A Thought Before Shabbat Shuvah
September 21, 2023
Rabbi Harry Pell, Associate Head of School
Anyone who has ever worked as a rabbi or a Jewish educator in a school or shul knows that announcing pages and giving instructions during davening is an expectation that comes with the territory. All the more so during Aseret Yemei Teshuvah when we find ourselves saying some version of: remember/be on the lookout for/don’t forget/be mindful of… all of the changes during the Amidah. Indeed, in the Amidah alone there are six special insertions or changes that we make from Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur. But what if the purpose of these special insertions isn’t to change the tefilah, but to change us?
As anyone who has ever taken on a hobby, habit, or practiced skill can attest, after doing the same action repeatedly, it becomes very easy to go through the motions by rote. Similarly, as any regular davener can attest, it becomes very easy to go through the Tefilah on autopilot, for the exact same reason. I think the rabbis were wise when they codified these insertions and changes to the Amidah. Even putting aside their content and poetic beauty in leading up to Yom Kippur, they are very effective as tefilah speed bumps – the liturgical changes force even the most rote davener to slow down and think about the words we are saying, the words we hope will lead us to action.
But maybe there’s even more to it than that, and maybe the rabbis were even wiser. Because it isn’t just our tefilot that can become automatic and rote – our interpersonal relationships can become automatic as well. When we interact with others, we can easily fall into the rut of seeing them entirely based on our past interactions. He was mean to me once, so I know he’s a mean person. She has always struck me as petty, I take for granted that she is just a petty person. They’ve never been nice to me before, why would they be nice to me now?
Just as we can daven the Amidah by heart much of the year because the words are unchanging, we can treat those around us in our lives as equally unchanging, but it would be a mistake to do so. The message of Aseret Ymei Teshuvah is that we must believe in the human capacity to change. We can change for the better, and so can those around us. And every time we daven the Amidah between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur and force ourselves to slow down to make the correct Aseret Ymei Teshuvah changes, maybe what we are really reminding ourselves is to slow down in our prejudging of ourselves and others. If the words of the Tefilah can change, then certainly we can too.
Shabbat Shalom and G’mar Chatimah Tovah.