An excerpt from "On Judaism," conversations on being Jewish in today's world. Published by Shaar Press, Inc. Distributed by ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications Ltd.

The month of Rosh Hashana is the first month of the universe, and just as when God completed His Creation He contemplated and evaluated it, so does He do every Rosh Hashana -- which means that Rosh Hashana is actually the Day of Judgment for the universe and for mankind collectively and individually.

That explains why, more than any other Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashana's liturgy is not limited to Jewish themes exclusively, but contains so many universal themes as well. On no other occasion, for example, is God referred to as "King over all the earth," and at no other time is God's Holy Temple called a "house of prayer for all the nations." This is all a reflection of the universal judgment of this day.

So Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are more than just a Jewish version of New Year's Day. It's a time of great introspection, of teshuva/repentance, of stock-taking.

All of these traditions underscore the idea that Rosh Hashana is the time of beginnings… Thus, Rosh Hashana is a time for significant initiatives. As such, it is an opportunity for us to recreate ourselves, to return to a relationship with God, to strengthen our ties to our faith…

Our tradition also tells us that beginning with Rosh Hashana, a Jew has the opportunity to return to God, to perform teshuva -- which literally means to turn around, to return, to start all over again.

Bear this in mind: the overarching theme of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is "change:" to change from what we were before and to become new individuals. The motif behind it all is accountability. We are responsible for our actions. We do not live in a vacuum. What we do or say has an impact and a resonance in the world. Yom Kippur represents the potential for a human being to change and return: we are not eternally condemned to follow a certain habitual path; we do have the ability, if we so choose, to change our ways.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end war;

For we know that You have made the world in a way

That we must find our own path to peace

Within ourselves and with our neighbors.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation;

For You have already given us the resources

With which to feed the entire world,

If we would only use them wisely.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to root out prejudice;

For You have already given us eyes

With which to see the good in everyone,

If we would only use them rightly.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end despair;

For You have already given us the power

To rehabilitate slums and to give hope to the needy,

If we would only use our power justly.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease;

For You have already given us great minds

With which to search out cures and healings,

If we would only use them constructively.

Therefore, we pray to You instead, O God,

For strength, determination, and willpower,

To do as well as to pray,

To become as well as to wish.

- Rabbi Jack Reimer

I have made my decision. I am going to vote for George Bush for President.

No, I’m only kidding. I’ve really made my decision. I am going to vote for John Kerry for President.

No, I’m kidding again. I am not going to tell you, or anyone else, whom I vote for or why. There is a good reason. It is called a "secret ballot." It is an act that has public ramifications and consequences, but has a private accountability between the self and conscience or the self and God. In our political process voting is suppose to be somewhat like Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur: An act with public and universal ramifications rendered through private introspection and discernment, and maybe even stocktaking and repentance with the deepest part of the soul.

The public nature of our democracy has always had quasi-religious connotations, as have all human governments, states, and empires throughout history. But, for over 200 years we have been able to keep church and state independent in certain ways by maintaining some kind of distinction between them. A poll conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 72% agreed with the statement "The president should have strong religious beliefs," evoking what became explicit in the Eisenhower Era. We want our political leaders to have a decent amount of personal faith, but not so much as to paralyze the country with the hubris of certainty. And we understand this because in our democracy we expect elected leaders, and we the people who elect them, to keep church and state, religion and politics at a respectful distance appropriate to a pluralistic religious and political society, diverse opinions and convictions. At least we’ve been able to maintain something of that respectful, civil distance up until now.

But I think this is what is distinctive about this particular election. It’s divisiveness is nothing new in American politics, and we forget at our peril how vicious past campaigns have been. When two Unitarians ran for President – Thomas Jefferson and John Adams – it was as distorted and divisive a campaign as the one today, as Jefferson was lambasted as an atheist by Adams. The division created between these close friends and spiritual companions was unforgiving, from that election to close to their deaths on the same day! But today it is not the religion or faith of the candidate that is at issue as much as something much more threatening because it’s harder to discern.

