The Power of Enthusiasm

A 2026 Yom Kippur Morning Sermon

By Rabbi Heather Miller

This is the day known as the day of judgement. Butreally, it’s a day of self-assessment. In Hebrew, this self-assessment work is called “cheshbon hanefesh”—a literal accounting of the soul. This is the day we are to assess our actions from this past year— where we have done good deeds… on one side of the scale, and where we have missed the mark on the other.

Last night I shared with you the teaching from Maimonides that implores us to not consider ourselvesas fully bad or fully good… we are each somewherebeinoni/ in the middle. And I want to caution you thatthere is a danger in judging ourselves too harshly. So please don’t do that.

But simply put, this is a day to review the past year. To sit with how we are living our lives and consider if there are ways to improve. Not really if there are ways to improve, but how we might improve. This is not a day to beat yourself up. Please don’t weigh the times you missed the mark too heavily.

And, if you are sitting here with a lot of heaviness with how you’ve been, I have great news to share. This will help if you need a little boost to the “good” side of the scale. And, if you love credit card double points days, you’ll love this.

Did you know that you get double mitzvah points for running to do a mitzvah? That means that having enthusiasm to do a mitzvah is worth as much as the mitzvah itself. The one who runs to do it gets rewarded doubly!

Double points! I know this fun rule will automatically boost many of your self-assessment scores. You’re welcome! But why should running to do a mitzvah be of such high value?

This idea comes from a saying by 2^nd century Rabbi Ben Azzai, “Be quick to perform a mitzvah!” So, there is value performing good works with enthusiasm, with joy and excitement.

Ben Azzai insists that running to perform a mitzvah gets you up and moving, ready to do another mitzvah. As he noticed, he said, “mitzvah goreret mitzvah/one mitzvah leads to another!”

And I realized, its true—the faster you do one mitzvah, the faster you’ll be ready for the next one. So maybe just literally, if you do your mitzvot with alacrity, you will be able to fit twice the amount of mitzvot into the same time frame. Hence, double points.

But there’s something else about doing mitzvot with that kind of enthusiasm. There is something special about this enthusiastic spirit.

The ethical movement, known as the Mussarmovement, calls this trait, “zerizut!” I love that name because it even sounds fast. Like you’re zig zagging around running to do mitzvot. Zerizut/ enthusiasm matters.

And our Keeping It Sacred community has it! We are running around doing mitzvot!

I am amazed and energized at the creative force assembled here today. I’m looking at all of your squares and I’m looking—yep-- you have it, you have it, you have it, wow you’re all doing amazing things. I know you all and the work you’re doing in the world all the time. The work of pushing, striving, moving and shaking the world into a better version of itself.

This year, in this community, 5787, is going to be the year, Godwilling, that we as a community complete our daily study of Talmud that began January 5, 2020! As of today, we have read 2,452 pages of this ancient work. That means that we have been reading for 6 years, 8 months, and 17 days, consecutively! And we only have 262 pages left! We could NOT have done that without the power of enthusiasm. Prolonged enthusiasm. And we have likewise provided opportunities for other text study sessions, Intro to Judaism classes, book clubs, Shabbat services, holiday observances, interfaith community work, marches and protests, and conversations with so many people about what Judaism and living Jewishly means to us. You have rolled up your sleeves to build within this community. You are co-editors of our weekly newsletter, leaders of our clubs, welcomers to our programs, participants in our breakout groups, pray-ers, social justice seekers, advisors, supporters, and as you are today, sacred space holders.  Let me be clear, without your enthusiasm for this community, we would not be where we are today. Our enthusiasm for making the world a better place has kept us engaged.

And this is all on top of all the great work you’re doing out in the world. The work of wrestling with what is, to get it to give way into what it could be. You are wrestling the world into being. And this work needs your enthusiasm. This enthusiasm is critical to the work we do because so many of the causes we champion, is a mortal fight for survival.

As a collective, we are working on the issues of human trafficking. Reproductive injustice. Domestic violence. Healthcare costs. Economic inequity. Gender inequity. We are fighting against ICE and climate change and all the isms and phobias. We are wrestling with powerful forces of profiteering, hatred, and exploitation. We are working on each of these vital causes and all of them.

