Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Introduction to The Koren Rosh Hashanah Mahzor (2011)

This coming Shabbat is our last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah. Our tradition bids us that we prepare ourselves for the Days of Awe by hearing the shofar every weekday morning, by reciting Psalm 27 every morning and every evening, and by attending Selikhot Saturday night (8:00 pm) that re-introduces us to the haunting liturgy and themes of our holiest days of the year.

In Talmud class on Shabbat, I would like to add two additional moves. One is to read a part of the introduction of the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks to The Koren Rosh Hashanah Mahzor, written in 2011. In a few pages, Rabbi Sacks captures ten principles of the human condition that are at the heart of Rosh Hashanah. His insight sparkles. He captures our lives in his words.

The second move is to encounter a real story that concretizes Rabbi Sacks’s principles. Written by David Frum about the passing of his daughter Miranda at the age of 32, this story embodies the existential themes of the yamim noraim.

If everything Rabbi Sacks writes is true—and every word is true—and if everything David Frum writes is true—and every word is true—how then shall we live our lives?