Revealing the Lights: Rosh Hashanah 5780
This summer on a countryside in Poland, I gained a new understanding of the power and purpose of Rosh Hashanah. In the shadow of a farmhouse, I discovered hope in the midst of despair and light in a world of darkness.
The sun was bright and a soft breeze whispered in the air. The grass was lush and modest homes dotted the countryside as we walked on a long dirt road in a small village called Markova. I had no idea where we were going. We arrived at a nondescript barn, wooden and worn, with no special signs noting its significance. To me and everyone present, it seemed like any other farmhouse in the area.
Yet, within a few minutes of learning the back story, I discovered that it was truly one of the holiest places on earth. As I walked around the property, I was overwhelmed with emotion for I realized within the depth of my soul that I was walking on sacred ground.
What happened there embodies the essence of Rosh Hashanah and one of the most important takeaways for everyone here today. The power of the place can only truly be appreciated through a story that underscores the purpose of life.
On the first day of creation, the world was filled with chaos and darkness and God created the heavens and the earth. Then God said “Let there be light. And there was light”
Jewish mysticism teaches that a ray of light emerged from the darkness. The light was so powerful that the vessels containing the light of the world, the wholeness of the world broke. The light was scattered into a infinite fragments of light. They fell into all people and all events yet to be born and yet to occur where they remain deeply hidden until this very day.
Six days later on the first Rosh Hashanah in history, God created humanity, Adam and Chava, as a response to the brokenness. Humanity was created and we are all here today because God instilled within each and every one of us at birth the capacity and responsibility to find the hidden light in all people and all events. To lift it up and make it it visible once again and thereby restore the innate wholeness of the world.
This is a collective task. It involves all people, Jewish or not, who have ever been born, all people alive today and all people yet to be born. We are all healers of the world.
Early this month on my birthday, I was reminded of this truth.
Someone shared with me in the name of Rebbe Nachman of Brelsov that the day you were born is the day God decided that the world can no longer exist without you. When God gives us life every day, he is whispering in our ears that he needs you and me, the world cannot exist without us and in turn we are called upon every day to be worthy of our holy and sacred mission.
Why is Rosh Hashanah considered a significant day? Because God asks you and me, on this day that He created humanity, are we living in sync with this mission? Do we strive every day to heal the brokenness and reveal God’s hidden light in every corner of the universe.
Now we more fully understand the eternal reverberations of the farmhouse. In the summer of 1942, on a night that could have been like any other night, in the village of Markova in Poland, a young devout Catholic family, Joseph and Victoria Ulma, responded to the brokenness and unleashed the hidden light. Every day and night for almost 18 months.
Joseph and Victoria were the parents of six children under the age of 8. The Nazis were deporting Jewish families to their deaths as part of the Final solution. One night, two Jewish families knocked on the Ulmas door and asked for refuge, the Szall family of six, a mother, father and four sons and two sisters Golda and Layka Didner. They had a choice. In that house in Markova there was a light hidden from the beginning of the universe. It was waiting to be revealed. Two Jewish families, on Catholic, but all the children of God.
In the deepest darkness of the night, the Ulmas responded to the brokenness in the world around them. They risked their lives and protected these two Jewish families. Every day was a choice. Every day, they revealed the hidden light. As I walked around the farmhouse, I sensed that God was truly in this place.
I literally felt that I was walking on sacred ground. Because for 18 months, this family did its very best to bring some light into a world of total darkness. Unfortunately, the story took a tragic turn, as the Nazis found the Ulmas and murdered them, their six children and the two Jewish families. However, we are inspired by their legacy today because their heroism symbolizes the mission of humanity.
The Ulmas didn't care that night whether those at risk were Jewish or not. They understood in the depths of their souls why they were born. They were faced in that fleeting moment in time with an eternal opportunity in front of them to save a family, another human being and they rose courageously to their sacred mission.
On Rosh Hashanah, we each must ask ourselves whether we have risen to the moment to reveal the hidden lights in our world?
Many times this past year, we have all been ready to throw our hands up and wonder where has the world gone? We feel as if we are walking in the twilight zone. The news we watch and read fills our brains with negativity and despair. Yet, on Rosh Hashanah, God says to us, the world may be broken and the light is hidden, but I am counting on you to mend the brokeness and reveal the light. God never loses faith and hope in creating a better world and neither must we.
It is not about healing the world, by making a huge difference but healing the world that touches you, that is around you.
We should not underestimate the power of even a simple blessing to unlock this light. How many of us have a cup of coffee in the morning or a bagel on a Sunday?
Do we realize that the coffee provides not only nourishment for the body with a boost of caffeine but also nourishment for the soul. Laden within every food we eat is a spiritual explosion which will actually affect our generosity of spirit..The very act of acknowledging God in that moment through a blessing and saying "Thank you God for bringing this beverage into my life." transforms our a cup of coffee into an opportunity to cultivate our muscle of gratitude. There is more.
Judaism teaches that when we make a blessing and no one answers Amen, it is like sending a letter without it being opened. If someone answers amen, I've now turned this cup of coffee into not just a spiritual explosion for me, but actually for everybody in the room as well.
Think of the rituals as boot camp for the soul. As the Blues Brothers said, we are on a mission from God and the rituals whether blessings, Tefillin, prayer, lighting candles, observing Shabbat are all tools to bear this truth in mind every day to stay inspired with our collective task.
The challenge for all of us is to keep God front and center not only in moments of convenience but in the moments which require deep conviction.
I would venture that most of you have not heard of Aristedes de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul general in the French city of Bordeaux during World War 2. He was recognized by Yav Vahem as Righteous among the Nations because of a courageous choice he made to live in the light and reveal the hidden sparks.
His heroism serves as a timeless beacon in a world of moral weakness and ethical subjectivity, to the strength of the human spirit to stand for what is right and righteous.
