The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Charlotte Jewish News September 2021

By Rabbi Michael Wolk, Temple Israel

The period of the High Holidays does not begin on Rosh HaShanah, but rather it begins a month earlier with the beginning of Elul, the final month of the Jewish year. Jewish tradition taches us to use this time to prepare ourselves for the new year by reviewing our actions since last Rosh HaShanah and by repairing our relationships with God and with the people in our lives. The work of Chashbon HaNefesh, or accounting of the soul, is not easy, so the liturgical calendar provides daily prompts. Each morning during the month of Elul we sound a set of Shofar blasts that serve as a wake-up call to engage in Teshuva.

We also recite Psalm 27 at the end of each morning and evening service. The book of Psalms is traditionally ascribed to King David, although it is likely to be the work of several authors. We turn to the different psalms to reflect the emotions that we are feeling at different moments in our lives. There are psalms of intense joy and psalms of deep sorrow. Psalm 27 is interesting because it reflects two distinctly different emotions. It opens with complete confidence in God’s protection. “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear? Though an army set camp against me, my heart would have no fear; though war rise against me, still would I have confidence.” But then over the course of the psalm, the writer's confidence crumbles, and he implores God not to abandon him. “Do not conceal Your face from me, do not abandon me.”

We recite this psalm during the season of repentance because it reflects the back and forth we feel between confidence in ourselves and self-doubt that we have not been good enough. In his commentary on the book of Psalms, Rabbi Benajmin Segal gives this psalm the subtitle,

The Best of Times… the Worst of Times.” This psalm has resonated with me this year as we moved back and forth between despair and fear over a world in the midst of a pandemic and hope and confidence in human ingenuity and resilience as our most brilliant minds developed vaccines that could protect us from illness. While we finish the Jewish year 5781 unsure of what to feel about the future, I look to the concluding words of the psalmist to carry me forward into the new year. Hope in the Lord; be strong and of good courage! O hope in the Lord! I read this verse as a reminder that once we have done everything we can to help ourselves and those around us, we turn to God for strength.