The Reduced Message of Rosh Hashanah
or The New Year on a Diet
by the Reduced Sermon Company (RSC)
(dedicated to my friend Ursula
who told me that my sermon on Erev Rosh Hashanah had
to be short.)
New Year?
Oh dear!
What can I say?
God enthroned!
Who else can own
This and every day?
Isaacís birth
Shows the worth
Of every human soul.
Shofarís sound
Does resound
Making the broken whole.
Isaac tied
Might have died
Saved by Godís intervention.
God will judge--
Thereíll be no fudge--
Us by our intention.
So, put sins
Into bins
Repent now! Today!
God saves
Sinsí slaves
If they turn away.
Sins defined.
Hearts refined.
Thoughts made very clear.
Repentance?
Godís sentence:
Have a good New Year!
* * *
In essence
I am no Jew,
Nor Christian,
Nor Muslim,
Nor Hindu;
Nor woman nor man,
Nor parent nor graní
Nor child,
Not strong, not mild.
In essence
I am ëa part of God
From aboveí
Sent here to live
And love.
In essence
You are no Jew,
Nor Christian,
Nor Muslim,
Nor Hindu;
Nor woman nor man,
Nor parent nor graní
Nor child,
Not strong, not mild.
In essence
You are ëa part of God
From aboveí
Sent here to live
And love.
This day,
New Year
We come
To hear
The voice near,
Yet far,
Saying: Be who you are
In essence!
* * *
I have been walking for miles
And there is a stone in my shoe
That's been there for ages.
Why don't I just
Sit down and take it out?
* * *
(Inspired by the marquetry of Lorenzo Lotto in the Duomo,
Bergamo, Italy)
I rush headlong, naked,
Riding the donkey that is my body,
Rushing on because there is a fire under my tail
That I don't know how to put out.
As I ride, I stare straight ahead
Into a mirror.
And don't realise that
My mind is imprisoned in a cage
Of it's own making.
* * *
We are Bill Clinton:
Afraid to acknowledge our guilt.
We are Salman Rushdi:
Afraid of judgment.
We are afraid that
We will stop being
Who we think we are.
We are afraid
To believe in forgiveness.
* * *
Did I weep when I thought of my misdeeds?
Was there anguish in my heart?
Did I really mean it?
* * *
Rosh Hashanah is like having an eye examination:
Are we seeing the world and ourselves in the proper perspective?
Yom Kippur is like getting new glasses,
But will we wear them?
Will we allow ourselves to get used to them
Or let them sit in a drawer
Gathering dust
'Til next year?
* * *
I am too old, too young,
Too tired, too lively,
Too ill, too well,
Too busy, too lazy,
Too strong, too weak,
Too good, too bad,
Too big, too small,
To repent.
I didn't mean it.
I couldn't help it.
It's just the way I am.
It's all your fault.
You deserved it.
So, I don't need
To repent.
Anyway,
I'll just do it
One more time,
Before I start
To repent.
* * *
I like myself...I think.
Would I still like myself
If I change?
I hate myself...sometimes.
Would I still recognise myself
If I stopped hating?
Do you like me?
Do you hate me?
If you like me,
Will you still like me
If I tell you what I've done?
And if you hate me,
Do I want you to stop?
Either way, our relationship
Will be different,
But will it be better?
I am afraid.
* * *
I wear many masks:
Child, parent,
Lover, beloved,
Leader, follower,
Who am I?
I try to remove my masks.
I get down to the bare skin
And do not like what I see.
I tell myself:
'Keep going;
It gets better further in.
Go deeper!'
But
I am afraid.
I take refuge in my masks.
They protect me.
They also separate me
From the good within.
But
I am afraid.
Please send me courage.
* * *
