Faith Matters: Samuel Radwine

Faith Matters: Jewish tradition calls for annual accounting

Time to make plans for good

I have a confession to make: I hate visiting the accountant every year. It is that annual obligation where I must confront the fact that I don't always plan well financially. Even with digitalization, my records are not as accurate as they might be. Did I remember all of the receipts that should have been kept? Might I have given more to charities so that my tax liability might be lessened? Should I have asked for more withholding? Can't I just close my eyes and have the accountant make it all go away?

Silly Rabbi, you might say -- and you would be right! But there is nothing silly about our Yamim Nora'im -- our Days of Awe, which is the period between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. Essentially, our Jewish tradition is asking us to do the same thing as we might do preceding April 15. Our tradition demands much the same thing of us: Cheshbon HaNefesh -- an accounting of the soul. Just as our accountant examines our financial state, so too, are we asked to examine our spiritual state. What were our experiences of the past year? What might we have done differently? How might we have worked to better ourselves, our community, our world? And how much of that can I do differently in the year to come?

The imagery that our tradition offers is the opportunity to change! We have these Ten Days of Repentance to do things differently. But just as April 15 comes every year, so does Ne'ilah -- the figurative "Closing of the Gates" at the end of Yom Kippur.

It is hard for me to realize that I have just celebrated my fifth year here in Northwest Arkansas. I am continually grateful for those in the many sectors of this community who work simply for the common good. Sometimes it seems like a daunting task. From our sacred text, Mishnah Avot, our sages remind us: "You are not obligated to complete the work; nor are you free from the entering into that work."

The imagery that we call on each year during this period is the idea that there is a Sefer Chayim -- a Book of Life -- in which all our deeds are recorded and reviewed. We say that "On Rosh HaShanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed." As Jews, we wish, not only for each other, but for our larger community to be "sealed for good," in the Jewish year 5782. Let me take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you "g'mar tov" -- to be sealed for good in the Book of Life.

Samuel Radwine is the rabbi for Congregation Etz Chaim in Bentonville and cantor emeritus of Congregation Ner Tamid of South Bay in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Email him at sradwine@gmail.com.

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