Your lives are proof that what Ben Azzai says is true—that when you start doing a mitzvah, working for goodness in any of these areas, you are pulled into working for goodness in the others. Mitzvah goreretmitzvah, one mitzvah leads to another and another. And we need that enthusiasm to keep doing the work. In the short term and definitely in the long term.

This sermon was inspired, in part, by Gloria Steinem, may she rest in peace. May she rest in peace now because, in life, she enthusiastically worked for the cause of the movement, the causes of the movement.

And she named what she felt as enthusiasm, as well. In fact, when she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then President Barack Obama, she remarked, “We are truly linked, so I feel blessed and enthusiastic and lucky to be part of a movement that is fundamental…from shared values.”

And that enthusiasm carried her throughout the entire span of her life as she performed one mitzvah after another, each of them leading to the next across the movement, improving the world around her, seeing all kinds of oppressions as interconnected.

Her group, the National Women’s Political Caucus, achieved the Equal Rights Amendment, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and other legislative wins. She was only one person, but she joined with others who were equally as enthusiastic about equity. She stood in solidarity with Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers movement, with Dorothy Pitman Hughes of the Civil Rights movement, with S. Mona Sinha of the LGBTQ movement, and others to work for justice for all. And she kept pushing through the Second Wave of feminism, showing equal enthusiasm for Third Wave feminism and became the “women’s liberationist,” that she was later. That’s what she called herself later in life. And of course, she helped so many others in other movements achieve real wins, too.

Why? Because she identified that: “The kind of society we are striving toward is one in which things are linked not ranked. And one in which we understand that the women's movement and the anti-racist movement and the gay movement and the environmentalist movement, they're all linked.”

Running to do one mitzvah led to another and to another and another.

So, how in the world was she not exhausted? Or completely dejected or dispirited? Afterall, it is quite a tidal wave of power to fight against all oppressions at once.

Her enthusiasm even kept her going when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1986. She met this massive challenge with a spirit to “fight like crazy,” for her life. Four decades more post diagnosis, in fact, her enthusiastic spirit, and the people around her, who were equally as enthusiastic, kept her involved across movements, fighting for her life and the quality of life for others.

The Torah portion we read today implores us to choose life. It says “u’vacharta ba’chayyim!/ choose life!”And I love that last word there, “ba’chayyim/ in life,” because it sounds like “L’chayyim!” To life! It is a word and phrase that you must shout with enthusiasm. To have enthusiasm for life. Enthusiasm for living. Choosing life. And choosing to make a life, where we can all thrive in life.

This is the kind of enthusiasm we need to be careful to nurture in ourselves throughout the year ahead. And to continue to encourage in one another. We are all linked and that can provide a source of strength as we work for wellness for all.

Enthusiasm and zerizut for life—these are the secret sauces of a life well lived.

Of course, it’s not easy to always nurture enthusiasm. In this day and age, it feels sometimes like the forces that would treat human beings as commodities instead of as sacred creations are winning. It is easy to feel discouraged. But, it is up to us to create spaces that demonstrate a different way is possible. When you link to a cause greater than yourself, you feel it. Called to be engaged.

Consider that I was a member of the board of the Women’s Rabbinic Network from 2019-2025,throughout the height of the #metoo movement. We identified issues that continue to plague the Reform Jewish movement. Equal pay is still an issue. Family Medical Leave is still not guaranteed. Women rabbis and nonbinary and genderqueer rabbis are still not afforded the same respect as male rabbis, and are targets of unwanted comments, advances, and worse. To see this pattern emerge again and again and againand again in not only in our movement but also in other Jewish movements, in other religious communities, and in the secular world, too, it’s really really difficult to process and hold onto it. To know that we were born into a world of inequity, and to experience it, is demoralizing.

And yet, over my 5 years as board member, we gathered to share our stories. I am proud today to have Rabbi Beth Klafter, Who was co-President of the WRN at the time, leading our board, she’s here on our zoom today, thank you, Rabbi Klafter. With her leadership, and that of our community who participated in these discussions, and held sacred space for each other including my colleague Rabbi Wendy Spears who is also on our zoom here, today, thank you Rabbi Spears. With each person who shared of their experiences of mistreatment, our community grew more and morepowerful. Not only greater in greater numbers, but also in enthusiasm for change. We began to realize that our work was not only for ourselves but for all who were subjected to the brutality of patriarchy now and into the future. I am proud that though women rabbis are STILL called by our first names when male rabbis are called by the title of Rabbi and their last name even on the mainstage of major international Jewish organizational events, and though girls still aren’t allowed to read from the Torah on the bimah on theirbat mitzvah day or allowed to initiate a divorce in some movements, and though women are denigrated every day in many societies, I am inspired by the WRN, its leadership, and all supporters everywhere, like you,who insist on equity. We keep each other enthusiastic about the difference we can make. And I am inspired by the ways we inspire one another to keep pushing the movement forward with zerizut. The momentum came from our collective enthusiasm. Thank you, to my friends on zoom today!

