Leonard Cohen – ‘Who by fire’ (Live in London) from Daniel Gafitescu
To all my readers, I wish you a happy New Year. As we say in Hebrew: shana tova u’metuka (“a good and sweet new year”). We say this phrase dipping the new apples of the season into honey and savoring the taste of what we hope for in the new year.
Of course, not all is sunny in the High Holiday liturgy. Those old enough to remember the wonderful Leonard Cohen song, Who by Fire, derived from the somber U’Ntaneh Tokef prayer, will know that those of us joining synagogue communities in this season will be anticipating God’s judgment in the coming year for good or ill. This especially brings to mind the possibility that there may be war.
One important theme of the High Holiday liturgy is brought forth by Cohen’s lyric:
Who shall I say is calling?
In other words: accountability. God demands that we be accountable for our actions and for the times when we’ve missed the mark. He demands that we views ourselves humbly and not grandly. These are all qualities lost on many in Israel’s leadership. The laws of teshuva say that you always have to make allowance for the sinner to repent his misdeeds. It’s hard to imagine this can happen to this crop of political leaders. But let’s remain hopeful shall we?
As I grow older, it seems there is less and less to be joyful and hopeful about in the world. But let’s not lose faith. For there are moments of lucidity and breakthrough. The Arab Spring was one such. One can always hope that such a movement will have a similar impact, if not now then eventually, within Israel itself.
Regardless of what happens in the Middle East, I wish you, your families and friends a year of joy, peace and fulfillment.
In past years, I’ve written several posts especially appropriate for this season. I commend them to you.
Akedah: Abraham’s Sacrifice of Issac
Happy New Year, Richard! I’m a Leonard Cohen fan, too.
“You who build these altars now
To sacrifice these children,
You must not do it anymore.”
…
“When it all comes down to dust
I will help you if I must,
I will kill you if I can.
And mercy on our uniform,
Man of peace or man of war,
The peacock spreads his fan.”
~Leonard Cohen, the Story of Isaac
Thanks Richard! From Israel I send you my best wishes for the New Year. Keeping faith in a good future is the best we can. I hope it will be a good year. Keep your good work, your exposing blog posts coming. Shana tova umetuka!
happy new year richard keep up the good work peter
Leonard Cohen is all that is beautiful in art and music.
something is fishy w/ site. don’t know if it makes a difference but I made the ‘georgewashington’ post above. But I only used the ‘georgewashington’ name when I posted a (deleted) post to the “Israel Rules” hack.
Some comments published just before I moved to my new site were lost in the interval just before I moved. I have most of those comments saved & if you want to repost & I can find it, I can send it to you.
Richard, your site was hacked again. When one approaches it, the certificate is said to be expired and the site on an “unsafe” list with option to proceed at caution.
Send me the exact wording of the message you get. I think this is possibly an issue with your browser. But if you give me the exact wording plus which browser you’re using, I can pass it along to my site host. I was NOT hacked.
Happy New Year to all my Jewish friends.