Rosh Hashanah
HIGH HOLIDAY SERMONS
WILL ASK CONGREGANTS TO
Look Inward
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
A s an Orthodox rabbi, Isaac
Leizerowski has some
thoughts about Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur sermons.

The leader of Congregation Beth
Midrash HaRav B’Nai Jacob in
Philadelphia believes that those
speeches should focus on the same
themes. The High Holidays, according to
Leizerowski, are not a time to talk
about politics, current events or “the
latest fads in society.” They are a
time for self-refl ection and self-im-
provement — a process that culmi-
nates with repentance during the
Yom Kippur fast.

“And everyone hopefully has the
insight to be able to repair their
own small world,” Leizerowski said.

“All Orthodox rabbis have the same
theme.” During the upcoming High
Holidays beginning Sept. 25, when
5782 becomes 5783, other area rab-
bis are following the lead of their
more traditional contemporaries.

Spiritual leaders in the Conservative,
Reform and Reconstructionist tradi-
tions alike are asking their congre-
gants to look inward, not outward,
this year.

Even a non-denominational rabbi,
Danielle Parmenter of the Darchei
Noam congregation in Ambler, is
encouraging her members to “fi ght
our human desire to be enter-
tained and captivated every single
moment.” In explaining why she
chose that theme, Parmenter quoted
the German spiritual teacher Eckhart
Tolle. “We are not human beings having
a spiritual experience. We are spiri-
tual beings having a human experi-
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Rabbi Aaron Gaber of
Congregation Brothers of Israel
in Newtown is reminding his
congregants this High Holiday
season to play the long game,
and to focus less on material
rewards. Courtesy of Rabbi Aaron Gaber
ence,” she said.

But we have lost this bit of wisdom,
she argued.

“We’re just so distracted. We can’t
be with our own thoughts. We’re too
afraid. They’re too powerful,” she
continued. “We watch TV. We’re on
social media all the time. They numb
us from God’s presence.”
According to Parmenter, we are liv-
ing in a dark time. The world, with its
pandemic, wars and infl ation pres-
sures, feels like it’s falling apart. But
she believes that, despite all of that,
“we are moving toward the light.”
The fi rst step, though, is to step
back; to breathe; to clear our minds.

Only then can we do what we are
supposed to do during the refl ective
month of Elul leading up to the High
Holidays, and during the holidays
themselves: Look out and notice that
the king is in the fi elds.

The king, spoiler alert, is God,
and during the month of Elul, “God
leaves the divine realm to be with
the masses,” Parmenter explained.