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NATIONAL JUDGMENT AND PERSONAL REPENTANCE
This period of time on the Jewish calendar is the time of Selichot, when penitential prayers are recited in the early morning before the actual shacharit morning services. The Ashkenazim will begin the recital of selichot this coming Saturday night/Sunday morning while the Sephardim have been reciting selichot since the beginning of Elul. The selichot that precede Rosh HaShana are of a national character. These prayers, developed over the past 1500 years, deal mainly with the abject plight of the Jewish people, living in exile from their ancestral homeland and subject to unrelenting persecution and discrimination. In this time of Rosh HaShana, the day of judgment of individuals, societies and nations, we beseech God to redeem Israel from its troubles and its exile. The nations who attempt to destroy us should be judged and found wanting in the scales of God's justice while those who befriend Israel should be rewarded and safeguarded. These selichot then deal with national issues, with the imperative of Jewish survival, of protecting the little lamb surrounded by seventy wolves. A product of the exile of Israel, these selichot are mournful in tone and in their prose. Most of these selichot are of medieval origin, though very little in the modern era has happened that would change their mood and outlook. In this respect, the selichot preceding Rosh HaShana, the national prayers of Israel, bear a great resemblance to the kinot - the elegies and lamentations - of Tisha B'Av, the national day of Jewish mourning.
Not so the selichot that form the services for the Ten Days of Repentance following Rosh HaShana. These selichot on the whole are intensely personal, inner-directed and self-assessing. They are prayers for wisdom and forgiveness, and for the ability to improve and better one's self spiritually and morally. Though Yom Kippur is also a day of judgment when the books of life are sealed, it is primarily a day of forgiveness, repentance, contemplation and self-analysis. The selichot, which mark the time from Rosh HaShana to Yom Kippur, reflect this changing emphasis from the national to the individual. In a way, national redemption is easier to contemplate and even achieve than is personal repentance and self-improvement. Rabbi Yisrael of Salant, the holy founder of the Mussar Movement of nineteenth century Lithuania (which focused of ethics) once said: "The loudest sound possible in the universe is that of breaking a habit!" The selichot of the Days of Repentance are therefore immensely powerful and intensely personal. They are the expression of man searching for meaning in life and discovering his relationship with the Creator. These selichot resonate with the anguished human cry for fulfillment and eternity. They are less concerned with the greater Klal Yisrael and concentrate instead upon the individual Mr. and Mrs. Israel.
These two series of selichot, before and after Rosh HaShana, become the backdrop to the selichot of Yom Kippur itself. Every one of the prayer services of Yom Kippur - maariv, shacharit, musaf, mincha and neilah - contains a selichot component. Some of these selichot are repetitions of selichot recited during the Days of Repentance. However, most are special for Yom Kippur, intended to evoke the holiness of the day itself and to challenge us to exploit this God-given moment for renewed religious experience and commitment. The selichot of Yom Kippur represent the culmination of the soul of Jewish liturgy and poetry, reaching out to God by reaching deep within us. The selichot of the High Holy Days are a progression from national existence and salvation to personal assessment and deep personal commitment and renewal. All of these types of selichot are necessary in order to bring about the desired blessing, both physical and spiritual, for the coming new and good year. The genius of the authors of all of these selichot commands a hold upon us, centuries after their authorship. For human nature and its attendant problems have remained constant throughout all time. These selichot services are as relevant to us in our time as they ever were in past generations and historical situations. We should utilize this opportunity to study and recite them in this holy period of the year.
Berel Wein
SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLE - Jerusalem Post, 9/08/04
DISPARATE GOALS
The European Football Association, in spite of the appeals of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel to change the date of the soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Bayern-Munich from Erev Rosh Hashana, remains adamant in its refusal to move the game to a different time. This is only a further example of the fair play and sensitivity that Europe always extends to the State of Israel and to things Jewish. The wonderful liberal and humanistic values, the care for others' feelings, the pacifist nature of Europe, all are absent when it comes to dealing with Jews, Jewish values and the State of Israel. The reason proffered by the European Football Association for their refusal to move the date of the game is an economic one. The television rights to broadcast the game fetched a great deal of money and changing the date of the contest would engender a loss of revenue for all concerned. By now, even the most naive of us are aware that sports is really business, and an enormous business at that. All of the platitudes about national pride, sportsmanship and uniting all peoples through sport are merely propaganda to distract the public from the true purpose of organized sports - to make tons of money.
The refusal of the Europeans to budge on the matter now puts the ball squarely in our court, to use a sports metaphor. It has been reported that the Tel Aviv team and Israel will lose about twenty million shekel in potential revenue by not playing in the game - and that is no small amount of money. That profit or lack of certainly raises the stakes of this moral dilemma. Yet, the basic question to me is a simple one. Is Jewish pride, tradition, uniqueness and value system worth twenty million shekel? I know of no softer way to phrase and present the issue. In a deeper sense, the question of playing this game touches on the very nature and future of the Jewish state. Are there any Jewish values that Israel is willing to stand up for? If so, what are they? We cannot hope to have a sense of national and personal pride and self-identity without answers to these questions.
If Israel were to refuse to play the game, millions of believing, religious non-Jews would appreciate and applaud our decision. I have a sneaking suspicion that even our European friends would be impressed. After all, it is Jewish tenacity and stubbornness that has gained us whatever respect we command in the world. The craven acquiescence to dominant cultures and values has proven to only increase anti-Semitism in those societies - read Amos Elon's book, The Pity Of It All to see what I mean. We were supposed to feel a moment of national pride when an Israeli won a gold medal at the Athens Olympic games. I think that we would have a greater moment of national pride if Maccabi Tel Aviv just said, "Sorry, but we are not coming to play on Erev Rosh Hashana."
Rosh Hashana is more than just a matter of religious observance. It is the statement of Judaism and the Jews about life and death, right and wrong, eternity and things temporary. For thousands of years Jews have gathered in their synagogues and around their family tables to commemorate this birthday of the world and humankind. In the darkest hours of our history we listened to hear the sound of the shofar that brought us hope and stiffened our spine and enabled us to overcome and outlive all of our enemies. Now we are being tested by a soccer game, by twenty million shekel, by a world that does not subscribe to our values, and perhaps to some, not even to our existence. What should our Jewish response be?
The State of Israel bears with it the souls of generations of our people. It is not a modern state but a recreation of our ancient state rebuilt in our ancient homeland. The State of Israel has a duty not only to those of us fortunate enough to live here now but also to the millions and millions of Jews whose spirit rests with us here as well. We have a personal and national goal in life - aside from Maccabi Tel Aviv putting the ball into the net. That goal is that both our past generations and future generations should be proud of us and our behavior and actions. That goal can be convincingly and dramatically advanced by not playing this soccer game on Erev Rosh Hashana.
Berel Wein
