'How Great Was the Justice of the Father': A D’var Torah for the Second Day of Rosh Hashana

Abstract

This talk, delivered at a Rosh Hashana service, looks to a medieval literary work written by a Cistercian French monk to suggest an important truth of our moral and religious lives: It is a mistake to imagine that the process of teshuva (repentance, or turning) is only about abandoning our most obvious sins. We should also embrace the paradox that, sometimes, there are aspects of our lives that, in their own way, in their own day, are right and praiseworthy, but which – at the appointed time – must change. On Rosh Hashana, the shofar calls us to repent, not only from our worst selves, but also from our ordinary yet obsolete selves.

Keywords: Rosh Hashana, shofar, Teshuva, Repentance, John of Alta Silva, The King and the Seven Wise Men