This sermon is a “greatest hit” from seven years ago. If you are observing this sacred Jewish holy day, I wish you a healthy and easy fast.
My youngest child recently went through a Dr. Seuss phase. Perhaps some of your kids or grandkids did so at some point as well. One of the books she loved was that classic, often received as a graduation gift—Oh, The Places You’ll Go.
Her favorite two pages—I’m not kidding—were the following:
“You can get so confused that you’ll start into race/ down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace/ and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,/ headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come/ or a plane to go or the mail to come/ or the rain to go or the phone to ring/ or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No/ or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite/ or waiting around for Friday night/ or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil/ or a Better Break or a string of pearls,/or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.”
I imagine she can relate to these words. Little kids always seem eager to grow up. But waiting is not just hard for kids. It’s hard for us as well.
In Hebrew the word for patience is sovlanut—it also means suffering. We try to alleviate this suffering, the waiting, by rushing ahead. By doing more, by putting pressure on ourselves. I know I do.
I hate waiting and always feel in a hurry. Not just a hurry to get my meal at a restaurant, though that is common. Not just in a hurry to get through an airport security line, though that has been helped by TSA pre-check.
After college I was in a hurry to become a rabbi. After I became a rabbi, I was in a hurry to lead my own congregation. Then I was in a hurry to write books, to continue to grow the congregation, to do more activities, programs.
Now part of this is personality, but I know I’m not alone. As a society we drink more instant coffee than at any time in American history.
Our attention span—especially kids’—has shrunk significantly. We have an insatiable hunger for what’s next.
Yet, perhaps we should take another look at the value of waiting. Have you ever sent an email, and then wished you’d waited a bit before sending it? Have you ever said something to a colleague, or perhaps your spouse or friend, and wished you’d waited a little longer before saying it?
Not waiting can be dangerous. The first Yom Kippur happened when the Israelites atoned for the sin of the Golden Calf.
That’s where we get “Day of Atonement.” Why did they build that calf in the first place?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Everyone Needs a Rabbi to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.