Although most Israelis would have no idea what I am talking about, most Americans consider Rosh Chodesh Elul to be the day after Labor Day, regardless of the Jewish Calendar. Before Labor Day we are too busy with summer to take Elul seriously.
No matter that the Rambam writes that the sound of the shofar calls us to “Wake up sleepy ones, arise. Review your deeds, repent, remember your Creator. To those who forget the truth and engage all year in empty pursuits and matters that are ultimately worthless; think about your souls. Improve your ways and your deeds and abandon your sinful path (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4). Summer is no time for such heavy thoughts.
However, for those paying attention, Hashem has provided us with quite a wake-up call this year, as He often does. For example, 20 years ago, when on the 23rd day of Elul we experienced something we have come to refer to as September 11, a day that forever changed our perspective on our safety and security in the United States. This year, we had several wake-up calls.
First, the year and a half of corona, which has impacted everyone’s life in ways great and small. It has changed our businesses, shuls, schools, families, and social contacts, let alone those who suffered personal tragedies. It has left us, or should have left us, with far less certainty about our ability to control our lives and circumstances, and far more humility about predicting the future. It certainly ought to be a wake-up call to teshuvah.
Second, the tremendous political upheavals of this year, both in the U.S. and in Israel. We became fractured, divided, and subject to more hatred than any of us can remember in recent decades simply because of our political and personal views. We witnessed the fall of the mighty and their replacement by those of questionable competence who focus primarily on destroying the legacy of their predecessors.
And now, just before the Day of Judgment, the debacle in Afghanistan.
I will not go into an analysis here of the depth of the terrible damage wrought by the shameful mishandling of the withdrawal by the current administration. I will focus only on what this means to us as Jews standing before Rosh Hashanah.
Many writers have described the incalculable damage that has been done to America’s credibility as a guarantor of her allies’ peace and security. Taiwan, South Korea, NATO – they have now seen how trustworthy America is when it ensures others that “Uncle Sam has your back.” One can appreciate – on a whole new level – how important it was when former PM Netanyahu and his predecessors insisted that Israel not take foolish risks for peace and rely on America to guarantee peace if things go awry.
Images of American friends falling off the airplanes to their deaths; of the American president (scandalously) blaming the Afghanistan army for not fighting for themselves; of him saying that chaos was inevitable and that he cannot guarantee the safety of thousands of Americans nor local Afghan allies are chilling in the extreme. And it starkly reminds us how precarious our safety is in this world, particularly as Jews. The verse that we say every morning could not be more apt.
Put not your trust in the great, in mortal man who cannot save. (Tehillim 146:3)
Quite a wake-up call, indeed.
We approach Rosh Hashana – the day that we are to accept the sovereignty of our King, the Master of the Universe – with great trepidation. So many of its prayers jump out at us with special urgency: “He who crowns kings but retains the true kingship”; “On this day it will be determined which countries will face the (Taliban) sword, hunger, or prosperity”; “We approach You not with our (deficient) deeds, but with looking to your Mercy,” and so many more. We have been shown so clearly, if only we opened our eyes, how much we cannot rely on ourselves or other humans to solve the world’s problems; how desperately we need His Grace.
As the future looks ever more tenuous in the Diaspora, we must be so grateful for the gift of the State of Israel. Notwithstanding the many physical and spiritual problems there, how fortunate we are that –unlike those stuck in Afghanistan – we have a State to take us in our hour of need, where we can live in our own country. Surely it is time for those in the charedi world to stop focusing on the problematic trees and to see the forest of a wonderful gift that Hashem has allowed us to have. How much must we daven together that the Almighty watch over Eretz Yisrael and protect those who defend it!
Medinat Yisrael is not to be taken for granted – for those outside, who confidently assure themselves that “Next Year in Jerusalem” – it is the first time in recent memory that Jews want to come and cannot because of corona. For us in the Land, we look forward to the Shemittah year to remind us not to take it for granted. A year to internalize that it is the Almighty’s land – and not ours – and we need His blessing to thrive in this refuge He has provided us.
May we have a most meaningful and heartfelt Rosh Hashanah, and truly dedicate ourselves to serving the King of kings, who is looking to give us more than we could even imagine, if we would only turn to Him with all our hearts and minds.