What Does Archery Have To Do With the High Holidays?

I taught archery for 10/11 years. The first two years was in a cub scout/boy scout camp in up-sate New York, and the rest of the summers were in Camp Ramah in Palmer, MA. As well, I taught 100's of children 5 years old through B’nai Mitzvah age and older, and adults not only how to shoot, but also the Hebrew terminology for this sport and interpreted how the Hebrew vocabulary for archery integrates with making real life decisions. Did you know that the word for sin in Hebrew, “chet,” comes from the sport of archery? So does the word Torah! On Yom Kippur, the Day of Repentance, Jews all over the world recite the holiday liturgy, which contains a repetition of the words “al chet,” which are usually translated as “the sin.” What these Hebrew words really mean is “the missed mark.” Hebrew has no real word for sin. There are one or two other words that refer to what we think of as sin but none that actually mean sin as we know it in English. The word Torah teaches us “to take aim.” Thus, the Five Books of Moses teaches us to “take aim.” Sometimes, however, we can take aim and miss the mark. You might find the focus of these holidays anthe meaning behind these words meaningful. Why does Hebrew use archery terminology for such important words? After all, sins are not something to be taken lightly and the Torah is our sacred text. Maybe the reason lies in the analogy that can be made between an archer and a person repenting for wrongs committed. Archery involves setting up targets and in the middle of each one is a bull’s eyes at which the archer aims his arrows. To hit the “mark,” an archer must practice his/her aim until he/she becomes good enough to hit not only the target but the bulls eye. During the full ten days of the Yamim Noraim which began with Rosh Hashana we look at the past 12 months of our lives to see what targets we set for ourselves, how we practiced hitting those targets, and if our aim was true. We look at the targets to see if we managed to hit the bull’s eye. During this period of introspection we notice not only if we aimed our arrows and shot, but if we even got close to our mark. If not, the period between Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur provides a time to set up new targets, to reexamine or study old targets and to commit to practicing our aim. It’s also a time to set the intention—kavanah (another word that, while not directly related to archery, also means “direction of the heart”)—to try harder to shoottrue, to hit the bulls eye in the coming year. What’s the bull’s eye? Judaism has 613 mitzvot (commandments), 248 positive and 365 negative. The commandments are meant to help us sharpen our aim. Torah teaches us how to aim in a righteous and in a spiritual manner. And each time you aim and shoot, each time you try to hit the target by performing a mitzvah (singular of mitzvot), you bring God closer to you. If you hit the bull’s eye or even come close, you connect with God. That’s what Torah and mitzvot are all about.No wonder the Jewish High Holy Days involve liturgy that uses archery

terminology. Al chet...the marks you and I missed last year. Torah…the target towards which you and I intend to aim this year. May all of us be successful in hitting the bull’s eye in the year 5784, and let say, “amen.” #chet #sin #hitthemark #bullseye #takeaim #yamimnoraim #missedmark #hitthemark #prayer #Highholiday5784