 Okay, we're back. We're live. I'm J. Fidel. This is Think Tech. We have Rabbi Itchel Kresynchansky from Hawaii joins us today. It's kind of an early Shabbos on Thursday. And we're going to discuss the high holidays today because they are the most important holidays on the Jewish calendar. Hi, Rabbi. Nice to see you. Very nice to be here again and nice to talk to you. It's always always a pleasure. Yeah. So let's let's refresh on the higher holidays. We spoke a little about it last time. And I want to, you know, catch up with you because the thing about Jewish holidays is that, you know, you study the calendar of the Jewish holidays and say, my goodness, these holidays have been celebrated for thousands of years. Nobody forgot them. And you can go into any, any temple, any Jewish community anywhere in the world, any race, any diverse group that considers itself Jewish. You walk in and they're doing the same thing that the Jews are doing everywhere else that day, that same day, that same hour. It's really remarkable how many thousands of years go by and these holidays are still there, still happening. I'm sure you're right. Right. Because they actually convey a very, very contemporary message, meaning the Judaism and the Torah are eternal. They go way, way, way back. But they're also very relevant and fresh and and vital to our to our total well-being to our spiritual health and our just life in general. So it's like it's like ear that we breathe. Yes, every day we breathe the air. We never get tired of breathing air. If we don't breathe the air, we're not going to be around. Judaism and the holidays specifically are, are that to the Jewish people. They're, they're our lifeline. And very important. They're so closely associated with the family. I know I take Haaretz, which is the, I guess it's also in print, but it's an online newspaper. I get it every day, sometimes more than once a day. It tells how things are doing in Israel. And one of the things lately is of course COVID, because Israel is COVID like most places. And the study of it seems to be this, that the Jews in Israel, a lot of religious Jews like you, you know, have these family experiences. It's the holidays like we're going to talk about today, but it's also, you know, family is being together. It's having meals and conversations together. It's about studying and learning together. The important word is together. And so what happens in Israel, you know, forget about the, the minion for a minute, the group of, minimal group of 10. And forget about, you know, the holidays and the prayer, the prayer congregational meetings. Let's talk about family, talk about gathering. Well, it seems like the Jewish culture, at least in the religious Jewish culture, people are together all the time. And they need to be. It's, as you said, it's an identity thing. It's a really strong cultural thing. And the problem is that with COVID, you know, it's not so good to be together. You have to have distancing and this and that. And of course, that's one of the reasons why there are these cases in Israel. And the government wants to, you know, slow that down. So they stop, stop doing that, you guys. But the impetus is so strong in Israel, that the families, you know, are going to gather anyway, no matter what. This is a real dilemma right now. Have you heard any discussion of this? Well, it's true. And, you know, I know, even from the Israelis that live here in Hawaii, and we have a sizable amount. Yeah, you can't, you can't keep them apart. They're what, you know, they're raised to be together, especially on the Shabbos, the Sabbath and the holidays. So you just have to be careful as best as you can. And pray that they come out with the vaccine very soon. Well, okay, be patient also. Got to be patient, of course. You know, from a scientific point of view, that's not entirely settled. But let's, let's talk about a high holiday. Let's talk about, you know, Russia Shona. I remember when I was a kid, the temple was never really full on a given Saturday or on any other holiday. But on Russia Shona, oh, they came from miles around. And there wasn't a seat to be found. And, you know, if you, because of the beginning of the New Year, you had to pay your dues, you had to pay your dues to the temple. And so that's the way the temple got people to pay their dues. You want to come to Russia Shona services, you got to join up. And people were hanging from the chandeliers at Russia Shona and spilling out into the street, right? Amazing. That is true. That is true. Russia Shona and Yom Kippur are called the High Holy Days. They're not just ordinary holidays, but they are, they not only launched the New Year, the Jewish New Year, which begins on Russia Shona. But it's interesting, you know, in Hebrew, the word, the translation of the word, Russia Shona means head of the year. It doesn't mean the beginning of the year. For that is a different word, Tchilat Hashanah would mean the beginning of the year. We called Russia Shona the head of the year. And it's