Day 11 - Make Our Days Seem Fresh
We all have our own valid answers, and, for better, or for worse, going back in time is an intellectual exercise alone (for now!), but our tradition focuses on this idea during the High Holy Days.
We will read the following line numerous times during the High Holy Day season.
הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ יְי אֵלֶיךָ (ונשוב) [וְנָשׁוּבָה] חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם׃
Take us back, God, to You, And let us come back; Renew our days as of old!
This line is found in the book of Lamentations, the saddest book of the Bible, and yet, we include this line in our liturgy. As I mentioned in yesterday's posting, this line, the last line that we read outloud in the book of Lamentations/Eicha is a sort of unofficial starting mark of the High Holy Days. We also recite this line as we return the Torah to the ark. We ask God to bring us back to the past. But there is one letter that is added - K’Kedem - (the chaf) - renew our days as if they were the days of old. For our purposes, as we began to emerge from the pandemic, this charge reminded us that we must return, but we also know that things will not be exactly as they were. For example, many of us yearned to return to synagogue services in person, but what we experienced was different: fewer people, everyone is spaced out, wearing masks, and no kiddish 😱! For those who don't know, 'the kiddish', the light meal after services, isn't just about eating, it's about communing with each other, and engaging in holy conversation. I don't know why pickled herring helps get us to a more sacred place with each other, but it does! I really wish we could pick back up wear we started, but perhaps we begin the High Holy Day season with this line to teach us a listen: we can never go back exactly to the way things were, but we can have a new beginning. Instead of reading חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם as renew our days as of old, we can translate it differently: make our days seem fresh.
We read in the Mahzor Lev Shalem: Make Our Days Seem Fresh
"Make our days seem fresh" should not be seen as a plea for restoration of a formerly perfect condition; we were never perfect. Rather, it is a please for resilience, a please for the ability to renew ourselves after moments of crisis and dislocation. As Elie Wiesel remarks, "God gave Adam a secret - and that secret was not how to begin, but how to begin again."
Writing Prompt
Write about a time when you made the concerted effort to begin again in a place where you had a lot of history. What was it like to start fresh in a familiar place? What obstacles did you overcome, and what did you learn about yourself and others through your fresh beginning.
Want to learn more about the idea of 'fresh beginnings'? Join us tonight for a special class with our community!
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