A last literary word before Rosh Hashanah

A gifted orator, teacher, and writer, Rabbi Mordechai recently released a new anthology of his popular columns under their title, “Streets of Life,” wherein he, in his own words, “opens a window into his life,” sharing personal stories and perspectives relating stories of growing up in Woodmere during the 1960s, his later years studying in Israel and in yeshivot around the country.

This work details his family relationships, the sacred and cherished influences that both his sage grandfather and father have had upon his life’s work, as well of stories of his encounters with his students, fellow rabbis and teachers, as well as with taxi drivers and evangelical pastors and preachers.

Rabbi Mordechai has in this work developed a unique and informal method for explaining difficult passages with everyday occurrences. Through his previous work, the three volume series entitled, “Parsha Parables,” and now with the current anthology, he demonstrates to all his gentle humor and sharp wit.

With Rosh Hashanah coming this week, let me quote a timely observation from this work:

“According to the hallowed and haunting words of ‘Unesaneh Tokef,’ Rabbi Amnon of Mainz’s magnificently haunting hymn intoned each year on the High Holy Days, ‘You will open the book of chronicles, it will read itself, and everyone’s signature is in it’.

“Indeed, each person’s signature is in the great book upstairs. But when we sign, perhaps it is with more than just our given name. There is more than just our given name. There is more to who we are than the letters that comprise the name that gets our checks cashed and signs our children’s homework sheets.

“Our signature is our testimony of our commitment to all that is written above it. It says we stand behind the document and it is us. I believe that on Rosh Hashanah, when we look at our signature in that Great Book, the question that He will ask will not be, ‘What is your name?’ Rather, it will be, ‘And who are you?’ “

Among some of the local personalities who play a role in this book’s stories we find Rabbi David Spiegel of Cedarhurst’s famed Shtiebel, a veteran rabbi whose pioneer service to the Five Towns goes back almost a half century. And we have veteran educator, Rabbi Yitzchok Knobel, of the famed Yeshiva Gedolah and Kollel in Woodmere were he serves as its rosh kollel and dean.

“For me it has all come together — with Rav Spiegel at one end of town, Rav Knobel on the other, and the Young Israel in the middle,” writes Rabbi Mordechai. “I will never know for sure if G-d liked the songs of ‘Ki Anu Amecha or Hayom, Hayom, Hayom the way they sing it in the Young Israel, or the drier intonations of the yeshiva minyan. I won’t dare weigh whether the strained shofar blowing of a Holocaust survivor means less than the powerful blasts of the shofar by a yeshiva rebbe. And, I will never know if the 15-minute Amidah — each word read while looking at an English translation — is worth any less than an hour of shaking and shuckling, with sporatic forays into unknown worlds way beyond the machzor.

“I don’t have to know. It is Rosh Hashanah and all we have to do is remember that He knows.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Once again, the Sh’or Yoshuv Institute in Lawrence, has published another booklet containing a teaching by Rabbi Yitzchok Sender, this year focusing upon a most fascinating topic that should be of some interest to many of you, that being, “The Prayer of the Akeidas Yitzchok”.

In his preface, Rabbi Sender sets the scene with the following observation:

“According to Chazal, the sounding of the ram’s horn on Rosh Hashanah serves to remind us of the story of the Akeidah”

What follows is a 22-page extremely learned dissertation on this highly relevant theme for your spiritual edification.

This year’s message for the new year by Rabbi Eli Mansour is entitled, “Rosh Hashanah: The Three Keys to a Favorable Judgment” wherein he teaches us the following:

“When we contemplate the significance of Rosh Hashanah, how everything that will transpire during the coming year will be determined on these days, it could — and should — be very frightening. Fortunately, however, we have been told what we need to do to earn a favorable judgment. Our Rabbis have taught us that the three keys are: Kol, Tzom, and Mammon.”

Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo, in his holiday message, entitled, “Rosh Hashanah: Profundity and the Challenge of the Deed,” concludes:

“The High Holidays are a warning to live vertically and not horizontally. When we live our lives in the constant pursuit of new material objects, believing that through them we find meaning and joy, it would behoove us to look around and see the continuous boredom in which our Western world finds itself. The excitement of new possessions leads to the trivialization of our lives after a day or two — but only if we view them horizontally. If we look at what we have in a vertical dimension, meaning in the process of constant spiritual growth, then we see these objects in the light of eternity and, consequently, in profundity.”

This year’s Torah To Go features a brilliant essay by Rabbi Dr. David Horwitz, a YU rosh yeshiva, and a maggid shiur in Ramban on Shabbat mornings at Rabbi Spiegel’s Shtiebel, entitled, “R. Yohanan ben Nuri and the Unique Prayers of Rosh Hashanah”. For R. Yohanan’s interesting background, please check out the Koren Steinsaltz English edition of the Talmud Mesechet Rosh Hashanah 32a, page 423.

Let me conclude by extending to you, my dear longtime readers, my best wishes for a Ketivah Vachatima Tova.