explained just like the head contains within it, the life force of the entire person, entire body. In the same way also, these holidays, Russia Shona and Yom Kippur contain within them the most essential spiritual messages that we need for the year. So they are foundational, they represent and they celebrate foundational messages in life. So for example, Russia Shona, just to walk through the technical, you know, the holidays, just a series of the holidays coming up. So it all begins with Russia Shona, the beginning of the New Year, Jewish New Year, the head of the year. And then there's a period of 10 days, which is referred to the 10 days of repentance, which culminates on the 10th day of repentance, it culminates on Yom Kippur, which is referred to as the day of Atonement, the most holiest day of the year, the day we all fast and pray. And what began on Russia Shona culminates on Yom Kippur. See, because in the in the non Jewish world, the way you usher in a new year is by partying and having a fun and good time. In Judaism, yes, there's also that element. And that's why we have these festive meals on the holidays. However, Russia Shona is also a very serious time to somber times referred to as a day of judgment. And therefore, it's a very reflective time. And on Russia Shona, we it's not only that God judges us, which is what Russia Shona is, but it's also a time of self appraisal. When we appraise ourselves, our lives and our year gone by and make the necessary resolutions. And we're it's a very introspective time. And, like I said, it culminates on Yom Kippur, which is referred to the day of the day of Atonement. And the theme of Russia Shona Yom Kippur, they refer to the 10 days of repentance, a set as you made shuva. Now, repentance is is an idea, which is, which is, which is so vital. It's a gift from God, to be able not only to, to control the present, and the future of our lives, but actually to retroactively clean up your past, you actually have the ability to make things right, even though that they were wrong. And that is the that is the very basic idea of repentance, that when a person is remorseful of the sins and the mistakes that they've done, whether it's your between your you and God, your relationship with God, or you and fellow fellow man. So God gives us the opportunity to retroactively make things right. This is a wonderful gift. It releases us from our past. We're not, we don't, we're not necessarily bogged down forever by the mistakes that we've done in our past. So Russia Shona Yom Kippur in that sense are very, very foundational. Now, the word repentance. Let me just go back. It says in one of the one of the oft repeated prayers that we say on Russia Shona Yom Kippur is in I'll say it first in Hebrew and then I'll translate it is truva filah utz doka ma virin esreya haxera repentance, prayer and charity, annul any decree, right, that even if God forbid, someone did something, we did something wrong, and therefore there may be a decree upon us, excuse me. Nevertheless, repentance and prayer and charity are able to turn things around. I know the decree. Now, if you look at a little closer, what I just translated from the Hebrew into English is actually a mistranslation. And it's a mistranslation because the concepts, these concepts, concept of quote unquote, repentance, and the concept of prayer and the concept of charity are very different in Judaism than they are in the non Jewish world. So the word for repentance in Hebrew is truva. The literal translation of truva means to return. There's another word for repentance. Because repentance is like regret. So in Hebrew, the word is lit charet charata that's true that's repentance. The difference between the two words are not just a play on words, but they actually convey diametrically opposing ideas. The idea of repentance of regret is when a person realizes that they're on the wrong on the wrong path. And they decide to turn a new leaf to to to become the person that you really desire to become and that you're not. Now that is sometimes it's very, very difficult to become a new person. You know, when you're young, you can change your identity, you know, very quickly. But as you go through life to become a different person to turn a new leaf, it's it's very difficult. The idea of the Jewish idea is called truva return, which basically is conveys the idea that essentially, we are all good. And because we have a godly spark within us, the soul in the shama, which is incorruptible. And it never gets tainted by any by by by any of the sins that we've done or any mistakes that we do. The problem is that sometimes we lose touch with who we truly are, our real self. The idea of truva is idea of rediscovery when we read when we return to the essence of who we are. So we don't have to come, we don't have to become something different, something other, which is difficult. This is a very, very, almost like natural self rediscovery. So that's the idea of truva. And for that reason, maybe wonder about whether this was, you