The Unetaneh Tokef is one of the central pieces of the High Holy Day liturgy: “On Rosh Hashanah, it is written, and on Yom Kippur, it is sealed.” These words have a solemn and familiar ring: “Who will live, and who will die. Who by fire and who by water. Who by famine …”
On Yom Kippur, Jews around the world choose to fast and refrain from eating or drinking for a full day. We do this to increase our spiritual acuity, to give focus to our work of personal and communal atonement, to make this a holy day, sacred and separate from all other days.
When we prepare for Yom Kippur, we attempt to leave behind all of the necessities of daily life — we abstain from food and water; many people do not wear makeup or leather shoes, instead dressing plainly for a day filled with the work of repenting. How then do we explain Yom Kippur to children living in poverty who do not have enough food every day?
What a privilege to be able to give up eating and drinking by choice. What a privilege to know that you can choose to not eat, but not worry that you will still be hungry after the fast day ends. How do we ensure that all people have enough food each day? How do we give all people the option to choose to go without food on Yom Kippur, knowing that hundreds of thousands remain caught in the terrifying reality of going without food because they simply don’t have enough?
As you prepare to examine your choices and behaviors in the last year, as you begin the deep work of teshuvah, of repenting, of turning and returning, as you make amends with those whom you have hurt, think also about the work we need to do as a community. What can we do to ensure that next Yom Kippur, those who fast will do so by choice, not because they don’t have access to food?
At the Peninsula JCC in Foster City, we are thinking about how to grow food for those who are without on a daily basis. Our Justice Garden produces approximately 750 pounds of fresh, organically grown vegetables each year, for residents of a local homeless shelter. Our preschoolers plant seeds in our greenhouse, and our community tends to 12 raised garden beds throughout the year. Seniors help us harvest, and families deliver the fresh produce every week, just after it’s picked. We’re able to maintain the garden and its accompanying Justice Mural, thanks to support from the San Francisco–based Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture, and the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund’s North Regional Impact Committee.
One Sunday each month, 50 community members gather to help take care of our Justice Garden — weeding, watering and turning the soil — lending their hands and hearts to grow beautiful, nutritious food for people in our community who so often go without. Our garden sits next to our Justice Mural, an enormous wall painted by our community, inspired by the biblical text “Justice, Justice Thou Shall Pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20).
What will you choose to do with the time and resources you have? Will you make a donation to an organization supporting people in your community who don’t have enough to eat? Will you purchase two of everything you choose at the grocery store for a month to donate to families in need? Will you donate the excess apples on your tree to your local food bank? Will you write your congresswoman, your senator, your mayor and tell them you need their help to combat hunger?
Will you spend time in your local food bank? Will you skip your daily Starbucks run and use that money to cover the cost of a school lunch for a child in need? Will you talk about these issues with your children? With your neighbors? With the manager of your grocery store?
“On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed.” This is a day of judgment for our community. Whom will you help, so that like you, he or she may be inscribed for a good year — for a year of harmony, a year of tranquility? How will you help so that no one is inscribed for a year of suffering and poverty?
Stephanie Levin is director of programs at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City.