Each year on Rosh HaShanah, we come before God and request to be inscribed in God’s Sefer HaChayim- God’s book of life. All of us who are here today have been given that privilege while some, who have lived a life of blessing move on to even a greater gift- the Olam Habah, the world to come. For most of us, death is not considered to be a gift and a privilege rather it is seen as a curse and a punishment since those who we care about and appreciate depart from their families and we, the victims of losing someone are left with the question why has God taken away the people we love so dearly from us for the rest of our lives. Those whose deaths are imminent, who are sealed in God’s Book of Remembrance and not sealed in God’s book of life at the time of Rosh HaShanah’s arrival, either live a long and fruitful life and there are others who are so special to us who are diagnosed and suffer terminal illness. But then there are others who are not sealed in God’s book of life who die unexpectedly and without warning, which always makes each of these circumstances even more difficult.

We often question during these traumatic moments whether or not God does anything to stop such unexpected and tragic events; or rather it is simply classified as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or as the Talmud elaborates, “Olam K’Minhago Noheg, the world goes according to its custom, and there are moments that God cannot stop certain events in the world from taking place, but yearns to support us in helping us heal as we pass through such tragedies in our lives. Thirteen years ago, a sixteen year old boy and his thirteen year old younger brother experienced one of these moments when they really began to question whether or not God really existed and whether or not God intentionally chooses who God puts in the book of life and who God puts in the book of remembrance.

It was the night beginning the second day of Rosh Hashanah when this family received a phone call from the UCLA medical center informing them that their father, A Chazzan, a Cantor for a fairly large Synagogue in Santa Monica, California had been in a tragic automobile accident in the Topanga Canyon and it was in their best interest to drive to the hospital as his condition was extremely critical. The two boys along with their mother began their nerve racking and stress filled drive after scarfing down their yuntif dinner down to UCLA and contacted their Rabbi to please drive to meet them and support them, as nobody knew what the future was going to bring. When they got their they were told that their father was on his way to Tashlich services at the Santa Monica Pier when he was hit head on by a Mac 18 wheel truck and he was in his Previa Minivan. He was pinned in the car for over forty-five minutes and the doctors were having a very difficult time reviving him. The childrens’ Rabbi, one whom they considered a holy messenger from God, who never drove on Shabbat or a Yom Tov until this cold night in September of 1992, told the children not to go in and see their father as he did not look good and the Rabbi was very pessimistic about the future for their dad. Their father, the beloved Cantor, in a committed congregation who cared for everyone was in between the book of life and the book of remembrance on the day that God, according to our tradition begins to write down who shall live and who shall die. Around fifteen minutes later, the news had come from the doctors that their father had died and God, on the Jewish New Year, on the eve of the Second day of Rosh Hashanah had decided to inscribe this individual soul into the book of remembrance for the coming year. The Two children who lost their father could not understand the reality around them but their mother, stepfather, grandmother and Rabbi were there to console them, reminding them that they were still alive and that they were going get through this traumatic nightmare. The two children with their mother went to Rosh Hashanah the next morning, one read Torah and as each Rosh Hashanah comes upon us every year, and as they light their yahrtzeit candles on the Second Night of Yuntif, the image of that evening has stayed with them for the last thirteen years.

The two children in the story have survived the trauma they endured and have succeeded embracing life when they could have chosen drugs, depression and other avenues to escape the reality that had entered their lives. They have grown even stronger to not only accept the world the way it works, but also they are two individuals who have not stopped being Jewish. They have continued to believe in God despite the tragedy the two suffered a Bar Mitzvah lifetime ago. One is in his third year at Hastings Law School set to take the California BAR this coming summer and is happily married to a woman who specializes in working with autistic children and other children with physical, emotional and mental challenges as well. His older brother, the sixteen year old in our story is now the Rabbi here at Bet Shira Congregation in Miami. Yes, my father who was a Cantor was the one in the story who was killed in the car accident, and this evening on Rosh Hashanah marks the thirteenth Yahrtzeit, the thirteenth anniversary of his tragic ending at an age that is simply to early to leave this world- being only 39 years old. One may ask why did I decide to be a Rabbi after God had taken away my father from my brother and I after just a few years getting to know him.

