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October 25 Geraniums Bloom in AutumnI always love the first rains of the autumn. They have a special smell about them, a freshness that sweeps away the dust and speaks of new beginnings, a coolness after the scorching summer sun, a promise of life for a land which, when all's said and done, lies on the edge of the desert. There is a whisper of Hope in the pattering of the raindrops on my window. Oh, I shall tire of it soon enough, when winter sets in, and there isn't enough sunshine to warm the solar panels of my boiler and heat my water and my electricity bills start to soar. I shall hate it when it grows dark by five in the afternoon, making me feel it's even later than it is and making me regret my decision to put in a couple of hours overtime at work. But for now, it's all new and fresh and different.
And yet, autumn has a terrible sadness about it, a presentiment of death, for it is the harbinger of winter. Winter, on the other hand, bears the hope of spring ahead, just around the corner, if you will and is, for that reason, somehow less depressing. Still, the coming of shorter, colder days, has its advantages. Apart from the desperately needed rainfall (which, in my ideal world, would fall only at night, when I'm tucked up snugly in bed
 ), I now have an excuse to refurbish my wardrobe. (Why is it that I always seem to have some clothes which I can wear year after year, and yet items which I purchased only a few months ago no longer seem to fit me ?) Furthermore, October marks the start of the new season for the country's cultural institutions. Although the first opera on my own subscription list is not till January, the opera season actually starts next month , and the concert season has already begun. Now that even the latecomers have returned from their vacations, choir activities are at last in full swing, with several projects ahead of us, including the Liturgica, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra's Festival of Liturgical Music in December in which we are to sing the Bach Magnificat and Mendelssohn's Song of Praise (Lobgesang ). Plenty to keep us occupied till spring.Oh, and one final thing. Not everything is dying. Soon (I hope) my Christmas cactus will flower (it's capricious, so I can't be sure). Nor will it be alone. Cyclamens also love the cold weather and I believe the one on the window-sill of my study will reward me for my devoted care. My bougainvillea is once more adding its brilliant colour to my balcony and even the winter jasmine has taken on a new lease of life. Finally, my geraniums bloom several times a year. I have even known them to survive a blanket of snow. Nor have they failed me now. With the coming of autumn, they are in bloom again. October 08 No man is an islandTonight marks the start of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In my last blog entry, I wrote that the Ten Days of Penitence, between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, are a time for soul-searching, and for repentance - not just for our own sins, but for those of the community as a whole. We are all responsible for each other, the Torah teaches us. "No man is an island. entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." Thus wrote the poet John Donne.
True, each one of us makes his or her own choices. But how can we know in what way something we ourselves said or did, influenced the choices or the actions of another? How can we know if a careless word did not wound or cause harm in ways we never imagined? Rabbi Yisrael Meir Hacohen Kagan (known as the "Chafetz Chaim") wrote a whole book (by which name he is known) on the importance of guarding one's tongue. "Who is the man, desirous of life, who loveth many days that he may see Good? Guard thy tongue from Evil and thy lips from speaking guile. Stay away from Evil, do Good, seek Peace and pursue it." (Psalm 34).
We have all fallen into the trap of speaking evil at one time or another, whether it is the newspaper reporters who are quick to accuse, to spread rumours, to put people on trial in the Press before all the facts are known, or whether it is the private citizen, people like you and like me, who are quick to spread gossip, to apportion blame or to utter a harsh word without thinking how the seed may take root. We need to remember - just as a word of encouragement at the right moment can save a life, so the wrong word can push a fellow human being over the edge.
I have done my soul-searching and I think I know what is my besetting sin. I know what I need to correct in the coming year.
We are taught that Yom Kippur does not bring forgiveness from God, until we obtain the forgiveness of those whom we have hurt. So I would like to take this opportunity to send a message to all those I may have wounded or offended, whether intentionally or unwittingly, to say I am sorry and to ask for forgiveness.
גמר חתימה טובה לכל בית ישראל
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