Be here now. 

Be someplace else later.  Is that so complicated? 

Wherever you go, there you are. 

Your luggage is another story. 

Accept misfortune as a blessing.  Do not wish for perfect health, or a life without problems. 

What would you talk about? 

The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others.

The Tao is not Jewish.  

Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems. 

The Torah says, "Love your neighbor as yourself". The Buddha says "There is no self."

So, maybe we're off the hook.

Now there is more to the verse "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18 reads-

You shall not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

And that is the end of my sermon.

I'm far from finished, but that is where I will be when I get to the end. It is the antidote to the problematic issue I present to you this evening.

And that is the issue of judgment!

One of the major High Holy Day themes is "judgment."

Both Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur are known as Yom Ha-Din, the day of judgment.

One of the special prayers we uniquely add to our High Holy Day shacharit-morning service is called "L'ayl Orech Din "To God who Sits in Judgement."

It is God whom we acknowledge as Dayan Ha-emet "The Judge of Truth "The Ultimate Judge.

We only refer to God as Dayan HaEmet because only God knows the whole Emet, the whole truth.

In Hebrew the word EMET is spelled Aleph (first letter of the alphabet), Mem (middle letter of the alphabet) and Tahv (final letter of the alphabet) = beginning, middle and end!

Only God knows it all, from the beginning, through the middle and to the end.

And of course this is a central theme in the Untenah Tokef prayer we will recite again tomorrow morning. Listen to the new beautiful translation from the new RA Machzor, Lev Shalem:

Let us speak of the sacred power of this day - profound and awe-inspiring.

On it, Your sovereignty is celebrated, and Your throne, from which You rule in truth, is established with love.

Truly, You are Judge and Prosecutor, Expert, and Witness, completing the indictment, bringing the case, and enumerating the counts.

You recall all that is forgotten, and will open the book of remembrance, which speaks for itself, for our own hands have signed the page.

However, while God is the Ultimate judge, God is not the only judge, at least not in Olam Ha-zeh, this world. If you don't believe me, ask Mr. Schneider "

Mr. Schneider stood up in court. "As God is my judge, I do not owe my ex-wife any money.

"Glaring down at him, the judge replied,

"He's not. I am. You do."

And we all know too well that in addition to our professional judges, each one of us is involved in making countless judgments every day.

So many of our daily decisions are based upon the need to make judgments.

We constantly need to judge people and situations. However, the process can be very tricky, misleading, and it can sometimes lead us to an erroneous conclusion.

Quite often, perhaps too often, we judge a person or situation, with the speed of the blink of an eye.

From that expression and phenomenon, comes the title of a very interesting, albeit somewhat confusing book I read this past year "Blink, by Malcom Gladwell.

The book Blink describes how frequently we need to make quick judgments and how very often those judgments help us and perhaps even save our lives.

For example, you step off a curb, you look to the left, and suddenly you see a car speeding toward you. With just the blink of your eye, you jump back, and avoid serious injury or perhaps even death. You have just made a snap judgment, not a rash one, and obviously the correct judgment in that situation.

But all too often, we also make snap judgments which are rash and come about because our mind is pre-conditioned to draw a conclusion by a quick appraisal of what we see just for an instant.

So often we do this when it comes to people's appearances. We determine the extent of our desire to interact with people based upon the way they look, by the color of their skin, or by a disability that is immediately evident, which we decipher at just the blink of an eye,.

Or maybe it's just the way a person is dressed. Doesn't a kipah on the head of an individual quickly lead us to believe that we have this person, most probably this male, all figured out.

Sharon told me how one day she was in the locker room after a swim. One woman was speaking to another in a voice which was quite loud. Everyone couldn't help but hear her end of the conversation.

The woman next to Sharon made a disparaging remark about the woman with the loud voice.

Immediately, the next thing everyone heard was, "I apologize if my voice is too loud. I left my hearing aid at home. I don't hear well at all and without it I can't hear myself talk."

