Rosh Hashana message

May your heart smite you

Posted

Genuine insight can be found in unlikely places. In fact, I once noticed a striking message on a bumper sticker. It read: “He who has a clear conscience also has a faulty memory.”

That maxim seems tailor-made for the approaching Days of Awe. It reminds us that the Almighty gave the Jewish people Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for more than dipping apples in honey and hearing the sounds of the Shofar; for more than gathering en masse in synagogues and listening to beloved old melodies. The High Holiday liturgy makes it abundantly clear: God gave us this season to shake our equanimity, sharpen our memories, break our arrogance and purify our souls.

In elaborating on the practice of beating one’s breast while reciting the “Al Chet” confessional prayer, the revered teacher known as the Chafetz Chaim famously declared, “God does not quickly forgive the sins of those who only smite their hearts, but He readily pardons those whose hearts smite them.”

No one should fool himself into believing that his conduct is beyond reproach; that there is nothing he has done — or failed to do — requiring repentance. The wisest of all men, King Solomon, reminds us that “there is no one on earth so righteous that he does only good and does not sin” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

The High Holidays should stimulate us to remember what we have conveniently forgotten. They should goad our consciences to acknowledge our shortcomings, so that in this sacred season we can achieve atonement, renewal, and peace.

May you, your loved ones, our community and all mankind enjoy a good, sweet, healthy and happy New Year!

Rabbi Ginsburg is the spiritual leader of Congregation Sons of Israel in Woodmere.