“U’Teshuvah, u’Tefilah, u’tzedaka, maavirin et roa’ hagezera. “But repentance, prayer, and righteous acts transform the harshness of the decree.” This famous line from one of the most prominent prayers of the Days of Awe, “Unetaneh Tokef” has been on my mind since January 20th.
This declaration comes after a stark rendition of the fate of our lives before God in the coming year. “How many will pass on. How many will be born...” The poet-song writer, Leonard Cohen, popularized the “Unetaneh Tokef” prayer with the song, “Who by Fire?”.
The word-’hagezera’-decree ends the line. God’s ultimate decree is our deaths. But the prayer gives us a partial antidote-of specific ways to reduce the harshness of the decree through 3 very concrete forms of individual and communal behavior. Repentance, Prayer, and Acts of Righteousness.
The medieval poet leaves us with a depiction of a decree-making God. It is not clear who provides us the antidote, whether it is God or Torah, but we have a path to 'maavir’-to reduce, soften, passover, transform. the ‘roa hagezera’-the harshness of the decree.
Our ancestors knew from decrees because they lived in an overwhelmingly authoritarian world, whether it was the Middle Ages or earlier in antiquity under the Roman thumb. The role of Jews as a minority in various lands made Jews even more subject to decrees of all kinds.
One of the signs of encroaching authoritarianism in this historical moment is the prominence of decrees-aka presidential orders. In the past month we have seen dozens of them.
The big move of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer is to suggest that there are ways to soften the ultimate decree of God. I would go further and suggest that our ancestors were the first to imagine a good God, because they lived in a world of evil, arbitrary, and bad decrees issued by all powerful rulers of their times. I would argue that Jewish monotheism stood against any flesh and blood ruler who claimed divine authority. It was well known that Jews were reticent in showing outward fealty to any human ruler including Roman Emperors. Our heritage continues to teach us to refrain from honoring tyranny and human arrogance.
It is a shocking realization that this country that we have loved and which was never known for its decrees, is now being subjected to them in a fast and furious assault on the institutions of democracy. We are are witnessing an amassing of power and watching a bizarre gleeful arbitrariness. We once again face a world of the ‘gezerah’.
What are the ways to ‘maavir et roa hagezera?’ What are the ways to respond to this unfortunate and calamitous reversion? That is the question of this moment.
You may send your thoughts to me at dov@shabbatwithfriends.org.
Rabbi Dov Gartenberg
Shabbat Terumah 2/28/2025
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