Here-and-Now
Sermon
September 21, 200
Rabbi Anthony D. Holz
This Kol Nidre evening reminds us of the importance of recognizing our many blessings and renewing our determination to do better in the future.
There are three ways in which we often go wrong, three dangers we need to carefully avoid. First, we all need to do a better job of recognizing how good our lives really are, of how precious are the moments we share with our loved ones, how golden are the everyday events we so frequently take for granted. Second, we must work at not belittling or devaluating ourselves. And third, procrastination helps no one. Let us consider the dangers of not appreciating our blessings, undervaluing ourselves and needless delay.
Near the end of Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town, there is a particularly poignant scene. Emily has died young, at the age of twenty-six, and she wants to return to earth for a short visit. She asks the Stage Manager if she can return for just one day.
“Choose the day,” he says, and Emily chooses to return on her twelfth birthday. She returns home and her father, who is just back from a business trip, has little time for her. He is concerned about a business problem. Her mother is busy cooking and pays no attention to her. Finally, Emily looks at her parents and says: “I can’t bear it. Oh, mama, just look at me for one minute as though you really saw me. Mama, fourteen years have gone by. I’m dead! But just for a moment now, we’re all together, mama. Just for a moment we are here together. Let’s look at one another!”
But her father and mother carry on with what they are doing. They’re too busy with their own concerns to see her, and so she leaves.
“I can’t! I can’t go on. Life goes so fast! We don’t have time to look at one another.” Emily breaks down sobbing, “Good bye, good bye world. Good bye mama and papa. Oh, earth you are too wonderful for anyone to realize you! Do any human beings ever realize life while they live?”
And the Stage Manager says to her: “Very few do, very few.”
This theatrical anecdote is particularly relevant to us as we begin Yom Kippur. In the stress of our daily schedules, in the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, we all too frequently lose sight of the many blessings that fill our lives. Too often do we fail to appreciate what we have, and the many good possibilities open before us.
There is truth in the Chasidic story of a grandmother who, together with many people, waited to see the Chasidic rebbi in order to ask for different blessings: for health, for a better marriage, for a better job, for greater pleasure from their children, and so on.
Finally, when it was her turn to meet with the rebbi, she was asked, “How is your husband?” And she replied: “Thank God, he is fine.” The rebbi then asked her: “How are your children?” And she answered again, “Thank God, they are fine.” The rebbi then asked her: “In that case, what is it that you want? What do you want as a blessing that you don’t already have?”
And her answer was: “My only wish is that it may all continue. May it only last.”
This wise woman understood and appreciated how much she already had. Every one of us needs to realize how much we have, we need to appreciate the present, so that we can build a better future for all.
The Torah illustrates another wide-spread danger. In biblical times, when various actions were described as wrongdoings or sins, some might consider the events relating to the golden calf as Israel’s worst example of wrong-doing. But, from the perspective of the biblical writers, the worst thing that the Hebrews did related to the spies that Moses sent to scout out the land. Because of the disaster with the spies, the Israelites were condemned to wander in the wilderness for a whole generation. What was so bad, was that those sent to scout out the land, the individuals considered experts and leaders, told the community: “The land that God has promised us is indeed good, and it is in truth very fertile and very beautiful – but you will not be able to conquer it.” Because the leaders put down the people and broke their morale, by telling them “you can’t do it,” and because the community could only see the negatives and not the many positives, that whole generation was never able to enter the Promised Land. If people feel that they are no good, that they are powerless or helpless, if they feel depressed or degraded, they will surely be unable to reach for new heights, and they will certainly never create new possibilities.
Too often are we hard on ourselves, our families, our congregation and the Jewish community as a whole. Let us move beyond all the criticisms and the recriminations, all our faults and flaws, to see the larger picture which is so often good, and the many possibilities for making things even better.
In today’s world it is often almost fashionable to point out all the problems and weaknesses of the Jewish community, for instance the loss of tradition, fewer children and a higher rate of intermarriage. The alternative and more constructive perspective would remind us that Israel today is very strong; that many thousands of young Jewish adults are going to visit Israel; that we have more Jewish learning at a university level than ever before; that our Jewish summer camps are filled to overflowing; that our Jewish pre-school programs are flourishing all over the country.
And, here at KKBE, there is also much to celebrate as our congregation comes together in this synagogue which is a national historic landmark, with the beautiful music of our choir, with a growing membership, with a tremendous band of volunteers and ever-more committed people participating in our religious school and Hebrew programs as well as our youth activities. It is as we appreciate all that we have, that we truly become more capable of building an even better future.
So often do we forget that the past is gone, and that the future is not yet real. All we really have is this moment. It is so important that we value the precious qualities of the here-and-now. So far we have looked at the dangers of ignoring the good we have and of our belittling ourselves. The third danger we must guard against is the danger of postponing constructive action for some nebulous future in time.
There is a story about three demons bent on leading human beings astray, who come together to compare results.
The first demon says: “I tell people that what they are doing is worthless and meaningless, and that they will never be able to achieve anything. But it doesn’t work. People are too clever. They see the wonders of the world and the many improvements that have taken place, so they don’t believe me.”
The second demon tells the others, ‘I say: “You cannot learn anything from the past. The Torah was written by a bunch of people who had different ideas and were very often wrong. But it also doesn’t work. People are too smart. They look into the Torah and the other traditional teachings and they find words of wisdom which help and guide them. So I also get nowhere with them.”
The third demon announces, ‘I say: “You people are good and you can learn much from the past, but you don’t need to do anything more. You don’t need to rush. You can do anything you want to do tomorrow or the next day.” And, the third demon told the others, “That works!”
The simple truth is that the past is behind us, and we don’t really have tomorrow. All that we have is today, this time, this moment. If there is any good that we can do and need to do, we must do it now. So we pray with words from the book of Psalms: “Teach us to number our days that we may grow wise in heart.” May the work of our hands be enduring. Amen
(Anecdotal material largely selected from The World of the High Holy Days, Volume I, edited by Rabbi Jack Riemer)