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The noted Israeli author and Nobel laureate in literature, Shai Agnon, shared the following Talmudic parable:
“A person had been wandering about in a forest for several days, unable to find the way out. Finally, upon seeing someone approaching in the distance, the wanderer, with a joyous heart, thought: “Now I shall surely find out which is the right way out of this forest.”
When they neared each other, the wanderer asked the stranger: “Will you please tell me the way out of the forest? I have been wandering about here for several days, and I am unable to find my way out.”
The other replied: “I am sorry, but I do not know the way out either, for I too have been wandering about here for many days. But this much I can tell you. Do not go the way I have gone, for I know that this is not the way. Now come, let us search for the way out together.”
So it is, with us. The one thing that each of us knows is that the way we have been going until now is not the way. Now come, let us join hands and look for the way together.”
The forest is a metaphor for life. This year’s journey through the marvelous, yet confounding, experience of life may have led us astray. We may have become lost amidst the smoke and mirrors of division, wars, illness, climate change, political upheaval, and death. Hopes for the future may have been dimmed by the realities of the present. The path forward may no longer be discernible.
Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur bring together fellow Jews spiritually seeking a new day, new spirit, new direction. What we know is from where we have come is not the place we had hoped to be. The High Holydays offer us is an opportunity to continue the journey anew alongside other seekers who share in our search.
Judaism teaches us we can begin, again! Aveinu Mal’keinu-Our Divine Parent and King, graciously answer our call, lovingly direct us on your path to a year of health, happiness, and peace.
I extend a heartfelt Shana Tova to every member of this Kehillah Kedosha-holy and sacred congregation.
Rabbi Howard Siegel
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