Kol Nidre night – there is something magical about it! There is no other night on the Jewish calendar that affects me this way. Forty days of preparation all leading up to my Yom Kippur experience. On this day I will fast and pray together with all of you wearing white and canvas sneakers. On Yom Kippur we confront our mortality, we judge ourselves and we ask God to forgive us our shortcomings and to help us find our way back to the path of Jewish tradition. When I was young and single I only had to worry about myself, I was a descendent; but now that I am a parent, it is my job to be an ancestor, a transmitter of Jewish law and lore to my descendents. I am a link in a chain that stretches back millennia.

I love the music of Kol Nidre, the pageantry of the Sifrei Torah, seeing everyone in their talit even though it is an evening service. Everything about this night screams of its differentness, specialness, uniqueness; and that sets the stage reminding me that each of us is different from one another, we are all special, you are unique. And yet we have come with common purpose. I seek on this night to challenge myself and if all goes well, to challenge you as well. Tonight we have to ask ourselves the tough questions and truly reflect upon our answers. No one is looking over our shoulders, it isn’t that there are wrong answers, so what are the questions? One of the most thought provoking books I have read recently was by Ron Wolfson. For those of you who do not recognize his name, he is one of the most creative Jewish educators in the country. I've referenced his materials before he tries to help synagogues move into the 21^st century and Jews to live meaningful lives. His most recent book, which I highly recommend, is The Seven Questions You’re Asked in Heaven: Reviewing & Renewing You Life on Earth.

So what are these questions and where do they come from? The first five come from the Talmud. A leading Babylonian scholar of the 4^th century named Rava is quoted in Masekhet Shabbat 31a questions you will be asked in heaven; they form the first five of Wolfson’s questions. The other two come from famous rabbis; Samson Raphael Hirsch the 19^th century founder of Modern Orthodoxy and Reb Zusya an 18^th century Hasidic Master.   But before we get to their questions, stop for a moment and consider – what would you expect to be asked when you get to heaven? I should also offer a disclaimer, it doesn’t matter to me if you even believe that there is a heaven or not, it just doesn’t matter, because as you will see the questions are all about how you live your life now and that after all is the purpose of Yom Kippur.

So the first of Rava’s questions is Nasata v’natata b’emuah? Did you deal honestly with people in your business practices? Probably not the question you were expecting! I would have expected, were you a good person? Did you follow the commandments? So let’s examine this question for a moment, first of all, it is about what you did. Secondly, it is not just about business, but about honesty and integrity. In business it is all about making money, however, how you do it makes a difference. I suspect that Bernie Madoff will have a hard time with this first question. How you deal with clients, customers, employees are all a reflection of your values, so if you are honest and fair in business, then odds are good that you’ll be honest and fair in the other aspects of your life. It says something about your character. There are people who do not understand the importance that our Movement is placing upon the Hekhsher Tzedek Initiative. HT is all about certifying that a business isn’t just kosher, but is moral and ethical as well. Judaism isn’t just about following the letter of the law, it is all about being a good and just person and that is why CJ is leading the way forward with HT and God willing, it will transform the way we as a Jewish community do business so that never again will we face another Agriprocessors scandal.   The Torah tells us that we need to use honest weights and measures. We need to strive to be an honest, trustworthy and faithful person. That is the purpose of the first question.

Rava’s second question was Asakta b’friyah u’riviyah? Did you busy yourself with procreation? In other words, what is your legacy? Wolfson writes, “Children our lasting legacy. If we have done our job well as parents, they embody our values, our beliefs. They are our ‘footprint’ in the world.” (p. 30). Wolfson points out that the word asakta means to busy yourself, to occupy your time and attention, in other words did you invest in family? Life is about experiences, about making memories, did you do things as a family to create those memories? What are the memories you most cherish? Standing beneath your father’s talit on Yom Kippur? Asking the Four Questions at the Seder? Standing around the the Hanukah candles singing songs as a family? What are the memories that you are making with your children or grandchildren? Do you bless them on Friday night? Do you go to Shabbat services with them? Do you take them to dance with the Holy scrolls on Simchat Torah? It is our job to teach, to inspire, to role model, to influence the generations that follow us. To do so we must live fully and share our lives with those we love.

Rava’s third questions was Kava’ata itim la-Torah? Did you set a fixed time for Torah? When we are in school studying is what we do, but once we go out into the world, it is not easy to find time to study. Between our obligations at work and at home, who has time for anything more? You do. We all do. We are scheduled society, every child, every teen; every adult today has a very busy schedule. We need our planners to make sure that we get to the right place at the right time. Our lives are complicated and busy. The rabbis tell us that the solution is easy, schedule your Torah time, put it in your planner, make an appointment. We are known as the People of the Book, for millennia we have studied the Torah and the Talmud, it is an ongoing conversation across time and space. It is a conversation that each of us can take part in. For those who come to Shabbat morning services, Torah time is already a part of your planner. Every week we read from the Torah and we discuss its meaning. Rabbi Louis Finkelstein once said, “Prayer is how we talk to God. Study is how we hear God’s voice.” The rabbis have a philosophical debate what is more important Talmud Torah/Torah situation.  It is clear that doing ma’asim tovim is what we should be doing, but it is the Talmud Torah that leads us to do the ma’asim tovim. There is a passage from the Talmud (Shabbat 127a) that is part of the daily morning service that reminds us what we should be doing with our time: Honoring our parents, deeds of loving-kindness, setting a time to study Torah – morning and evening, providing hospitality, visiting the sick, providing for a needy bride, attending a funeral, probing the meaning of prayer, making peace between one person and another and between a husband and a wife – And the study of Torah is the most important of them all. Set a time to study and the live a life of purpose.

