Avinu Malkeynu
by Rabbi Andrew Goldstein
What a beautiful summer it has been - at least
in Britain. In France, far too hot with thousands dying of the
heat, and in other parts of the world hurricanes and storms
and raging forest fires. Who is to deny global warming? Yet
weather variations have always been one of the uncertainties
of life. The Talmud narrates that some time in the second century
CE there was a terrible drought in Israel. Rabbi Eliezer stood
in front of the Ark all day and recited the 24 fixed formulations
of prayers to be said at such a time of emergency. But his prayers
were not answered. Then came Rabbi Akiva and composed his own
short prayer:
“Avinu Malkeynu, our Father our King,
we have no king but You. Our Father, our King, for your sake
have compassion on us”. (Ta’anit 25b)
And after his short but heartfelt prayer it started to rain.
Short maybe - but over time verses were added to this clearly
popular formula. By the 8th century Rav Amram’s prayerbook
had 24; Sephardi prayerbooks go up to 32, the Poles 44 and the
Jews of Salonika 53. Count if you will - we settled on 13 because
the full recitation usually comes before the recitation of God’s
13 Attributes “Adonai, Adonai, El Rachum”.
And I can tell you the translation of just 2 words gave us
the biggest headache in the 7 years we spent in creating this
Machzor Ruach Chadashah. Avinu Malkeynu - our Father, our King
- problems from day one if you are setting out to compose a
prayerbook with a gender-neutral English translation.
I’m a shlemeel, a fool, for even starting on this subject
for the last sermon of these High Holydays. So far I’ve
escaped fairly lightly. There have been no earthquakes or lightening
strikes to punish me for daring to challenge “Gate of
Repentance”. And so far, I’ll be honest, few criticisms
and quite a lot of approval. After 38 years of preaching I should
have known better … well, I’ve started, so I’ll
finish.
Avinu: of course it has always been translated
as and meant literally “our Father” who art in
heaven. Were we wrong to demolish the picture of the aged
man with white beard in the sky? A modern feminist liturgist,
Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig, depicted God as a greying, late
middle-aged woman.
“She moves more slowly now. Her hair is thinning. Her
face is lined. Her eyes tire, sometimes She strains to hear.
Yet She remembers everything. God sits at Her kitchen table,
opens the Book of Memories and begins turning the page. God
kvels over the achievements of Her children, but laments their
waywardness. “They rarely visit me” She sighs. However
if we did visit Her, She would seat us at her table and pour
us a cup of tea” (Reform Judaism, Fall 1992).
Maureen Lipman … another fabulous role for you. But
beyond laughter there is as much validity in that picture as
that of the beamy, rosy faced man with a bushy beard.
Problem is, one image works for some, and not for others.
I loved both my late parents - but it was my mother who brought
me up, it was my mother who made me Jewish, it was my mother
who set me on the path that led to the rabbinate. My father
beamed at good news, never said a word of encouragement nor
attended one school open evening. But I loved him. Others have
reported abusive fathers, others never got on with their mothers
… to have one picture painted of God will not do if you
are thinking of the words - not just saying “Avinu Malkeynu”
or even “Our Father, Our King” as a mantra …
though such saying has its value. But if you want the meaning
of the words, you have to go beyond.
“Our parent” … too many single parent families
too PC. Avinu - go deeper into its meaning … it means
a parent, who loves and cares for us, yet does so with wisdom
so that we learn, are not indulged or pampered, we are forgiven,
but still are urged to do better - so that we learn to cope
with life’s difficulties and are supported when they get
too heavy. It implies the God who can be very close to us.
Avinu - we tried every word in the Thesaurus to find the right
English word … and ended up with Creator. I’ll admit
not 100% correct, but the best we could find, though having
found it maybe not a bad choice in a new world that sees life
created in a test tube, that sees stray cells turned into whatever
the scientist wants to create … or so it seems …
amazing. And yet is life just about such scientific cooking
in the laboratory - is there no sacred dimension? And Sovereign,
less of a problem, better than king maybe in a country ruled
by a Queen. Though again a potential difficulty envisioning
God as a Ruler, Sovereign, King or Queen, President, Prime Minister
… all round a problem: our Royal Family hardly good role
models of family values and adherence to the commandments. Our
political leaders, do we trust their judgement - do we always
trust them - for I suddenly realise that trust and faith are
the key words in the prayer that started so simply in Rabbi
Akiva’s heartfelt plea.
