Be the “Ish” Who Changes Lives Rosh Hashanah Morning 5778

Rabbis Aaron Bisno and Sharyn Henry

Rodef Shalom Congregation

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Do you know what this day celebrates?

A new year. Right.

Creation of the world. Yes.

Creation of human beings? Absolutely.

And so it is that the story we shared this morning opens with the words….

In the beginning…. Rosh Hashanah is about many things, but they all come back to beginnings…and creation…, potential …, and the possibilities within each of us.

So in answer to our question what does Rosh Hashanah celebrate…

We respond: Rosh Hashanah is about the possibilities that exist for each of us to change the world in which we live.

There is a concept in Judaism of the Everyman, the Everywoman, those otherwise anonymous individuals who move among us and within history who simply being who they are, step forward to address a need and the world changes, and for the better.

There are stories throughout the Torah wherein an unnamed individual alights on the scene and simply for being true to their ideals sets the narrative on a completely different course, and as a result the story takes on a new import.

Invariably the text refers to such a person simply as an “ish.”

In Genesis, in the Joseph narrative, our patriarch Jacob sends (his favored son)

Joseph to look after his brothers. When Joseph arrives at the place he expected to find his brothers, they are not there.

Instead, he comes upon an ish in the fields, who asks, “For whom are you looking?”

“I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph responds.

At which point the unnamed actor points him in the right direction, And he finds his siblings.

Maimonides suggests that this ish is sent to make sure the story progresses as it needed to. After all, if Joseph had not met this ish he would not have found his brothers, he would not have been sold into slavery.

The family would not have followed him into Egypt. There would have been no

Exodus, and, then, of course, no Passover seder. 3

The history of our people would have been totally different…but we never hear of this ish, upon whom the whole story turns, again.

The ish’s entire purpose is that single moment, that one chance encounter that changes history.

In another instance, we read of Moses wandering out in a field where he comes upon a Jew being hurt by an Egyptian.

The text tells us that upon recognizing the act of injustice, Moses “looks this way and that and sees no ‘ish.’”

Moses is alone; there is no one else to defend this vulnerable person. Thus, seeing no one, Moses steps up and does what needs to be done.

Sometimes an ish approaches us, as in the Joseph story. And sometimes, as with

Moses, we must be the ish, the one who steps forward, the person who is willing to step into the drama and move the story along.

Sometimes, the outcome of an entire story, the fate of families and faith communities, the lives of individual people and entire populations, depends on the catalytic role of a single ish, someone like you or me.

Just last week, the world lost such a change-agent, when Edith Windsor died. 4

You’ll perhaps remember Edie Windsor as the plaintiff whose case cracked the wall that heretofore denied to same-sex couples the tax privileges conferred to heterosexual couples.

And then later, as a result of Edie Windsor’s courageous and personal crusade, the

Supreme Court legalized marriage for all people in all states.

Born in 1929 in Philadelphia to Jewish immigrant parents, Edie Windsor shared a

40-year engagement with her life partner Thea Spyer,before they were legally married in Canada, in 2007.

Thea Spyer died two years later, and Edie Windsor inherited her estate. However, due to the Defense of Marriage Act, the Internal Revenue Service denied her the unlimited spousal exemption from federal estate taxes that was, at the time, available exclusively to married heterosexuals.

And thus Edie Windsor was taxed in excess of $300,000. Having experienced this injustice, Windsor summoned her God-given courage and stood up to an entrenched political system and won a victory for all of us.

For this isha’s courage …for her willingness to step forward as she followed her conscience and championed the good…President Obama included Edie’s legacy

5 among the “countless small acts of courage of millions of people across decades who stood up and did what needed to be done.”

I hope you are as inspired by Edie’s story as I am. But I’m willing to bet that, in the same breath, you are also overwhelmed by just how much more work there is still yet to be done.

There are so many injustices to fight. Our society treats some lives as more important than other lives, healthcare is not yet a right for every citizen, our educational system is in need of repair, firearms flood our streets…and there is so much sadness and heartache and pain in the world.

There are here among us today those who have experienced real heartache in the last year, or in years gone by, and who carry with them wounds that have yet to heal and grief that has yet to abide.

We in this room represent but a microcosm of the suffering in our world.

How often do we look around, expecting, hoping… that someone else will courageously address the problems we recognize?

Who among us hasn’t shuddered at the thought at having to be the solitary individual who not only recognizes the problem but addresses the need as well? 6

Many of you will remember the story of a few months ago of the Major League

Baseball umpire who saved a woman from jumping off the Roberto Clemente

Bridge.

On his way to umpire a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the visiting

Tampa Bay Rays, John Tumpane saw a woman standing on the wrong side of the railing, leaning out over the Allegheny River.

He calmly stepped forward, said all of the right things, wrapped his arms around her body, and with the help of others he pulled her to safety.

Tumpane didn’t save the world, or change human history, but he surely had an impact on the life of one individual…and we can do the same!

On Rosh Hashanah our tradition calls us to be the one…to be the ish or isha, who finds the courage within… and steps forward to do what needs to be done.

But where ought we begin?

We might attend a rally, call an elected official, or sign onto a petition.

We might cast a ballot, champion a cause, or rally our neighbors.

We might also pick up the phone to call a friend, deliver a meal, or reassure a neighbor.

Do not believe that your act of courage, your individual act of compassion, is not meaningful. In fact, the world depends on such significant expressions of caring.

At every Shabbat and holiday service we make time for the Mi Shebeirach prayer and acknowledge those in our community – among our family and friends – who are in need of healing….healing of body or spirit.

When we listen to the names being called out, it is incumbent upon us to consider that each name represents someone whose life is in distress, someone whose family is pain.

When we identify those in our community who are frightened, who are struggling or who are in mourning, we have an oppty to allow their fear & sorrow to enter our hearts.

And as we take note of these truths, we can decide to be the ish or isha who picks up the phone or stops in to visit…who reaches out, who expresses love and concern in a time of need.

When we hear of an illness or death in our community, we are called upon to step up, to pause from our routine, and fulfill the mitzvah of visiting the sick and comforting the mourner, by calling on our friend, sharing a meal or attending a service with them two, three, four weeks… six months later.

In coming days you will receive an email from the congregation alerting you to ways you can be the ish or isha who steps forward to provide caring support for our friends and neighbors in their times of need.

In the words of the ancient rabbinic sages,

“B’makon sh’ein anashim, hishtadel lihiyot ish.” 9

In a place and at a time when the world feels overwhelming and seemingly no one is behaving in a way that inspires, we must be the ish or isha, the one who steps up.

Rosh Hashanah has arrived once again to remind us of the enormous potential within each of us to repair, improve, and make the world better.

Sometimes these opportunities are immense, and will even be newsworthy, and still other times they are simple and will go unremarked upon.

But each act is significant and through them we have the power to change lives.

So as we enter this new year Rabbi Bisno/Henry and I invite you to attend to the opportunities we have to repair or deepen our intimate relationships, our connections to our neighbors, and the lives of those whose names we’ll never know…in order to bring healing and wholeness to our world.

We invite you over the next ten days to commit to several small, significant acts of courage and compassion, acts of repair and renewal that will improve the lives of those around us, and that will bring healing to our world.

On this first morning of the New Year…the world is waiting for each of us to hishtadel lihyot ish…to step up and to step forward …and to be the ish upon whom the world depends.

Shanah Tovah.