Awaken from the discord, try kindness and compromise

... “Awake, O sleepers from your sleep! Rise, O
slumberers from your slumber! Scrutinize your deeds,
return with contrition! Remember your creator!” ...
(Maimonides, on the meaning of the sound of the shofar)

From the beginning of the month of Elul, the last of the Jewish calendar, our tradition is to sound daily the shofar, a ram’s horn, at the morning prayers. The Shofar calls us to introspection and Teshuva (repentance, literally “return”). This season should bring us closer to God and to other people. According to a beautiful tradition, people ask one another for forgiveness in the event they might have hurt one another inadvertently (of course, hurting somebody’s feelings intentionally is a very serious transgression that, according to the Talmud, cannot be atoned for, or forgiven by God but only by the victim).

We live in an age when our society is divided and polarized. Social media, which once was hoped to become a way for people to connect and engage constructively with one another, has become a focal point for division and the willful distribution of falsehoods meant to enrage and deepen the divide. Studies show that the more time people spend on social media the more likely they are to experience mental distress, unhappiness and even depression.

Perhaps we should use the shofar as a wake up call to free ourselves from the tyranny of our phones. We need to connect directly and meaningfully with the people around us. We need to be willing to ask forgiveness from others for anything we might have done, said, emailed or tweeted that caused them hurt, and we also need to be willing to forgive others for our own hurt feelings. A beautiful prayer that Jewish tradition asks us to say every night before going to sleep reads:

“Sovereign of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who has hurt me, and anyone who has done me any wrong; whether it was deliberately or by accident, whether it was done by word or by deed. May no one be punished on my account. May it be Your will, my God and God of my ancestors, that I sin no more, that I do not anger You any more by my actions. May I do not do that which is evil in Your sight. With Your great compassion, wipe away the sins that I have committed, but not through sickness or suffering. May the words Of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable before You, God, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

May we all take these words to heart. May we all awaken to a Jewish New Year of forgiveness and reconciliation, a year of blessings, joy and peace.