Ask the World, Why? Ask Ourselves, Why Not? (Rosh Hashanah and Ha'azinu 5778)

Apple Laffy Taffy & Bit-O-Honey
given to each JCHS student for Rosh Hashanah

This evening starts the new Jewish year of 5778. The timing of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) is in sync with the start of each school year. These new beginnings bring the opportunity to visualize our path and our learning in the year ahead.

Echoing the custom of dipping apples in honey at Rosh Hashanah (see below), I hand out lots of Apple Laffy Taffy and Bit-O-Honey at this time of year. Usually, Laffy Taffy riddles are juvenile. But this year, I discovered three that were (nearly) existential! 

#1 - Why was the boy covered in gift wrap? His mom told him to live in the present. #2 - What kind of tea is sometimes hard to swallow? Reality. #3 - What would you do without your memories? Forget.  

Embedded in these three riddles is the secret of this season that begins with Rosh Hashanah -- a season of reflection, introspection, and renewal. We have to be deeply present in order to reflect on our memories of real, authentic moments from the year past to inform a commitment to doing better in the new year. 

Along with the Apple Laffy Taffy and Bit-O-Honey, I shared an insight this week with our students from Rabbi Israel Salanter (19th century, Lithuania). He taught we have two eyes for a reason.
With one eye we look outward to see our neighbors’ goodness and most admirable qualities so we might be inspired. With the other eye, we look inward to discern our highest potential and how far we need to go to achieve it.  

Salanter’s teaching calls to mind the two crucial questions that inspire the JCHS school community: To ask the world, WHY? And to ask ourselves, WHY NOT? In the new year of 5778, may we each be inspired to go out into the world with lots of questions and an open, curious heart and be inspired to challenge ourselves to actively pursue the type of life and world we seek.

Living in tension between what we expect of the world and what we expect of ourselves can be challenging. Ask too much of the world and we live with eternal, crushing disappointment. Ask too little and we accept too much injustice or inhumanity.  Ask too much of ourselves and we carry the paralyzing burden of perfectionism. Ask too little of ourselves and we fall far short of our fulfilling our desires and bringing hope and healing to the others. Rosh Hashanah and this season of several long days unplugged from our ordinary routines provide a quiet opportunity to carefully consider this tension as it impacts each of our lives in the year ahead. We can use these days to more purposefully set our path for the year. 

The Torah portion we read this week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur reminds us that individuals have unique needs and capacities that lead each of us to set a path that is distinct and unique from others. In it, Moses implores that his teachings be received like rain and like dew. (Deut. 32:2) Classical commentators recognize that rain and dew are not the same. Although rain and dew each nourish, they are different. Rain and dew: each is necessary but neither is sufficient. 

For instance, in some settings, too much rain can be dangerous or even deadly. In others, too little rain can leave things parched. Too much dew can overtake the capacity for it to be absorbed. Too little might evaporate too quickly. Rain can reach places that dew cannot; and the other way around. Dealing with rain can be strenuous building resilience. Absorbing dew can be gently encouraging building motivation. 

Sforno (16th century, Italy) reads into this verse (Torah as rain and dew) differentiated learning. For some students, learning will be more powerful if it is received as rain. For others, learning will be received more openly if it is received as dew. The unique ways in which each student learns will inform what each receives from a particular lesson. 

In other words, each of us is on a unique path of learning -- even sitting side by side in the same classroom. Instead of judging our different capacities, we should celebrate our uniqueness. The vitality of a whole community often depends on each of us bringing our unique selves to it. 

It is customary at this season to eat apples dipped in honey. Since apples grow abundantly they symbolize the abundance of opportunities for learning. Honey, of course, symbolizes sweetness. Bringing the two together -- whether dipping apples in honey or enjoying the Bit-O-Honey and Apple Laffy Taffy (apples and honey, get it?) -- is our way of saying may your learning in the new year be abundant and sweet. 

Whatever path we choose and whichever options are available on that path as a function of our unique skills or perspectives, may all of our learning in the year ahead be sweet.