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The Solution to Our Fatigue© - Ha’azinu 2019/5780
Rabbi David Baum, Congregation Shaarei Kodesh
Main Points: There was another anti-Semitic incident on Yom Kippur when a Neo-Nazi tried to kill worshippers at a synagogue in Germany - after a year of violent anti-Semitism, we as a Jewish community are fatigued. We have also had a lot of holidays, and are about to enter another one - what is the solution to our exhaustion?
I want to begin by thanking the Cohen family…for waking me up early the day after Yom Kippur. But seriously, I mean it! For those who don’t know, Madelyn, our bat mitzvah girl, came to Shaarei Kodesh the day after Yom Kippur, Thursday morning, to take her first aliyah at the Torah. After my words today, you will see why I’m grateful that we had the opportunity to wake up early. But I would like to return to the evening post-Yom Kippur. On my way to breakfast, I turned on my phone, and the following email popped up from a local television reporter that was sent while we were in shul on Yom Kippur:
Good morning Rabbi Baum,
I wanted to check in and see if there is anyone I might be able to speak with today regarding the shooting outside a synagogue in Germany on this holy day?
I realize it may be difficult to get someone on camera today, but we would need just a quick sound bite for reaction, and if security has been increased locally because of the shooting and the holiday.
Thanks so much for your help!
Obviously, even if I did check my email, which I don’t do over the holidays, I would have had to reply, sorry, but I’m a little busy at the moment.
My first initial thought was the following: I’m tired. It’s not just the spiritual exhaustion of the high holidays, that even though it is invigorating, it takes a lot of energy out of us; and not just physical exhaustion after fasting, but also, the exhaustion that many Jews feel after this year. Tired of anti-Semitism. By now, you have heard about the attack in Germany on the holiest day of our year, Yom Kippur. The shooting was only averted because the synagogue’s wooden door held firm against the 27-year-old neo-Nazi gunman. The terrorist killed two people nearby, saw two people killed nearby: Jana Lange, 40, who was walking home Wednesday around noon when she passed the synagogue, and a 20 year old, Kevin S., his last name was not given, as he was eating in a Kabob shop nearby. May their memories be a blessing for us all.
There was a hashtag that went around last year after the questions of Jewish loyalty by people on both sides of the political spectrum: #TheJewsAreTired.
On Wednesday night, I tweeted the following: We are tired - we are tired of the attacks on us world wide - just because we are Jews. Tired of answering questions about another attack against a synagogue. tired of having to defend Israel’s right to exist; we are just plain old tired.
After Yom Kippur, the Jews are tired. Let’s go back in time. Our high holiday season really began with the 9th of Av, a 25 hour fast, when our physical and spiritual home, the Beit HaMikdash, was destroyed and torn down in 70 CE. Then, a few weeks later, we began our teshuvah process with Elul, then Selichot began the Saturday night before Rosh hashanah, then Rosh Hashanah, Yom HaDin, Yom Teruah, where we are awakened to repent as we heard the blast of the shofar 100 times a day, then, eight days of teshuvah following Rosh Hashanah, and then, Yom Kippur, our next 25 hour fast. I’m tired just saying it out loud!
The Jews are tired - so why do we have Sukkot, a 7, very physical, holiday followed by the two day holiday of Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, right after a marathon of spirituality? I remember Alissa telling me after our first year of experiencing this marathon as a rabbi, “I don’t think the rabbis planned this out so well.” But they actually did! And their response
I spoke about anti-Semitism twice over the high holidays, and our response to it, but today, I would like to give a third response, but not just to anti-Semitism, but to remedy the condition of Jews being tired.
There’s a good reason. Two weeks ago, I gave my response to anti-Semitism -
- Step out line - that we must focus on our survival but also on helping out the world and standing up against injustice.
There are others of course - we must call anti-Semitism out on all sides, we must stay vigilant and protect ourselves, just like the synagogue in Germany. But there’s a third answer:
Just keep singing.
If you have had any young people in your life, kids or grandkids, since 2003, there’s no doubt that you have heard the phrase, “when life gets you down, just keep swimming, from the movie Finding Nemo. The mantra was, just keep swimming just keep swimming, swimming swimming, what do we swim.” And it goes on and on.
