MH Chicago, Caren

Shanah Tovah to you all, I wish everyone a sweet, peaceful and fulfilling New Year. I would like to share some words from Rabbi David Rosenn who recently sent this the Avodah community, I found tremendous meaning and strength in his words and wanted to pass them along to you all...

"It's a strange time for apples and honey.

Not only is our country well into the back end of a decade of war, but in recent months we've seen a recession and a housing crisis turn into a full-scale meltdown of the American financial system.
I don't need to tell you that absolutely no one knows where this is all headed. It's already clear, of course, that the outcomes for many of the most vulnerable people in the US will be especially bad.

I'm very proud that AVODAH is at the center of a network of hundreds of young people whose professional and volunteer work on social issues is needed now more than ever, and that the front-line anti-poverty organizations with whom we partner are highly skilled at mobilizing resources where they are most needed. If their work was important in better economic times, it's critical now.
But as heartening as that is, and as much as I know that our network is part of a much, much larger network of people and institutions dedicated to ensuring that everyone has what they need to live a decent and dignified life, the scale of the challenges to come is daunting.



Which makes me think that in fact the apples and honey may be perfectly timed.

Because we need to be reminded that while markets gyrate and wars rage, presenting us with very real challenges and dangers, and as the days themselves grow shorter and darker, Judaism offers us reminders of rebirth and hope.

My teacher and colleague Rabbi David Ellenson, head of the Reform movement's Hebrew Union College, has written on this point forcefully and eloquently, and I quote him here:
In these pages of our Tradition, Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Eliezer debate the question as to when the world was created. Rabbi Joshua holds that the world was fashioned during Nisan as Spring burst forth. He reasons that Spring is a time of birth - the season when the trees blossom and when the earth awakens from its winter slumber and begins to yield its produce. It is a time of confidence where one can effortlessly recite a blessing that praises God for supplying the world with all its needs. It is easy to believe in rebirth during the Spring.

Nevertheless, Rabbi Eliezer disagrees with his colleague and asserts that it is with the advent of Tishri in the Fall that the world was formed. Rabbi Eliezer maintains that we must believe in rebirth even during a period when the days shorten and when nature is preparing to be dormant. How difficult it is to believe in renewal when the harshness of winter is on the horizon.

Yet, this is precisely what Judaism prescribes. Jewish law follows the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer, and Jewish tradition from time immemorial has celebrated yom harat ha-olam - the birth of the world - during the autumn festival of Rosh Hashanah. In taking this stance, Jewish tradition teaches that hope and confidence for the promise the future holds must never be abandoned. A realistic assessment of the present must never yield to desolation and hopelessness - a sober yet joyful optimism is always required.

The High Holy Days prayerbook reminds us that none of us knows for certain what the future will bring, and still it urges us on to life-changing acts of repentance, prayer and righteousness. In other words, we need to keep being the justice-seeking mentsches we have always been, and this year maybe even more so.

Best wishes for health, strength and hope in your heart this year. And gratitude for being among the people whose work in the world helps me find strength and hope every day."