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Although a quick glance at a Siddur (Prayer Book) confirms the fact that Jews should pray daily, we still associate prayer with the High Holidays, when we spend hours in shul praying,
or at least attempting to pray,
or at least watching others pray,
or at least watching others try too pray.
An interesting definition of prayer was sent to me several months ago that highlights the absurdity of the exercise.
“"Pray, n:. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy."
The famous Chassidic master, Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berdichov, addressed the absurdity with the following public address to his Maker one Yom Kippur:
“G-d, let’s make a deal.
“I’ll give you all my sins, transgressions, wrongdoings, inadvertent, purposeful and otherwise. I’ll throw in some quickly said prayers, mumbled blessings, ingratitude and carelessness.
“In return, I demand that you give me the following: Healthy children, a long life and economic prosperity.
“Good? Good. It’s a deal then!”
When you come to shul this Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and browse through a few pages, you’ll come to the realization that this what a good number of pages amount to.
Part of the solution to this craziness is to be found in the sad story of the Golden Calf. As we all know, Moses’ delay in descending Mount Sinai caused the people waiting at the foot of mountain to despair and fall into their old familiar patterns to which they had become accustomed during their 210 year stay in Egypt, and they built a golden calf.
When Moses is informed of the Jews’ backsliding, he does an excellent job of defending the Jews and averting their destruction. However, when he comes the mountain, the best defense attorney we ever had turns to his people and destroys the divine Tablets, the wedding ring.
Why the change in attitude?
“As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses displayed anger, and threw down the tablets that were in his hand, shattering them at the foot of the mountain.” (Exodus 32:19)
Moses could deal with the calf alone. It was the dancing that he couldn’t tolerate.
Some measure of wrongdoing is inevitable. Are all Jews perfect? Not yet. Are all Jews in Newport News perfect? Probably not. But we don’t have to be happy about it! The goal of this time of year, marking the forty days Moses spent on the mountain to renew our relationship with the Torah giver and have a second set of tablets engraved, is to renew a healthy sense of guilt.
I don’t mean the stereotypical guilt we read about in Jewish Mother jokes. I am talking about the kind that makes an honest appraisal of some aspect of our Jewish lives and forces each of us to admit, “I can do better than that.” This kind of honest and straightforward guilt has the power to turn things around, for the shul, and for the Jewish Nation. And that kind of turnaround is just what we need.
See you in shul,
RD