On this evening, when all of us stand in judgment before God, I share with you a case of snap judgment that became internationally known during this past year. All I need to do is mention two words, a person's name "Susan Boyle".

Remember how Susan Boyle appeared on Britain's Got Talent. Because of the internet and YouTube, all of us were able to witness this amazing transformation of how we judged a woman in a matter of just moments.

Onto the stage walks a frumpy middle-aged woman without her hair made up and without makeup on her face. The camera notices how the eyes of the judges and many people in the audience begin to roll.

It is as if they are all saying "Why waste our time? We know this woman will not impress us." And the reason they know that is because up until now, she has not impressed them, based upon the blink of an eye, a snap and rash judgment.

And you know what happens next "Susan Boyle sings so magnificently and beautifully that everyone is astounded, most especially the judges.

Due to their snap judgment, the judges admitted - "I know everybody was against you; we were all very cynical. This was the biggest wake-up call ever."

How often are we cynical when it comes to judging other people?

How often do we determine the merits of a person's predicament before we have ample time to truly deliberate?

How many of us are sucked in by the stereotypes, judging on the basis of outward appearances or externals?

Wasn't the song Susan Boyle selected to sing just the perfect accompaniment to the revelation of her talent?

Hidden away in a small town in Scotland, and most probably uncomfortable around other people, Susan devoted her life to care for her mother until she died.

Until now she lived alone with her cat, and she sang, songs like "I Dreamed a Dream"from Les Mis.

The critical lines from that song are also so appropriate for this season, for this night "

"I dreamed a dream in time gone by, when hope was high and life, worth living.

I dreamed that love would never die. I dreamed that God would be forgiving."

And then, our judgment of Susan Boyle turned one hundred eighty degrees in the opposite direction. She became a celebrity, in a snap.

But, the immediate judgment to make her into a star almost damaged her irreparably. All she wanted was the chance to prove that she could sing. And fortunately that chance came to her, and now, let's just have her sing "that is what she does best.

My well-know colleague on the west coast, Rabbi David Wolpe, states that often he is asked by couples who visit his office, whether he believes in love at first sight. His response is "Yes and no."

He goes on to say that he believes that there can be a type of infatuation which occurs immediately upon two people seeing each other, but that love has to develop and continue and grow over the course of many years.

I can't disagree with that, but there is a type of love, in one specific kind of relationship, that I think does occur, at least metaphorically, at first sight.

And that is God's love for each and every one of us. I really truly believe that God loves each and every one of us upon first sight, the moment we're born, and the moment we're brought into God's world.

At the same time, I believe that as our love relationship with God is challenged it will grow and become even more worthwhile. It will strengthen with the passage of time as we change, mature and become more complete human beings.

God loves us, unconditionally. It takes a lifetime of interacting with God, with humanity and everything in God's world to determine if indeed we have been worthy of that love. God's love is instantaneous and forever "but our worthiness is judged throughout the course of our lives, year by year during this season of judgment.

I don't know about you, but tonight, I'm hoping God is not making a snap judgment, about me. I hope it will take more than a blink of God's eye to evaluate what I did this past year, what I deserve in the year ahead, and what my life really means in the overall scheme of God's world.

God, when it comes to Phil Pohl, take your time. No rash judgments, don't even think about a quick judgment.

I definitely believe God knows what we all have done in the last year, but I'm really not so sure about how much God is aware of what we will do. That really is up to us and God together, as we continue to get to know one another.

So it is in ALL our interactions.

We learn more about one another, not simply because we are willing to disclose more about ourselves over the course of time.

We also learn more about one another, because as we continue to encounter the same people, our relationships change as the events of our lives unfold.

We become open and revealed to others in ways that perhaps were not even clear to ourselves.

When do we make a final judgment about human beings?

NEVER!

