{"id":416,"date":"2014-02-20T02:20:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T02:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=416"},"modified":"2014-02-20T02:20:26","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T02:20:26","slug":"erev-yom-kippur-appeal-5768","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=416","title":{"rendered":"Erev Yom Kippur Appeal 5768"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Erev Yom Kippur Appeal 5678<\/strong><\/h1>\n

by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n

Usually a member of the board of directors speaks now, but<\/p>\n

this summer I have been reading the\u00a0 Memoirs of Elias<\/p>\n

Canetti, a Sephardic Jew of the last century and<\/p>\n

winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Because of that asked if I might deliver<\/p>\n

this appeal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here is how Canetti describes pre WW I Vienna,<\/p>\n

where one of the passions of his grandfather was<\/p>\n

collecting tzedaka<\/p>\n

\u201cI often saw him in Praterstrasse, accosting some one for<\/p>\n

money for this purpose.\u00a0 He was already holding his<\/p>\n

red-leather notebook, in which the name and<\/p>\n

contribution of each donor were recorded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He was already accepting the<\/p>\n

banknotes and stowing them in his<\/p>\n

wallet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe never got no for an answer; it would have been<\/p>\n

scandalous saying no to Se\u00f1or Canetti.\u00a0 Prestige within<\/p>\n

the community hinged on this; people always had<\/p>\n

cash on them for the not-so-small<\/p>\n

contributions; a \u2018no\u2019 would have meant<\/p>\n

that a man was on the verge of<\/p>\n

being one of the poor himself,<\/p>\n

and that was something<\/p>\n

no one wanted to<\/p>\n

have said<\/p>\n

about himself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe, however, that there was also true generosity<\/p>\n

among these people. Often, with restrained pride, I<\/span><\/p>\n

heard that so-and-so was a good person, which<\/p>\n

meant that he was lavish with donations.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The world has changed. It is probably hard to find<\/p>\n

somebody today who thinks of giving Tzedaka in this<\/p>\n

way \u2013 as a means of demonstrating that he or she is<\/p>\n

not on the verge of poverty.\u00a0 But how many<\/p>\n

of us give to demonstrate that we\u2019ve<\/p>\n

had a successful year?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, the world has changed.\u00a0 Tonight, we begin a day that<\/p>\n

\u00a0celebrates <\/span>our <\/span>ability to change.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And tonight, I invite you to join the Canetti Conspiracy<\/span><\/p>\n

(something that Dan Brown will not write about).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As we reach into our pockets to support this<\/p>\n

synagogue \u2013 and other Jewish causes during<\/p>\n

the year \u2013 let us not think of it as<\/p>\n

obligation or even duty or even<\/p>\n

righteousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rather, let us reach deeper and remember Senor Canetti.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us think of it as a way of showing thankfulness<\/p>\n

for the bounty that we enjoy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have an easy fast.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yom Kippur 5768<\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yom Kippur is a day of great<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

reverence and seriousness.\u00a0 I propose that we should<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

also think of it as a day of celebration.\u00a0 It is day in<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

which\u00a0 we celebrate God\u2019s greatest gift to<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

us:\u00a0 Our ability to choose to make<\/p>\n

ourselves different from how we<\/p>\n

are now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We can change in our relationship to ourselves. We can<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

stop unreasonable expectations for achievements<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

and flimsy excuses when we don\u2019t do things that<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

we should.\u00a0 We can treat ourselves with<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

respect.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We can change our relationship with others by always<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

striving to see the Godliness in them and by<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

recognizing that we never know what is in the<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

heart of somebody else.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is, we should not not judge because we might judged.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u00a0 should not judge because that is not the way to<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

relate to others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Allow me to repeat [repeat]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We can change our relationship to God by seeing mitzvot<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

not as obligations and duties but as opportunities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mitzvot are the opportunities for creating a<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

dwelling place for God in this world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The more that we do, the more we<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

welcome God to this, our lower,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Each of us is on a different spiritual path, to be sure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But\u00a0 whatever our path, we surely hope it will be more<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

productive at the end of these Days of Awe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To increase the productivity of our Jewish (and secular<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

lives) let us choose to change<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We can change our<\/p>\n

relationships to\u00a0 ourselves, to other people, and to<\/p>\n

God \u2013 because today<\/p>\n

is THE day of celebration of our ability<\/p>\n

to change for the better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0Erev Yom Kippur Appeal 5678 by Marc Mangel Usually a member of the board of directors speaks now, but this summer I have been reading the\u00a0 Memoirs of Elias Canetti, a Sephardic Jew of the last century and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.   Because of that asked if I might deliver this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-416","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":417,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/416\/revisions\/417"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}