As The Day of Rest Departs - Post Selichot 5769
Y.U. starts selichot at chatzot, so I'm getting back just now. I haven't looked into it that deeply, not sure what people rely on to start earlier. The baal tefilah was President Richard Joel and I'm still humming the ending old school tune of Shomer Yisrael.
Last year I didn't have a selichot book for the first night and a kind soul shared with me, reminding me of Even Higher and wrote about it upon my return, right about now - then. On this Motzai Shabbos of selichot last year I reminisced about selichot (and selichot posts) of years past, as well as about the Shabbos that had just come and gone. Three years ago at this time of the start of school and of the approaching Shanah Tovah, I posted about selichot and more (including a version of the Rosh HaShanah questions included at the end of this piece).
Shabbos was rich. Many people, much good talk, much true connection, friendship... At last night's meal an unaffiliated Jew was bombarding everyone with questions including why G-d would care about our prayers and The Holocaust. I sat quietly as others jumped in to answer. I was reminded of a story that I heard about Rav Chaim Soloveitchik. A man approached him with many aggressive questions about Judaism and wanted answers. Rav Chaim told him that he couldn't give him answers. Rav Chaim, who was a very sharp thinker, explained to the man that when someone comes with questions you can provide them with answers. However, when someone comes with answers - veiled as questions - there's little you can answer.
Someone at last night's meal spoke about reading the large Hebrew biography about Nechamah Leibowitz. That book contains some things that the English books on Nechamah do not. Apparently, according to this work, when Nechama married her father's brother it did not sit well with her father at all and he gave the silent treatment to his brother, and to some extent his daughter, for some time.
At lunch a good friend who hosted the meal read a chapter from this book, sparking interesting conversation. I often leave out proper names. One of the guests at lunch seemed to like the idea of being mentioned on my blog. She's finishing up her degree at Ferkauf and working on a novel. Her name, if my memory serves me right, is Yael Taler.
In Avot 5:9 we're told that one of the behaviors that distinguishes a person of wisdom from an undeveloped person is that when engaged in discussion a wise person speaks about first things first and last things last (omeir al rishon rishon ve'al acharon acharon). The early commentator Rabeinu Yonah asks what is so impressive about keeping track of the order of things in a discussion. He explains that if I say five points, it doesn't take great wisdom for you to answer them accordingly from one to five. True wisdom though is to respond to a list of ideas in the most appropriate order, which often means reorganizing the way things were originally set up. According to Rabeinu Yonah placing "rishon rishon" refers to appropriately prioritizing how you address what someone brings before you, even if they presented it in a different hierarchy.
In selichot we say repeatedly that G-d is ma'avir rishon rishon - that He looks over and removes our sins one by one. It came to me tonight that maybe this means that G-d reorders our issues for us, wisely helping us see what truly comes first.
"As the day of rest departs
We come before You first of all
Bend Your ear from high
You who sits in praise
To listen to our song
And to our prayer."
h
-------------------------------------------
h
Ten Rosh HaShanah Questions
1. What's your fondest Rosh HaShana memory?
2. What's your favorite part of the Rosh HaShana meal?
3. What's your earliest Rosh HaShana memory?
4. Is Rosh HaShana joyous or somber/serious? Explain.
5. Is it wrong to sleep on Rosh HaShana?
6. Talk about Tashlich. What sources and symbolisms can you share?
7. What do you think about while the shofar is sounded?
8. What tunes have stayed with you since childhood?
9. Can you name any songs that come from Rosh HaShana's Haftora's?
10. Why doesn't a Kittel have pockets?
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 2:13 AM
5 Comments:
"...when someone comes with questions you can provide them with answers. However, when someone comes with answers - veiled as questions - there's little you can answer."
This is wonderfully wise.
1. a) Eating nosh as a kid while my parents davened; specifically, the Stella D'oro cookie assortment; specifically, the glazed ones and the ones with the cherry. b) The huge amen yehei shmei rabbas of my yeshiva days.
2. challah & honey, but now that I'm eating low-carb, we'll have to see.
3. See 1a. Also, walking to shul with my mother when I was really small, although that's actually a yom kippur memory, b/c she was wearing white sneakers.
4. Accepting G-d as our King contains elements of both.
5. Only before midday, when we are being judged.
6. Not really a big deal for me. I try to say the minimum. I usually don't get to it until Erev Yom Kippur.
7. Depends how serious my mood is. In the past I would sometimes try to have the proper kavanos as elaborated in Yesod V'Shoresh haAvodah, which, like everything else in that sefer, is a heckuva job, and, if done really seriously, would require an emotional roller coaster ride. More recently I just listen while having in mind to be yotzei the mitzvah.
8. Lots and lots. Start w/R' Michel Twerski's Tekah, go on to Pirchei etc.
9. Not w/o looking them up inside.
10. I would guess b/c it's supposed to resemble a shroud, but don't really know for sure.
Thanks Kishke. Interesting, informative answers. Much appreciated.
You'll notice there are a whole bunch of songs in the haftarot. I think the kittel thing is about what matters not being able to be in your physical pocket, similar to tachrichim, and to a wedding day when what you take in with you is internal.
Thanks Anne, I think it's wise too. I like the expression wonderfully wise.
4 songs in day 2. None in day 1.
Right. Classics.
Post a Comment
<< Home