Unetane Tokef: Some Reflections
As we approach that most sacred of times, and the prayer that has come to embody the essence of the day, take a look at these thoughts - perhaps bring them along. Warm wishes to you and yours for a sweet new year, and many more to come. We'll start with my take:
In Israel, go into a supermarket and you'll see a version of this prayer everywhere. Not exactly Unetane Tokef; but Pag Tokef. A pag tokef is an expiration date. This prayer reminds us that we all have one. We sit there on the shelf, waiting to be summoned to the task at hand, not wanting to spoil or go stale.
Most of us don't know when our pag tokef is. Steve Jobs knew. Jobs died after a long bout with pancreatic cancer. But as early as 2005, he could tell a goup of students at Stanford, “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”
Each of us is one day closer to that expiration date than we were when we woke up yesterday, one hour closer than when we began musaf. The High Holidays, more than anything else, are designed to remind us of that simple, clear fact. Rabbi Eliezer stated that we should repent one day before our death. “Does then one know on what day he will die?" his students asked. "All the more reason they should repent today, lest they die tomorrow" (Shabbat 153a).
We should examine our deeds every single day – because every day could be our pag tokef, our expiration date.
...Unetane Tokef is a call to arms against determinism. It is a call to live with dignity and compassion for however many days we have left. It is a call not to be preoccupied by the precise date of our death, but always to have awareness that it could be any day. Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, 2012
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Unetaneh toqef is to Rosh Hashanah what Lekhah dodi is to Shabbat. Both poems capture the spirit of the day more memorably than the classical Rabbinic liturgy. Indeed, they have come to epitomize what their respective day has come to mean. Just as Lekhah dodi provides the imagery for transforming Shabbat into a rendezvous between God and Israel, so Unetaneh Toqef provides the imagery for transforming Rosh Hashanah into a trial between God and humanity..... While our judgement is inscribed on Rosh Hashanah, it is not sealed until Yom Kippur because Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah can help us change our outcome. Moreover, they provide the resilience to bear the ups and downs of life. Repentence works on our relationship with the self (mind), prayer works on our relationship with G-d (tongue), and charity works on our relationship with others (hand). Having a good relationship with all of these helps us overcome adversity. Rabbi Reuven Kimelman
On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed. At that moment, I realize that not all of us will be here next year. These people — congregants, friends, family — it is a sad but inescapable fact that some will die over the course of the coming year. Our lives are a gift. We perform teshuvah not to appease a distant and invisible Deity, but rather to remind us of our value to one another and strengthen our relationships with each other. We give tzedakah to better the lives of those around us. And we engage in prayer to further develop the bonds of our connection to Judaism and our community. Our job is not to temporarily put on our best behavior in order to convince God to let us live for another year. Instead, we acknowledge that our time here on earth is limited and our lives tenuous. The true and vital message of Unetaneh Tokef requires us to ask ourselves not who shall live, but how shall we live? Cantor Matt Axelrod
The Talmud originally taught that when we pray, and do Teshuva and Tzedakah (charity), during the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we actually succeed in having the Divine decree against us torn up - ma’akirin et ha-gezerah. The terrible things we did are as if they never happened, and their consequences won’t happen either. But do prayer, Teshuvah, and Tzedakah actually change our fate? The rabbis who came along later realized that of course they do not. The real change is in the way we perceive the world. So they changed the language of the prayer accordingly. Now we say, Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah ma’avirin et ro-at ha-gezerah. The act of Teshuvah is no longer seen as ripping up the evil decree. Now it transforms the evil of the decree. Teshuvah doesn’t change what happens, and it doesn’t change the way we are. It merely changes the way we see these things. We no longer see things as evil, we simply see them as they are, and that makes all the difference. Rabbi Alan Lew
Teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah are to the harsh decree like rehab is to an addiction; they don’t eliminate the issue, but teach us how to live with it. They are also like rain falling over the years after a volcanic eruption - they turn the barren landscape into a foundation for life. Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig
We reach within (Teshuvah), we reach beyond (Tefillah), and we reach toward others (Tzedakah). Through repentance, prayer, and charity we learn, and then we teach, the great lessons that come from adversity. Rabbi Karyn Kedar
We are all born with predispositions - to alcoholism, to weight gain, to anger - but we have it within our power to reshape, although not totally alter, our fate. Rabbi Avi Weiss
We can be kinder, more forgiving, more generous. We may not be able to make our lives longer, but we can make them better, less bitter, more loving. We may find ourselves facing unintended circumstances, confronting situations not of our making. Those circumstances aren’t inherently meaningful, but can give them purpose. Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Rabbi Joseph Meszler incorporated the Serenity Prayer into the Unetane Tokef for the High Holidays:
For the things we can change, there is t’shuvah, realignment, For the things we cannot change, there is t’filah, prayer, For the help we can give, there is tzedakah, justice.
Reuven Kimelman's Translation
On Rosh Hashanah it is recorded But on the fast of Kippur it is sealed [see B. Rosh Hashanah 16a]
How many shall pass on [see Psalm 104:9a] and how many shall come into being [see Psalm 104:30a]. who shall live and who shall die [B. Rosh Hashanah 16b), who shall reach his end and who shall not: who by fire and who by flood [see Psalm 66:12a], who by war and who by beast [see Leviticus 26:6], who by starvation and who by dehydration[see Jeremiah 15:2-5] who by shattering events[2] and who by plague, who by choking and who by pelting, who shall be at rest and who restless, who shall be tranquil and who tormented, who shall be at ease and who at dis-ease, who shall wax rich and who shall wane poor, who shall have an upturn and who a downturn.
But teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah remove the harshness/hardship of the decree.
...One’s origin - from dust; his end - to dust [see Genesis 3:19b]. At the risk of his life he earns his bread [see Lamentations 5:9]. (In Scripture, life) is said to be Like a shard – shattered [see Leviticus 6:21] like grass – withering [Isaiah 40:7] like a flower – wilting [Isaiah 40:7, see Psalm 103:14] like a shadow – passing [Psalm 144:4b] like a cloud – fading [Job. 7:9], like a breeze – fleeting [see Isaiah 40:7] like dust – flittering [see Isaiah 5:24a] like a dream – flying off [Job 20:8].
But You are king everlasting God.
Leonard Cohen's Version | 
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