c. 2004 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Rudin, American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Saint Leo University.)

(UNDATED) As a youngster growing up in Alexandria, Va., time moved slowly. It always seemed there was a lengthy period between celebrating birthdays, starting vacations, returning to school, and especially observing the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashana (the religious New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).

But those youthful “lazy, hazy days of summer” are long over.

My adult life runs on fast forward, and I am stunned by the swift passage of the years. It is once again the season for the Jewish people’s annual spiritual check up. Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown, Wednesday, Sept. 15, and ends 48 hours later. Yom Kippur commences on Friday evening, Sept. 24 and concludes at dark the following day.

Both holidays feature special synagogue services that attract the largest congregational attendance of the entire year. Unlike other holidays, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur do not focus on specific historical events, but are personal and spiritual in nature.

Jews are commanded to absent themselves from their usual activities including work and school on those sacred days. Yom Kippur requires a 25-hour fast for people above the age of 13 who are healthy enough to abstain from all eating and drinking, while pregnant women are exempt from this annual religious obligation.

Fasting is a tangible way of overcoming one’s natural pride and arrogance. When we are hungry and thirsty, we are more likely to confront our moral lapses, and _ dare I say it _ our sins. Fasting is a physical and psychological preparation for the difficult but necessary effort to atone for the unethical actions we committed against our fellow human beings and against God.

With that spiritual effort must also emerge a personal commitment to overcome errant ways and move to higher ethical ground. But it is no easy task.

Indeed, the High Holiday message resonates more deeply with every passing year. That is because I recognize my ethical compromises and unprincipled accommodations of the past 12 months. But Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur go beyond holding up a moral mirror to ourselves.

The High Holidays possess a mystical grandeur that is reflected in the haunting music and compelling prayers that are recited only on those days.

The Jewish new religious year of 2004-2005 is 5765, marking the traditional time span since the world’s creation. While few people take this number literally, we all recognize the rapid pace of life and the uncertainty about what lies ahead in the New Year.

There is one High Holiday prayer that makes even a rational person like myself tremble when it is recited in the synagogue. Tradition teaches that in the 10th century a bishop physically tortured Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, Germany, because the Jewish leader refused to convert to Christianity. In his travail, Amnon is said to have composed a magnificent prayer that is recited only on the High Holidays.

In it Amnon affirms the spiritual power of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur when God judges each human being and decrees our destiny in the New Year.

Amnon had a keen knowledge of the human condition; our unique psychological and spiritual needs that never change. His poignant words go directly to the core of our lives:

“Who among us shall live, and who shall die in the New Year? Who will live a long life and who will not? Who will perish by fire? Who will die by water, who by the sword and who by wild beast? Who shall hunger in the New Year? And who will thirst? Who will be killed by cruel acts of nature and who by epidemics and plagues? And who shall be at rest, and who shall wander? Who shall be exalted, and who shall be cast down?”

During High Holiday services, I will be thinking of those killed during the past year “by the sword” in acts of war and terrorism, and those who were “cast down” by hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and fires. I will be linked to those who died from the “epidemics and plagues” including cancer, heart disease, AIDS and influenza. And because of Amnon’s prayer, I will remember that hunger and thirst are not solely horrific physical conditions. Millions of people hunger for love and companionship, and thirst for friendship and self-esteem.

However, Amnon does not simply diagnose our feelings and worries about the future. He offers a soul cleansing response to human fears that captures the essential meaning of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur: “But penitence, prayer, and charity can avert the stern decrees of life.”

DEA/JL END RUDIN