In a way, the Jewish High Holidays are about spiritual housecleaning.
Think about it. Much of the focus of the liturgy as well as the many commentaries written to accompany us during the holiday season are about taking stock of who we are and how we behave, and doing an honest self-appraisal of what we need to throw away.
The "tashlich" ceremony of throwing crumbs or pebbles into the water on Rosh Hashanah is a perfect example.
As far as anyone knows tashlich was not instituted by rabbis. Tashlich was something that ordinary people developed hundreds of years ago as a very physical way of showing our intention to throw away those aspects of our behavior and our personality that are no longer serving us well.
Whether you use the term "sin" or not, the concept is the same as it has been for hundreds if not thousands of years.
So we could say that the High Holidays are about spiritual housecleaning. What we experience on the material plane, we can experience on the spiritual plane as well. Just as we can let go of material possessions that are no longer meaningful or valuable to us, so too we can let go of old beliefs and opinions that keep us from seeing reality, that keep us from seeing ourselves and the people around us as we really are.
And of course it's also about letting go of behaviors - behaviors that have become habits, that may no longer be serving our highest visions of who we are and what we are here to do. This letting go necessarily involves a stepping out into the unknown - which means ultimately it's about trust.
In the traditional study of Hebrew scripture, we pay careful attention to the use of language. There is an unusual expression which appears only twice in the entire Torah - both times in the book of Genesis. The expression is "lech lecha," which is usually translated as an emphatic "GO!" - but can also mean "go towards yourself."
The first use of the expression is in our mythic tale of the birth of monotheism, when God says to Abraham: Lech lecha - go out and leave the land of your father and go to a place that I will show you. The only other use of the expression lech lecha in the whole Torah is in one of the readings chanted on Rosh Hashanah, in which once again Abraham is called by God to go out somewhere to a place that God will show him, to a place that he does not yet know.
In both cases the experience is one of being called to MOVE - to move out into the world without knowing one's destination. To do this requires trust. Trust that there is value and ultimate meaning in our striving to evolve spiritually. And trust that this moving outward is simultaneously a movement closer to who we really are.
May the approaching New Year provide us all with renewed energy to hear the call of lech lecha - to keep growing, to keep evolving, to keep moving closer to being who we are really meant to be.
Think about it. Much of the focus of the liturgy as well as the many commentaries written to accompany us during the holiday season are about taking stock of who we are and how we behave, and doing an honest self-appraisal of what we need to throw away.
The "tashlich" ceremony of throwing crumbs or pebbles into the water on Rosh Hashanah is a perfect example.
As far as anyone knows tashlich was not instituted by rabbis. Tashlich was something that ordinary people developed hundreds of years ago as a very physical way of showing our intention to throw away those aspects of our behavior and our personality that are no longer serving us well.
Whether you use the term "sin" or not, the concept is the same as it has been for hundreds if not thousands of years.
So we could say that the High Holidays are about spiritual housecleaning. What we experience on the material plane, we can experience on the spiritual plane as well. Just as we can let go of material possessions that are no longer meaningful or valuable to us, so too we can let go of old beliefs and opinions that keep us from seeing reality, that keep us from seeing ourselves and the people around us as we really are.
And of course it's also about letting go of behaviors - behaviors that have become habits, that may no longer be serving our highest visions of who we are and what we are here to do. This letting go necessarily involves a stepping out into the unknown - which means ultimately it's about trust.
In the traditional study of Hebrew scripture, we pay careful attention to the use of language. There is an unusual expression which appears only twice in the entire Torah - both times in the book of Genesis. The expression is "lech lecha," which is usually translated as an emphatic "GO!" - but can also mean "go towards yourself."
The first use of the expression is in our mythic tale of the birth of monotheism, when God says to Abraham: Lech lecha - go out and leave the land of your father and go to a place that I will show you. The only other use of the expression lech lecha in the whole Torah is in one of the readings chanted on Rosh Hashanah, in which once again Abraham is called by God to go out somewhere to a place that God will show him, to a place that he does not yet know.
In both cases the experience is one of being called to MOVE - to move out into the world without knowing one's destination. To do this requires trust. Trust that there is value and ultimate meaning in our striving to evolve spiritually. And trust that this moving outward is simultaneously a movement closer to who we really are.
May the approaching New Year provide us all with renewed energy to hear the call of lech lecha - to keep growing, to keep evolving, to keep moving closer to being who we are really meant to be.