Kol Nidre 2013/5774: Holy Bird, Holy Ground
We began on this Kol Nidre evening by declaring that we who have ourselves transgressed declare it lawful to pray with others who have wronged either God or other human beings. This is the evening that more than any other in the Jewish year, calls us forth to synagogue to pray — to pray with others, to pray with kol Yisrael, all of Israel.
Why it so important that we pray with others? Let me tell you a story, based on a tale about my teacher, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Reb Zalman taught:
“How do prayers ascend to heaven? The prayers do not rise by themselves. They have to be carried into the heights. And how are they carried? On the wings of a giant dove. But each generation needs its own dove and so each generation must create its own dove. You, my followers, need to help me create this dove. I cannot do it myself. Great harmony is required and many people must help.”[i]
Reb Zalman looked at one of his students and said, “You must create the feet of the bird, so that our prayers can be securely attached to the branch of the Tree of Life. And to a second student he said, “You must create its wings, so it can soar into the heights of the highest heaven.” Then Reb Zalman turned to a third and said, “You must create the body, and it must be perfect so it can be comfortable in the world of humans and the world of the angels.” He looked at a fourth and said, “You must create its beak. This is the smallest part but the most important, for the dove must transmit our prayers with its beak.” At last Reb Zalman turned to the fifth and said, “You must create its heart. For it is the heart that provides the kavannah (intention) without which the prayer has no life at all.”
After hearing these words, Reb Zalman’s students closed their eyes and imaged the part of the dove they were to create. Soon they heard the song of a dove so full and ripe and sacred that they knew that their prayers had been carried into the heights.
So it is with us. Each of us has a part of that dove that only we can create. We each have a prayer that has to be sent on high, so peace can come to our hearts and to the whole Earth. No matter how far we might have strayed from a holy path, we are called now to do teshuvah, to return and do our part in making the prayers of all of us ascend into the realm of the Sacred.
We cannot do this alone. We need each other. All of us. We assemble here on Kol Nidre night as a community called together to build a giant dove of prayers that will fly up to the heavens.
Our teachers of old taught, Kol Yisrael arevim zeh ba’zeh: all Israel is responsible for each other. This is why we assemble together, responsible together for lifting our prayers high. It’s why we confess sins that maybe we ourselves did not commit but others did. We are responsible for each other. We are all part of the same dove — the same prayer for forgiveness and love.
In tomorrow morning’s (Yom Kippur) service, we will hear this same message from a different perspective. We will hear about God as the Shepherd who loves and cares for God’s flock — every single sheep, each and every one. Each sheep is an essential part of God’s family, each one important and essential and needed to make the flock whole.
We are not to think we are inconsequential because we are imperfect. On the contrary, each one of us is needed to make a holy community. Each one of us can be inspired by God to make this Temple, this shul, a holy community. This chair you are sitting on is on holy ground. This place you are standing is holy ground. We make it holy because, like Moses at the burning bush, it is a place where we can hear or feel God’s presence. We make it holy through our prayers, our intentions, our acts of forgiveness and our deeds of lovingkindness.
One of the songs I find most moving is called “Holy Ground,” and I’d like to sing part of it for you. The words are by Woody Guthrie and the music by Frank London of the Jewish band, the Klezmatics. It begins, “Take off, take off, your shoes, this place you’re standing, it’s holy ground.” So I invite you to stand, and feel the ground beneath your feet, and if you wish, take off your shoes.[ii]
Take off, take off your shoes.
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground.Take off, take off your shoes.
The spot you’re standing, it’s holy ground.These words I heard in my burning bush:
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground.I heard my fiery voice speak to me:
This spot you’re standing, it’s holy ground.Take off, take off your shoes.
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground.Take off, take off your shoes.
The spot you’re standing, it’s holy ground.
May we all — together, and together with God — make this place, and every place, holy ground. Amen.