To assist you in this task, for what greater job is there for a rabbi than the teaching of Torah? I am going to offer the following: 1) When we move the start time of our Shabbat morning service from 9 to 9:30 next month, I will continue to come at 9 and study with anyone who wants to learn before services; 2) I will include an educational component to both the Friday night and the Shabbat morning service so that we can learn more about the prayers we say; 3) I will offer to study &/or sing Shabbat songs at our weekly Kiddish on non-Bar/t Mitzvah weeks; 4) at noon on Sunday’s whenever Religious school is in session and I’m not off doing a lifecycle event, I will offer a synagogue skills course, so that anyone who wants to come and learn anything from Opening the Ark to lifting the Torah to doing an aliya to serving as Gabbai until there is nothing left that people want to learn. If you have other times or other topics you’d like to study, let me know and I’ll be happy to accommodate you.

The fourth question from Rava is Tzipita li’yeshuah? Did you hope for deliverance? Or in Wolfson’s words, “Did you live with hope in your heart?” (p. 57). This is first question that is not about what you do, but about your attitude. Or to put it another way, are you a glass half-empty or a glass half-full kind of person? Wolfson points out that creation according to our tradition is “good” and that we are supposed to live lives filled with awe and wonder at the miracles that surround us daily. We can’t control the things others do or say, we only have control over how we respond to them, we can choose to have a positive attitude, we can choose to live with hope in our hearts.

The fifth and final Rava question is Pilpalta b’chochmah, havanta davar mitoch davar? Did you seek wisdom; did you understand one thing from another? Here the question is asking did you learn from your experiences. Did you grow as a person? Wolfson paraphrases it, “When you look at your life, did you get your priorities straight?” In other words, could you distinguish between what was important and what was not? If you come to learn what is most important to you and if you spend your time on that which you value, then you will be living a life of purpose and meaning. That’s the challenge, that’s the goal. Pirkei Avot, the Wisdom of our Ancestors, asks Ayze hu chacham? Who is wise? Melomed mekol adam. One who learns from everyone. Everyone has wisdom to impart , our job is to seek wisdom and gain understanding of who we are and what’s important.

The sixth question is gleaned from the life of Samson Raphael Hirsch who surprised his disciples one day when he insisted upon traveling to Switzerland to see the Alps. “When I stand before the Almighty,” he explained, “I will be answerable to many questions… But what will I say … and I’m sure to be asked: ‘Why didn’t you see my Alps?’” There is a passage in the Yerushalmi that says, “A human being will have to give account for all that his eye beheld and he did not eat.” Kiddushin 4:12 In other words life is meant to be enjoyed and lived to the fullest, so that you are answerable for the things you could do that you did not. In Biblical times people could take the vow of a Nazir and for a period, usually a month, they were dedicated to God. They would eat no meat, drink no wine nor would they cut their hair. When their period of service dedicated to God was over, they were obligated to bring a sin offering to the Temple, what was their sin? That they did not fully enjoy all that life had to offer while dedicated to God. There are many lists of things to do to fully enjoy life. It does not matter so much what is on your list as that you have one and you are doing your best to enjoy life. Life is gift, life is blessing, Yom Kippur reminds us that our time is limited and so we must make the most of every day that we are given.

The seventh question comes from the famous Hasidic tale of Reb Zusya. Reb Zusya was on his death bed crying. All his disciples were gathered around and they asked him why he was crying. He replied, When I get to heaven I’m not concerned that they will ask me why I wasn’t more like Moses because I’m no Moses; but when they ask me, “Zusya why were you not more like Zusya?” What shall I say? This is the ultimate question. Are we doing everything in our power to be a fully actualized human being, are we growing and developing into the person we are meant to be, are we fulfilling our potential? This is the existential question that can plague each of us. My father turned me on to the pithy sayings of Emerson and Thoreau, Wolfson quotes Emerson, “Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is to you.” So how do we go about making the most of ourselves? In many ways by living our lives based on how we answered the first six questions. Wolfson gives three suggestions to contemplate: Vocation – What is your calling? Relations – How good are your relationships? Ministrations – How are you serving others?

In the end, each of us will have different answers to the questions. The challenge is finding the right answers for yourself. Life is a journey and Yom Kippur is an opportunity to reflect upon the path that you have chosen. So on this most sacred night of the year, wrestle with these ultimate questions; for we are the Children of Israel, B’nai Yisrael, and Yisrael is one who wrestles with God. May each of us be blessed to become even more the person we are meant to be in the year to come. Life is choices. Every day we have before us choices and opportunities. In the words of the Torah – I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose Life! (Dt. 30:19)

G’mar Hatima Tova/May we all be Sealed for a Good Year!