Derasha
Selichot start tonight at midnight. We will have a special presentation from R’ Ezy Poupko here at 11:30 pm. He will be here anyway for the chance to say Selichot with the Ashkenazim, as several people from Sunnyvale have done over the years. He will offer observations about the difference between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Selichot besides the fact that Sephardim say them for many more days. He will also offer inspirational words.
The beginning of Selichot, in Niggunim and in the act of Tefilla, is the beginning of the Chagim. The Rambam speaks of Selichot as an increase in Davening between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Curious that the Sefardim don’t follow him in that but that’s what he says. We don’t go like the Sefardim nor like the Rambam. We start at the end of Elul, not at the beginning, but we don’t wait for Rosh Hashana either. We start at least four days before Rosh Hashana -- this year eight days before. Why it’s a minimum of four was among the subjects in Beit Midrash a few nights ago. But why it has to be not at the beginning of the year but rather at the end is what I want to address this morning.
I want to approach it through an idea from a Sefer that came out just a few months ago, a Sefer in English called Rays of Wisdom. It was written by my friend of more than 35 years, R’ Mattisyahu Rosenblum, ztz’l, who passed away two years ago. I wrote a eulogy about him then and I am reviewing the book now for the Jewish Press. It’s gotten some attention, as it deserves. R’ Mark Gottlieb, the head of school at Maimonides in Boston for a time and now the head of one of the Tikva Fund groups, raved about it in Teaneck a few weeks ago.
R’ Mattisyahu shares insights from great teachers with whom he was privileged to learn for many years -- in this case, it’s from R’ Moshe Shapiro, zt’l. The land of Israel was described in Parashat Eikev a few weeks ago as a place upon which Hashem’s eyes are focused from “Reishit Hashana Ad Acharit Shana,” from the beginning of the year until the end of the year. That’s from Rosh Hashana until Elul, meaning that Elul is “Acharit Shana.”
The verse doesn't call it Sof Hashana but Acharit. In this, it wants to point out that the end of the year is not just later but that it is somewhat alienated from the beginning of the year. "Achor" is the back, not the Panim -- the face of -- something. "Achor" is Zoom with everyone turning off the camera. The beginning of the year is full of energy and purpose. The end of the year, not so much.
It is easy to see the end of the year as when the year has gotten old. In Ivrit, the word “old” (yashan) is the same root as the word for sleep (“yoshan”). Even if there is a way to stay alert, the old part of the year can be without freshness or vigor. The essential act of Selichot is not just more Davening. There is something more essential: It is about waking up. If one is at Selichot, it is because of an act of overcoming sleep. To bring that freshness to the end of the year is to resist its tendency to get old.
One could say of course that that wake up call did start in the beginning of the month when we started to hear the Shofar. But placing Selichot in these last days of the year gets across that we want to rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
The OU began its series on Tefilla for the Chagim a few weeks ago. I highly recommend it just based on the superstars they corralled to address this subject. It is called “B’himatz’o: Finding Hashem through Prayer.” That is based on a Gemora in Rosh Hashana which explicates the verse in Yishaya about seeking Hashem when or where He can be found. When can He be found, the Gemora asks? The answer:, during the 10 days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
But there is something to add: “When He can be found” is teaching something more. A “Metzia” is a found object, meaning it is a discovery. When I “find” a dollar on the ground, the experience is one of surprise. Even if I was looking for it, it is still experienced as a surprise. Every Metzia is like that. What the Gemora is saying is that this is a time in which He can be discovered. Dirshu Hashem, seek Hashem, means that it still requires seeking from our side. The great opportunity in this Davening between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is that we will in fact find Hashem.
