A Teaching While Standing on the Shoulders of My Lineage Forebears
Founded on the teachings of those who are wise and who know, I open my mouth in prayer and supplication.
So begins, in my reading, the “Misod” paragraph inserted by the prayer leader in the first blessing of the Amidah, the standing central prayer of the morning and afternoon services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In that spirit of gratitude and with pride in the lineage - read to the end of this post for more on that - to which I humbly belong, I share a teaching about Malchuyot, Zichronot and Shofarot, which are among the major themes of the upcoming High Holy Days.
The teaching that follows is an adaptation by Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan, Ph.D. of a teaching of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. Reb Zalman was Rabbi Julie’s teacher and the teacher of my teachers. Rabbi Julie gives over this teaching as a guided meditation during the Rosh Hashanah service, so imagine hearing her words in that context as you read on.
Introduction
The Sages instruct us to meditate upon three themes during Rosh Hashanah Musaf: “Malchuyot”, G-d’s Sovereignty, “Zichronot”, remembrance, and “Shofarot”, the sound of the Shofar. To this end, I offer guided moments of meditation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi of blessed memory, punctuated by our prayers and the sounds of the shofar. You can also explore more reflections and biblical verses on each theme in your machzor. We begin this section with the Great Alenu, during which many have the custom to prostrate ourselves by bowing all the way to the ground, reconnecting with the earth, just as our ancestors did in Temple times.
Malchuyot
On the Days of Awe, we emphasize the name, the divine metaphor of G-d as melech, the sovereign. As we begin this section of our service, let us take a short pause to reflect, to recalibrate our priorities for the year ahead. I invite you to take a quiet moment now to consider:
What is my highest value…and do I live my life in accordance with it?
What is my personal concept of G-d…and can I make it any higher this New Year?
Zichronot
“Zichronot”…remembrances. Rosh Hashanah is called “Yom Hazikaron”, the Day of Remembrance. There are countless Hasidic tales for this season which describe a prince or princess who is lost and has forgotten his or her true royal identity. Thus the soul in this world forgets her high source and gets lost in material concerns. As we begin this section devoted to the theme of remembering, I invite you to take a moment, to go deep inside, far beneath the outer layers of our social masks and identities. On this holy day, I invite you to take just a few moments to let go of the busy rush of the year and to:
Remember who you really are,
Remember your deeper spiritual identity,
Reconnect with your own soul (or: Remember your soul’s home).
Shofarot
We have taken time for quiet contemplation. But the piercing cry of the shofar awakens us and serves as a call to action. As we read the verses of Shofarot and sound the final shofar blasts of the morning, I invite you to hear this sound anew (to open your soul) to a “personal call to action” for the year ahead.
Listen deeply as the shofar calls today.
What is the shofar crying out to you to “do” in the year ahead?
The lineage to which I referred, reaching back through time, humbles me whenever I consider it. Many of my teachers and mentors on my cantor’s path received smicha (ordination) from Reb Zalman. That part of my lineage includes Rabbi Julie and also Rabbi David Zaslow. Many of those reading this know one or both of Rabbi Julie and Reb David. Reb Zalman came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1941 and studied for his rabbinic ordination in Brooklyn with the rabbis of Chabad Lubavitch led by the Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn. The Lubavitcher rebbes trace their lineage back to Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, who was a student of Rabbi Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezeritch. Rabbi Dov Baer was a principal disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, the early 18th century founder of the modern Hasidic stream of Judaism. There are more faint, distant traces of this lineage further back in time. So, with some perhaps wishful twists and turns, I stand in this amazing lineage of holy and wise men and women, teachers of Torah writ large and keepers of the flame. Rabbi Lisa is in this lineage, too, with roots and branches of her own.
With blessings for a week of peace and health and some of the transformations Elul offers,
Hazzan Steve
החזן שלמה זלמן עיט בן מרדכי מרגלן
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