Report by Lester Wagman
Get the basics right and everything else will follow, right? Ahhh, we say while slowly exhaling as the penny drops. Sometimes that penny-drop moment is caused by the the most primal things in life, like a baby’s first gasp for breath which was the concept behind tonight’s pre-Rosh Hashanah talk by Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum. We probably shouldn’t have expected any less from this master story teller and lifter of wool from eyes.
Did you know that this Sunday evening, 25 Elul, marks the anniversary of Creation! We know this, explained Rabbi Zarum, because man was created on the 6th day and Rosh Hashanah is a commemoration of this momentous event. He explained how direct references to Rosh Hashanah in the Torah are scant yet by careful examination of these, looking for clues in Midrashim, Talmudic discourse and the teaching of later Rabbis, we learned that Rosh Hashanah commemorates the specific moment that God “breathed life into Adam’s nostrils”. Unlike the animals and birds, we were made in God’s image and he shared some of his very essence with us.
There is no specific commandment for us to blow the shofar, but it has been interpreted that this is the act of commemoration of that first breath that we faithfully undertake each year. Rabbi Zarum had us undertaking breathing exercises and from which we learned that breaths taken during patient contemplation are more controlled than those taken during moments of frustration and stress (perhaps at how long the Yom Tov service is going on)!
He encouraged us to take time during the high holy day services to just breathe and reflect on our personal performance over the past year and how well we met the goals we set ourselves…or perhaps ought to have done.