On My Mind
Executive editor — issues and opinionsRabbi Max, This is the Season to Ask for Forgiveness
Once again,
Rabbi Jacob Max is the center of media attention and for that matter the general conversation in the community.
Be it a meal in a sukkah or just walking along greeting people on Sunday, the Baltimore Sun’s regurgitation of all that we already knew, had people shaking their heads once more.
We learned almost nothing new from the article.
Perhaps what continues to be missing is any semblance of teshuva or asking of forgiveness by Max.
Here we are as Jews in a time when repentance is a central them to our prayers and to our actions towards one another.
One wonders while Max was striking his chest in the traditional way during Yom Kippur prayers, if he put a face to each person who has come out and bravely told their stories of how he impacted their lives.
There was talk that the Sunpaper article would appear last Sunday, September 27, the day before Yom Kippur. Its symbolism then of forgiveness would have been huge.
Still, that it appeared on the second day of Sukkot also brings with it a tremendous amount of inner-symbolism. For Max, like a sukkah, represents man’s frailty. However, a sukkah, never was found guilty of a fourth-degree molestation conviction.
There are beautiful symbols that appear inside a sukkah and outside. The lulav, the essrog, the mere act of convening over meals in the structure. It’s a wonderful place, and for many of us is our most favorite Jewish observance.
Yet, we all know that the sukkah can’t keep out many of the elements, a moderate or strong rain, a blustery wind, a dip in the temperature. When I lived in Detroit, there was even snow to deal with sometimes.
These elements remind us of our own frailties, faults and desires gone astray.
With prayer, with teshuvah, real connection to God, we can only hope for reminders of this, the season of our joy, our gladness.
Max, we all cry out to you and for you. Seek forgiveness.
Allow the sukkah to take you to righteousness.
It’s not too late.