In our parashah this week, Ha’azinu, Moses has a similar lesson: just keep singing. In fact, what we read today was one long song by Moses to the people. I guess you could call it Moses’s swan song, his long goodbye.
Moses’s last song abounds with metaphors for God. In the span of just forty-three verses, God is referred to as a rock, a warrior, an eagle, a father, a mother, a provider, an executioner, and a healer. But, the core theological metaphor of our chapter is the image of God as Rock: "The Rock, His work is perfect, and all his ways are just; a faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is He" (Deuteronomy 32:4). In fact, it’s mentioned 7 times – it denotes strength, refuge, stability.
But Moses adds a twist, he says in his song, that God is like a rock, but if you don’t follow God, the rock will work against you.
“When the people go astray, they face grave consequences: "You neglected the Rock that bore you; you forgot the God who gave you birth. The Lord saw and was vexed, and spurned His sons and daughters... I will heap disasters upon them" (32:18-19, 23).
Let’s think about what’s going on – they are about to enter the land, but Moses isn’t going with his people. He has to trust them, but he also has to give them some harsh realities – if you don’t care something, even something as strong as a rock, it might be there to protect you when you most need it.
Here Moses is speaking about the power of consistency - disaster will come once you stop swimming, or singing.
And this is why I began my words today by thanking Madelyn and the Cohen family; for waking me up and beginning the New Year with a regular, morning minyan. In the Jewish law code, the Shulchan Aruch, published in 1563 by Rabbi Yosef Caro,
יתגבר כארי לעמוד בבוקר לעבודת בוראו שיהא הוא מעורר השחר
One should strengthen himself like a lion to get up in the morning to serve his Creator, so that it is he who awakens the dawn.
I don’t know about you, but I need a cup of coffee before I can roar like a lion. But it is a beautiful teaching - before one prays, before one does anything, you have to have the intention of being like a lion, ready to serve God, even if you feel like putting the cover over your head, even if you are tired. You have to keep swimming, or singing, every day.
As I think about the power of consistency. There are some rocks in society, and I just wanted to point one out - Jeopardy. The television show has been hosted by Alex Trebek daily since 1984 and it continues to this day. It might be the most Jewish show on television - every answer is a question! Through the years, there might be a different daily double, but it has pretty much stayed the same. It is reassuring for many to see Alex Trebek every night; the most controversial thing he did over the years - shaving his mustache. He was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer on March 6, 2019, but he kept hosting during his treatment. He said he hoped to beat the odds as a part of the 3% of patients who survive past five years with a diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer. And it looked like he might have done it as he told viewers he was in remission.
He recently said: "The thought of the pancreatic cancer does not frighten me. I'm 79 years old. So, hey, I've lived a good life, a full life, and I'm nearing the end of that life. I know that." But even so, he does want to continue to work for as long as he's able. In September he shared, "As long as I can walk out and greet the audience and the contestants and run the game I'm happy.”
And this is the secret to Judaism, and to this time of the year. On Yom Kippur, we go through a death ritual - we confront our worst fear, dying, together for 25 hours. And right after Yom Kippur, there’s a special mitzvah that we learn about in the Shulchan Aruch from another rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Isserles who wrote for Ashkenazim:
He writes, “And those who are scrupulous in rituals begin to immediately assemble their sukkoth the moment Yom Kippur ends, in order to go from one mitzvah to the next.” (Orach Hayyim 624:5)
And if we combine the two ideas, waking up like a lion every morning, and going from one mitzvah to the other, we come up with the secret to being Jewish - worshiping God in joy, Simcha, not just when we want to be, but every day. And even during difficult times, we have to by filled with joy. That is what this time is all about - Sukkot, the only holiday that is called the time of our joy, Zman Simchatenu.
And so I would like to end by sharing some good news. An Israeli reporter, Antonia Yamin, posted a video on a bus in Halle, Germany. Young congregants, who had just returned from the hospital where they were being checked for signs of shock, were on the bus. And what were they doing? They were singing and dancing, men and women arm and arm.
May we all have the courage to face the new year, a year where we do not know what will confront us, with being consistently Jewish, and may we never grow tired of being filled with joy.
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