There are many reasons why we gather late at night to pray selichot. It is Ashkenazic tradition to gather at midnight on the Sunday morning before Rosh Hashanah to begin asking for forgiveness…a request that we will repeat for the next several days leading up to Yom Kippur. Others say that the tradition of asking for forgiveness during the wee hours of the day is ours because that is when God is most forgiving…in the night. I think we can all agree that we are probably in our most vulnerable, and reflective, states after the sun goes down…after the worries of our workday is over…after we have put the kids to bed…after we have finished with our material duties…when time seems to slow down just a bit…when we are left with our most intimate thoughts, either alone or with our spouses and partners. It is then that it seems a bit easier to address ourselves repentantly. It is in that mood of intimate…vulnerable…reflection that we as a community hope to enter the High Holy Days. We are not alone in that mood…we are here as a community.

In Tractate Shabbat in the Babylonian Talmud, Raba teaches us that in the final judgment we are asked five questions:

Were you honest in business?

Did you set-aside times for learning?

Did you look beneath the surface?

Did you ponder the inner meaning of what you saw?

Did you live with hope?

I would like to take just a few moments together to think about these questions. I think they are very appropriate questions. Raba asks us to look at each aspect of our lives. In essence he tells us that we cannot compartmentalize the different areas of our being when we are dealing with redemption and forgiveness. We can't rationalize unethical business decisions by studying extra Torah. No…we must study Torah and be ethical at work. Raba's questions rebuke us to take note of the material aspects of our lives…business and learning….how we spend our days. What does it mean to be honest in business? How much time must we set aside for learning?

The answers to these questions will be different for each of us. For some it will mean looking to make sure we give enough tzedakah from our profits. For others it will mean thinking about our daily business doings and making sure we don't take unfair advantages in our work. How do we make sure we have set enough time aside for learning? For some it will mean reading a few more books each year. I am sure each of our movements provide appropriate lists from which to choose. For others, it will mean spending more time at Torah study. And for many, of course, it will mean continuing to do what you are already doing.

Raba's enquiries also require us to look at how we view the world. “Did you look beneath the surface? Did you ponder the inner meaning of what you saw?” In the last 12 months, how many of us missed a turn that we take every day because we were just floating on our routes home not really taking notice of the streets we were passing? How many times are we preoccupied to the extent that we don't notice the flowers that have bloomed or the season that is changing? Have we been too tired, or too busy, to stand at the end of the driveway and chat with our neighbors? What does it mean to look beneath the surface and ponder? I believe it will mean something different for each of us. For some it will mean taking time to mark the passage of time instead of just letting it happen.

If we look at those first four questions together, I think there is a common theme…no matter what conclusion we each come to as we try to answer their demands…in one way or another…these questions address actions. Honesty in business…study…taking time to be reflective…pondering…these are all things we can push ourselves to do by altering the way we operate. We can be honest in business if we are not. We can take time to study if we don't already. We can be reflective and look beneath the surface if we slow down. And we can ponder that which we see. The last question Raba asks us is different. He asks us, “Did you live with Hope.” The nature of this question is entirely different. It seems to demand a way of thinking…a disposition…an optimism of sorts…does it not? Today was September 11. I know each person here was aware of that. It has been three years since those airplanes did their damage. Raba asks us, “Have you lived with hope?” What does it mean to live with hope? Again for all of us it will mean something different. For some it will mean living with the hope that we won't have another September 11. The world for so many of us is a different place than it was just a few years ago. How can we try to live with more hope? The headlines in the paper all week have emphasized that people want to mark September 11 by living as normally as possible.

Governor Pawlenty has ordered the flags to be flown at half-staff. But as we looked around today, life was pretty normal. Children became Bar and Bat Mitzvah…people spent Shabbat with their families going to synagogue, having a meal, going to parks, walking around the lakes, and enjoying the last few days of nice weather. I believe that Raba means to teach us with his 5th question that hope can be more than just a wish or a thought. Hope can be an action just like the other four questions. Living with hope means living in a way that shows those who wish to cause us harm that we live with certain values and that we will continue to live those values and teach them to our children. Hope means that we can still send our kids out into the yard to play with friends and hope means that they can ride to their bikes to the park and it will be OK. Living with hope means that we can stand up and proudly shout our support for Israel. Living with hope means that after 350 years of helping to build this country and this way of life, the Jewish community will still be here reviewing our year together this time next year…and the next year…and the next.

Raba asks us important questions…I hope that each of us has the courage to think about the answers honestly. When we have done that, we will be ready to open our hearts to the Days of Awe. May we have the strength and the courage to ask the hard questions in this season of vulnerability and reflection. May we each in the coming year be honest in our business and spend time studying. May we each look beneath the surface and ponder the meaning of what we see. And may God give us the ability to live with hope.