Ki Hinei KaChomer is one of the beautiful poems of the Kol Nidrei/Maariv Yom Kippur service. Each stanza uses a metaphor of a different hands-on occupation to illustrate how our lives are “in G-d’s hands.” We sing it to a heartwarming Chabad melody written for or associated with this poem.
It speak of clay in the hands of the potter, silver in the hands of the smith, glass in the hands of the glazier, and X in the hands of the sailor. X = Hegeh. In modern Hebrew that translates to a steering wheel, or a ship’s helm. Interestingly, many Machzor books translate Hegeh to mean anchor, not helm. Anchor is a better fit for the subsequent wording of the poem which says, the sailor chooses whether to hold it or send it forth.
I never thought of Ki Hinei KaChomer’s Hegeh as anchor before, but seeing it that way opens a lot of meaningful Yom Kippur thought. So much of our life, from religion to relationships, jobs to joy is related to this anchor question. Is this a person, job, place, community one in which we ought to set anchor and connect meaningfully, or is it just temporary and we will soon drift away and move on? Life can be divided into constants and variables, like much of the poetic liturgy, there’s that which changes line by line, and that which remains the same.
The anchor question is a weighty one, indeed!