How do you enter a Rosh Hashana like this one?
Hamas, Hezbollah, Harvard.
So much loss, so much hate, so much pulling us down.
It’s like we’re waking into this holiday season through a pile of sticky mud.
And if we weren’t beaten down enough, tonight we begin the Selichos season – two weeks of saying, I’m sorry. Ashamnu, we have been guilty. Bagadnu, we have betrayed.
To add insult to injury, a year like this could have inspired us to do so much more, but it didn’t. Which makes the chest-beating all that much heavier.
So do we walk into Rosh Hashana hunched over? Beaten down? Broken?
No. Not at all.
Rav Kook makes an amazing observation. The very first viduy-confession found in the Torah is actually not a chest-beating, shoulder-sagging, viduy. It’s positive. It’s uplifting. It is even self-congratulatory.
Writes Rav Kook, “Just as there is great value to the repair of the soul through the confession of sins … there is also great value through the confession of our positive deeds, in order to gladden the heart and strengthen the paths of life in the way of God.”
One of his followers went ahead and rewrote the classic Viduy in this positive spirit.
Instead of Ashamanu, Ahavnu – We have loved,
Instead of Bagadnu, Bachinu- we have cried,
Insteda of Gazalnu, Gamalnu- we have given back,
Dibarnu yofi- we have spoken great things!
He’’emanu- We have believed,
v’Hish’tadalnu- and we tried to give our best effort,
Zacharnu- we have remembered,
Chibaknu- we have embraced…
Ladies and gentlemen, that is the Viduy we need this year. I am not suggesting we switch the traditional text, but I am suggesting that our mindset, as we go into the year ahead, a year filled with so much uncertainty, is a mindset of pride. We have so much to celebrate. We have accomplished so much this past year.
I just want to take a few moments to list a few public accomplishments that took place in these four walls, with our shul:
On October 13th, we hosted a community-wide rocking Friday night minyan, to support soldiers like Arky Staiman who begged us to do so.
On October 14th, we hosted a community-wide program with B’nai Jacob Sharei Zion, Shomrei, and Ohel Moshe that was attended by 400 people, giving the community much-needed chizuk and unity.
On October 15th, we produced and distributed hundreds of We Stand with Israel signs that you can still see all over Baltimore.
On October 21st, we plastered our back wall with pictures of hostages – if not the first, one of the first shuls to do so.
On October 29th, we co-sponsored a rally in downtown Baltimore, letting the world know we are proud of our support for Israel.
On November 2nd, hundreds of shul members chipped in to pay for the Bar Mitzvah of a young boy from Sderot, who was homeless, placing a smile on his face for the first time in a month.
On November 4th, 170 people started learning Bava Kama in memory of Eliyahu Harush, giving much-needed comfort to his young widow, Hodaya.
On November 27th, we sent a video to the Bar Mitzvah boy, wishing him Mazel Tov from Baltimore, letting him know there were people who cared about him.
We’re going to skip December. I had a Bar Mitzvah in December so we were a little busy…
But in January, we hosted a comedy night that was a fundraiser for Israel. In February, we hosted a soldier, Yoshi Rosenbluth, to share with us his experience on the battlefront. We also hosted a presentation from Zaka, the organization that helps care for the dead in Israel. We brought in Hodaya Harush, to see with her own tear-filled eyes, what was done in her husband’s memory. And then we sent her and her precious children to Disney World for much needed respite.
We hosted Dance Parties for the women of the community, to inject some joy and energy into a year of sadness.
We had not one but two Moshav concerts, each packed to the brim, bringing a taste of Israel and an uplift to Baltimore.
An endless stream of members visited Israel, to volunteer, to learn, to give comfort. They came back to our community, shared their stories and lifted us higher.
We hosted Jen Airley who stole our breath.
We chipped in to buy three mobile shuls for soldiers in Gaza.
We dedicated all of Tisha B’av to the situation in Israel, most specifically an event for women that filled our entire social hall.
Okay, then I went away for two months… (It’s in my contract, I promise)
And this past week, we hosted an incredible lecture by Shabbos Kestenbaum to learn more about the antisemitism plaguing our campuses.
And all of the above is just the public accomplishments. I can’t begin to imagine what went on behind closed doors.
But here’s just a little glimpse – There must have been over $150,000 that went through my pulpit fund this year, supporting Israel, and also supporting many people in this community.
The kindness – the amount of Shabbos invitations, of people extending themselves, informally, through meal trains, and through our Ner Tamid chats is breathtaking.
The volunteerism in this shul was off the charts! So much of what you see here every time you walk through the doors is only made possible by a growing team of incredible volunteers. From the CSS team welcoming you at the shuls entrance, to the food you eat at the kiddush. The chesed that we collectively engaged in is remarkable.
You know how many extra prayers were said in these walls? Thousands of extra chapters of Tehilim every day after davening. Even though everyone is always in a rush, no one left, no one speak. We begged G-d to watch out for acheinu kol beis Yisroel. And that is aside from the extra tefilos that all of you said over the past ten months.
And then there is my pride and joy – something I have been accused of talking about ad nauseum – the amount of Torah learning in our shul this year. Wow.
137 men, women, and teens completed Bava Kamma – a difficult and long tractate of the Talmud.
And then the vast majority continued learning daily. How many people here are doing Daf Yomi? How many people are doing Mishna Yomi? How many are doing Nach Yomi? Amud Yomi?
In Rav Kook’s positive Viduy, instead of Tainu, we have gone astray, the text reads, Ta’amnu Sefer- we have learned your books. Yes, we have.
***
A new member of our shul shared an observation with me.
And once we’re talking about new members and this past year’s accomplishments, it’s worth noting that 49 membership units joined Ner Tamid this year.
This new member, Ari Weiss, complained. He said, “Rabbi, all the Torah learning initiatives are nice, but they’re not for everyone. Some people may be intimidated by all the Hebrew text. Some people may not be into learning Navi, Mishna, or Talmud. You need to find a daily learning opportunity that is for everyone. That is your tagline after all, isn’t it? Something for Everyone.”
And Ari didn’t just complain; he did research and eventually we settled on a form of Torah learning that is indeed ‘for everyone.’ We settled on this book – Master Your Words, Master Your Life (https://a.co/d/4DKYPGL). It discusses the laws and ideas behind Lashon Hara and how to speak more positively about one another. In a world filled with so much toxicity, I cannot think of something more important to be learning each day. It is split up into daily learning, each day’s learning is a short page, which should take you between 30 seconds to two minutes to read.
It gets better – Ari and his wife, Michal, in their generosity bought a whole bunch of these books for you, for free.
There is a new cycle beginning this Thursday. This is your last chance to take part in the incredible spiritual revolution of Ner Tamid. And I promise you this is the last time I will pitch any learning program this year…
Who wants a copy? They are available for anyone who is not currently learning on a daily basis. Hands up. If we run out, a generous sponsor has offered to buy more.
***
Rav Kook’s Viduy concludes with the words:
Nisinu- We have tried,
Tzadaknu, lifamim- We have been righteous, sometimes,
Karanu b’shimcha- we have called out in Your Name!
Ratzinu- We have wanted to do more
Samachnu- we have rejoiced,
Tamachnu- we have supported one another.
Friends, we have so much to be proud of. Let’s walk into this new year with our heads held high. And may G-d bless us all with a year of profound growth, true peace, and blessings.