It is not easy, and the work is far from done. It is still rippling through our movement, and other Jewish movements, and other faith groups, and society as well. But I know that we, collectively, will not stop until true equity is achieved.

Many of the rabbis I worked with during that time epitomized that saying, they were saying that they were working for equal rights in the 70s and they are continuing to work for equal rights in their 70s. How could they keep going? How could we keep going?Enthusiasm for the mitzvah of the pursuit of justice,and keeping one another motivated in the work!

I need to share with you one more benefit that enthusiasm can provide. And that is chutzpah! You see if you’re enthusiastic about something, then you nurture in yourself the chutzpah to promote it.

Perhaps no one exemplifies this more than Ms. Harriet Perl, may her memory be a blessing. She was an English teacher at Hamilton High here in Los Angeles, and a congregant of mine until her death in 2013. In fact, I was charged with the great honor and responsibility of officiating her funeral.

She was a trailblazer and we are all beneficiaries of her enthusiasm for English. Why? Because she was brought to the world’s first LGBT founded Jewish congregation called Beth Chayyim Chadashim (BCC for short) back in the 70s.

And here’s what happened according to the Jewish Women’s Archive: “The secular, disengaged Jew who visited BCC one evening had no intention of returning. But she couldn’t resist attending a board meeting and, ‘more in hostility than friendship,’ she told the board that ‘God was not male’ and insisted that the liturgy be changed. Much to her surprise, they listened and gave her the chance to try.”

So, essentially, she had such enthusiasm for grammar, it emboldened her with chutzpah to bring up the issue of gendered pronouns in the prayerbook.

Why was God labeled He/Him? This was an incredibly limiting way to refer to the Creator. To their credit, the leadership at BCC accepted her gender inclusive verbiage. And she edited one of the first prayerbooks, if not the first prayerbook, to be revised for gender inclusion. And from there, other communities in the Reform Jewish movement, other progressive Jewish movements, and religious communities of other traditions followed. It is because of her enthusiasm for English that the prayerbooks we use today are gender inclusive!

Her enthusiasm for grammar opened up the relationship with God for all who would feel distanced and alienated from a God personified as a man in the sky with a beard. We can each turn to page 252 and see Ms. Perl’s impact in black and white. There, we see the alterative translation to the prayer we are about to read. Avinu Malkeynu literally means “Our Father, Our King.” But notice what our prayerbook says? It says, “Almighty and Merciful.”

As you can see, we now use a more inclusive translation that even honors the alliteration of AvinuMalkeynu. We now use: “Almighty and Merciful.” The “A” and the “M” are still there. A beautiful rendering of this ancient text, now updated and without the barriers of gender or antiquated vision.

What I love about it is not that it is taking away from people’s ability to worship a masculine God if they want to, but in de-gendering the language, it opens upthe idea of God. It allows each of us to expand our concept of God in any way we see fit, any way we feel connected, and in whatever way our spirit is moved at this season. It was updated, amended, and reformed lovingly due to the enthusiasm and chutzpah of Ms. Perl. This is why enthusiasm counts—I’m so glad to presume she got double points for that!

And so now, I’d like to invite you please rise in body or spirit with proud enthusiasm, knowing that the enthusiasm of Gloria Steinem and Harriet Perl, may their memories be a blessing, and the enthusiasm of the WRN and each of us building this community, flowsthrough us every time we choose to honor life and the dignity of others as we so often do. Cantorial Soloist Rachel Rothman to lift up these prayers on the wings of gorgeous music.

As she does, we can acknowledge, unencumbered by a narrow theology of who God is, we are now able to do the soul work we need to do on this sacred day. This morning and always, may we do our work, spiritual or otherwise, with enthusiasm and chutzpah to carry us throughout the year ahead! Amen.

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