do Jewish ritual in such a way as to allow ourselves to intuit from it the messages that God intends for our lives, then we will be in relationship with God; God will be there for us. When we do things within our communities to promote justice, to feed the hungry, to strengthen our families, God will be there for us. When we stop blaming others for our own shortcomings and take positive steps to make right our own lives, God will be there for us. For when we cry out to God for strength to do these things, these things which seem oh so difficult, God will indeed answer us Henieni, Here I am!!

                  Where is God? How can we come to know God? How do we bring God into our lives? It really isn't so hard. As the Torah portion tells us, the knowledge of what God wants for us and for our lives is not in heaven, far above us, or across the sea, so far away. Nor do we need any intermediary to get it for us. For God's will is near to us, in our mouths and in our hearts, so that we might do it. God is waiting for us. God awaits our teshuvah, our sincere turning toward the ways of Eternal One, and when, in our searching we turn to God, the Eternal One will be there saying Heneini, Here I am. May this be God's will. Amen