The private introspection and discernment of voting has been replaced by public stereotyping. A public ballot is more of what we have today. And it threatens religion. It threatens our capacities to see the spiritual in existence and understand it in our own nature. Politics is the biggest threat to the spiritual dimension of human nature, and the free mind and expansive love of the heart that our particular faith tradition represents. Politics has swallowed up religion, with religion’s duplicity, and this is the greatest threat of our era. More than worldwide religious fundamentalism and fanaticism because this drives that. More than irreligion or secularism, which hide it. More than pessimism or nihilism or despair, more threatening than immorality or licentiousness or any of the seven deadly vices, because this makes it well nigh impossible to look upon anything without the taint of politics. When politics usurps religion the threats to human existence are so powerful and pervasive and multiple because we do not and cannot conceive of religion in any other way than political.

In conversations I’ve had with friends and colleagues I have heard Republicans say that if Kerry is elected the terrorists will win and conquer us; a vote for Kerry is a vote for the triumph of totalitarianism over freedom. I’ve heard Democrats say that if Bush is re-elected we will lose our democracy; a vote for Bush is a vote for fascism over freedom. I’ve heard persons from both parties threaten to leave the country and make pronouncements that freedom will die if the other gains the White House. Apocalyptic pronouncements from so many political quarters smack more of religious fervor than political opinion or position.

That’s the problem. Politics sounds like religion these days. They have become indistinguishable. We don’t know what religion is without politics, and political positions and social policies. If someone declares himself liberal, or herself conservative, we assume it means both religion and politics because in our time they are the same. The spiritual life the liberal or conservative leads, is political. Two thousand years ago, looking at a Roman coin he was said to have been handed Jesus made a statement that is as much a contemporary indictment of this predicament as any: Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. It begged a question then, and one now with the modern spins that characterize our time and culture: How can you make a rendering when you can’t tell them apart?

Religion is so bound up with what people think and believe politically, that we can’t conceive of rendering to Caesar or to God as two different, distinct renderings! Without discerning a difference between the politics and religion we lose the capacity to see the spiritual in existence. The inability to discern a difference becomes idolatrous. It is worldwide zealotry that we are caught up in and can’t get out of. There is no such thing as living a spiritual life that isn’t rendered politically.

It is not inconceivable to think similarly of Jesus’ time such that it would elicit his "rendering" comment. The Judaism of Jesus’ day was marked by striking and strong apocalyptic sentiments not unlike our own. Jesus’ Jewish brethren were certain the world was coming to an end in their lifetime. Romans living in Judea were not so certain of tomorrow either. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s, is not a proclamation about political support or opposition for what the state is or is not doing at any given time in history. It is a statement about two different ways of seeing things, and two competing "realms" in our lives that vie for our allegiance. But, confuse the state with God, either through loyalty or opposition, and you have rendered yourself blind.

This may easily be what Jesus’ message was to his fellow Jews who saw vigorous and violent opposition to Roman rule to be the only true expression of their Jewish faith. This may easily be what Jesus’ message was to the Gentiles, the Roman citizens and others who saw loyalty, constancy, and allegiance held religiously towards the actions of Rome to be the only true expression of their faith in the security Rome stood for. Jesus’ central message was not about the nature of government and the state, or the nature of God, or loyalty or opposition to either. His message was a warning about human nature and living inside of a view of existence that makes no distinctions between the two! And he beckoned his hearers towards living the spiritual life of faith measured by God and not Caesar.

We will address what "measured by God" might mean in a later sermon. For right now it will be challenging enough for us to conceive of what "living the spiritual life of faith" might mean.

Living the spiritual life of faith requires repentance and a turning. It requires that we look at the width, depth, and breadth of human nature, instead of considering persons by the stereotypes we hold relative to their politics or anything else that we tend to divide our neighbors into. It requires that we see deeper into what makes human beings more than just material creatures favoring or opposing political policies and social justice positions.

It requires us to repent of holding political positions with religious zealotry. And it requires a willingness to see human nature through the eyes of the spirit, "fearfully and wonderfully made… [which] my soul knoweth right well." (Psalm 139) We will discover the realm of the spirit by looking wider and deeper into human nature and the human condition, and seeking the "walk" that is the spiritual life of faith.

So let’s begin down the path of the spiritual life.

