Save "Unetaneh Tokef - Rabbanit Batya Hefter"
Rabbanit Batya Hefter
Each Jewish Holiday has a unique characteristic that distinguishes it from all the others. Pesach emphasizes freedom, Sukkot celebrates joy, and Yom Kippur focuses on forgiveness. But Rosh Hashanah stands apart as the Day of Judgment, or Yom HaDin. One purpose of the tefillot – prayers – of the Yamim Hanoraim – the Days of Awe, is to make us aware of what we need to learn about ourselves in the light of the particular quality of that specific day. Much of the High Holiday liturgy casts God in the role of King and Judge. In doing so, the High Holiday machzor – prayer book – holds up to us the mirror of din (judgment and accountability). These poetic and prayerful images of us standing before a king or judge are intended to awaken our hearts. It is not an intellectual or factual knowing that our prayers seek; it is more an experiential awareness.
'אדם יסודו מעפר וסופו לעפר, בנפשו יביא לחמו, משול כחרס הנשבר, כחציר יבש וכציץ נובל, וכצל עובר, וכענן כלה, וכרוח נושבת, וכאבק פורח, וכחלום יעוף'...ואתה הוא מלך חי וקיים
‘Man (human being), his beginning is from dust and ends in dust; …. he is like…grass that withers, like the flower that fades…like the dust that flies, and like a fleeting dream. But You are the King, the Almighty, the living and everlasting God.’ [Trans. Sefaria Makhzor]
One striking theme we find in the Rosh Hashanah liturgy contrasts our mortality to God’s infiniteness.
The Unetaneh Tokef prayer’s vivid imagery of human frailty can feel crushing, undermining what we feel is our intrinsic human value.
How might the image of our fragility and imperfections, in contrast to God’s perfection and infinity, motivate modern people to feel their own value and sense of purpose?
​For some people, this might bring them face to face with the stark reality that they are not going to live forever, that time is limited and life is precious, so if we want to live differently, the time is now. For others who might feel invincible, it might similarly remind them that life is fragile and stir them to reflect on their life choices.
Prayer is not always meant to be comfortable or comforting.
Underlying all of the prayers of the Yamim Hanoraim, we find a certain sense of duality. Prayers like the Unetaneh Tokef aim to stir awareness of our creatureliness and, with it, a sense of urgency.
We begin by feeling our transience: “his beginning is from dust and ends in dust.” However, by facing the reality of our mortality, we tap into the reality of God, who is not transient. We discover our self-worth as human beings created in the Divine Image. “What is man that you have been mindful of him,” wrote the Psalmist (Psalms 8:5) in a moment of gloom, overwhelmed by feelings of insignificance. Why would God pay attention to us at all? he wonders. And yet, “You have made him little less than divine,” he continues; we are so close to godliness ourselves.*
The Unetaneh Tokef ends with a transformation; our creatureliness is redeemed, as the piyyut – the poem – concludes, saying that our very name, our essence, has been called by God’s name.
אֵין קִצְבָה לִשְׁנוֹתֶיךָ. וְאֵין קֵץ לְארֶךְ יָמֶיךָ… שִׁמְךָ נָאֶה לְךָ וְאַתָּה נָאֶה לִשְׁמֶךָ. וּשְׁמֵנוּ קָרָאתָ בִּשְׁמֶךָ
There is no end to Your years and there is no limit to the length of Your days… You are worthy of Your Name; and our name, You have called by Your Name.
This piyyut aims to transform us from being but “dust” to becoming the essence of God’s name. The prayers of Rosh Hashanah capture this paradox, the fragility and the glory that are both part of the human condition.
*The author thanks Judy Taubes-Sterman for noting how Psalms 8:5 sharpens the duality.
(Printed in "B'Kol Libeinu" SVIVAH High Holiday Machzor Companion - www.svivah.org/machzor2024)