With Rosh Hashanah and Shabbos Shuvah tied together this year, Bergen County pulpit rabbis have offered JLBC previews of their Shabbos Shuvah drashas–sermons that take on extra meaning at this time of year, when repentance, forgiveness and hoping for a year that will be healthy and prosperous that will bring us goodness are on our hearts, minds and neshamot. At press time, some were still choosing their topics. No one theme predominates: Forgiveness from God and man…the meaning of ritual…the role of the physical and the spiritual in our lives.
Rabbi Neil Winkler, of Young Israel of Fort Lee is making Aliyah this year, will talk about how the sounds of the shofar are a cry for man to fight evil and create a more moral world. “The world rationalizes evil instead of fighting it,” Rabbi Winkler said. “There is a reluctance to even identify anything as evil. The world rationalizes Hamas using children to build tunnels, killing them in the process. We have an opera that rationalizes throwing an elderly paraplegic man in a wheelchair into the ocean. We must fight against the passivity of man, and realize the potential of man to rise above evil.”
Rabbi Jeremy Donath of Congregation Darchei Noam of Fair Lawn, will also acknowledge the fear and death we witnessed this summer. And he will speak about how Judaism emphasizes the opposite: life, not death. He says we can learn this from the Akeida, the seminal event in the Torah reading for Yom Tov. Immediately following that parsha, the Torah talks about genealogy. The message? Birth, life, rebirth. “We must put our emphasis on how to make the world a more positive and beautiful place.”
Rabbi Lawrence Zierler titled his drasha, “The BBC–The Bold, Brave and Courageous: Chiddush and Hitchadshut–Mastering Change and Novelty–A manual from Tradition.” He will look at Jewish traditional teachings on personal renewal while also drawing from contemporary concepts that can be supportive of Jewish religious and social mores.
Thoughts of Rabbi Soloveichik will be in the Shabbos Shuva drashas of Rabbi Yosef Adler of Teaneck’s Congregation Rinat and Rabbi Menachem Genack of Englewood’s Shomrei Emunah. Rabbi Adler will connect the mitzvah of building the Sukkah to Yom Kippur, “based on Rabbi Soloveichik’s unique explanation as to why the shofar is sounded at the conclusion of Neilah.” Rabbi Genack will speak on “the isolation of the Kohen Gadol seven days before Yom Kippur and the individual’s preparation for facing kedusha. Rabbi Genack said he decided on this topic after reviewing notes he wrote from the Rav that he prepared in 1971 for publication.
Rabbi Eli Belizon, of the Young Israel of Fair Lawn, has titled his talk “Teshuvah: It’s not just spiritual. It’s Real, Physical and Palpable.” He will explain how we can see this in the architecture of the Beis Hamikdash.
Rabbi Shmuel Goldin of Englewood’s Congregation Ahavath Torah will talk about the challenge of parenting. He will use as his source, the text of the Ben Sorer U’more, and how the story of the rebellious son teaches us about parenting. “It is a particularly challenging issue for many of us today,” Rabbi Goldin said. “We are not always cognizant of the responsibilities of parenthood. Too often, we think we are our children’s friends instead of their parents.”
Rabbi Howard Jachter of Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck, will also be addressing how we relate to our children. “My focus will be on serving Hashem with joy. Our major goal is to motivate the next generation to continue in our path of devotion to Torah and Mitzvot. The most motivating factor is for parents and all adults to model for their children the joy they experience praying, studying Torah and observing mitzvot. Performing,itzvot with joy creates a permanent body to the Torah. Scolding children is not the proper path to take. Modeling joy inspires.”
Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot of Teaneck’s Congregation Netivot Shalom, will speak about “Repentance of transgressions between person to person and its place in the overall halachic and philosophic structure of teshuvah in general, and what kind of things people can do to achieve teshuva in that realm.”
By Bracha Schwartz
