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A Note from Cantor Joseph Ness
Under the White Mantle (Winter Solstice)
Cantor Joseph Ness
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When chanting the Kol Nidrei on the eve of Yom Kippur, the cantor is wrapped in a white kittel, suggesting the possibility of purity as he or she prepares to pray to the Creator. At this time, the cantor asks for a renewal of life, a chance to “start over again,” a reprieve so that an ethical life can proceed without the weight of past times.
(Isaiah 1:18)
…as white as snow…
Winter approaches and joins our daily lives. How can we make meaning of the cold and darkness of this season?
Consider that the snow – and what comes with it – reminds us of a kind of beginning. Much of life suspends itself under that blanket, that mantle of white, that crystal of glimmering pureness, in order to create a rebirth, a renewal of life, to “start over... again,” a reprieve...
In my time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, I would occasionally visit Sylvia Heschel on Riverside Drive. She was a pianist and the wife of the great Rabbi and teacher Abraham Joshua Heschel. I greatly enjoyed those visits as we inevitably would talk of music, and she would show me some of her husband’s poetry. I did set a few of those poems to music. Below is one of that describes so beautifully and mysteriously the quiet and peaceful movement... drifting... soundless process of purification and renewal.
Shnee Oyf Felder – Snow On the Fields
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Der roym iz roy
Di beymer schtum’fn.
Es zegt dar vint
Ein falkn vald.
Vi zegacts falt
der eidleshnei.
Shtil vi heelikeh nomad’n,
Meine verters kamerad’n.
Muz’n zichtzu erd genen’n,
Fun umzebarkeit opgeven’n.
The space is raw,
the trees---stumps.
The wind saws
in the cloud-forest.
The gentle snow
Falls like sawdust.
Still, like holy wanderers,
comrades of my words.
It must get close to the earth, break its habit of not being seen.
Faint noises, flakes…