Last night I talked about my research, gradually getting to
know Rabbi Dr Feder, the last rabbi of Kolin, his congregation
and the people he met and cared for in Terezin trusted him and
he never let them down.
Earlier this year, having seen that film of the year: the
Pianist, I talked about another hero of those dark days, Janusz
Korczak who ran an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto, and like
Feder had the chance to escape, seek his own safety, but stayed
with his children to the end. Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg tells
of an entry in Korczak’s diary one night in 1942 - shortly
before Korczak and his orphans were led to the transport that
he knew would take them to the death camp. “How quickly
the hours pass. Just now it is midnight and already it is 3
in the morning. I had a visitor in my bed. Mendelek had a bad
dream. He stroked my face and went to sleep. Later Mendelek
woke up screaming. I told him to lie down and reassured him.
`I’ll be by your bed working. If you are frightened, I
will be there” . What an example - to create a sense of
security and trust in such a place at such a time. And he carried
on like this on the march to the train and in the line that
led to the gas chamber.
Avinu Malkeynu, talks of trust and also of discipline - God
is a caring figure, ever by our side especially in times of
trouble, though beaming with joy at our successes. And yet,
like a benevolent ruler, teaching us discipline, teaching us
to understand that our lives are not perfect: like a school
report, acceptable but could do better. And because we have
trust, accepting the advice, admitting our faults, and setting
out to try harder in the future. Surely this is the very meaning
and purpose of these Days of Awe.
There is a telling poem by Ruth Brin in the Reflections at
the beginning of the Machzor: “I might imagine God as
teacher or friend, but these images, like king, master, father
or mother are too small for me now”.
And that is the very essence of what we have
tried to do in this Machzor - referring to God by many names
and manifestations; offering different paths to help you find
your way to God’s presence. Indeed Shechina - a traditional
feminine aspect of God, we translate as Divine Presence -
its essential meaning, Mekor Chayyenu, Source of our Life
- for in a world of the 21st century that holds as many uncertainties
as when Rabbi Akiva sought relief from drought, in a world
that has solved so many problems, but discovered many more,
in a world of terrorist threat, society imploding, and despite
the incredible technology that brings to our pocket a machine
that does ever more wonders, a world of sad chat rooms - of
emptiness, of lack of purpose and direction in so many lives.
In such a world, a Divine Presence, is so sadly needed, a
religious tradition compassionate not fundamentalist.
A spiritual life is needed to give a balance and sanity to
our modern crazy ever busier rush through the days of our existence.
And Rabbi Akiva’s prayer - and the final verse of our
Avinu Malkeynu is the very firstlesson we must learn. He said:
“ For Your sake have compassion on us”. We now say:
“Be gracious to us, answer us, for there is little merit
in us”. In this sentence, in this most personal prayer,
we seek to exclude our personal needs, our ego. For God’s
sake let us be forgiven and blessed, not for our sake alone.
Once we can say that we deserve merit and may be answered. That
was the power of Rabbi Akiva’s prayer. And that, as we
approach the end of the Day of Atonement, as we begin the last
service, the last chance … that is the real call of this
and these Days … to put others’ needs before our
own to think not always of ourselves, but of our children and
parents and grandparents
to think of our friends and colleagues and their needs, not
just our own
to think of our community and our synagogue and think of supporting
one of its functions before sloping off to the cinema on our
own, because in community we support others
to think of others in our society and in our world who really
need our thoughts and practical help
And all of this is summed up in a prayer newly
created for this new Machzor - it is the epitome of Liberal
Judaism to revere the tradition and seek to find new meaning
in it, but also to create new paths that lead us back to God
and a better life, to give us a Lev Chadash, a new heart,
and to put a Ruach Chadashah, new spirit, within us.
Let Shechina Mekor Chayyenu be your text for
this coming year: It would also be the very prayer and text
in the hearts of our grieving brothers and sisters in Israel
on this Yom Kippur as they face uncertain days ahead …
but let it be your personal text and agenda for the year to
come:
“Divine Presence, Source of our lives,
fortify our desire to do good that we may overcome our tendency
to do evil.
Teach us to use the gentle answer that turns
away wrath.
Let us be among those who bring healing and
peace to Your world”.
For only by praying first to improve our resolve
and think of others do we deserve the final blessing.
Divine Presence, Source of our lives, grant that we and our
children may have a future and a hope.
May this be our will as it is God’s will,
and let us say, Amen.
Rabbi Andrew Goldstein is senior rabbi of Northwood
& Pinner Liberal Synagogue
This sermon was given on Yom Kippur Afternoon
5764 – 6th October 2003
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