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"Let the old year and its curses end; let the new year and its blessings begin!"September 2002From the Desk of Rabbi CohonThere is a piyut, a liturgical poem for Rosh Hashanah that declares "Let the old year and its curses end; let the new year and its blessings begin!" If ever there has been a time when we needed that prayer to come true, this has been it. What an extraordinarily challenging year! Since September 11th, 2001 we have been on a brutal roller coaster that often seemed to be careening downward. A "war" on terrorism, declared immediately after those terrible events, has been at best a partial success, with the ringleaders of that day of awful deeds still at large. Our economy has been shaken by revelations of corporate crimes of astounding scope, from Enron to Arthur Anderson to WorldCom, and our recent glowing economic prosperity seems like a distant memory. And events in Israel have gone from bad to worse to worse still, with a coordinated homicide/suicide bombing campaign that obliterates the edges of human decency, creating waves of steady tragedy that have reached mind-numbing proportion. Vi ahin zol ich geien? the Yiddish song asks: which way shall I go for solace, comfort, reassurance? In this past year many of you have come to seek meaning, answers, healing, and hope here at Temple. You have come to pray, to talk, to learn, to discuss, to sing, to laugh, and to be silent. You have joined us for special memorial services and interfaith services, for forums and speakers and heart-to-heart connection with a community that cares and suffers and learns together. I am grateful for your involvement, for you have made it possible for us to become a responsive, caring community. We Jews have seen epic tragedy before, and we have survived it. We have triumphed over it, insisting on the eternal value of our faith, our people, our God, and our ethical system. Here at Temple Emanu-El we will continue to seek to provide places and times for everyone to connect to Judaism and to each other. With the strength of our God and our Temple community we will find a new path, and bring light into a time of some very real darkness. And as we enter the new year--a better year--we all share a task of great, perhaps paramount importance. More than 60 years ago President Franklin D. Roosevelt delineated four freedoms that were essential to humanity. They are also central to our own Jewish ideals: freedom of speech and freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. They are still what we must seek, b'chol levav'cha uv'chol nafsh'cha, with all our hearts and all our souls. There are forces at work in the world, passionate people of violent conviction both abroad and here at home, who seek to deny these essential freedoms wherever and whenever they can. We must match their fanaticism with determined compassion. As Jews, we must work to bring freedom of thought, conscience, and bodily security to those everywhere who are under siege. In a small, important way, you can personally help begin to do that by joining in a Social Action Committe initiative this year. And you can also help simply by being an active part of our organic, caring, growing congregation. May the coming year of 5763 bring freedom from fear and freedom from want, freedom of speech and true freedom of religious expression to many more of the people of the world. May the shofar of freedom sound for them, and so for us. Let the New Year and its blessings begin! Rhody, Boaz, Gabriel, and Cipora join me in wishing you a L'shana Tovah Tikateivu -- may you be written in the Book of LIfe for a good, sweet, healthy year of blessing. Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon |
