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Message of the Rabbi for the High Holy Days

If Not Now, When?:

Three children were told by their teacher that on Rosh Hashono evening, the sky opens up and creates a direct channel between G-d and the people who live on earth. The teacher also said that if they stayed awake on that night until the exact moment when this occurred, and they prayed especially hard for something especially good to happen, they would get what they want.

Each child had a special wish. One wanted to be as wise as King Solomon. Another wanted to be as great a teacher as Moses. The third wanted to be as beautiful as Queen Esther. The children could not imagine what was more wonderful then to be like Solomon or Moses or Esther. They thought that their wishes were good. And so they decided they would try what their teacher had suggested and see if it was really true or not.

The children snuck out of their homes in the middle of the night after their parents went to sleep. They met up in a park near where they lived. The night was moonless and cool. They sat beneath a beautiful canopy of twinkling stars and waited for the sky to open. They waited and waited —one hour, two hours, three hours passed—and still no opening appeared in the sky. They children became drowsy and had trouble keeping their eyes open.

As they started to doze off into that space between slumber and wakefulness, they saw a flash of lightning. Suddenly figures that looked like angels appeared to dance through the sky in front of them. This happened so quickly that they all forgot their wishes. One child woke up and cried out, “I’m so hungry! I wish I had a cookie!” At once, a cookie appeared. When the other children saw the cookie, one of them got angry and yelled out, “Why did you say that? You just wasted your wish! I wish you yourself had turned into a cookie!” As soon as these words were uttered, the child who wanted a cookie turned into a cookie. “Oh!…, “ screamed the third child. “This is HORRIBLE!!! I wish you could turn back into yourself!” And as soon as these words were said, the child who had turned into a cookie became herself again.

The children got up and started walking home, sad and disappointed that they had wasted that special moment by making silly, unimportant wishes. They were so upset, they started to cry. All of a sudden an old man with a long white beard appeared in front of them. “Why are you all crying? “the old man asked. The children told him what they had been doing and how they had gotten scared and wasted their wishes by asking for unimportant things. “Don’t worry so much,“ responded the old man. G-d knows everyone’s prayers. And when a person’s prayers are sincere and heartfelt, G-d will help them get where they want to go. The mistake that you made was not about making unimportant wishes. It was also not about being afraid. It was about understanding the meaning of wishes and what a person needs to do to achieve them. G-d always helps, but each of us has to be partners with G-d in making our wishes come true. By just waiting and asking G-d for things, you let yourselves off the hook too easily..

“The two of you who look up to King Solomon and Moses and want to be like them—that is great! They are great role models! But you need to understand that you can’t just make a wish to be like Solomon and Moses and then automatically become like them. You need to learn what wisdom is. Some people are born with quick intelligence. They learn fast and they get good marks easily at school without making much effort. Other people struggle hard to learn and to get good marks. But just being born with a quick intelligence doesn’t make you smart or wise. Wisdom is not about being a quick learner—it is a gift that comes only with hard work and lots of effort. Nobody becomes wise without studying hard for many years. And even if a person studies hard, no one becomes really wise enough to make decisions that help people without having some life experience of their own. King Solomon was actually as great a teacher as Moses was. And Moses was really as wise as King Solomon. They just used their gifts in different ways. So really, both of you want the same thing in life—to be able to be wise enough to know lots of things and then use what you know to help other people and also help the world become a better place. So that is what you need to do. Go out and work hard and learn the things you want to learn. Learn them well. If you do that, G-d will provide you with many opportunities to use what you know to help others and to teach them.

“And you, that wants to be as beautiful as Queen Esther-- many people are born beautiful in appearance. But that kind of beauty does not mean very much unless a person is beautiful inside as well as outside. Queen Esther used her beauty to save her people from being killed. She risked her life by standing up to Haman and exposing him before King Ahasuerus. Esther’s beauty was mainly about her being brave and courageous. She took a chance and spoke out on behalf of the Jewish people, hoping that the king would pay attention to her because she knew he thought she was beautiful. Did Esther herself think of herself as beautiful? We don’t actually know that. We only know that other people, including the king, thought she was beautiful. You need to go out and learn about the things that make a person beautiful—the character qualities, not the physical qualities that every truly beautiful person is marked by. When you begin to see beauty as an inner state, you will understand the qualities that made Queen Esther beautiful. And then you can be just like her and use your beauty in ways that bring good into the world.

So children—stop crying. All your wishes will be fulfilled, if you take the time and the patience to learn what you need to do in order to make them a reality.”

The children went home and went to sleep, resolving to do as the old man suggested.

Rosh HaShono is the time of year we all look inward. At this season, our spiritual New Year, each of us makes resolutions about our lives. We resolve to get to know ourselves and our gifts better—to become more acquainted with the things that make our hearts sing—and to make the best effort possible to use those unique gifts in ways that serve G-d as well as the world we live in.

May the New Year 5768 be a year in which we deepen those connections within ourselves. May it be a year in which our understanding of wisdom and beauty increases. May it especially be a year in which we take giant steps forward in using wisdom and beauty to enrich our own life journey