As I've noted before, I am blesseed with the opportunity to share some written thoughts, observations, inspirations -- and notes on tefillah (prayer) each year with the congregation. Here's Yom Kippur 2016/5777
From Cantor Chomsky. . .
For Rosh Hashanah, I wrote to you about having stood out
from others during our 4-month sojourn in Asia, and about seeing myself
standing at my grandparents’ grave, looking to the past and wondering about the
future. And I invited you to share your
crossroads experience – and to allow your heart to open wide to receive from
others and share.
Little more than a week later, we have the opportunity to
confront and acknowledge where we have failed—beginning by “absolving” ourselves
of unfulfilled vows (whether in the year past or the year to come is a
traditional philosophical and liturgical question), and then reciting litany
after litany of alphabetical confessions—sometimes granular like the Ashamnu, and sometimes a little more
poetic—like Al Cheit.
Our Hebrew text names sins for each letter of the
alphabet. What are the shortcomings of your alphabet?
Our machzor often speaks of the huge chasm between us and
the Perfect God and Creator. And yet. .
. once we have acknowledged where we have erred, when we conceive of a
listening, hearing, caring God, we can reach. . . outward, forward, upward,
inward. What a gift is this ability to think, to hope, to care. Yes, we feel pain for where we have
failed—and for our suffering and the suffering of those who we care about. But the ability to hope for more, to work for
more, is something that no other creature (species) has.
As Jews, we take that gift of the human spirit and add to
it a sense of history—and a sense of two-way obligation. We inherit this history, this Torah, this
possibility of perfecting God’s world – tikun
olam—and we demand that God redeem God’s promises when we fulfill
ours.
And what if we don’t
believe? I recall entering this
conversation with a member of the congregation not long ago. So I’m reminded to say something very clearly
– Everyone in this room has doubt. To think that you can’t have this
conversation because you have doubt is to remove yourself from the most
powerful aspect of Jewish living.
I cannot promise you that if you live this year as if
there is a God aware of your every thought and action that you will be cured of
your doubt. But I CAN promise that you
will receive the gift of connection and salvation from the randomness of contemporary
culture. It is so easy to live life
today as if it has no meaning. But if
you reach out, you will be connected.
Plan your day.
Pace yourself. May you have a
full Ya’aleh day (p. 223): This
simple piyyut declares intentions for Evening,
Dawn, and Dusk: From Voices to Acts to Redemption; from Suffering to
Forgiveness to Purity. Put another way –
when you take a long, hot shower, you feel way better at the end than at the
beginning. Immerse yourself in our
liturgy this Yom Kippur and feel the glow of your cleansed soul at the
conclusion of the Holiday!
The Music and Liturgy of Yom
Kippur
KOL NIDREI: The paragraph of Kol Nidrei is a legal
formula developed by the Rabbis which annuls only those vows which are made
between humans and God. Tradition
suggests, for its three repetitions, 1st softly, like someone
hesitating before entering the royal palace; the 2nd time, a bit
more confidently; the 3rd time like someone who feels comfortable in
the royal court and approaches the ruler like a friend. This year, we’ll have the Choir begin. Then I’ll recite alone. Then it’s your turn with me!
After the Amidah comes the beautiful piyyut (poem)
Yaaleh (223). A reverse anacrostic, it describes
poetically the emotional arc of the day (as mentioned in my intro above). Prayers like Shomeia T’filah (224) and Han’shamah
Lach (225) are based on special “Missinai” tunes – ancient melodies heard
only with these texts at this special time.
Some may be 1000 years old.
SELIHOT AND VIDUI: The penitential prayers
(Selihot)
along with the confessional (Vidui) are critical elements of our Yom Kippur
davening. The “high point” of these
confessions are Ashamnu and Al Cheit, alphabetic acknowledgements of
our individual or community sins for which it is customary to strike one’s
heart. When singing the catchy ay-ay-ay
of Ashamnu, keep in mind that it’s
not a happy tune: In the tradition of Ashkenazic
Jewish music, the major third (third note in the melody) is meant to imply our
vulnerability, our rawness, and our emotional pain in the act of confession. In contemporary American musical culture, it
can convey exactly the opposite meaning and emotion.
