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September 24, 1986

Inyanei Rosh Hashana (1986)

Rosh Hashanah

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A Time for Affirmation (1970)

A Rosh Hashanah sermon, like the shofar itself, should normally fulfill a prophetic function – it should shake up the listener, disturb his prejudices, and make him uncomfortable in his routines of habit and thought. It should consist of musar and divrei kibbushin – jarring words, words which challenge, judge, and criticize. The only problem facing a rabbi is how to formulate that message, how to articulate it, and how to illustrate it in the context of the times.
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In Psalm 27, which we read during this penitential season, we recite the following verse: הוריני ה’ דרכך ונחני באורח מישור למען שוררי. “Teach me, O Lord, Thy way and lead me in the path of righteousness because of my enemies’ sake.” Because of my enemies? Does that make sense? I prefer the translation of Dr. Phillip Birnbaum in our prayer books: “despite my enemies.” David finds himself surrounded by enemies on all sides. They are out not only to destroy him physically, but worse, to cut him down to size, to reduce him to just another primitive pagan chieftain, to make him just another one of their own, to rob him of his faith, his spiritual uniqueness, his special charm, to dispossess him of his neshamah, of his capacity to compose תהילים or Psalms. And so David prays: “Teach me Your way and guide me in the right path למען שוררי – despite my enemies.”Perhaps it is best to characterize this attitude with an Aramaic word that has gone over into Yiddish: דווקא, davka. In the Talmud, that word means: necessarily, exactly. But it also takes on, especially in the Yiddish, a larger and more poignant meaning that is really untranslatable: despite, the acceptance of a challenge, the exercise of stubbornness and persistence against all odds.Davka is for me a symbol of one of the most precious, unique, and irreplaceable Jewish traits, and the Jew's characteristic mode in confronting the world: the ability to prevail against almost certain defeat, to resolve to survive despite political persecution and cultural pressure for assimilation, to determine to triumph even if it means flying in the face of facts and defying reason. למען שוררי – davka when my enemies want me to surrender my faith, my uniqueness, my commitment – davka then, teach me to be a better Jew!What is it that gives the Jew the power of davka? Wherefrom this success in attempting the impossible? What alchemy is needed to concoct this historic Jewish mixture of courage and defiance and persistence that we have c…
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Rosh Hashana and the Theme of Life - Draft (1962)

Our Sidra of this morning teaches us one of the most fundamental concepts of our faith. It is something we speak of often, and that is perhaps why we frequently fail to appreciate its depth and the magnitude of its influence. The concept of man’s creation in tzellem Elokim, the image of G-d, is one of the most sublime ideas that man possesses, and is decisive in the Jewish concept of man. What does it mean when we say that man was created in tzellem Elokim? Varying interpretations have been offered of this term, each reflecting the general ideological orientation of the interpreter. The philosophers of Judaism, the fathers of our rationalist tradition, maintain that the image of G-d is expressed, in man, by his intellect. Thus, Saadia Gaon and Maimonides maintain that sekhel — reason — which separates man from animal is the element of uniqueness that is in essence a divine quality. The intellectual function is thus what characterizes man as the tzellem Elokim. However, the ethical tradition of Judaism does not agree with that interpretation. Thus, Rabbi Moses Hayyim Luzzato in his "Mesillat Yesharim" does not accept reason as the essence of the divine image. A man can, by the exercise of his intellect know what is good — but fail to act upon it. Also, the restriction of tzellem Elokim to reason means that only geniuses can truly qualify as being created in the image of G-d. Hence, Luzzato offers an alternative and perhaps more profound definition. The tzellem Elokim in which man was created is that of ratzon — the freedom of his will. The fact that man has a choice between good and evil, between right and wrong, between obedience and disobedience of G-d — is what expresses the image of G-d in which he was born. An animal has no freedom to act. A man does. That ethical freedom makes man unique in the creation.But how does the freedom of the human will express itself? A man does not assert his freedom by merely saying "yes" to all that is presented to him. Each of us…
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