know, the forgiveness forgiveness here. So the first the first question is, where does the forgiveness come? Because you can't, you can't have forgiveness unless you, you both repent and atone, you have to repent and atone. And you should have 10 days to figure out what you should be repent for and what what you should ultimately atone for. And so at the end of that time, assuming you atone, what is it you're forgiven, or you forgive yourself, or the Jewish community forgives you, or the government forgives you, or, you know, who's forgiving you? God's forgiving you? Who's forgiving you? Somebody is forgiving you. Right. So basically, the only real important player is God. God is the, you know, as the ultimate being and the ultimate source of everything. So we seek atonement from God, forgiveness from God. But that's only as it's explained in the sins that you've made towards God. But the sins that you've done towards fellow man, when you've done wrong to a fellow person, you have to actually seek forgiveness from that person. Now the Torah does say that if someone has wronged you, and comes to you and seeks forgiveness, you should forgive that person. And if he seeks forgiveness once, twice, three times, and you still refuse to forgive him, now you're the bad guy. Because the Talmud says that it is within the three identifying characteristics, the Talmud says of the Jewish nation, one is that we are compassionate people. The other one is that we have shame. And the third thing is that we do acts of kindness. Compassionate is forgiveness is, you know, forgiveness comes from compassion. When a person has done you wrong, and there's no question that the person was out of line and hurt you deeply, perhaps. But if you have compassion, you're able to see perhaps that, you know, you know, as it says in the Talmud, you can't judge a person until you're in his shoes and in his place. You never know what's going on within that person and his struggles. And, you know, which which brought him to do this, you know, that is dastardly act. So if you recognize that, you know, that the person needs healing himself. So that is a source of compassion. And then, and then there's the idea of shame, Jewish people have shame. It's not a it's not a popular commodity today. But shame is very important. Shame is like an inner compass. Shame is what keeps us, you know, it keeps us on the straight and narrow. And then the last thing is acts of acts of kindness. You know, the Torah encouraged us to give and to share, etc, etc. So going back to forgiveness, forgiveness is not always easy. Sometimes it's actually very difficult. Never reject it. In other words, you know, in the in the proper practice of the religion, can you say no, I'm, I'm not going to forgive. So that's a whole different discussion. Maybe we should devote an entire show to that. But the answer is, person should always forgive. But for example, if you ask any Jew, whether it's appropriate to forgive the Nazis for what they have done to the Jewish people, the answer is absolutely not. There is no forgiveness for something which is so thoroughly evil. Now the truth is, it's not for us to forgive. The victims have to forgive. You know, we are just Job's brother, we're not Job, you know, we haven't lived through it. So, you know, it's not for us to forgive. But that's a whole entirely different fascinating. I really want to tell you about 60 minutes as I had a little segment about artificial intelligence. This past weekend that it was actually something they played before, I was about this team in Los Angeles that took, that took video, three dimensional video of survivors and asked them thousands of questions. And then made holograms out of them. And then you could, and then they would die because they were old. And then they would have people ask the questions of the hologram. And the hologram would answer because it was all recorded all with artificial intelligence. And it was a fellow there who he had died. And there were people asking him questions, Leslie Stahl, 60 minutes. And she said, do you forgive the Nazis for, you know, killing your kid brother or kid sister and all that? And he said, no, I don't forgive the Nazis. It's not just as you say, Rabbi, he said, this is his hologram speaking. He said, I can't forgive them. If you want me to forgive them, ask them, ask them if they forgive you, then talk to me again. Because by the way, Jay, I don't mean to interrupt you, but you heard of Simon Wiesenthal, right? For sure, right? The Simon Wiesenthal Center. He was a survivor of the Holocaust that made it his life's mission to track down, hunt down the Nazis, those who, you know, who are still alive and to bring him to justice. So he wrote a book called Sunflower. I don't know if you ever saw it. Somebody gave it to me. It's a mind blowing book, very thin one. Basically, right after the war, right after the war, he was in Europe, in Germany, I think, survived a war. And someone came to him and said, there's someone in the hospital who's