As I listen to the new Bob Dylan album, Modern Times, memories flash of the hope and desires that embedded my heart and soul of personal salvation ignited by the inspirational music we shared together in a generation that yearned for personal and communal self fulfillment. Lacking the tools, we searched the ends of the earth for some sign of enlightenment. Be it through drugs, sex and rock and roll the flashes of internal peace and the Ah Ha moments transcended personal frustrations and desperation with a relief that there is something greater than all the thoughts that clog the mind and emotions filled with shortness of breath. It was well worth the effort as I sit in my apartment in Tel Aviv older and a lot wiser knowing there are no shortcuts to paradise. As I walk down Rothschild Street lined with the most gloriously beautiful trees glistening with the end of summer sun and a deep sense of gratitude that extends itself in knowing that there is no where to go. This is home! It is reflected in the spirit and physical interplay of living in the homeland. Eyes closed or wide open the sameness is profoundly embedded in this life worth living in the w(holy land). With the embers of the war still smoldering our national psyche has once again been pressed into service. The Jewish ethics and values given to us at Sinai, in the fear and trembling of our personal recognition of this awesome moment, we hide ourselves in the veil of Moses, our prophet, in order not to continue to be consumed in the truth of Torah and live to convey to the next generation the profound ability we have to experience G-d and still live. Over time the material world occupies our lives with the need to create and often diminishes our internal expansiveness. It is at these moments when we lose our way and become like all other nations filled with decay and general amnesia. This war seems to have challenged us once again to take a hard look at the multiple realities in the space that we share on this planet and ask for forgiveness at our thoughtlessness and arrogance in the daily routine of our lives. We are blind to our truths that are forever present in the inspiration and guidance that the Torah provides. Abraham Joshua Heschel in his book The Sabbath writes ‘What is so luminous about a day? What is so precious to captivate the hearts? It is because the seventh day is a mine where spirit’s precious metal can be found with which the human is at home with the divine; a dimension in which man/women aspires to approach the likeness of the divine. For where shall the likeness of God be found? There is no quality that space has in common with the essence of God. There is not enough freedom on the top of the mountain; there is not enough glory in the silence of the sea. Yet the likeness of God can be found in time, which is eternity in disguise.Time is now and as the New Year holidays are almost upon us I pray that we spend these precious moments in time and experience the glory of who we are and the destiny that is set out for all of us. I pray that I have the strength to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil. I pray that all of Israel together shares in this time and we pass through the trials of our nationhood as one people dedicated to the experience that we share as one nation.
