Parshas Nitzavim + Rosh Hashanah Issue
By Rabbi David Zauderer (Toronto, Canada)
Political correctness means using words which will not offend any group of people. Most people think it is important for everyone to be treated equally, fairly and with dignity. Some words that are unkind to some people have been used for a long time. Some of these words have now been replaced by other words that are not offensive. These new words are described as politically correct.
However, sometimes I think we have taken this “political correctness†thing a bit too far, don’t you? I mean, you can’t even call a guy with no hair on his head bald anymore …. now he is to be referred to as follicularly-challenged; a car wash worker is now called a vehicle-appearance specialist; a stupid person is now cerebrally-challenged; evil is niceness-deprived; and failure is non-traditional success. A homeless person is now to be called a residentially flexible individual or an outdoorsman; hurricane is now to be spelled himmicane (non-sexist); incorrect is an alternative answer; lost is locationally disadvantaged; and from now on woman is to be spelled w/o man or womyn!
[Many years ago, I was visiting a cemetery when I noticed a sticker on one of the headstones that had the letters “PC†written on it. At first I wondered why this person felt it so important to indicate his Personal Computer preferences on his gravestone. But then I thought that perhaps this man’s legacy was to share with his family and with anyone else that came to visit him that his entire life he was careful to always be Politically Correct. Until it dawned on me that in all likelihood the PC sticker on the dead man’s headstone meant that his family paid extra money for Perpetual Care, i.e. to maintain the gravesite indefinitely. Who would have guessed?]
As you most likely know, much of traditional Judaism’s hashkafah (worldview) is not exactly “politically correct†(nor does it claim to be), and nowhere is this more apparent than in the Aleinu prayer (see below) that is traditionally recited at the end of all three daily Prayer services – Shacharis, Minchah, and Ma’ariv (except on Shabbos and Holidays when Aleinu is recited after Mussaf instead of after Shacharis), as well as in the middle of the High Holiday services on both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Aleinu: It is our Duty
“It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to ascribe greatness to the Molder of primeval creation, for He has not made us like the nations of the lands and has not emplaced us like the families of the earth; for He has not assigned our portion like theirs nor our lot like all their multitudes. (For they bow to vanity and emptiness and pray to a god that helps not.) But we bend our knees, bow, and acknowledge our thanks before the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He. He stretches out heaven and establishes earth’s foundation, the seat of His homage is in the Heaven’s above and His powerful Presence is in the loftiest heights. He is our G-d and there is none other. True is our King, there is nothing beside Him, as it is written in His Torah: ‘You are to know this day and take to your heart that the L-ord is the only G-d – in heaven above and on the earth below – there is none other.’â€
According to many early sources, Aleinu, the classic Jewish declaration of faith and dedication, was composed by Joshua after he led Israel across the Jordan. During the Talmudic era, it was part of the High Holiday Mussaf service, and at some point during medieval times it became part of the daily Prayer services.
Bach (in his commentary to Orach Chaim 133) explains that Aleinu was added at the end of the daily prayers in the synagogue (to be recited just before the congregants head to work or to their homes) so as to implant faith in the Oneness of G-d’s kingship, and the conviction that He will one day remove detestable idolatry from the earth … thus preventing Jews from being tempted to follow the beliefs and lifestyles of the nations whom they encounter daily.
The Kabbalists instruct us to recite the Aleinu prayer with great awe and trepidation. They explain that when the Jewish people publicly recite the Aleinu prayer and declare their faith in the One True G-d, all the Heavenly Hosts come and listen, and the Holy One, Blessed is He Himself stands together with his Holy entourage, and all the Hosts proclaim: “Praiseworthy is the people for whom this is so, praiseworthy is the people whose G-d is the L-ord†(Psalms 144:17).
Now while it is undoubtedly true that Aleinu is one of the holiest prayers in the Siddur (Jewish prayer book) … it is also one of the most politically incorrect prayers as well.
Consider some of the Aleinu’s “non-PC†verses:
~ “It is our duty to praise the Master of all … for He has not made us like the nations of the lands.â€
~ “For they bow to vanity and emptiness and pray to a god that helps not. But we bend our knees, bow, and acknowledge our thanks before the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, Blessed is Heâ€
~ “He is our G-d and there is none other. True is our King, there is nothing beside Himâ€
I always like to say that the Aleinu prayer is so politically incorrect for our times that if your typical, non-traditional (“secularâ€) Jew would actually read the Aleinu prayer in a language that he could understand, he would probably never want to say Aleinu again!
Maybe it’s a good thing that Aleinu is traditionally recited at the end of the Prayer service by which time many of the congregants will have already left the main sanctuary on their way to the social hall for the kiddush – thus skipping Aleinu entirely. And those who do stick around till the very end of the prayers are often too busy singing the Aleinu to think about what the words actually mean.
The only real danger of “Aleinu exposure†is on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when Aleinu is prominently featured front and center right in the middle of the High Holiday services. [Of course it is still recited at the end of the High Holiday services as well.]
You see, unlike the holiday of Chanukah which can easily accommodate the Politically Correct crowd by changing its theme and re-billing itself as the “universal battle between light and darkness†(whatever that means); and unlike the Festival of Passover which can also be easily correctified (“correctified?†I am beginning to sound like George “Dubya†Bush!) and changed into something that will appeal to the sensitivities of the PC people - you just can’t do that with Rosh Hashanah.
Sorry to ruin your brisket for you, but what can I say? …There simply ain’t no way to slice it, folks. The whole High Holiday service, and especially the Aleinu prayer smack in the middle of it, is very politically incorrect, and there’s not much we can do about it.
Truth is that the entire theme of Rosh Hashanah itself is politically incorrect:
Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the Jewish New Year when G-d sits in judgment over all His creations and we accept G-d’s sovereignty upon ourselves as the One True King.
Hmmm … the “One True Kingâ€. There’s not much wiggle room there, eh?
I guess the take-home message for the New Year is that we really need to invest some time during the coming year studying and learning more about our religion. And if we have some issues with parts of it that seem “politically incorrect†such as the Aleinu prayer, we need to ask questions and probe deeper, so that we get the answers that we are looking for.
Of course, the other option we have in the coming year is to just continue to sing Aleinu and doing the rest of the Jewish rituals as we have done until now, without realizing what we are singing or doing.
Let’s make a commitment this Rosh Hashanah not to let another year go by in which we remain “blissfully ignorant†of parts of our Judaism. Or maybe I should have said “religiously-challenged�
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