Unetanah Tokef: Confronting Collective Grief

The terrible allusions to death in Unetanah Tokef I would imagine for many of us are just that– allusions– imagined examples of God’s awesomeness relative to the scale of humanity. Whether real or not, the imagery of this piece of liturgy is meant to shock the most passive among us into rapid t’shuva. Generating urgency is the objective; for as the day progresses, the sooner the gates of repentance will literally close before us.

However, the notion that there is a divinely preordained logic to tragedy may not speak to our collective psyche. Being Jewish this past year has meant both facing unprecedented rates of antisemitic violence and seemingly perpetrating yet another form of harm at the same time. I do not know how to grieve, how to make sense of the traumas we have endured. But I do know that this Yom Kippur, fearsome imagery is not symbolic or allusory. It is real, tangible, and has indelibly marked each one of us.

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From Be’eri to Nir Oz, Nova to Kfar Azza, who by bullet and who by sword? Who shall be murdered in their own home, and who shall face death huddled with strangers in a bomb shelter?

Who by missile fire, who by falling shrapnel?

Who will be maimed and murdered in a tunnel underneath the rubble of Gaza, at the hands of their captors?

How many more of our young will fall in defense of the Jewish state? And how many more innocents will perish, caught in the crossfire?

Who shall die by sniper-fire, trying to collect food for their children?

And who like those in Boulder will fall victim to domestic terror while marching in solidarity with our hostages? And who will be judged guilty for attending a Jewish event in our nation’s capital?

This year, who around the world will die from preventable diseases, cut off from essential aid?

Who by wildfires, and who by raging flood waters?

And who shall die by police brutality or state violence, for crimes of identity or protest?

Dust and ashes we are, yet in our smallness we contain infinite dignity. Forged in Your image, all human life refracts the holiness of Your name, the awesomeness of Your power.

See us for our deeds and call us to account for the times that we felt short, caused harm. May your judgement be merciful and inaugurate justice for all inhabitants of Your world. How awesome is the date palm of Deborah, the seat of judgement, firm and majestic with fruits bursting, sweet with righteousness.