High Holy Days Sermons 5785

By Rabbi Ari Margolis

Saturday, October 12, 2024

Can I get an AMEN?

Thank you... I appreciate the trust, but, why? Do you know what you’re amening? ... I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make you feel bad, especially on Yom Kippur - I should be saying thank you - after all, I did ask for it! And you were kind enough and generous to amen me back, and I see you and appreciate you! So, thank you!

Do we know what we’re saying when we say, “Amen?” I mean, we only say it about a gazillion times throughout our High Holy Days (I actually sat and started counting, and gazillion was as accurate as I could get)...

Amen is a word that comes from our Hebrew root - Alef, Mem, Nun, a combination of letters that connote belief. L’ha’amin means “To Believe,” Emunah means, “Faith.” So Amen is a way of saying, “I believe!” When responding to a prayer or a blessing, it’s our way of saying, “That’s what I would have said!” “My sentiments, exactly!” “I’m with ya!”

So, now that you know a little more about “Amen”...

Let’s test this out. Let’s see if I can get an amen:

• I love all the ads and phone calls and text messages I get leading into an election season!

ok, you’re getting it! Oy, I don’t love the election ads... I just told a lie on Yom Kippur, I know it was facetious...

hmmm... interesting, either there are some ad executives out there, or we’re not quite catching on...

Anyway, let's try again: Can I get an “Amen” 

• I was rooting for the hot rabbi and Kristen Bell in the show, “Nobody Wants This” - they’re adorable.

Ok, some of us know what I’m talking about, so I’m getting some Amens, others, you’re sitting on the sidelines, AS YOU SHOULD! (If you don’t know what I’m referring to, then don’t Amen me… if you DO know the show, and you’re not rooting for them, c’mon!)

• (Also, no spoilers please, I’ve only seen a few episodes - not a lot of time for Netflix while preparing for the High Holidays...)

Ok, let’s try one more, this one’s bound to get a few more “Amens”: 

• “I’m hungry and thirsty”

There we go - and I can see you meant it!

See, doesn’t it feel better to be a bit discerning with our Amens? I mean, not that we should withhold them and only dole them out sparingly, we don’t have a limited reserve. As I pointed out - we’ve got a gazillion of them throughout our service - now a gazillion and three, if you believed all three of those statements . . . But the idea I’m getting at is that when we say amen, we’re supposed to BELIEVE. We’re not supposed to just say AMEN because the words are there, because someone is asking us to - each Amen in our liturgy is an invitation for us to MEAN what we are praying, to stand for an idea and express a hope.

Amen is a source of connection.  I mean, now y’all know who you can talk to about Netflix shows with Jewish content - (maybe we need to have some kind of watch party discussion group?) Amen is an acknowledgement of someone else - not just, “Yeah, yeah, wonderful, great - can you pass the remote?” It’s fully embracing the other - putting aside everything else, and turning our attention fully to the one in front of us, as if that was The One we were talking to. THAT is giving an Amen. It expresses to the other, “I believe in YOU.” 

Ideally, Amen becomes more than just a word - It’s a declaration, a whole-hearted emoting of our soul, meant to spurn us into action. As you have heard me say at other parts of our services, we pray in our tradition to motivate us towards action - we pray for peace, now let’s go oseh shalom, let’s go out and make our prayers come true - that’s the real way to Amen.

Amen is not clicking “like” on a post and then scrolling to the next post in the algorithm pile. Amen is sharing that post, doing research on whatever appeals to you about the post, and figuring out how you can heed the call that is being asked of us, and going out to make a difference because of what we have seen. A true Amen sticks with us, we carry that belief with us on the forefront of our minds, so that it can influence what we do next. Amen is hearing the news that a friend has suffered a loss and picking up the phone to comfort them, bringing them a meal, checking on them three months after the loss, when the phone calls slow down and reality the weight of loss sets in.

When we put our Amen into action, we are living with integrity - allowing our words to match our actions, showing what we believe through what we do. And on Yom Kippur, that’s one of our goals - to begin again in this new year, with commitments to show up for good and for peace through the actions we will take, not from just thoughts alone. Amen aids us in aligning our beliefs and actions.

That’s what we’re here to do today - to find our amen for the new year. I know in our services, sometimes we go so fast through some of the prayers, it’s hard to let them really sink in. Al Cheit Shechatanu - for the harm we’ve caused when we haven’t believed in ourselves. We have a momentary head nod, perhaps a specific moment comes to mind for an instant, but do we stick with the thought long enough to get to the root of our mistakes, so we can attempt to change our ways and improve for the next year? That would be Amen... Look, I lead and prepare these services, and at the speed we pray, I sometimes have trouble getting that personal and that deep in my connection to some of these reflections. Instead, perhaps at some point in the day when you’re not in services, take that makhzor, open to our Al Cheits, and find just one that speaks to you, that allows you to go deep in that reflection and find your Amen.

