Choosing to Change

Chevre (friends):

Sunday, Day 1, a new week begins once again.

On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the beginning of the newness of a year, the Torah portion is about the akedah, the test of Abraham as a father between his love for God and love of his child, Isaac.  Abraham proceeds up the mountain with his equipment for sacrifice, but with no animal to slaughter, only his son.  He binds Isaac to the altar, and only at the final moment of commitment to God and compliance is he interrupted by an angel and instructed, instead, to sacrifice a ram that has conveniently wandered close by. In all of our lives, we pray that we should never be put in such an impossible situation, sacrificing one love for affirmation of another.  Choice, however, surrounds us.
 
A renowned Hassidic Rebbe once asked his students what moment was most difficult for Abraham in this process? Was it beginning the day with knowledge of what was ahead,  raising the knife, savoring the final moments with his beloved son?   The Rebbe responded that the most difficult moment was coming down the mountain.
 
Abraham had summoned his commitment and resolve to honor God's request, and he had hardened his will to be completely present and focused on the task.  The Rebbe asserts that the difficult part was Abraham having to live with the consequences of his actions, each day,  for the rest of his life.
 
We, too, focus on the drama of events in favor of the routine of living daily life.  It is easy and natural to rejoice in the moment of the birth of a child, but difficult to carry that love forward with constancy to nurture an arrogant teenager.  We celebrate our joyous life cycle moments: weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies; but beyond the high and glamour and excitement of the day, lie millions of moments that test our resolve and commitment.  We celebrate a marriage with love in our eyes and promises of forever, but beyond the ceremony, we are tested in daily struggles of conflicting interests, willpower and disagreement. 
 
Just as we begin the new year with the powerful story of Abraham and his son, the "rest of the story" lives in thousand of unrecorded moments when Abraham embraces this experience, branding it into his DNA, integrating it into his guidance system. He forever acts differently because of it.
 
We have drama and purging and pledging on Yom Kippur, apologies and pleas for forgiveness.  But as sensational and intense as the fasting day experience is, the difficult part is when we are put to the test six months later in our daily actions.  How much effect did that September moment have on your perspective in April?
 
Judaism provides us with dramatic ritual and inspired moments of prayer, but it is our constancy and stamina that build a life.  We are sometimes deflected to focus on the depth of a prayerful experience, when we should instead measure the resulting change that follows.  Judaism speaks of, but does not emphasize, the magic and the spectacular, but instead concentrates on the difficult task of living life with awareness and intention each day.
 
Abraham is known and remembered for his trait of hachnasat orchim, welcoming strangers, and for his kindness throughout life's moments.  He takes the lessons of the akedah, and it changes and strengthens him. Judaism ultimately is not about spectacle but about dailyness and growth. Noteworthy events capture our attention, but lead us toward the important moments that follow, when we choose to grow and change.
 
In this new week in the new year, I wish you vibrant health, prosperity and success, and the deep satisfaction that can only come from personal growth and choosing to change.

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Shalom,

Arnie Davidson
Worship Leader

 

Havdalah with Julie Silver and a day of Jewish Learning.

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