dying, a German, and he would like to speak to a Jew before he dies. Can you please go visit him? So he went and he and he went into this hospital room and there on the bed was a Nazi trooper SS person who was on the verge of dying. And he turned to Mr. Wiesenthal and he said, Listen, I'm dying. I have to face my maker. And I've been thinking long and hard. And I, I want to ask forgiveness before I die for what I've done, what I've done. So Simon Wiesenthal was quiet. And he's then he thought, and he said, No, I will never forgive you. And the Nazis what you've done. And he left the room. And then he wrote a letter to like 50 big, accomplished Jewish personalities. And he asked them, What would you have answered this Nazi? And they responded, many of them responded, he put it together in a book for very, very, very, very mind blowing. Very fascinating. But that's a different study. They didn't all agree, did they? Well, you know, hey, that's the Jewish way. Okay, so I go through my period of 10 days. I look back at my life. I make a distinction between where I where I where I did something wrong in God's eyes, but also where I did something wrong to someone else in that person's eyes. I make I make a mental list. Is this what it is? I make a mental list. And then I go on a day of fasting 10 days after Rosh Hashanah, I go and you don't keep I spend I spend the day in the synagogue, I pray, I talk to God all day. And I go through my list. And I say, look, I'm atoning God for these various things. So my forgiveness, am I right to say this? I want your forgiveness. Yes. Yes. Okay. So several things. But first, before we get to that, my mononies, the great Jewish codifier of Jewish law, he explains that there are two steps to the process of repentance. One is remorse for what you've done to be genuinely remorseful, what you've done. And the other one is to take upon yourself the resolution that you will not do it again. That even if the temptation or the opportunity presented itself again, you will not do that again. And my monies go on to say that if you don't have both elements, that's not complete repentance. For example, if someone says, you know, I realize that I have to change courses. I'm on the wrong road. I've done bad stuff. But to be honest with you, I cannot say I regret that I went through those experiences. So yes, I'm making the resolution to be different. But I have no remorse for what I have done. So my mononies says that that's not a valid repentance. Because as the commentators explained, without true remorse, if you're not really remorseful for the mistakes in the sins you've done, so that means you haven't rejected it. And you haven't exercised that from your being. Conversely, if someone says, I feel terrible for what I've done. But if I had the same temptation today, I cannot say for sure I wouldn't succumb to it again. That also is not true repentance. Okay, now, so in getting back to what you said about forgiveness seeking atonement from God. So this is a very, very, very foundational part of the whole process. And that is, you know, we Jews, we kibbits and we joke about, you know, the Jewish guilt, the eternal Jewish guilt, right, that our mothers have embedded in us. But always feeling guilty about your mistakes and your sins is a very un-Jewish idea. According to Judaism, we believe that once we genuinely are remorseful for what we've done and we've done repentance and shuva. So we believe that God wipes our slate clean, that we're not the same person anymore, in a sense. And we don't revisit the mistakes of the past and the sins of the past, that in God's eyes, as well as in our, how it should be in our eyes, that that that action or that behavior is no longer you, no longer who you are. So once so, so once we seek forgiveness from God, we're confident that God, if you're genuine in your, in your, in your request, that God does forgive us, and he doesn't get tired about forgiving us, you know, a man, us finite beings and imperfect beings, we can be forgiving. But if the same person comes, you know, makes the same mistake again, and again, and again, at some point, we know, we're not so forgiving, right? We get tired, we get fatigued from forgiving. God doesn't get fatigued. I hate to use analogy where it's like a computer. You put in, you put in the remorse, you get the forgiveness. But it's funny that, you know, we look at it from the point of view of the person atoning, you have to, you have to be comfortable with your perception that yes, you recognize the errors of your ways. And yes, you won't do it again. And you actually, I mean, in the reality of it, you stand in, you look at God, and then you look back at yourself. You have to be satisfied that he satisfied or she, and only then you come out of this, it's neither, neither he or she. Okay, sorry. But at that point, God, God has, you believe you have concluded that God has forgiven you and you can go forward in the next two years. Unencumbered by the past mistakes. And that's very, very important. So