In November 2000, the colors blue and red took on new meaning in American life. As one TV network depicted the states that elected Al Gore as blue, and those electing George W. Bush as red, the national divide became represented by the color wheel. In the intervening years, Blue States and Red States became much more than a depiction of those election results. They became the symbol of our culture wars in American life. Many Americans began to note that we were, in many ways, two nations – an increasingly red nation – socially conservative, traditionally religious, largely anti-intellectual, with two predominantly blue regions located on each coast – liberal, highly educated, mostly secular. “One nation indivisible with liberty” appeared more and more to seem like a naïve aspiration at best, and a myth at worst. Today, as we approach Congressional elections in November, America has become more partisan than ever before.

Divisions within society are not unique to America. Despite a period a general unity in the midst of the recent battle against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the longstanding divisions in Israel have also been represented by colors. Just over one year ago, as the Israeli government decided on a unilateral and complete disengagement from Gaza, the country began to sport two kinds of ribbons on its car antennas – blue and white (in support of the disengagement) and orange (against the disengagement). This color war was so widespread by the summer, that a person who supported the government’s decision to withdrawal from Gaza couldn’t even wear an orange shirt or carry an orange knapsack without being identified with those who opposed the disengagement. Israel, it seemed at that moment, was (at least) two nations.

Here at home, the American Jewish community has always experienced divisions. Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist have been the major divisions of the last 50 years. Before that it was German uptown Jews versus the Russian and Polish downtown Jews. Before that it was the Sephardic Jews versus the German Jews. Every few months, we encounter incidents which serve to deepen these divides. An Orthodox organization will issue a statement that questions the legitimacy of Reform Judaism; or a Reform rabbi will call an Orthodox practice medieval. Almost 20 years ago, Rabbi Irving Greenberg posed the question that shook Jewish communities across the country – Will there be one Jewish people in the year 2000?

All of these divisions --- in our national life, in Israel and here at home within our own Jewish community – are real differences of substance and ideology. It would be wrong to minimize the different perspectives they represent, the significantly diverse ways of life they describe. Without compromising our commitments, without giving up what we believe, is there a possibility for unity even with these most serious divisions. Can we find shared goals, a common cause on the battlegrounds of opinion and belief?

Rosh Hashana argues for a vision of the world that is united despite real differences. This vision is many ways, against the natural order… rather than divide into gangs, tribes, clans, parties, red and blue, to see ourselves as one. Rosh Hashanah asks us to look at our world from God’s perspective.

Each service during these Days of Awe, we pray, V’yei’asu chulam agudah echat – Let all your creatures become a unified bundle. This word, agudah – literally “a bundle” is very telling. A bundle is composed of several items bound together like the lulav with the willow and myrtle branches tied to it. In the human sense, an agudah is composed of many distinct personalities, each of whom contributes his own best efforts to the common cause.

This messianic image in our prayer books is an image of a unity within diversity. While totalitarianism suggests that utopia can be achieved as soon as we are all the same, a Jewish ideal suggests that diversity is part of the divine order. The ideal society doesn’t require that we are all the same. Rather, it asks of us to embrace difference and diversity and to look for common goals and purpose. The messianic is not found by erasing our differences, but by coming together despite them.

Addressing the culture wars in American life, David Brooks writes: “We can have a culture war in this country, or we can have a war on poverty, but we can’t have both. That is to say, liberals and conservatives can go on bashing each other for being godless hedonists and primitive theocrats, or they can set those differences off to one side and work together to help the needy.”

Agudah echat. A unified bundle. A common cause.

Brooks goes on to suggest that liberals and evangelical Christians (the two most divided groups in American political life) are the only two groups that are particularly concerned about these problems and willing to devote time and money to ameliorating them. There is an increasing emphasis on serving the poor and saving the environment in the evangelical community, two issues which historically have been the almost exclusive domain of liberals.

Aggudah echat. A unified bundle. A common purpose.

We recently marked the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. While the government’s response to Katrina was inadequate, the American people were asserting their connection with the people of the Gulf Coast in unprecedented ways. Americans have contributed at least $670-million to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The pace of giving was unprecedented in American history. America was on a charitable frenzy. Verizon and other phone companies had an option whenever one called 411 to contribute. Google and and Amazon.com had a link on their homepages to contribute. All of America was committing to help those struck by this tragic disaster. The human response of compassion and responsibility seemed to overwhelm the natural disaster. It linked us in an aggudah echat of responsibility and kinship. While the government’s lack of planning and response pointed toward those factors which tear us apart – class difference, race, regional difference --- the charitable response from American citizens united us once again in bonds of obligation and duty.

How is our American Jewish community an agudah echat?

As greater numbers of Jews in America define Judaism in very personal terms, each Jew creates his or her own way of being Jewish. The challenge with a Judaism that is so self-tailored, so custom made for each person and each family is that it may lack a sufficient connectedness and feeling of communal responsibility. Striving to be an agudah echat requires us to feel bonds of duty and responsibility beyond ourselves and our families. The vital institutions of Jewish life which were created in the 20^th century need to be supported. Our synagogues need to be maintained and enhanced. Jews around the world need our help. Seeing ourselves as an agudah echat ensures that we do not become radical individualists in our Jewish lives, and that we remember that while there may be a value at times in the solitary spiritual experience, sacredness occurs more regularly and more fully in community.

Rosh Hashanah is the day of Judgment. Rosh Hashanah requires us to wear all these colors, to entertain, despite our strongest convictions, that we may have something to learn from another. Rosh Hashanah forces us to come to the realization that in truth it is not “us” and “them,” but that we ultimately stand before the Judge of the universe together.

Why have religious people become the champions of division rather than those who bring people together? If religion has caused so much division in today’s world, surely it must have the power to bring us together as well. I can think of no greater heresy today than to use faith in God as a means for dividing us from one another. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of Great Britain writes: “Biblical monotheism is not the idea that there is one God and therefore one truth, one faith, one way of life. On the contrary, it is the idea that unity creates diversity…”

We model God’s oneness by making ourselves one.

When we become so divided from one another that we fail to acknowledge our common bond, when we deny our sense of responsibility to each other, when we are unnecessarily divisive, when we demonize those who disagree with us, we deny God’s unity. Rosh Hashanah presents us with an opportunity to see the world through God’s perspective – as one. Oneness and unity doesn’t mean that we all need to be the same. Judaism cannot conceive of a unity with diversity.

This is the model we need today --- how to celebrate difference and diversity – to be secure in our uniqueness and yet part of a whole. Rosh Hashanah reminds us of the power of faith to bring us together. V’yei’asu chulam aguddah echat – Make us all into a single bundle.