As some of you know, I am a lifelong Unitarian Universalist with a strong Jewish culture – and family – behind me.  My father was raised an Orthodox Jew, and his very open-minded and loving parents decided, when he fell in love with a woman who was not of his faith, to maintain relations with my father and his bride, and to go forward supporting their marriage.  So it was that I got here, and so it is that the Jewish High Holy Days – which began at sundown on 2 and conclude, with Yom Kippur, on October 12 – hold great meaning for me.  I have two cousins who are Rabbis, I grew up making regular visits to synagogues, and of the many holidays that Jews and other people of the world celebrate, there are few that – for me – are more meaningful than Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which follows ten days later.

During this time, the new year is observed, and there are prayers and observances for all to celebrate the beginning of a new year, along with the wish that the new year will be “sweet” (hence, the eating of apples and other goodies with honey).  During the days that follow, there is the charge to review your life for the past year, to reach out to those who you may have wronged or not related to in the best ways.  And, before the Book of Life closes on Yom Kippur, there is the opportunity for a do-over.  

How many of us have wished for a do-over in our lives?  A chance to take back what you said, what you did, and make it right?  I know I have…so many times.  In a sense, during the High Holy Days, that is our opportunity, our obligation…the possibility of revisiting what was done, and making it right with those to whom you relate.  

It’s hard to say “I screwed up.”  And sometimes harder to say, “I’m sorry.”  But the possibility of making it right is powerful, and the release it provides can be liberating. This litany, written by the Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs, provides the opportunity for renewal and the grace of relief from what has been done over the last year:

For remaining silent when a single voice would have made a difference
We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.
 For each time that our fears have made us rigid and inaccessible
We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.
 For each time that we have struck out in anger without just cause
We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.
 For each time that our greed has blinded us to the needs of others
We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.
 For the selfishness which sets us apart and alone
We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.
 For falling short of the admonitions of the spirit
We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.
 For losing sight of our unity
We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.
 For these and for so many acts both evident and subtle
Which have fueled the illusion of separateness
We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

 Be gentle with yourselves in this new year, friends, and know that this is the time when we can all find renewal, restoration, and peace in our hearts, as we begin again – in love.

L’Shanah Tovah (Have a good new year),

Deb

Deb Weiner

Interim Director of Religious Education