Mendes was in charge of issuing limited visas to refugees fleeing the Nazis. While in France, he befriended Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Kruger. Sousa Mendes offered a visa to the Kruger family.
However, in response, Rabbi Kruger took a moral stand and refused to accept the visa unless all of his "brothers and sisters" (the Jewish refugees stranded on the streets of Bordeaux) received visas too. Kruger's response plunged Sousa Mendes into "a moral crisis of incalculable proportions.”
The pressure was great as his family encouraged him not to grant the visas at risk of losing his career, but after a few days of deep contemplation, he declared to his family, 'From now on I'm giving everyone visas. There will be no more nationalities, races or religions. I would rather stand with God and against man than with man and against God”
It is no coincidence that on the day of the year when we are evaluated whether we are revealing the light, the most prominent word in the liturgy is Melech, King. God forbid, should we ever have to risk our lives or livelihoods to stand with God, but Judaism does require us to stand with God and be proud of our faith. The power of standing with God at a moment in time, can also unlock hidden lights.
I learned this lesson first hand this summer at 5:30 AM in Rochester New York in an Uber on the way to the airport. We have these moments, when we get into a car, we will likely never see the person again in our lives and we can choose to either engage or disengage. The story of the hidden lights beckons all of us to connect with another soul for there is light in those 20 minutes to be revealed.
As I entered the car, I said Good morning and the fellow asked me whether I had enjoyed the fine restaurant at the hotel. I had another choice, do I just say No or do I explain that I keep kosher and cannot eat there. The Rabbis teach that in these moments, we should stand with God and say, I would love to have eaten the food but I keep kosher. I will never forget the struggle as I rested in the back of the cab about whether to stand with God or just rest. I am eternally grateful that I stood with God in the moment in time.
As soon as I let him know, he told me he was not Jewish but his son was Jewish and that he would be seeing him for the first time in his life since he was born over 20 years ago. At that point, I could not sleep and he shared with me as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. While in college, he had a Jewish girlfriend and did not know that she had became pregnant. She gave up the baby for adoption and his son was adopted by a Jewish family. He expressed to me how grateful he was to this Jewish family for looking after his son and considers them his parents. Recently, his son reached out to him and they are meeting for the first time in NY.
The ride to the airport flew by and as I exited the cab and the driver came over to me and said, “I want to show you a picture of my son and his adopted family. Doesn't he look like me?” With a smile, he then said, Thank you for allowing me to share this story in my heart. Nobody ever did that before. I had only told my family about seeing my son.”
As we said goodbye, the sun began to rise. It felt like one of the hidden lights from the beginning of time was revealed in this Uber in the 20 minute ride on a June day in 2019 in Rochester NY. I turned to God and thanked God for giving me the strength to stand with Him...had I not let this fellow know that I was Jewish and observed kashrut, the ride would have been like any other, I never would have enabled this man to lift a burden in his heart...within one conversation two souls connected and light was revealed.
King David teaches in the very last Psalm that our souls want to return to God every moment of every day. It is only due to the grace of God that he literally breathes into us the breath of life.
When we breathe in and out God is recreating us. In that gift, he is infusing us with the inspiration to not let a single day go by without carrying out His mission for us.
In the course of history, there will never be another moment like the one we are experiencing right now. Seize it. Go out in the world on fire every day and say, "What am I doing to unlock these lights all over the place?"
As everyone knows, I am a big fan of the Elijah moment. At any time or place, we can make a difference in someone’s life. The notion of the hidden lights has raised the stakes for me. I recently tried not just to speak about the idea but create an Elijah moment in the moment I am speaking about it. The results have been inspiring.
Recently, while speaking in New Jersey to a couple of hundred people, I asked them to spend the next minute thinking about somebody in their lives who need a word of encouragement or someone we might take for granted who we could let them know how much they mean to us.
I then asked everyone to take out their phones right then and call or text that person. It was powerful.
A woman came over to me immediately afterwards, after the talk, and said, "I have a relative who I've lost touch with, and when you asked me to think about somebody, I thought about this person. I texted that person and as soon as I did, she called me on the phone and said, "I'm so grateful you called up. Let's reconnect in this relationship."
Too many times we wait or hesitate and when lost the potential light forever.
It is no wonder that the second most prominent word on Rosh Hashanah is Hayom Today.
We all must live with urgency of the now. The moment we are experiencing is all we have and there is light to reveal.
Let’s take this moment to think of someone who you can reach out to after the holiday to give them a boost, let them know how much they mean to you. Make a commitment now. We will never have this sacred space again. Reveal the light within.
I want to share one final story relayed to me by a friend. He wrote the following:
Last week I was in Philadelphia at the Amtrak train station. I was drinking a cup of coffee in the food court and a disheveled man in his early seventies came over to me and said, “I am not asking you for money but I am hungry and wondered if you could buy me dinner.” I responded yes and asked him if he wanted dinner from the Dunkin Donuts right next to us.
He asked me if I wouldn't mind buying dinner from the Cajun restaurant a couple of stalls away. I was happy to do it and walked with him there to a cafeteria style counter where he ordered his meal. His name was Sam and I turned to him and said, God bless you.” He looked at me in the eye and responded, “God has already blessed me. He sent me YOU.”
Another spark that has been hidden in the world from the very beginning of creation was revealed. Imagine the power we all possess every hour of every day. God blessed the world with you and me.
Let’s light it up this coming year. Sacred ground is everywhere. From the country side of Poland to a Ride in an Uber, in reciting blessings before we eat to taking a stand for God, God is everywhere. As God brings light so must we. The world will be brighter this year because we are tasked by God to reveal His light and transform the hidden sparks into a burning flame of peace, love, sweetness and joy for all humanity.