Holiness isn’t limited to certain days on the calendar. How we live out the ordinary, unexciting days of our lives represents the greatest test of our Jewish mettle.

Rabbi Avi Finegold
FOUNDER, THE JEWISH LEARNING LIBRARY, MONTREAL

Rabbi Philip Scheim
BETH DAVID B’NAI  ISRAEL BETH  AM CONGREGATION, TORONTO

Rabbi Scheim: It has been my practice in the weeks before Rosh Hashanah to respond to many requests for my time and input with the response: “Be in touch with me after the holidays.”

Now that “after the holidays” has arrived, I can attest to the weakness of this approach. These post-High Holiday and Yom Tov days end up being my busiest time of the year. Programs and classes begin, and all of the postponed meetings and commitments can no longer be delayed. 

Yet dealing with “after the holidays” is not solely a rabbi’s dilemma. All of us have to face the “return to earth” that follows a month of hugely significant holy days. My sense is that the month of Cheshvan presents a greater test to Jews than Tishrei. How we live out the ordinary, unexciting days of our lives represents the greatest test of our Jewish mettle.

Rabbi Finegold: Your dilemma reminds me of a T-shirt I once saw that said “Rabbis Heart Cheshvan.” One day I want to print up a response: “Tishrei = Rabbinic Tax Season.” 

There will always be busy times and non-busy times, and we need to temper the moments of awe with moments of the mundane. Have you thought of using all the backlog of meetings to address that very issue? 

Imagine if you began every meeting during Cheshvan by asking your congregants how they plan to bring some of the heightened feelings of Yom Kippur or Sukkot into their everyday lives. 

As a non-pulpit rabbi, I have always appreciated when a rabbi serves not only as a teacher, but as a moral compass, asking me pointedly where I might be able to better myself. Granted, I am blessed to have one of the clergy members of my congregation at my dinner table every night, and she excels at pushing me gently but firmly to be a better person. But as rabbis, we should feel comfortable doing so with all of our congregants.

Rabbi Scheim:  In the Modim prayer of the Amidah, we reference the “miracles that are with us every day.” Thus, we are reminded that moments of holiness are not limited to times and places designated as holy, but are present in the normal avenues of life as well. 

As a newly minted rabbi, I was inclined to think that I would be entering a congregation as the Judaic authority in a community of people lacking many of the fundamentals of Jewish learning. Rabbi William Horn, with whom I interned before ordination, dispelled me of that youthful arrogance. 

He noted that, yes, he likely knew more about Jewish law, practice, history and theology than the vast majority of his congregants. But, they were far superior to him in other fields of knowledge. They would learn from him, just as he would learn from them. 

Holiness is not limited to the holy days of our calendar, and holiness is not confined to the synagogue or to the rabbi’s study. There are magnificent sparks of the divine present in the multitude of honourable deeds that members of our congregations and communities perform on a daily basis. They learn from us (hopefully) and we (certainly) learn from them.

Rabbi Finegold: The Talmud reminds us that we learn more from our colleagues and students than our teachers, but inherent in that dictum is the imperative to be a teacher nonetheless. The challenge of the modern rabbi is to recognize, as you point out, that the members of our communities are quite knowledgeable and observant, while also cognizant of the choice that these people have made in selecting a specific spiritual guide.

The beauty of Cheshvan is that we can take a step back from the heavy sermonizing of Tishrei while still finding the space to activate different parts of our leadership. Could you imagine if as rabbis we treated Cheshvan differently, not as the comedown from the high holidays, but as the beginning of our thinking for the next 12 months? 

Maybe we can see Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan as Rosh Hashanah L’rabbanim – New Year’s for rabbis – where we take a deep breath, think about how we want to lead the following Rosh Hashanah and spend the next 11 months building toward it.