Anyada Buena, Dulse i Alegre!
(“May you have a Good, Sweet, and Happy New Year!”) 
From your friends at
The American Sephardi Federation

In honor of The Days of Awe, the ASF’s Sephardi World Weekly is pleased to offer the following “Letter from the Land of Israel”: 

The days between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur are known as “the Days of Awe.” According to R’ Ben Zion Meir Hai Uziel (1880-1953), Chief Rabbi of Salonika and the first Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, the period actually constitutes an extended but integrated whole. On Rosh HaShana we envision an ideal reality in which we as individuals, together with the whole world, dedicate ourselves to a Divine purpose. Then, on Yom Kippur, we mediate upon the distance between the ideal world and the real world, including the ways in which we fail to live up to our better selves. Concomitantly, during the Ten Days we ask for forgiveness from those we have hurt even as we engage in the work of teshuva (i.e., repentance), reconnecting to our inner core and starting anew.  While asking for forgiveness is integral to the spiritual growth that we seek during the Days of Awe, the Talmudic sages taught, “For sins between man and God, Yom Kippur atones, but for sins between man and his fellow, Yom Kippur does not atone until he appeases his fellow” (Yoma 87b). Yom Kippur cannot atone for sins we have committed against others until we first request forgiveness. But asking for forgiveness isn’t always so easy. Sometimes, shame gets in the way. R’ Eliezer Papo (1785–1828), the rabbi of the Ottoman-Sephardi community of Silistra, Bulgaria, recognized and treated this problem in his great work of Jewish ethics, Pele Yoetz (“The Wondrous Advisor”). After noting the obligation to ask for forgiveness, “You must… ask forgiveness of anyone you insulted,” R’ Papo turns to the related problem, “It is embarrassing… to ask forgiveness,” and then offers an elegant solution that remains acutely relevant for our digital-textual age:If you are too embarrassed to apologize in person, you may… write a letter. Since Jews are holy and compassionate, they grant forgiveness readily to those who request it.R’ Papo’s advice is appropriate for those who communicate via email and What’sApp. However, there are some relationships, such as between parents and children, in which the request for forgiveness needs to be personal.  When it comes to parents and children, a What’sApp request is not okay. How should children approach their parents and ask for forgiveness? The great Iraqi sage, R’ Yosef Haim (1835-1909), also known by the title of his popular Halakhic work, The Ben Ish Hai, obligated children to visit their parents on Yom Kippur eve:Every person should kiss his father and mother’s hand on Yom Kippur eve, during the late afternoon before going to synagogue, and request forgiveness. This is a great obligation for every person… For if the Talmudic sages obligated us to request forgiveness for sins committed against one’s fellow, all the more so one’s father and mother.While R’ Yosef Haim’s command still rings true, it reflects the ways of a traditional community in which family life is central and people live within walking distance of their parents. The obligation can still be performed today by (video) calling home, but the sad truth is that in our hyper-modern world, children, especially adult children, often fail to appreciate the honor due to their father and mother. Here, however, R’ Haim’s concluding sentence becomes especially pertinent:If the child is a fool and doesn’t make the request, parents should still grant forgiveness, saying: I grant my child who sinned against me complete forgiveness. Modern society is a blessing in many ways. Creative energies unleashed by the rule of law and the free market have empowered more people than any time in history, while technological wonders have enabled billions to rise above their animal neediness and, as such, live more dignified lives. When it comes to family life, however, modernity has a way of making all of us a little foolish. R’ Yosef Haim’s instruction shifts the responsibility, and the power, to the parents to begin the new year with a clean slate. Once we have requested forgiveness, we are ready to enter into Yom Kippur and, “do Teshuva.” Yom Kippur is a holiday—we are granted a new beginning—but it is also, according to the book of Leviticus, a “day of affliction.” We usually think of the 25-hour fast as the principal affliction, but the great Spanish Biblical commentator and government minister, Don Yitzhak Abarbanel (1437-1508), had a different perspective. The command, “You shall afflict your souls,” appears twice in Vayikra (the Book of Leviticus), in verses 16:29 and 16:31. Why does the commend appear twice? According to Abarbanel’s interpretation, the first verse refers to physical affliction such as fasting, while the second verse refers to spiritual-emotional affliction. On Yom Kippur we are granted an entire day to engage in introspection and to recognize the ways in which we fail to live up to our ideal selves. When done seriously and sincerely, this can be a painful and tormenting but ultimately rewarding process, i.e., “affliction.” To borrow a phrase from the American writer, Stanley Crouch, Yom Kippur is dedicated to, “the bittersweet song of spiritual concerns”: the affliction is bitter, but the new beginning is sweet. Crouch composed his phrase as part of his contribution to a classic jazz album entitled, The Majesty of the Blues, and the Blues indeed function as a helpful metaphor for understanding the deep, spiritual work of Yom Kippur: we see our reality for what it is, work through the shame of it all and then say “yes” to life! A new beginning. The American Sephardi Federation wishes to all of our readers a Happy New Year and G’mar Hatima Tova. May we all be inscribed in the Book of Life.

L’Shana Tova!  The American Sephardi Federation