Take our Haftarah - what is the point of this fast? Not to just think about how hungry we are - it’s to use this newfound understanding of hunger to serve as a connection to those who feel this hunger on a daily basis - to stretch our empathy muscles, so the next time we encounter someone in need of food, we are more inclined to say, “Amen” - I see you, I notice you, let me be here for you. It’s the reminder to give to the food pantry, to volunteer in our mitzvah garden. What will your amen be this year?

Another aspect of saying Amen comes from seeing the person you might be struggling with, wrestling with, as a whole human and not just a symbol of the stance with which you disagree. If we are seeking an “amen,” we can almost always find something inside of another person to amen. Doing so, though, means being willing to sit with those who have opposing views and being fully present, giving them the opportunity to do the same. In her recent book, The Amen Effect, Rabbi Sharon Braus shared an anecdote in which she was Israel, speaking of the dangers of a growing religious extremism, warning that it has spurred on a growing set of oppressive policies towards non-Orthodox Jews, women, gay Jews, and Palestinians. One of the rabbis present was one of the leaders of a settler movement in Israel - he excoriated her for her words, declared there is no religious extremism, and acknowledged that she had hurt his feelings. She took that as an opportunity to sit together with him. They set up a lunch, and they talked for three hours. She walked away feeling they couldn’t agree on anything except for liking the same kind of kugel. She was still worried about the impact he might make on the world, but also found that she could now see him as a human, not a caricature, that she could even hold a fondness for him, while still disagreeing. A few years later, she read an article in which he had broken from other rabbis in his movement and warned of the dangers of extremism growing in their midst. It turns out his change of heart stemmed from encounters like the one they had together.¹ Maybe his Amen didn’t come right away, but eventually, he found a way to say Amen to her.

In our world today, the easiest choice we can make is to write people off when they disagree or say something counter to our values or even our opinions. But that is the opposite of an amen -  the “anti-amen”. While our tradition would encourage us to hold people accountable for their words and deeds - afterall, isn’t that WHY we’re here today on Yom Kippur? - it also pushes us to seek understanding and connection, even with those we disagree. To find somewhere, someway, for us to say Amen to one another, and to know that even if we failed to find a way to do so in one conversation, it doesn’t mean we won’t be able to in the next, and it doesn’t mean that there haven’t been seeds planted in each of us to find a deeper understanding of the other. As Rabbi Brous reflected on her experience, “human understanding is no substitute for real accountability or for systemic change. But it’s also not an impediment to those righteous outcomes. If anything, it may be a prerequisite.”² Finding our way to Amen is one of our tools to carry with us as we make this a year of Oseh Shalom. 

Within these prayers, these encounters with others, these messages calling out to us, inviting us to say, “Amen” - we find our own insight that we can believe - and when we do, we not only connect with the other, we connect with that source of God that is inside each of us, striving to pull us towards what is good and just and holy. And from that spark within, we declare, YES - I get that, I see it, I want to do it. We allow ourselves to be called to something bigger than ourselves.

So far these holidays, we have learned about navigating the chaos of our times through acts of tefilah, teshuvah and tzedakah, reflection, return and acts of generous giving, as Rabbi Sarah mentioned so poignantly Erev Rosh Hashanah, we’ve committed ourselves to making this a year of Oseh Shalom, a year of making peace, and we have asked you to become a little bit of light in the midst of the storms that swirl around us... If each of these sermons are going to be more than just words, they require us to answer with our AMEN actions - to take these thoughts with us, and not just leave them here in the walls of our sanctuary, or in the confines of your screen.

So, this Yom Kippur, let’s not just go through the motions, say the obligatory “amens” in our makhzor, and get ready for our break-fast. Let’s use today to find our Amen!

Let’s begin again in this year with hope, with believing, with our hearts staying open to all the gifts we’re receiving. Let’s look for reasons to say Amen in our lives, so we can connect with others, so we can affirm those who need us. Let’s help others get to amen, even in the face of disagreements. Let’s listen to the small, still voice within us, yearning to find reasons to say Amen, to believe in that which is bigger than ourselves, alone. 

So, now that we understand how to “amen” a bit better, let’s use this new, old tool at our disposal to begin this new year again. Let’s begin again:

• Can I get an amen if you are still listening.

• Can I get an amen if you are ready to bring hope, especially when others seem to be down.

• Can I get an amen if you’re going to overcome a mistake of the past year.

• Can I get an amen if you’re ready to make it a wonderful new year.

• May we mean it when we say “Amen”,

and may our amen actions help us to make this a meaningful new year of connection, belief, hope and peace - and let us say...