* * * * *

Human beings are human because they are in relationship to something. To a time, a culture, a city or town or countryside, a group of people, a family, born of a mother, and created by a relationship between two people. Human nature exists because created as human beings we are always in relationship to something else; to the self, to others, to nature, to existence, to God.

There are as many different versions of human being as there are people who live, and have lived. One cannot easily reduce human nature down to common particulars without finding individuals who somehow don’t fit those. Individuality is our destiny, through and by virtue of the relationships we form. Yet, looking at human beings as fitted to the human condition, there are some general and distinctive characteristics that emerge on the whole.

There is, I think, something in human nature that wants, desires, longs and yearns for something more. It’s in part the human response to the condition of being in relationship. To some, that yearning and longing for something more is a world more than this one. Connection with the pain or joy of this world is tied to a longing for a next world. To others it is more knowledge of this one. Connection with the pain or joy of this world is tied to a yearning to know more about it. To some it is more success, others more physical intimacy, others more days to live, others more security, still others more meaning, more conviction, even more faith. But, there is something in human nature that "extends towards" something more, a reaching out towards something more; that from our connections with this world there is invigorated in us a longing and yearning to be connected, to be related, in deeper relationship to a "something more," as it was called by philosopher William James.

I officiated at the wedding of two members of this church yesterday, and I saw and felt it again. The union of two people together reveals the longing and yearning in human nature to be connected deeper to something more through the relationships we form. It is palpable in such settings. Everyone wants more for the couple, as in their vows to each other they, too, yearn for more. People assess their own relationships and the ways they are connected to others. From this they yearn and long and desire. And when tears are shed it is the depth of emotion concerning this reaching out for something more. It is a recognition of depth of relationship that is possible between and among human beings. And this recognition of the prospect of deeper connectedness is a beautiful, stirring, joyous, and wondrous "knowing" of the connective tissue that is existence.

And if this capacity of human nature is aimed towards a "betterment," perhaps the best of all possible "betterments," perfection or completion, then it can be said to be a spiritual aim. A "betterment" not in the sense of dodging tragedy and burdens; a completion not in the sense that there is nothing left to say or do; and a perfection not in the sense of never making a mistake again. But, aiming towards a betterment in the kind and quality of human fellowship, a completion of our capacity to connect ourselves to others, a perfection of the affections we harbor for this great gift we’ve been given. Perfect love extended to every and all souls, complete justice for every and all souls, and freedom sought after for every and all souls. There is a part of us that in aiming towards a something more like this, lying within us and within the fabric of the existence that is our condition, grows the soul and multiplies the possibilities of affection that can exist in this connective tissue among human beings and in the world.

There is a part of human nature that no politician, no political party, no partisanship, no social policy, and no political ad holds dominant sway because there is a part of human nature that is deeper than them all; indeed, deeper than all the finite parts of human being because it is the image of the source of creation itself. And it has been mirrored in us through this spiritual principle, this spiritual impulse. We can deaden it with politics, assail it with political venom until it atrophies almost to extinction, but human existence can never fully extinguish it because we did not create it. It is the part of us that nothing transient can remove because it is what is eternal in existence, too, the image in which we all are made. When it is conceived of as a perfect love for all souls and complete justice for all souls, all human governments pail in comparison. There is aroused in individuals an understanding of how human affection and fellowship transform the created world towards its own completion, regardless of who is in the White House or even whether there is a White House. Love this possibility for the deepest of all connection, love existence’s innate connective tissue; and love its incarnation in those around you as well as in you, love human nature; in other words, love God and neighbor as self, and you will have helped to create the meaning and power of life’s future unfolding and fulfillment of itself. You will be living the spiritual life of faith.

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's; and unto human beings, what?" asked Twentieth century Polish writer Stanislaw Lec. This may be the essential question during this first American Presidential election of the 21^st century, and the response may shape our destiny for many years to come. Render unto human beings what? Assess, take stock, repent, turn, change, and start down the path that in our time is less taken. Render unto something more. Render unto what never dies, what never passes away, what never is voted in or out of office because it is not born or destroyed by the events of this world. Render unto the spiritual impulse in human nature and aim it towards its full harvest. Walk the spiritual life of faith. You will see through the eyes of the spirit a realm present in this world wherein love and justice and freedom abides for all souls.

AMEN.