The answer for me is that it was not God who took my father away, rather the world goes according to its custom, and there are things in the world that cannot stop. My theology and attitude were such that during the time my family and I sat Shiva with the hundreds and hundreds of individuals who stopped by to comfort us, God sat Shiva with us to because it was beyond God’s control and God had lost someone very special doing God’s work in the world that God had created.

But more importantly, the reason I became a Rabbi and the reason my brother has entered the work field of bringing justice and goodness to the world and to the Jewish community was the love that was given to us by our mother, by our extended family and friends, and the love and support that was given to us by our community. Rosh HaShanah is a time where we as a congregation gather together as a family to support one another, to befriend each other, and to pray to God asking God to watch over us and inscribe us in God’s Book of Life as a community leaving nobody behind. However, we know as the Rabbis teach us- Olam K’Minhago Noheg- the world goes according to its path, and there will be some individuals in our lives who will leave us not because God has decided to take them away from us intentionally, but because their souls have been directed and are therefore needed as a benefit to God to serve as divine angels in the heavens above just as we are the ones who serve as God’s angels in our world that God has created.

I know that although my father’s physical presence is gone forever, his soul never will be; I know his presence has moved on to a different place and that his purpose in this world was not as long as any of us thought it should have been. But is God’s Sefer HaChayim and Sefer Zichronot, God’s Book of Life and God’s Book of Remembrance Literal or metaphorical?

I, on a personal and Rabbinic level do not believe that God’s Sefer HaChayim, God’s Book of Life is a physical and literal book where God takes a pen in God’s hand and writes who will live and who will die. Rather God’s book of life is a metaphorical instrument, which we use harmoniously to enjoy life, to appreciate life, and to enjoy the time that God provides us in this world with our family, our friends, and our community. I understand God’s book of life to be our own books of life, which serve for each of us as a picture book. I envision it as a book that is filled with memories; a book that is filled with relationships and feelings. God’s book of life serves a purpose for all of us. It is a book, which is to be spiritually uplifting and has the obligation to show us and to help us understand who we are and what our purpose in life is. Rosh HaShanah is a time where we ask God to inscribe us into this precious book of life. We ask God to give us the ability to appreciate the things and the people around us. We ask God to help encourage each and every one of us to appreciate everything and everyone around us so that our lives, our books and the stories our lives will be filled with are acted out and told with an attitude of blessing and of self-reflection.

We as human beings never know what life will truly bring. There will be events and moments that are least expected and are quite difficult to deal with. My hope and prayer as we begin this new year together in our new Rabbinic Congregational relationship is that each of us will be there for one another in times of stress and in times of sorrow. But we as a community must not only want and need to be there in moments such as these, but we should also be there for each other every day. WE must visit each other when we are sick in the hospital, we must support each other by attending daily minyanim to support those people who need to say Kaddish, we must support our ECC program, our religious school and USY programs by supporting them financially when they need us to, we must support sisterhood and Tikkun Olam and our Senior Assembly in all of their activities and in helping them achieve the good that they give to the synagogue and to our world which is valued and appreciated. We must support the leadership and the professionals in our community for they are the ones who we trust and who we know can lead us onto the right path in this new and exciting time in our community. We must be there for our families and friends on happy occasions as well and as much as we can on a regular basis. If it were not for those who we are closest with and those who are so dear to us; we would not be where we are today.

Finally we must be there constantly and consistently for ourselves and for God. We must be there for ourselves by always maintaining a sense of identity and knowing that each of us has a purpose in this world every day of our lives. Each of us is responsible for writing our own books of life, and each of us is responsible for enhancing our books of life. May each of us serve as a unique and holy author writing our books of identity filled with awe, holiness, and a spiritual quest. It is only when we do so, that our books of life will lead us to come back to this sanctuary next Rosh HaShanah filled with a new attitude and a new soul which has changed itself for a Brakha- for a blessing! Ken Nihiyeh Ratzon- May It Be Our Will- Amen.