Death stares everyone in the face, young or old. We witness it daily. At times, our daily newspapers are saturated with fatal stories - shootings, stabbings, violence, ethnic violence, drug violence, violence emanating from fractured egos, uncontrolled violence. It's as if death were the overwhelming reality of our times. One therefore wonders if Adonay, the all-seeing, the all-knowing One, stills feels the same way. He doesn't seek the death of humans but their return to Him. To return to Adonay these days calls for a renunciation of accepted norms.
Violence is justified on all sides. The right to bear arms, to defend oneself, to shoot and ask questions later has become a national norm. To lie, to cover up, to obfuscate is an accepted norm. To accuse one of heresy is an accepted norm.
Adonay is the unifying presence of all existence. Legend has it when Abraham, our forefather, invited strangers into his open tent, he engaged them in conversation. Abraham saw himself as Adonay's spokesman. In fact, Abraham told everyone far and near, "Adonay is one, the world is one, humanity is one." Everything has within itself something of Adonay. That something makes it into a living, thriving being. That oneness also attests to the interrelationship of all creation -- human, animal, plant. It isn't Adonay's way to encourage separateness, differences. According to the ancient tradition, the greatest misdeed is the maligning of another. Miriam, Moses' sister, was punished with the outbreak of a deforming disease for maligning her brother's wife.
One of the great commentators said, "Mtzora," translated as lepers or as skin disease and deformation is caused by motzi rah -- the utterance of gossip, falsehoods, the ruining of reputations. Therefore,we ask, the climate of our times being what it is, with religious fundamentalists insisting anyone unlike themselves is destined for Hell, with Roman Catholic priests on Native American reservations teaching that Native Americans (Indians, if you please) are destined for Hell because they believe in Mother Earth rather than in Mother Church, one wonders if in such a climate Adonay is present or perhaps has withdrawn Himself for such is not the world He created but has become the world that brought on the destruction the Torah alludes to in the Noah story.
Adonay unifies. Adonay loves. Adonay is in every nook and cranny of existence. Adonay is and Adonay shuns divisiveness. It's not of Adonay's making. Adonay embraces. "L'Adonay haaretz u'mloah tayvel v'yoshevay bah. All of creation is Adonay. Wherever one turns, one finds Adonay's mark. Or, as the Chassidim say, "Mizrah doo maariv doo tzafon doo darom doo. Doo doo doo." Turn to the East and you are there. To the West one finds you. To the North and the South, you are there. You you you. Adonay doesn't want us to continue in our fractured way, pointing fingers at each other, denouncing one another, embarrassing one another, making political capital out of human failings.
One of the great moralists of the 19th century, the Hafetz Chayim, once said, "If you truly love your brother, never publicly chastise him. Take him aside and engage him in a tale that will help him see his shortcomings." Didn't the prophet Nathan engage King David when he told him of the master with two sheep? David confessed, admitted his adulterous moment, and reformed his very life. In doing so, the prophet did Adonay's work, reconnected the king with his people, and made Judea whole again.
Reconnectedness is the theme of lo tahpotz. Adonay doesn't want us to vanish from this earth, either in body or in spirit. But Adonay, through his messengers and spokesmen, has taught us obliteration, cessation of life occurs when we become negaters of common existence rather than upholders and promulgators of common existence. Within us lies the spark that is He. Within us lies the creative urge that is the mark of Adonay's existence. Within us lies the possibility, the potential of being the embracers of humankind rather than the denouncers. Our world is on the brink of self-healing or of self-destruction. The healers are constantly seeking nature's innate gift, for they have accepted the ancient premise the Creator implanted within his creation -- all that was needed for its survival. In Mishlay, the author says go to the ants and see how industrious they are. Watch them as they discover all that is needed for their survival, as if to say if you will only seek, you will find what you need. But to do so, you must go inside yourselves, for there lies the road map that will direct you to where you must go to find what lies there for you. As if to say, the Creator in setting up the genetic system by which we all survive or fall has also given you clues that will lead you to the healing material you may need at any time in your life. Adonay the Creator cares for you. He doesn't desire your demise or extinction, but rather, your returning, rediscovering the path that is yours that will lead you to Him.
In our Amidah liturgy, we read, "M'chalkel chayim b'hesea." He assures us out of a sense of loving-kindness chayim, life. In Devarim, Deuteronomy, we read Adonay is life, chayim. Life, in gematria, the sacred system of numbers, is nine, completeness -- the complete cycle. Life is all-embracing. Life isn't fractured. Life isn't the gift given to some and refused to others.
A story is told of a traveler who lost his way. He went from city to city, from village to village, seeking the road that would bring him to his destination. One day, he heard a water carrier sing, "Who is the one who seeks life? Who is the one who seeks his road in life? Let him open his eyes and see his heart and know life lies before you. It beckons you. It says to you, I am yours and you are mine.
That is the Rosh Hashana message. Adonay doesn't want us to be severely punished and destroyed. He only wants us to return to the road that leads to life. Adonay Himself said to us, "Choose life." Don't follow the path of those who say an ennobling death is the pinnacle of all we know and all we have experienced, but life. Choose it, nurture it, be happy with it and you will be aware of Adonay's presence and you will rejoice with it.
Shana Tova!