c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) A cynical seminary professor once told me that prayers said during the “dog days” of summer don’t really count; prayers only become serious in the autumn during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

He was joking, of course, but I often think about his remark as we approach the biblically mandated High Holy Days. The two days of Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) begin on the evening of Sept. 12. Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) starts at sunset on Sept. 21 and ends the following evening when the piercing sound of the Shofar (ram’s horn) is heard in jam-packed synagogues throughout the world.

Of course, prayers recited during the summer days always “count.” But at this season of the year, we rev up our lives to a higher speed. Schools, colleges, and universities reopen, vacations have ended, office staffs are at full strength, and the brutal summer heat begins to ebb. Fall is surely a more reasonable time to commence a new year than the end of December in the midst of a dreary winter.

During the High Holy Days, Jews absent themselves from their usual daily activities of work or school. Yom Kippur is a day of fasting _ no food or water _ for adults as we seek the path of repentance, or, as the prayer book urges, “to turn away from our evil ways.”

As I sit with my family in the synagogue this year, I will recount my errors and missteps of the past year, and will pray for the spiritual and emotional strength to achieve purposeful change.

I will also tremble when the congregation recites the remarkably modern High Holy Day prayer written in the 10th century. It asks: “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?”

A thousand years after those words were composed, they still have the power to shake our carefully constructed armor of smug complacency. And this year the prayer is more relevant than ever.

Once, we humans naively thought we could control the forces of nature and tame them for our benefit. The ancient rabbis knew this was arrogant nonsense.

The recent horrific earthquake in Peru shattered a nation and destroyed lives, homes, and communities. The Peruvians learned first-hand about the destructive force of the “cruel acts of nature.” Centuries ago, the Incas would have written a mournful saga about the earthquake to be passed on to future generations. But unless we live in Peru, the earthquake was quickly forgotten as we raced on to the next news item.

The catastrophic fires in Greece rage on and bring disaster to millions of people. If Homer or Sophocles were alive, they would write poignant poems and plays about the monstrous conflagration in their beloved land. At this year’s holiday services, Greek Jews will surely know the answer to the prayer’s frightening question, “Who will perish by fire?”

Closer to home, devastating floods in America’s heartland have caused deaths and vast destruction. “Who will die by water?” The answer is clear, and no one can read the biblical Noah story today as if it were mere myth or fanciful imagination.

Finally, there are the countless wars, large and small, that continue to slaughter the innocent. We shudder when we recite these names and many others: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Darfur. Each day, we are reminded of the grim answer to the ancient prayer’s query, “Who will die by the sword?”

The High Holy Days are a necessary annual reminder that our brief lives are fragile and are always subject to the whims of nature and the cruelty of fellow humans. But a compelling and bracing lesson emerges at the end of the all-too-accurate prayer. It is that sincere penitence, authentic prayer and acts of charity can avert “the stern decrees of life.”

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)

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