by Maggid Zelig Golden
25 Elul 5775 | September 8, 2015
In just five days shofars will sound 100 times all around the world, calling in the New Year with that primal sound that wakes us up to this pivotal moment in the Hebrew calendar. Every year we have the opportunity to mark the Jewish New Year by doing teshuva, the spiritual work of “return” to right alignment with ourselves, community, earth, and God. This year is particularly powerful because when those shofars blow, we end the shmita year 5775, and begin a new seven year cycle.
While the shmita laws of resting the land and releasing economic debts explicitly concern the seventh year, they must guide our behavior during the preceding six years. How can we live abundantly from the land during a fallow year if we do not prepare well in advance? How can we release debts if we wait to deal with critical economic issues at the last minute? How can we live in right relationship with anything if we do not stop to reflect, design, and conduct our lives with clear intention? Living with the cycles of the seasons, within the cycles of our lives, creates rhythms that support this.
Our tradition is brilliantly designed around cycles. Every seventh day we are invited to rest. Every year during this month of Elul and between Rosh Hoshana and Yom Kippur we “return” to align our relationships and prepare for the next year. Every seven years we are called to gather the entire tribe during Sukkot in a very special event called the Hakhel, literally “gathering,” to realign our communal intention as we begin the next seven-year cycle:
At the end of every seven years, at an appointed time, in the Festival of Sukkot
[following] the year of Shmitah. When all Israel comes to appear before the Creator, your G‑d, in the place It will choose, you shall read this Torah before all Israel, in their ears. Assemble the people: the men, the women, the children… (Deuteronomy 31:10-12)
In ancient times when our tribes were together in Israel, a king would stand up and read the Torah out loud before the people, focusing specifically on aspects addressing responsibilities to lead in a good way. Accountability was a critical theme—to whom the King was accountable and how he was to conduct himself to serve and protect. We have no kingdom; in fact we have no centralized Jewish leadership today. Hakhel, however, rings true. As we begin the next seven year cycle, let’s gather as communities to address one critical question: How do we want to function together as a community?
This year at Wilderness Torah’s 9th annual Sukkot on the Farm festival, we will focus on the theme L’dor V’dor (from generation to generation), engaging in an all-community exploration of how the generations relate to each other. We will ask questions like: What are the pressing issue facing each generation? What are the unique gifts of each generation? How might we reweave the fabric of different generations so that our community ecology is truly connected, interwoven, and resilient? We invite you to join us at Sukkot to the Farm this year to celebrate the coming rains and join the hakhel exploration of how we want to step into the next seven-year cycle!
Regardless of where you are this coming Sukkot, may we all deeply reflect on how we envision the healthiest and most vibrant expression of our communities for the coming year and this next seven-year cycle.
Shana Tova u’Metuka — Happy & Sweet New Year!
