{"id":83318,"date":"2024-09-27T18:52:57","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T23:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=83318"},"modified":"2024-09-27T18:53:10","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T23:53:10","slug":"higher-and-higher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/higher-and-higher\/","title":{"rendered":"Higher and Higher"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER<\/p>\n

The wording of Kaddish \u2013 in all its permutations \u2013 is altered during the Ten Days of Repentance (from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur).  The rest of the year, Kaddish invokes the Aramaic word \u201cl\u2019eila<\/em>\u201d \u2013 asserting that God is \u201cabove\u201d or \u201chigher\u201d or \u201cbeyond\u201d our feeble ability adequately to praise. During the High Holy Days, we double down: God is \u201cl\u2019eila l\u2019eila<\/em>\u201d \u2013 \u201cfar above\u201d or \u201cinfinitely higher\u201d or \u201cway beyond\u201d our ability suitably to bless or to describe (or fully to understand).<\/p>\n

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l\u2019eila<\/em>\u201d \u2013 so much higher than even the longest prayer, finest sermon, or most beautiful cantorial rendition can reflect.<\/p>\n

\u201cL\u2019eila l\u2019eila<\/em>\u201d echoes the synonymous Hebrew blessing directed at the Mohel at the celebration following a bris: that he should ascend \u201cl\u2019maalah l\u2019maalah<\/em>\u201d \u2013 to \u201chigher and higher\u201d levels of personal fulfillment and spiritual merit. On the High Holy Days, this blessing represents a call to action: we all properly aspire \u201cl\u2019eila l\u2019eila<\/em>\u201d \u2013 to \u201chigher and higher\u201d levels of faith, commitment, character, and devotion.<\/p>\n

To squander this opportunity is the very height of folly.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the editor of \u201cMasorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

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