September 2003 - אֱלוּל תשס״ג .. תִּשְּׁרֵי תשס״ד Elul 5763..Tishrei 5764

The Unataneh Tokef prayer begins: “On Rosh HaShanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed ‘who will live and who will die.’” This prayer continues with a list of possible fates for the coming year, with a long list of possible ways of dieing (unpleasantly), and adding economic success or failure and emotional tranquility or distress. We are told that this prayer brought our grandparents and great-grandparents to tears as they confronted their mortality, and the uncertain future. No one was secure enough in one's moral stature as to imagine that they merited a year of health and prosperity. In the not so distant past when life was much more difficult and even more unpredictable, our ancestors panicked at the thought that God was judging them (or us) and deciding whether they (or we) deserved another year of life.

Today, we do not fear God's direct intervention, (though I am not exactly sure why). But the Unataneh Tokef should cause us to pause and reflect on the past year and the year to come.

Last Friday evening at our monthly healing Shabbat worship, I lead the congregation on a guided meditation that addresses the essence of the Unataneh Tokef prayer. I suggested that we all pause as we prepare for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, and picture with our minds' eyes what we would like to happen in the coming year. Does this picture include our good health and the good health of those we love? Does this image of a good year include successes in business, in relationships, in school, in love? Does the vision of a good tomorrow include our happiness and ways in which one can bring happiness to others?

Now picture in your minds' eyes what God asks us to do in order to merit the blessings that we seek. The prophet Micah would say: “It has been told you, what the Eternal does require of you — to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8). In the Torah, Moses teaches “And now, O Israel, what does the Eternal your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Eternal your God, to walk only in God's paths, to love God, and to serve the Eternal your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 10:12).

There is a lot of room for interpretation in order to know how to do justly, or love mercy, or revere the Eternal, or even how to love God. Each individual can measure his or her own successes in these endeavors. So I suggest we imagine one more thing. Imagine that the good year we seek is on the other side of a glass wall. Imagine that there is a glass door in the glass wall and there is a small desk next to the door. Imagine that God's Presence (the Shekhina) somehow is present at that desk, and that the only thing that we have to do in order to open that door to a good and blessed future is to describe to the Omnipresent and Omniscient God why we deserve to go through the door.

That is what the Unataneh Tokef prayer is about. It is a reminder to take a moral inventory before standing before God on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, and trying to convince ourselves so that we can then convince God that we deserve the blessings we seek. What if we come up short? By definition we are human and not perfect. So what do we do if we know that we have sinned in the past year, that we have transgressed, that we have not measured up to God's Law?

The Unataneh Tokef prayer ends with a declaration of hopefulness. If God measures our deeds and we deserve something less than blessing and prosperity, then “prayer, repentance and charity annul the severe decree.” I sincerely believe that praying for good health, happiness and success, is appropriate and even desirable. I also believe that the doors of repentance are always open and that God will accept our sincere atonement. And finally, I believe that tzedakah (charity) equals all of the ritual mitzvot combined.

So when God asks us how we did last year? We can answer: not so great, but we honestly did try to do justly and mercifully, to live humbly, and love and revere God. But even when we did not succeed, we repented and made restitution, we prayed for guidance and direction and we gave tzedakah as often as we could. Then the glass door will be open and we will walk through hoping for and expecting a happy and healthy new year.

L'shanah tovah tikateivu! May you be inscribed for a good new year!

—Rabbi Harry A. Manhoff, Ph.D.

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