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We know that when we hear the words, “Please rise for Aleinu,” we are nearing the end of a worship service. The Aleinu (translated as, “it is upon us”) is a punctuation mark, a culminating statement for just having prayed an entire service, that states, “It is upon us to praise God.” From my very “Glatt-Reform” childhood days, I remember us singing these words in English. “Let us adore the ever-living God and render praise unto the One.”

The words that follow this opening statement describe why God deserves all the praise and glory. This section has been the source of liturgical conversations in the Reform movement and within the walls at Sinai. Our siddurim over the decades reflect the changing verbiage of Aleinu.

After the opening statement, the traditional words of Aleinu, continue to say “shelo asanu k’goyei ha’aratzot, v’lo samanu k’mishp’chot ha’adama, which describes, “[God,] the Creator who has set us [the Jews] apart from all the families of the earth, giving us a unique destiny among the nations.” This translation plays into the moniker of being the “Chosen People.” Over the last century, Reform Judaism moved away from this particularist self-image, placing us as equals among all peoples of the earth. In doing so, the “shelo asanu…” words were skipped and the next section of words were adapted as the standard. They describe God with the words, “Shehu noteh Shamayim v’yoseid aretz, umoshav y’karo bashamayim mima’al,” meaning, “[God] the Creator who spread out the heavens and established the earth, whose glory is revealed in the heavens above.” This description of God takes a more universal approach and shies away from the theme of chosenness. A number of years ago we at Sinai made that shift.

You may also have experienced in that same slot, words lifted up from later in the Aleinu prayer, “Vahasheivota el l’vavecha, ki Adonai, hu haElohim,” meaning, “Know this day and take to heart that Adonai is God in the heavens and the earth, there is none else, an echo of words from the v’havta prayer to know God in our hearts.

And finally, this past High Holy Days, a new liturgical expression appeared for the first time in our Machzor that lifts up both our uniqueness and our need to be universalists which says, “[It is] Our duty is to make known the greatness of the One Creator, who trusts us to be guardians of the earth and messengers of Torah; who gives us a destiny shared with all human beings, and who binds our lives to theirs.” We have made plans to have this version of the Aleinu glued into all our Shabbat siddurim in the coming months.

The lesson here is that we characterize our relationship to God as individuals and as a people in different ways. Sometimes, especially during these days of heightened antisemitism, it feels appropriate to highlight being unique among peoples of the earth, and in others it is important to see ourselves alongside all humanity, each of us reflections of God. Sometimes we just want to feel God in our hearts and find reassurance of God’s presence in the here and now. No doubt at Sinai, you may hear any one of these variations come up in a service. No matter which one is offered, hopefully these culminating words give us hope that God’s oneness will inspire us and our world to be the best version of itself-caring for ourselves, for one another and for the beautiful planet we are privileged to inhabit. We conclude by saying, “Bayom hahu…on that day You shall be one, and Your Name shall be one.”

Shabbat shalom and with prayers for better days,

Beth