Barbara Streisand made it a best selling hit. But Avinu Malkenu, the Jewish high holiday prayer, has already been a big favorite on Jewish playlists for several centuries. The popularity is partly thanks to the sweeping melodies but also because this hymn tugs at our most vulnerable core. Whether we believe in Godx/s or not, we all yearn on some level to be cared for, protected, held with unconditional love. Rabbi Joseph Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire in the first half of the 20th century, described it as "the oldest and most moving of all the litanies of the Jewish Year."
‘Avinu Malkenu’, Hebrew for ‘Our Father, our King’ is the chorus that frames this ancient call to the Creator - for protection. The Talmud lists it as a successful prayer that stopped the droughts and brought the rain. It grew over generations and kept evolving. Today’s Post-Patriarchal adaptations readdress our request to the voices of kind and forgiving parental authority - within and beyond us.
Where does the notion of God as our Father originate?
This first day of the New Year echoes the myth that on this day humanity was created, in divine image, by the Creator. That makes us creatures, not necessarily beloved children. This imagined relationship will develop during the ongoing chapters of Torah and Jewish theology. And one of the first few times that God is clearly referred to as Our Father, with all the problematic projections, can be found in today’s chapter in The Book of Words. Moses reminds the people who is in charge - in the context of explicit prohibitions against pagan practices of mourning and grief- including any form of self mutilation:
בָּנִ֣ים אַתֶּ֔ם לַיהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֑ם לֹ֣א תִתְגֹּֽדְד֗וּ וְלֹֽא־תָשִׂ֧ימוּ קׇרְחָ֛ה בֵּ֥ין עֵינֵיכֶ֖ם לָמֵֽת׃
“ You are children of your God YHWH. You shall not gash yourselves or shave the front of your heads because of the dead.” DV 14:1
What’s the connection between the forbidden embodied mourning rituals practiced by the locals - and divine parental guidance?
Some scholars, such as Ibn Ezra in medieval Spain, suggest that “ When you understand that you are children of God , and He loves you more than a father loves his child, then you will not cut your flesh over anything that God does, for everything that God does is good. Even if you do not understand it — as small children do not not understand their father’s actions, yet they trust him ”
The ‘good’ that Ibn Ezra refers to here is that the death of loved ones, so hard to bear, must be seen as some necessary reality that is beyond our understanding but does not require our self-harm. In some of the ancient cultures that the Biblical authors knew it was common to slash one’s face, shave one’s head, cut the body or tear our clothes as response to grief. Today Jews still practice the K’eria - tearing of one’s garment or a ribbon, to demonstrate the finality of loss.
But the link between mourning in ways that don’t harm the body and remembering that the Source of Life and Death is our actual parent is compelling and intriguing. Can such a story help me make sense of reality, even when it’s dark? Can a sense of reliance on some cosmic inner force that loves me as (some!) parents can, offer powerful support and solace through life’s inevitable challenges?
Maybe ‘Mother Nature’ is more appealing nowadays than 'Our Father in Heaven’ for those of us dealing with the fragility of life and honoring our relatively limited ability to control what’s coming up. And ideally no gender is what the Source of Life is all about. And yet we’re human and need symbols that move us so we can move on, and deeper in. The metaphors may change, and should, and yet the invitation lingers - to imagine on this and every holy day, our being part of something bigger, with enough self preservation instincts to protect us with love. Perhaps it’s not about who’s listening - it’s about us agreeing to be children again, open to trust. It’s a lot about religious imagination - as a tool to get beyond the mind and return to the heart.
Barbara Streisand gets it, I think. She didn’t just make Avinu Malkenu a hit, she also gave the old hymn her own contemporary commentary - which also became a huge hit. What would happen if Papa can you hear me? Became a High Holy hymn for the future generations seeking a connection to the past, the blessings of their parents and a safe path?
Shana Tova.
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What a great “listen.” Tuned in on the last moments of the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Wonderful bookend to the days of tuning into the moving, musical High Holidays services of Lab Shul.
What a beautiful reflection! I will now be hearing Barbra’s poignant “Papa, can you hear me?” throughout these yamim nora’im each time we pray Avinu Malkenu.