My D’var Torah today for the Community Service of Spiritual Renewal for the High Holy Days at Village Shalom in Overland Park. It was an honor to be asked to join, in leading the service, by Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick and Lezlie Zucker, who create services of renewal before Chanukah and Pesach as well. The song of which I spoke is below
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Just after the beginning of the war in Ukraine this past February, my cousin Bill called me to ask if I had heard the “prayer for peace.” He was referring to the prayer we just read, which is included in the Torah service section in the Rabbinical Assembly’s Siddur Sim Shalom and Siddur Lev Shalem. When this prayer was recited on the last Shabbat morning in February at Congregation Beth Shalom, it was noted that the prayer’s author, Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz, was born in Nemyriv, Ukraine, in 1780. While war and strife have touched Ukraine many times since Rabbi Nathan’s birth, his words have resonated deeply as we have watched from afar as the Russian army advanced into a nation that it continues to claim for itself.
My cousin suggested that I might consider setting Rabbi Nathan’s words to a melody. As I reviewed the prayer, one particular section caught my eye:
For all who live on earth shall realize
We have not come into being to hate or to destroy
We have come into being to praise, to labor and to love.
I began to wonder, along with Rabbi Nathan, why we have come into being, especially with war, conflict and division seemingly overwhelming our attempts to bring peace, healing and unity into our lives.
Every year, the High Holy Days offer us beacons of light that can guide us to respond every day to the question, “Why have we come into this world?”
Building on Rabbi Nathan’s prayer, I realized that I needed to articulate my own answers to that question. And so, I began to compose my response.
I believe that we have come into this world
To learn, to teach, to give
To grow, to seek, to live.
To console, to heal to share.
To praise, to build, to care.
Thus was born the song I am about to sing, “Into this world,” which includes my own personal prayer based on the original meditation of Rabbi Nathan:
“God of compassion, give us the courage
To work for the day when all people are free.
Let justice flow like a river.
Let peace fill the earth, as water fills the sea.”
While there is much that we can do together to add to this world more love, compassion and peace, our tradition teaches us that we must begin with ourselves.
We try every day to remain on the path to bring out the best in our souls to offer the world. The High Holy Days present us with an annual signpost to take stock of where we are on our personal journey. This season of the year provides us with an opportunity to make our own course corrections if we have strayed from who we truly want to be. This time of renewal and return also offers us a chance to affirm that we do, many times, share the best that is in us with the world. Our own contemplation, our prayers, our relationships with the people closest to us, and our connection with the divine can serve us as sources of confidence and inspiration.
One of the most meaningful statements in our tradition about how we must begin our approach to renewal with ourselves comes from Rabbi Israel Salanter, one of the founders of the Musar movement nearly 200 years ago. He once taught: “When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I discovered that I couldn't change my town, so, as an older man, I tried to change my family. And I wasn’t always able to influence them. Now, as an old man, I realize the only person I can change is myself. I now understand that if, long ago, I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and we could indeed have changed the world.”
We should not take Rabbi Salanter’s reflection as a statement of regret, but as a declaration of resolve to begin our own path to renewal, and, then, to see each other as partners in bringing peace, justice and healing to the world.
During my Youth Group days at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, half a century ago, we sang a song by Pete Seeger about how our partnership is crucial and necessary to improve our lives and to bring blessing to the human family. These words remind us to work together now, and throughout every year.
Here is how I remember singing Pete Seeger’s lyrics:
One person’s hands can't bring a world of peace
Two people’s hands can't bring a world of peace
But if two and two and fifty make a million
Wе'll see that world come ‘round.
We'll see that world come ‘round.
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Lyrics:
Into this World
By Larry Karol
February 2022
Inspired by “Prayer for Peace” in the SIDDUR SIM SHALOM prayerbook
(The Rabbinical Assembly/USCJ)
Dedicated to the people of Ukraine
Why have we come into this world?
To learn
To teach
To give
Why have we come into this world?
To grow
To seek
To live
God of compassion
Give us the courage
To work for the day
when all people are free
Let Justice flow like a river
Let Peace fill the earth as waters fill the sea
Why have we come into this world
To console
To heal
To share
Why have we come into This world?
To praise
To build
To care
God of compassion
Give us the courage
To work for the day
when all people are free
Let Justice flow like a river
Let Peace fill the earth as waters fill the sea
Why have we come into this world?
To help
To hope
To calm our fear
Why have we come into this world?
To speak
To sing
To hear
God of compassion
Give us the courage
To work for the day
when all people are free
Let Justice flow like a river
Let Peace fill the earth as waters fill the sea
Why have we come into this world?
To return
To restore
To forgive
Why have we come into this world?
To stand
To lead
To live
God of compassion
Give us the courage
To work for the day
when all people are free
Let Justice flow like a river
Let love fill the earth as waters fill the sea
Let Justice flow like a river
Let love fill the earth as waters fill the sea
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HIGH HOLY DAY SERVICE FOR RENWAL VIDEO
September 11, 2022
Reading, remarks and song at 37:50 to 48:45
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