Yom Kippur Sermon 2015 - "Seeing into the Future"

Many of you already know that I am a bit of a Junk-Food addict. Sometimes, especially if I am working late at night, I will go to the Supermarket just to buy nosh. I usually have to get at least one thing from all of the categories. I will get a kit-kat for the chocolate craving, some jellybeans or twizzlers for the sugar but I also need salt - potato chips or pringles. But I cannot just go up to the cash register with those things so I also get some eggs and milk and a few bananas! So if you ever see me at Giant at 11 pm with twizzlers, chips, eggs and bananas; you know why I am really there!

A few weeks ago, I was working late on a Saturday Night so I went to Harris Teeter. I got my twizzlers and chocolate bar and went to the Pringles section (I have a weak spot for pringles!). I looked down and I was so excited to see there was a new flavor of pringles - “cheeseburger pringles.” It even had an OU (kosher symbol) on it. I have always wanted to taste a cheeseburger and here was my chance! But it just didn’t feel right. So I turned to my right... I then turned to my left…I just wanted to make sure that nobody from shul was there! Then I quickly grabbed the cheeseburger pringles stuffed them under the eggs and bananas and went to the register. I got home and within 22 minutes, I finished all of the pringles (and most of the twizzlers!). The next morning, I went on a long bike ride and I felt each every pringle every time I climbed up a hill! (I am not even going to talk about the time that I had a huge bowl of leftover cholent one Saturday night at 12:30 am just a few hours before I went on a 100 mile bike ride! Cholent and biking don’t go well together.)

Anyways, as I was climbing up those hills feeling the cheeseburger pringles, I had a question. Why is it that we do things and when we are doing them, we don’t think about the consequences. I don’t just mean eating pringles before a bike ride. How often do we make decisions and take actions that will have huge ramifications for us and for our families for 5, 10 and 20 years down the road without thinking about those ramifications, or at least without fully appreciating the ramifications.

There is a wonderful mishna in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) in which Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai was sitting around with his 5 disciples. He asks them to find out (צאו וראו) what is the best path for one to cling to? I presume the disciples went out into the world. They observed people. They talked to people. They asked them what has worked for you? What do you regret? They then came back with 5 different answers. One rabbi said, “one should be generous,” another said “be a good friend,” a third said “be a good neighbor” a fourth said, “Have a good heart.” But I want to focus on what Rabbi Shimon said. He said that one should “See the future.” (הרואה את הנולד). But this invites a question. How can we see the future? Is Rabbi Shimon demanding that we be prophets, soothsayers, diviners or astrologers?

The answer is that Rabbi Shimon is saying that when we act and make decisions today, we must see the future. We must ask ourselves a very important question. How will my action today impact me and my family in 5, 10, 20 years or maybe even after I am no longer even living? How many of us ask that question.

 At the end of the Ashamnu (We have sinned) paragraph, after we go through the alphabet of sins, we have two more letter Tuf.

תעינו - “We have gone astray. We have gone off the path.”

Does this happen to us? We all know from hiking that if we get off the path even 2 or 3 degrees and we keep walking, where will be in an hour? Completely Lost. Have we gone off the path even a few degrees? Have we made compromises on shabbat, kashruth, tzedaka, honesty or any other value? I am sure we were hoping to jump back on but then we look back 5, 10, 20 years later and we ask ourselves, “How did we get here?”

But then there is one more term and this is the one that scares me.  

 -תעיתנו - “We have caused others to go off the path.” When we go off the path even just a few degrees, it is not only impacting us. It impacts our children, grandchildren and future generations that don’t even exist yet. We are just one ring in a long chain of jewish history. We received the gift of Judaism from our parents and we have an obligation to pass it on to the next generation at least as strong but hopefully even stronger.

Sometime ago, I was talking to someone whose children are already grown. He told me that he has deep regrets for decisions that he made and actions that he took when his children were younger. Regret is so hard. So painful. Those of you who are young, please listen to Rabbi Shimon. “See the future.” When you make decisions or compromises ask yourselves, “how will this impact me or my family in 10 or 20 years.” Act now in a way that you won't have so many regrets later.

Maybe some of you already have grown families. Maybe you have regrets. Don’t worry. Everyone in this room has regrets. Regret by itself is not bad. It depends what you do with it. If it paralyzes you, it is negative. But regret is also part of the teshuva process. You can take the pain that you feel and use to inspire action. This is the gift of Yom Kippur. You can now ask yourself how my new actions today will impact grown children, grandchildren and how they will even have an impact when I am no longer here.

I would like to conclude with a story and an insight that I heard from Rabbi Yosef Blau. Usually I tell Chassidic stories. But stories from the Bible are also good! We all know the story of Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery down to Egypt. He was bought by Potiphar. Potiphar came to trust him with everything, even his wife. One day, Joseph was alone with Potiphar’s wife. She tries to seduce him. It is such a difficult test. The rabbis understand this test to not only be a sexual temptation but it is one of those Jewish make it or break it moments. if Joseph succumbs, he is effectively giving up the Jewish values of his mother and father in favor of assimilating into Egypt.

Does he pass the test. We know he does. The Torah says וימאן (and he refused). He runs away. But those of you who know Torah cantillation know that the musical note on top of the the word “and he refused” is a shalshelet. The shalshelet tells us that he waivered. “Should I stay or should I go, should I stay or should I go.” In other words, he almost succumbed.

The rabbis want to know, what gave Joseph the strength and resolve to withstand the test?

The rabbis' answer is so profound. They say that at the last minute ראה דיוקנו של אביו (He saw the image of his father, Jacob). He saw his father and he remembered. He remembered who he was and what he should be. And he ran away from the sin.

I have a very difficult question for all of us for this Yom Kippur. I want us to think about it throughout Yom Kippur and throughout the year.

If our children (no, when our children) or grandchildren or other people that we have influence on, are faced with one of those make it or break it moments. (And we know that when they face it we will not be there with them). At the last moment, will an image of you pop into their minds? And if it does, will it give them the strength and resolve to withstand the test?

Only you can answer that question and if you are not sure, this is what Yom Kippur is about. Let us resolve to become that person. Let us always ask how our decisions, actions, and compromises impact us and our families for years to come. Let us all become “seers of the future.”  G’mar Chatimah Tovah!