A YOM KIPPUR
REFLECTION Our synagogue now has the honor of hosting a Sephardic service. Visiting that service last Rosh Hashanah, I noticed an Ashkenazi man who explained that he had gone to the Sephardi minyan because they, unlike Ashekanzim, do not recite the unetana tokef. That prayer, the prayer which declares who shall live and who shall die, was simply too overbearing for him. On its surface, this certainly is true. Unetana tokef appears to be based on the fundamentalist position that good people are rewarded and evil people are punished. This in fact, is the normative approach to unetana tokef. It speaks of God as judge. It indicates that on Rosh Hashanah our future is inscribed and on Yom Kippur it is sealed. We wonder who shall live and who shall die. Its crescendo declares mightily that, repentance, prayer and righteousness nullify the decree. My friend has a point, the prayer is pretty tough. There is a softer interpretation. This interpretation is based on the idea that in fact, there is no absolute reward and punishment in this world. If there were, we'd be bereft of freedom of choice for very few would ever sin if punishment were to immediately follow. The Talmud points out, that in fact, there is no reward and punishment in this world, schar v'onesh b'hai alma lehca, only in the future world. (Kiddushin 39b) As far as this world is concerned, everything, says the Talmud, is based on mazel, lo b'zchuta talya milta elah b'mazela. (Moed Katan 28a) And, the Talmud also points out that each of us has been allotted a certain mazel. While that mazel cannot be absolutely cancelled, we have it within our power to change it to some degree, zacha-mashlimin lo, lo zacha-potchin lo. (Yevamot 50a) Explicating these Talmudic statements, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin explains that if you want to know how long you'll live, or if you want top know if you'll be prone to something like depression, a good start is to check out your pedigree-after all, each of us is born with certain predispositions, a certain fate. But whatever the situation we're born into, we have it within our power to take precautions to improve upon that fate. By seeking medical attention, eating the right foods, exercising properly, and leading a life of emotional and spiritual inner peace we can alter, to some degree, our given fate. Esther Wachsman, mother of Nachshon who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Israel said it best; "What then is man's purpose and duty in this creation, when he is confronted by unexplained tragedy and grief? To withstand, to cope, to deal with the events God sends his way. For none of us has any control over what will happen to us as individuals. What we can control is our reaction, how we deal and how we cope with our grief." Esther was echoing the thought of the great R. Yosef Dov Soloveitchik who distinguished between fate goral and destiny yiud. Fate capriciously casts us into a particular dimension of life that we cannot control. Destiny, on the other hand, "is an active existence in which man confronts the environment into which he is cast." According to Rav Soloveitchik, "man's mission in this world is to turn fate into destiny, an existence that is passive and influenced to an existence that is active and influential." This may be the meaning of unetana tokef. We speak of God as a shepherd. And a shepherd loves every part of the flock unconditionally. When we declare that our futures are inscribed on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we use the future tense, referring as the Gaon of Vilna points out, to the future world. Indeed, the gripping words who shall live and who shall die, have little to do with what we deserve but are rather statements of our fate over which we have little control. The prayer reaches its crescendo with the words, "U'teshuva, u'tfilla u'tzedaka maavirin et roah hagezera." This phrase is often translated as "repentance, prayer and charity remove the evil decree." Were that the case, the Hebrew would read, ma'aveeren et hagezeyrah ha'ra'ah. As has been noted, roah is descriptive, meaning that these acts temper or remove the sting or the harshness of the decree. In other words, we have it within our power to reshape, although not to totally change, our fate. I've learned this very concept through personal experience. Stricken with heart disease years ago, I've come to understand that I cannot deny the sickness-such is my fate. In the same breath I have come to recognize that I dare not allow the sickness to paralyze me. Rather it is my challenge to transform fate into destiny. In one word, although the natural tendency is to immediately ask why do bad things happen to good people, unetana tokef teaches that we should deal with when bad things happen to good people. Rabbi Harold Kushner suggests that 'why' is a philosophical question which deals with the past over which we have no answers and no control. 'When' is a practical question which deals with the present. For when challenge arises, we each must ask, "What am I going to do with my given fate?" Who here has not experienced adversity in their lives? When we are confronted by challenges, we are given a hidden gift-the capacity to overcome, to do that which we never ever thought we could do. That power to reach beyond is the power of God in us. As God is transcendent, so do we, created in God's image have the power to transcend previously defined boundaries. This is the message of unetana tokef. In the words of Esther Wachsman, "One can either be a victim of fate or an initiator of destiny. 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