Justifications and Values

Thoughts for Rosh Hashanah

In the confessional prayers of Yom Kippur, we recite the following: What shall we say before you, who dwells on high? What can we tell you, who dwells in the heavens?

This is a crucial part of the process of repentance. For everything we’ve done wrong, we can always give a reason why. For acts of violence or anger, there was provocation. For greed or selfishness, there was temptation. For not following the rules, there was confusion or doubt about expectations. Even for doing things we knew were wrong, there were others doing the same or worse to make us feel entitled.

But in the prayers, we recognize the need to let go of all this. Not to approach God with excuses and justifications, but instead with contrition. To admit that while we have perfectly good excuses for all our misdeeds, excuses won’t lead to change. Excuses won’t make us better people or improve our relationships with God or our fellow humans. Instead, we need to look past our ever-present grievances and justifications to admit that we’ve made mistakes.

As we talk about the terrible war now facing Israel, everybody has an opinion. When and where to attack, or whether to attack at all. Everyone’s position is backed with reasons. And at this point, as Israel has suffered so much for so long from so many, any course of action, no matter how drastic, can be justified.

But let’s remember that just because we can give a reason or justification for an action, that doesn’t mean it’s right. Doing the right thing means making sure that our actions are not only justified, but also in keeping with our values.

One of our highest values is peace. The key question is not what is justified or what we are entitled to do, but rather what will be most effective at bringing about peace. And using violence in the hope it will lead to peace is at best questionable. To quote the famous saying- ‘there is no way towards peace- Peace is the way.’

Best wishes for a shannah tovah.

Shlomo