YOM KIPPUR MORNING:
YIZKOR: The Yizkor service (290) begins
with the Choir singing Enosh by Louis Lewandowski. This familiar text, which is not present in
our Machzor, is taken from Psalm 103: The
days of mortals are as grass. We
flourish like a flower in the field. The
wind passes over it and it is gone, and none can even recognize where it
grew. But God’s compassion is from
forever to forever for those who fear God; so is God’s righteousness to their
children’s children.
YOM KIPPUR MUSAPH: The Yom Kippur Musaph is lengthy
in a different way from the Rosh Hashanah Musaph. On Rosh Hashanah, we had Malchuyot,
Zichronot and Shofrot, pages and pages of Torah, Prophets and
Writings verses on the themes of God’s Sovereignty, Remembrance, and Shofar
Soundings. On Yom Kippur, the Musaph
includes (in addition to the aforementioned selichot and vidui portions) a
Martyrology service and the Avodah Service recalling the majesty of the ancient
Temple.
As
on Rosh Hashanah, the Musaph begins with the haunting Hatzi Kaddish (298), followed by the Silent
Amidah (300), and Hin’ni (312),
the cantor’s prayer for success in expressing the heart and minds of the
congregation. A highly dramatic and
beautiful moment of the “early Musaph” is Un’taneh Tokef.
The gorgeous B’rosh
Hashanah (315) by Meir Finkelstein is sung with Gabrielle Cohen, Halley
Dunn, Marissa Madison, Allison Meyer.
After
the Great Alenu (325) comes the Avodah service (326) recalling the
annual purification ritual by the High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. We
can see from this ritual that our ancestors had very clear ideas regarding how
to physically atone for our
sins. Without a Temple, without the
sacrificial cult described in the Torah, how do we physically atone? Few of
us would seek to reinitiate animal sacrice – but the question remains, and
“going through the motions” of the ancient rite helps us to pose, if not answer
the question. The MiSinai tune which is chanted to V’hakohanim (330,
331, 332) is one of our oldest melodies, quite mysterious and kind of hypnotic.
MINCHAH: The highlight of the Minchah service (361) is most
likely its mind-boggling Haftarah (367) – the Book of Jonah. Maftir Yonah will be chanted by some of our
high school students, now a tradition.
As the afternoon deepens, we approach. . .
N’ILAH: The N’ilah service (392) provides
us with our last opportunity to plead our cause in the spiritual marathon which
is Yom Kippur. The Sephardic hymn El
Nora Alilah (407) is sung prior to the repetition of the N’ilah Amidah.
The melodies unique to the N’ilah service create a
special sound picture to bind us to the conclusion of Yom Kippur in years past,
whether in our lives or in those of our people over many hundreds of
years. The nusach melody of N’ilah is
evocative of walking carefully forward as we prepare to leave the divine
presence—as, indeed, the gates close before us.
Among the special melodies unique to N’ilah: Sh’ma
Na (410), P’tach Lanu Sha’ar (414), Enkat
M’saldecha (416), and Rachem Na (419). Passages on 421 and 422 are quite distinct
from the “boilerplate” of the rest of Yom Kippur amidahs. Who among us would not be moved by these two
pages of liturgy, this last crying out for forgiveness? We hope, of course, that God is also moved!
We conclude the day’s observances with the Ma’ariv
weekday prayer (445), followed by Havdalah (459) and the affirmations (429) of Sh’ma (1x), Baruch Shem (3x), and Adonai
Hu HaElohim (7x). Followed of course
by a t’kiah g’dolah and the chanting
of Lashanah Haba-ah biY’rushalayim—next
year in Jerusalem – and our break-fast, either here at Tifereth Israel, or in
your home or that of friends.
G’mar
chatimah tovah—may you have a good seal in the Book of Life for the coming year.
— Cantor Jack Chomsky
2016 HIGH HOLIDAY CHOIR: Allan Finkelstein, Conductor; Ted Borkan, Bob
Borman, Gabrielle Cohen, Lori Cohen, Jeff Covel, Bradley Goldman, Shelly Kitain, Alice
Levitin, Jan Lyddon, Rebecca Mentser, Sandy
Mentser, Amy Nathans, Diane Peters, Mike Price, Katya Rouzina, Scott Spira,
Martha Tepper (also accompanist), and Randy Zacks.
