Reflections from Rabbi Ellis

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, is nearly upon us. We are all busy preparing for festive meals with our families and (too) many hours in the synagogue. What is the actual significance of this day, what should we feel and how should we properly prepare for this day?

The Babylonian Talmud states:  Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah: one for the completely wicked, one for the completely righteous, and one for those in between. The completely righteous are written and sealed immediately for life; the completely wicked are written and sealed immediately for death; the intermediate people wait from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement): if they are found to be meritorious, they are written for life, if not they are written for death. (Rosh Hashanah 16b)

What exactly is the book of life and death? Further who is writing and who is sealing these books? It’s hard for me to understand these books as simply a record of who will live and die in the coming year. We all know righteous people who in spite of their righteousness live short lives, and the media is full of examples of despicable people who stay alive even though they persist in their wickedness.

Esther Perel, when describing the community of Holocaust survivors that raised her, said there were two kinds of people there. There were those who had not died and there were those who were actually alive. A beating heart is not the same as a loving heart. Those written in the book of life will have a year full of life and a life worth living. It does not mean that they will have an easy year or even one free of troubles. Maybe they won’t even live through the whole year, but they will live lives full of meaning. Why is this the reward for a completely righteous person? Because the righteous are able to see the meaning possible in each moment. Every moment is another chance to connect to G!d, to connect to others and to bring more love into our world. They are written immediately in the book of life because they are already there.

Who then is writing our names in these books? It seems that we are. Thoughts and intentions form the ink while our actions are the letters that write the story of our life and our names in these books. We, and we alone have the power to determine in what book our name is written. 

Who then seals the book? G!d seals the book with the word Emet - truth. Emet is the seal of G!d, that is why we say “Emet” each time the Torah reader finishes reading from the Torah. While G!d gives us the privilege and responsibility to choose whether we are written in the book of life or death, G!d forbid, it is not a subjective judgment. Whatever we say or decide about our lives must stand up to the ultimate test, the test of truth.

What then should we be doing to prepare ourselves for Rosh Hashanah, for the day when the books of life and death are open before us? First, we need to review the past year and see where and why we failed to fill our lives with life, when we let habit and lethargy take control of us, when we failed to give attention and intention to our family and colleagues. Second, we have to focus on our goals in life, which ultimately is connection; connection to others, to ourselves and connection to G!d. Third, we need to resolve to strive for truth, to be honest with ourselves about our thoughts and motivations and to learn to speak truth to others in a way that they can receive it. If we do this will life be easier? Probably not, but it will be full of connection, full of value and full of life.

May we all be written together in the book of good life!

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova Umetuka!

Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis