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HIGH HOLIDAY MESSAGE TO MY CONGREGATION
From Rabbi Emeritus Mayer Perelmuter
“I’VE SEEN THE FUTURE BROTHER, AND IT’S MURDER…” (Leonard Cohen)
What a strange way for a Rabbi Emeritus to begin his annual High Holiday Message!
A word of comfort: “I’ve seen the future brothers and sisters, and there can be hope.” Allow me to elaborate.
Recently, I digitized my parents’ vintage 8-millimeter home movies from the 40’s and 50’s. They reminded me of a wonderful, simple past. The movies showed me as a toddler, then being taught by a Quebec Canadian farmer to lead two horses pulling a half –filled hay wagon in the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal. Another film showed me as a Bar Mitzvah boy, being blessed by my father in front of the ark in our Johnstown, PA synagogue.
This nostalgic exercise evoked a past where the only antisemitism experienced was when I pummeled a fellow 6th grader for calling me a “Yellow Jew.” I recall those idyllic days when I could fill my old Chevy tank with 40 cents a gallon or could spend summer breaks from high school, laying on the beach of Chicago’s Lake Michigan or the freedom of hitchhiking across Israel after volunteering during the aftermath of the 6-day war. Israel then was filled with a sense of invulnerability and an exuberant spirit! Following the turmoil of the 60’s, came the civility of the next few decades when I treasure the years of partnering with Debby to raise our family in Queens and my 36 years of serving a congregation that still remains my spiritual home.
Today, that past seems so simple. Why is my home country approaching a divisiveness last experienced prior to the Civil War? Will I be witnessing the sunset of American democracy and a darkened sunrise of a land ruled by a handful of totalitarian oligarchs? And what about the idealistic Zionist dream? My heart aches for all the young Israeli soldiers, some just finishing army training, others starting University or just having married, called up for ongoing reserve duty. I hear from our family about how scary it feels during a missile attack, listening to the booms from their “safe rooms", and how much relief is felt when the all-clear siren is sounded. We cry for the 101 remaining hostages in Gaza, and their families. I pray that this will end and that Israel will live on.
And the scourge of anti-Semitism is still with us, after 2000 years. Our High Holiday services across the nation are protected by armed guards, security cameras and defensive barriers.
NO, THE FUTURE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE MURDER.
Leonard Cohen’s iconic song ends with the poetic refrain: “Repent, repent, repent, that’s what I meant.” We are now engaged for the next 10 days in the process of communal and personal repentance, or Teshuvah. The word Teshuvah literally means “Return.” Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we focus on returning to our better selves by striving to be the best human beings we can be. The sound of the Shofar reawakens us to our potential to do so.
There is a Talmudic principle saying that it is not sufficient for us to be observers, we are commanded to be doers. We can initiate healing in our community by deepening ties with our families and friends. We can be more loving, show gratitude, ask others for forgiveness, or simply put, be kind.
We can be strengthened with the faith that in seemingly hopeless times, “there is a crack, and that’s where the light gets in.” (Leonard Cohen)
Debby and I extend to you and your families our wishes for a year of doing much kindness.
In these uncertain days, may the curses of the past year end, and may 5785 usher in a year of blessings.
Shana Tova,
Rabbi Mayer and Debby Perelmuter
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