Pearls of Elul 5786 - Day Twenty-One

September 2 | 20 Elul

“Like a Fading Flower, a Passing Shadow, a Fugitive Cloud and a Vanishing Dream”

[In] the PBS retrospective on the life and work of Leonard Bernstein I found it fascinating, particularly when he confronts members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as they rehearse a symphony by Gustav Mahler. Mahler had converted to Christianity so he could be appointed conductor of the Vienna Opera. But in the eyes of musical Vienna, he remained an outsider: his music was too "Semitic." The orchestra's hostility emerged in their playing of his score.

Abruptly, Bernstein stops the rehearsal and speaks to the players, in German: "You've got all of the notes. But what's missing is Mahler. Mahler is nowhere to be found in your playing."

Much of what we do over Rosh Hashanah is playing the notes: going to the synagogue, reciting the prayers, dipping an apple in honey, joining with our families. Notes are important; without the notes, there is no symphony. But just as the symphony is more than the notes, Rosh Hashanah is more than the synagogue, the prayers and the honey. It is a reminder that our lives are fragile. We are like a fading flower, a passing shadow, a fugitive cloud and a vanishing dream, the prayer says. It is a reminder that we are responsible for the lives we lead, and that the power to shape our lives is in our own hands.

Dr. Neil Gillman