Away back in 1991 when I was into mountain biking – I did part of the “The South Downs Way”,
a 100 mile long bridle path that runs from Eastbourne to Winchester.
Sermon for 1st Day Rosh Hashanah
2009/5770
by Rabbi Geoffrey Hyman
One day whilst cycling along I saw a fellow human in the distance walking towards me. The
question in my mind was who would give way? Me the cyclist or the walker! May I add that it
was March time, and so it was rather cold and damp with few people on the path – so it was
nice to spot a fellow human! As we got nearer and approached each other, we both stopped and
started talking!
We talked briefly about the path, the scenery and where we had come from. And then the chap
asked me: “are you Jewish?”
I thought, do I look so Jewish? I confessed to, not only being Jewish, but a Rabbi too! He
quipped back, obviously reform! Not realising that even orthodox Rabbis do live in the real
world. “No, orthodox,” I replied. He told me he lived in South London but had long ago given
up being a member of a shul. Then our conversation changed, we talked earnestly about the
situation in Israel (I can’t remember what was happening in Israel at the time), but we
shared joint insights into some issues facing us a people and so after a while we departed
and continued our journeys in opposite directions.
I suppose nowadays we would have exchanged email addresses, but then, that was it. The
exchange actually left a impression on me, for when I returned back to Woodside Park, where
I was Rabbi at the time, I used the story in a sermon to illustrate the bond that unites us
as Jews. One minute we were merely isolated sojourners on an ancient bridle path, but on
meeting we were Jews who shared a common ancestry and tradition with a bigger picture of the
world.
Dear friends, this story came to mind, when I decided to speak today on the subject Jewish
Pride, which was actually prompted by reading last Rosh Hashanah, the final essay in the
Chief Rabbi’s inspiring booklet, “Ten Days, Ten Ways”.
This story reminded me of how magnificent we are as a people. The two of us, hitherto
complete strangers in the middle of nowhere, yet feeling a bond because we are Jewish - that
is tremendous, and that is one reason that I’m proud to be Jew and it gives me a sense of
belonging.
I often think of how I am here as a Jew only because generations of my ancestors chose to
identify and continue that line of tradition. Why? Because they were proud to be part of the
Jewish people.
And so I realise, like all my direct ancestors, I am that link in the chain of Jewish life
that connects the past to the future.
This makes me proud to be a Jew and gives me a sense of belonging.
I look back at Jewish history and think about our heroes, they weren’t great physical
warriors winning wars on battle fields, rather they were fighting the spiritual battles to
preserve the spirit and dignity of humanity created in the image of G-d. Our heroes were
great human-beings moulded like our founding father Abraham, the subject of the Torah
readings over Rosh Hashanah.
This makes me proud to be a Jew and gives me a sense of belonging.
I look at our great traditions, the Torah, G-d given, and the abundant literature that flows
from it, millions of works composed down the ages and still continuing in our own generation.
I look at how we have exalted learning and knowledge over wealth and materialism, our rich
schools of learning, Yeshivot and Seminaries, schools and Chedarim, from antiquity to our own
very day - and this makes me proud to be a Jew and gives me a sense of belonging.
Then I look at the beauty of our mitzvot, the Shabbat with its atmospheric serenity; kashrut
with its infinite purity; Jewish life and observance, with its moral dignity and social
justice. Yes: This makes me proud to be a Jew and gives me a sense of belonging.
I gaze upon my homeland Eretz Yisrael”, bequeathed to Abraham by G-d some 4 thousand years
ago. Throughout our history when we were in Exile we never ever forgot her, but longed to
return. In our own day we have seen her flourish and grow from swampland and desert to a
country productive and green; and now a world leader and force in science and technology.
This makes me proud to be a Jew and gives me a sense of belonging.
Then I turn and look at our amazing survival as a people. Every super-power or empire tried
to wipe us out, yet by the grace of G-d we survived. As said in the Pesach Haggodoh: “Bechol
dor vador omdim oleinu lechaloseinu - in every generation they try to annihilate us, but G-d
saves us from their clutches”. The Midrash put it like this: “Kingdoms arise and kingdoms
fall, but the people Israel endures for evermore”.
The poet, P.M. Raskin, a native of Russia at the turn of the century, who immigrated to
England and mastered the English language, in his poem entitled: “The Eternal Riddle” – put
it this way:
"Fought - never conquered,
Bent - never broken,
Mortal - immortal,
Youthful, though old.
"Egypt enslaved thee,
Babylon crushed thee,
Rome led thee captive,
Homeless thy head.
"Where are those nations
Mighty and fearsome?
Thou hast survived them,
They are long dead.
"Nations keep coming,
Nations keep going,
Passing like shadows,
Wiped off the earth.
Among the great writers of the world, Mark Twain wrote in an essay:
“The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and
splendour, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed; and
made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high
for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw
them all - beat them all - and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no
infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his
alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he
remains. What is the secret of his mortality?”
Then I look at what Leo Tolstoy – the great Russian novelist – wrote:
“The Jew - is the symbol of eternity. ... He is the one who for so long had guarded the
prophetic message and transmitted it to all mankind. A people such as this can never
disappear. He is everlasting as is eternity itself!”
Indeed – I am proud to be a Jew – a member of G-d’s eternal people. And no doubt so are you!
May G-d grant His eternal people a Sweet New Year;
May G-d grant all humanity a year of blessing, peace and tranquillity;
May 5770 herald the complete redemption, with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, Amen.
"Israel, my people,
God's greatest riddle,
Will thy solution
Ever be told ?
"Fought - never conquered,
Bent - never broken,
Mortal - immortal,
Youthful, thought old.
"Egypt enslaved thee,
Babylon crushed thee,
Rome led thee captive,
Homeless thy head.
"Where are those nations
Mighty and fearsome?
Thou hast survived them,
They are long dead.
"Nations keep coming,
Nations keep going,
Passing like shadows,
Wiped off the earth.
"Thou an eternal
Witness remainest,
Watching their burial,
Watching their birth.
"Pray, who revealed thee
Heaven's great secret :
Death and destruction,
Thus to defy ?
"Suffering torture,
Stake, inquisition -
Prithee, who taught thee
Never to die ?
"Ay, and who gave thee
Faith, deep as ocean,
Strong as the rock-hills,
Fierce as the sun ?
"Hated and hunted,
Ever thou wand'rest,
Bearing a message :
God is but one !
"Pray, has thy saga
Likewise an ending,
As its beginning
Glorious of old ?
"Israel, my people,
God's greatest riddle,
Will thy solution
Ever be told ?"
P. M. Raskin, 1914
Rabbi Hyman's Sermons - Archive