There is a part of me that feels that we should cancel Rosh Hashanah this year. Or at least postpone it for the time being. We wouldn’t do this due to lack of interest or of faith (G-d forbid), but because in many ways, the past few months have forced us to do everything that Rosh Hashanah could ever have hoped to.
We have had the high holy day for five months! We have spent weeks contemplating our own mortality, we have obsessed about those close to us, we have spent hours upon hours in deliberation and in introspection.
No rabbi, no chazan, no choir, and no festival could ever hope to rival the lockdown experience. More than that, months of lockdown has even deprived us of the opportunity of committing meaningful sin!
No alcohol, no cigarettes, and no cavorting. We have not even seen a neighbour’s ass to covet! We are free of sin. That is aside from gluttony, which I’m not even sure is one of ours.
We have also already experienced many of the sermons. The “Zoom boom” has brought a rabbi into each of our homes. So much so that with the abundance of shiurim options, it felt like it would never end. Pretty much like a normal day in shul.
Each year on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we stand before G-d and wonder out loud who is going to see it through to the next year. Who will live and who will die? Who will shuffle off the mortal coil at the designated time, and who will surprise us all by doing so just when we least expect it?
We even allow our imaginations to get ahead of us and ponder, if we were to die, how we would go-down. Would it be through sickness or something more gruesome? Fire perhaps? Maybe water? A sword? The alternatives go on.
If you were like me, however, you skipped right over the “plague” option, because no one dies of that anymore. And we want to keep it as realistic as possible.
No point in being ridiculous.
Try as I might, I find it difficult to remember last year’s service. I’m certain I found it moving, and that I asked G-d to care for me and for my family. I’m certain that I asked Him to take away the pain of those around me, to heal those who were ill, and to continue to assist me in getting done the job that He has designated for me. I’m certain that I thanked Him for all my gifts, and for guiding me as He always had. Even for the times when I refused to be guided.
What I know for certain is that I could never have contemplated the year that awaited us. I could never have imagined what the world would endure and what humankind would be asked to handle. Because if I had any idea, I know that I would have put in an extra word, prayed a bit longer, concentrated a little bit more, and even sung just that little bit louder.