Rabbi, I looked it up a little bit. And what did I find here? I found that, that Rosh Hashanah is the, it's a celebration of the new year. Right. It's a birthday of the new year. The first day of Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the new year. And that is significant, because that celebration. What else does it mean? I mean, certainly it's a little, a little is the first month of the year. Is that what it is? No, Elo is the month we're in now, the month prior to Rosh Hashanah. It's the last month of the prior year. And it is the month of preparation that we begin to spiritually prepare ourselves to, to enter into the new year in the best way possible. But you bring up a very, very good point. Let me just say two things. So the Talmud says, I'm quoting now in translation is that, how strange are the Jewish people that on the day of judgment, they, they dress in their finest, and they gather together with family and friends and celebrate. Now you, Jay, as an attorney, who probably spent a lot of time in court before judges, you know, from your clients in the past, that if you're, if you have a court date, and you, and you have to go before the judge, and the judge has to make a decision, you know, either your way or the other, the other way, it's very, very, very frightening, especially if it's a serious matter. Especially if you're standing before the Supreme Court justice and the Supreme Judge of all being, you would think that the appropriate, appropriate demeanor in the appropriate mindset would be a fear and awe, which that is part of the High Holy Days. But where's the celebration? How can you celebrate before you know the verdict? How can you come into court celebrating without even knowing how the judge is going to rule? That's a really good question. Because in the reality, not only in court, but in the court, the religious court, the court of God, you don't know what's going to happen. He may, or God, just not to say whether it's a he or she, God may not agree with you. He may not feel that you are being appropriately contrite. He may not feel that you fully recognize the error of your ways. And you may lose the case. You don't know. You don't know. And so let me tell you. So let me tell you. So you know, one of the famous prayers of the High Holy Days, and we sing it also is the Avinu Malcaynu prayer. I remember. Our father, our king. So we have a dual relationship with this Supreme Judge. He is our king. He rules over our lives. But he's also our father. And as a father who, as a compassionate father, who loves his children, we're confident that God will judge us favorably. And he will, and he will work with our imperfections and recognize our imperfections as long as we genuinely really, really want to be good and want to be the best that we can. So yes, that's where we get our confidence from. That's why we celebrate because more than the fact that he's our king, he's our father. And that relationship is the most underlying dynamic between us and God. And that answers a question that you asked me last time, that why in the order of the holidays is Rosh Hashanah before Yom Kippur, when if if Rosh Hashanah is the day we reestablish our relationship with God, and Yom Kippur is the day of Atonement. So wouldn't it be more appropriate to first clean up your act, first atone for your sins, and then we can present ourselves before God and, you know, and, and, and we reconnect with God and accept upon ourselves God as king and to re, to re, to refresh our relationship with God. So the answer is that our relationship with God is not dependent on us being righteous and perfect. We don't have to go through a Yom Kippur before we stand before God and refresh our relationship with him because our relationship with God is so deep that no sin can interfere and, and, and weaken this bond that we have with God because sin doesn't touch the essence of who we are. As we, as we said earlier, truva means to return to return to who we truly are. Yeah, I think I, I think I got a, I got a revelation on that, a little mini revelation. Yes. And that is you, you rejoice on it because you haven't been thinking about it. And this holiday makes you think about it. And when you do think about it, you realize that, although you may have trepidation, that your judge may, may not judge you kindly. You realize that now in the end, you're, he's the most or God is the most fatherly figure you could have. And he, God will judge you kindly. And that's, that's, that's, that's the rejoicing. That's the discovery. And from there, it's, it makes it easier that 10 day period and the atonement on Yom Kippur. We got to go now, Rabbi. Wonderful to talk to you. And Jay, if I, if I, if I can suggest, maybe we do one more, either before Yom Kippur or right after, so we can get to talk about because there's a lot more to talk about. I mean, get into deeper and deeper. But thank you. It's always a pleasure. Always a pleasure, Rabbi. Thank you so much. Take care. Be well. Take care. Stay safe. Bye-bye.