Our Days of Awe After the Hurricane

“Teshuvah, Tefillah u’Tzedakah – Repentance, prayer and tzedakah temper judgment’s severe decree” (U’netaneh Tokef prayer, in Gates of Repentance, Rosh Hashanah service). We have witnessed that severity over the past few weeks in Louisiana and Mississippi. Life can confront us with difficult realities. I am stunned by the speed with which civilization was washed away in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast, at how quickly an entire city was inundated and its population sent into exile. I am awed by the terrible loss of life and destruction of property, of an entire city. This year, I see it all and am awed just as the High Holy Days approach. They are called in Hebrew “Yamim Nora’im,” Days of Awe. This past month, too, has been our own Days of Awe, in which we witness the terror of Hurricane Katrina, and stand in awe of our world – such an uncertain place! – and uneasy at how so many human lives can be so unspeakably altered by the patterns of the weather. How do we approach the High Holy Days with all this in mind?

As a Jew living in the modern age, I don’t believe that the great destruction and loss of life is a punishment, a result of sinfulness, or God’s decree against us. If that was an ancient belief, it is one which I reject today. But I see a great teaching in the High Holy Day liturgy. As a modern Jew, I re-read and re-interpret the U’netaneh Tokef prayer when we come to it in our High Holy Day mahzor, as we will again this year (page 109). It tells us that not everything is in our control. We cannot control who shall live and who shall die, who by earthquake and who by flood. Nature’s force, the force of a hurricane, is beyond the scope of our limited human power. Much as we like to think that we have advanced, with our technology, science and medicine, we cannot conquer nature. Rather than read the U’netaneh Tokef prayer as a fatalistic description of how God seals our destiny, I read it as a meditation on human vulnerability. Looking at Hurricane Katrina, I can see how we are as vulnerable and frail as a blade of grass, as an urn that can shatter.

At the same time, the message of the High Holy Days is that we are given free will over our actions.  There are some things in our lives – even if just a few – that we can control. The Jewish response is outlined for us with three words in the mahzor: Teshuvah, Tefillah u’Tzedakah: First: Repentance, that we engage in introspection, reflection, seeing and admitting our errors, including those we have permitted our government to make by neglecting its, and our, duties. Second:  Prayer (Tefillah), a reaching outward towards the Source of All Creation with humble acknowledgement that we are just one tiny piece of that universe. One prayer is that we hope to find our own role in the world; another prayer is that we might purify our motivations and direct our actions for good. And third: Tzedakah, action, our response in giving of ourselves to help distribute justice [tzedek] to those in need. One midrash teaches that Tzedakah is stronger than fire, water, clouds and wind (Talmud, Bava Batra 10a). Spiritually, this is certainly true.

The mahzor teaches us, then, that bad stuff happens, but we are able to “temper the severe decree” through the things that are in our control: acts of repentance and reflection, prayer and reaching up toward God, and Tzedakah which we are able to distribute. Through these we make life sweeter, even if we cannot conquer life’s harsh realities. How lucky it is when we have good fortune, but how much more is the blessing when our responses to our circumstances have brought sweetness and goodness into the world. If you have not already done so, I urge you to contribute to the Reform movement’s hurricane relief fund, at www.URJ.org .

Most of all, my prayer is that you and your loved ones may have a sweet and good year, one that is healthy and happy, and filled with deeds of love and kindness. L’shanah tovah!

Rabbi Andy Vogel