Leap of faith: Why hope must prevail these High Holy Days
In the book of Kohelet we read, ‘there is nothing new under the sun’ (1:9). It would be easy this year to fully feel the force of this rather pessimistic saying. As we step into the year 5785 we recognise that, rather than settling or renewing, the world feels increasingly unsettled for many. In such circumstances it can be tempting to allow hope to give way to cynicism, to protect ourselves from bitter disappointment and hurt by pre-deciding that there is little point in working towards anything different.
But this is not the Jewish way. Judaism is a religion of liberation. We are a religion that recognises that while we may never reach the promised land, we must always work towards it – toward a world of peace and stability which has justice at its core.
The utopian vision set out in the Torah, and most strongly in the words of the prophet, focuses on the needs of the vulnerable which, they demand, must be protected. To stand with the vulnerable requires courage as we are asked to be the carriers of hope, sometimes against a background of fear and discontent.
This relentless commitment to hope and change, alongside the obligation to care, is the power of the High Holy Days. They are our season for self-reflection and adjustment. They are the days where we take a sincere look inwards and ask ourselves key questions. What do I want to be different? What do I want to do differently?
On the surface these questions may seem simple, easy even. To answer them with honesty and vulnerability takes courage. We are being asked to embody ometz lev – courage of heart.
The High Holy Days are asking us to take the risk of changing our habits and breaking the patterns that may no longer serve us. We are not promised a guarantee that the changes we seek to make will succeed, nor that they will be simple, but our willingness to show up, in all our uncertainty, changes us, and it is this possibility of growth that is such a powerful promise of the High Holy Days.
With this internal work of hope, challenge and change, we create a practice that can emanate out to the wider world. With these rituals we seek a chance at creating a world where justice rules and through our vulnerability, we are able to not only care for the vulnerable but to work towards a time when none are vulnerable and all are equal.
May the year ahead be one full of possibility and one where hope, not cynicism, prevails.
• Written by Rabbi Kath Vardi on behalf, and with the input, of all four Co-Chairs of the Conference of Liberal Rabbis and Cantors and Assembly of Reform Rabbis and Cantors
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