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Starting Early (September 2008)

The pilgrim makes his way up the stone steps, slowly, cautiously, with a mix of reverence and awe in his heart. A priest waits for him silently, standing at the entrance of the ornate gate. When the pilgrim reaches the top of the stairs, he asks, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in God’s holy place?” The priestly guardian then replies, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not taken a false oath or sworn deceitfully…”

This dialogue between the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem and the pilgrims who ascended the stone steps is recorded for us in Psalm 24, our daily psalm for Sunday. In order to enter the Temple courtyard, the priest does not require that the pilgrim bring gifts of food, or animals to sacrifice; instead, the priest replies that the pilgrim must bring gifts of character. As the pilgrim approaches the sanctuary, it is not what is in one’s hands that matters, but what is in one’s heart.

This priestly demand for “clean hands and a pure heart” is found over and over in the literature written by and for the priests of old, such as VaYikra, the Book of Leviticus. It is also heard in the words of the great prophets, of Amos and Isaiah and Jeremiah. And it is a demand that we too should heed, as we approach our courtyard, and our sanctuary, in the days to come.

Many of us begin the process of examining our deeds, of searching our hands and our hearts, when Rosh Hashanah begins. We enter our sanctuary, sincere and full of hope and determination for the New Year ahead. We spend the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in intense self-reflection and constructive self-criticism. We hope to feel sincere regret for our wrongs, work to correct our mistakes, and pledge not to repeat them in the future. And when we sing the final prayers of Neilah, at end of Yom Kippur, our goal is to emerge with “clean hands and a pure heart.”

Yet the priests of old, the priests who stood at the gates of the Temple, would have us begin this process of teshuvah even earlier, even before we take our first steps into the sanctuary. Standing at the entrance of our sanctuary on Rosh Hashanah, they would ask not whether we have our tickets, but whether we have already begun to search and correct our deeds.

In fact, our tradition provides us with a structure to do just that. Beginning with the first of Elul, which this year corresponds to the first day of September, we are to spend the days of September engaged in the same thought and reflection that most of us associate with the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. During this month, before the High Holidays begin, we should already be searching our deeds and our hearts and our minds, already beginning the hard work of repentance. That is why the shofar is sounded at morning services each day during this month – to remind us that it is time to “wake up” and get started now.

It will not be easy. The month of September brings with it the beginning of a new school year, new responsibilities at work, new adjustments to the pace of life after vacation, and new challenges. It is a busy, hectic, and exciting month. Yet in the midst of these busy and hectic days, our tradition urges us to take time to slow down and reflect, to sit quietly and think, and to begin the process of examining our lives and how we live them.

Selichot, the evening of penitential prayers that formally begins the High Holidays, will arrive on Saturday, Sept. 20. Many of us will gather that evening, to study and to prayer, and to quietly ask ourselves how far we have come in our self-reflection and examination.

And then, nine days later, at the very end of this month, we will all enter our sanctuary together to begin our new year. Let us use the days and nights of this coming month to prepare ourselves as in the days of the Temple, to not only leave our sanctuary with clean hands and a pure heart, but to enter it in this manner as well. May we, like the pilgrims of old, strive to be worthy to “ascend God’s mountain, and stand in God’s holy place.” May we look into the eye of that priest at the doorway, and enter.