Rosh Hashanah is, among other things, a celebration of the day the earth was born. This is the day that the world came into existence out of nothing and Rosh Hashanah stands for both this event and its continual renewal. In Rabbi Alan Lew’s book about the High Holy days entitled “This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared,” he calls this void or nothingness “heaven” and refers to life as the narrow bridge between the void at the beginning of creation and the void after death.

I am a regular participant at our Saturday morning Torah study. For the past several months I have been meeting with several other participants before Torah Study to meditate in the Sanctuary. We open the ark and sit quietly for 20 minutes. During this time we try and focus on either a mantra or our breathing to disengage from a relentless flow of thoughts and just be mindfully aware. While I don’t find this exactly enlightening, it is refreshing. I suppose this is an attempt to experience the void that Rabbi Lew describes. It is this nothingness out of which life arises and in some respects, as Rabbi Lew suggests, it is this emptiness that gives our lives meaning.

The philosopher, Ernest Becker, observed that human beings seem to be the only creatures that have the capacity to understand that they are going to die. It is this realization that terrifies most people and sometimes calls them to both their life’s work and to God. The contemplation of the “void” can be the motivation for most of us to seek accomplishments in life that affirms our existence.

“Against death, which we see as the ultimate failure, we offer up success.

“Against death, which we see as the ultimate emptiness, we offer up the acquisition of objects.

“Against death, which we see as the end of all feeling, we offer up the pursuit of pleasure.

“Against death, which we see as the final stillness, we offer up a ceaseless rage of activity.

“Against death, which we see as the ultimate impotence, we offer up the glorification of our own power.”

People have a difficult time taking a close look at who they actually are and what they actually do. The High Holidays are a time of contemplation, repentance, and renewal, but look at the way that most of us live our lives. Many of us are far removed from what gives our lives real meaning. We have become a nation of workaholics in a world of super connectedness. We think that we can overcome any obstacles and solve any problem if we can just do more, think about it longer, and just try a little harder. Maybe the problem is not that we don’t try hard enough, but that we are trying too hard.

When our cars run out of gas we fill them back up with fuel. When our cell phone batteries run down, we recharge them. But when we humans run down, we simply do nothing - we go to sleep and are plunged into nothingness. It is precisely this nothingness that renews us, as does the Sabbath. It is an island in time of human being instead of human doing. "More than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews." So says a Talmudic dictum.

“On Rosh Hashanah, the gates between heaven and earth are opened, and things that were beyond us suddenly become possible. The deepest questions of our heart begin to find answers. Our deepest fear, that gaping emptiness up ahead of us and back behind us as well, suddenly becomes our ally: Heaven begins to help us.”

I wish for us all a sweet new year,
Richard Kirsner