Even after people die, don't we sometime learn facts or receive information, which alter our evaluation, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

George Bernard Shaw said, that the only person who ever really knew him was his tailor, because every time he went to his tailor, he measured him again.

The tailor didn't trust that his previous evaluation would suffice for what was needed now, under these new conditions, at a new time.

We all change, and certainly we all change in much more than just appearance, in much more than just our waistline.

By the way, don't you love Yom Kippur? It's the one day a year when we all know that our waistline doesn't increase.

In all of our important relationships, both we, and our partners, change, continuously and constantly.

God willing, my wife Sharon and I will be celebrating 25 years of marriage this coming January. We're still married to each other, but we're not married to the same people we married 25 years ago. We're both different, and I think, for that, both of us are grateful.

Some of the immediate judgments we made about each other 25 years ago have been validated.

But others have taken a totally different direction and could not have been made or determined without the passage of these many years.

One of the lessons we should keep in mind, tonight, on Kol Nidre, and as much as possible, throughout the rest of the year, is

"Don't judge people too quickly."

Pirke Avot teaches us this lesson in at least two places:

1:6 from Rabbi Yehoshua ben Prachya "hevai dan et Kol Adam l'chaf zchut "when you judge people, tip the balance in their favor, and

2:5 from Hillel "al tadin et Chavayrach ad shetagiah l'mkomo "do not judge your fellows till you stand in their situation.

This concept is also especially prominent in Chasidic teaching:

R. Nachman of Breslov the Baal Shem Tov's grandson taught: "even if one seems to have no redeeming qualities, search further."

Or this teaching from the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson"

When he was a little boy, he asked his father, Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber, "Why do we have two eyes?"

His father replied, "We should always use the right eye to judge others favorably. We should always use the left eye to judge ourselves!"

With one eye we judge others and we are told to do so in a favorable manner. With the other eye we judge ourselves.

How do we usually judge ourselves, more strictly or more leniently? Are we rash or more deliberative?

Most of us want to be judged, and judge ourselves more leniently.

We want others to be more deliberative, to give us the benefit of the doubt, to judge us favorably.

And this brings me to where I promised I would end this sermon "with the verse "V'ahavta l'rayacha kamocha "love your neighbor as yourself.

How can you love your neighbor as yourself?

Here is my favorite explanation, my favorite lesson when it comes to that verse "It comes from the rabbi of my teenage years, Rabbi Isaac Klein, the author of "A Guide for Jewish Religious Practice,"the book which has become the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of the Conservative Movement.

He learned it from a work called Derech Mitzvotecha written by a commentator called the Tzemach Tzedek.

In a sermon delivered many years ago Rabbi Klein explained that there are specific ways to show love toward ourselves.

We do so when we are kind to ourselves, forgiving to ourselves, by being patient when we make mistakes and give ourselves another chance.

And we want others to treat us that way as well.

So when we love others as we love ourselves, when we treat others in the same way as we treat ourselves "we are kinder, forgiving, patient and are more willing to give others another chance.

There is a very nice Chassidic reading of this mitzvah as follows: "V'ahavtah l'reyacha -kamocha ani Hashem."In the same way that you love your friend, so too I, Hashem, will be with you!

Hashem is telling us: if you want Me to overlook your mistakes, if you want Me to love you so much that I should be forgiving and accepting of you, that I should be kind to you even though you are not perfect, then you too must treat your friends this way. If you can do this for others I will do this for you.

If you really believe in 'tshuvah', in the ability to return to God, if you really believe that past mistakes and wrongdoings can be fixed, that you can be at-one with God again, that your desire to be holy is real, then practice this with your friends as well.

Demonstrate that this is your truth in your own life, that you will be careful not to snap into judgment, that you will not hate others in your heart, that you will not take revenge nor bear a grudge,

but rather you will love others as you love yourself, and then you will merit that God will also treat you in this way.

So MAY IT BE FOR ALL OF US IN THE YEAR 5770 - AMEN