Hey Jude. It was the blockbuster for the Beatles that broke even their own records, including being the longest playing song to reach number 1 on AM radio without being edited down (at 7:11, it was far longer than the traditional three minute single that radio stations liked to play) and staying the most weeks at number 1 in the U.S. than any previous record by any group or artist. The song starts slowly - a wistful ballad filled with advice (Hey Jude, don’t make it bad...) - and gradually crescendos into a powerful sing-a-long rocker that indeed takes a sad song, and makes it better, better, better, better...
While the impetus for the title of the song came from a countrified adaptation of the name of John Lennon's son, Julian, the words "Hey Jude" (rather than "Hey Jules") actually created a small uproar when Paul McCartney painted it on the window of the Beatles' closed Apple shop in the middle of a busy London street. What he hadn't realized was that "Jude" was the German word for "Jew" and that the Nazis had painted the same word on the windows of Jewish-owned shops during the opening phases of the holocaust as part of the attempt to isolate and economically starve their Jewish citizens. To the survivors of Hitler's extermination plan, writing "Hey Jude" on a store window was an ugly reminder of an unspeakable tragedy that had occurred just years prior; to McCartney, it was merely an attempt to publicize a song that he had written to soothe the hurt that a dear friend's son had been feeling over his parent's divorce. The store window was soon broken by angry Britons, and McCartney himself was threatened by an outraged survivor who was incensed to see the word "Jude" once again scrawled across a shop window. In the end, Hey Jude would go down in musical history as one of the most successful songs of all time. But it also stands as a reminder of how deeds or words can be misunderstood and cause pain where none was intended.
On Yom Kippur, we ask forgiveness for "the sin we have committed either knowingly or unknowingly," thereby acknowledging what McCartney didn't understand when he painted his sign - that sometimes we hurt people without ever meaning to do so. During these Days of Awe - the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - we are given the opportunity to look deeply inside of ourselves... to examine our words and deeds with honesty and humility and to seek forgiveness from those we may have injured, even if we did not mean to do so. The Rabbis caution us not to expect forgiveness from God for trespasses against another person unless we first seek forgiveness from the injured party; God forgives trespasses against God, but only people can truly forgive the hurt caused by another person. Although the responsibility may seem daunting, in truth, this is a tremendous concept, as it places within our hands both the power to heal as well as the power to forgive.
Or as the Beatles put it, to take a sad song, and make it better.
Shanah Tovah everyone,
Arnie
